Ignite You

by Diana A. Hicks

  “Don’t believe that, Ms. Prado.” His voice boomed in the car like he’d been waiting to be acknowledged to speak his piece.

  “Vic.” My pulse quickened. Yeah, technically Vic worked for me, but he was more than my right hand—he was family. And that meant I had no control over the things that came out of his mouth. Right now, it looked like he was about to unleash hell.

  He switched lanes and made eye contact with Emilia for a second before he spoke again. “By the look on his face, I can see he finally got what he wanted,” he said.

  Emilia squirmed next to me.

  “That’s none of your business.” I gripped her shoulder to keep her in my embrace.

  “Except it is. My job is to keep you alive. Back when you were at Columbia, I didn’t interfere because I could see Ms. Prado had a head on her shoulders. She did the right thing by staying away from you. But now? How do you think this looks? You getting involved with the girl you’ve been in love with for years?”

  “That’s enough, Vic. I mean it.”

  “You know I’m right.”

  Emilia cleared her throat and moved away from me. She kept her gaze on the window, her chest rising and falling with every breath. I reached for her hand, but she pulled it away. What could I say to her really? That I wasn’t in love with her? I didn’t even know if that was true. Falling in love meant making plans for the future. People like Emilia and me, we didn’t have the luxury of a future. We lived in the moment. We survived.

  “Please say something.”

  “He’s right.” She turned to look at me. “Me being here is messing with your head. With your priorities.”

  “You are my priority. I don’t give a fuck what he thinks.”

  Vic threw his hands out as if saying you just made my point.

  “Last night…” she lowered her voice and I leaned forward to catch the rest of her words, “was amazing. Beyond anything I ever thought being with you could be.”

  I leaned back for the inevitable but.

  “But this…I mean…love?” She could hardly utter the word. Was it possible that the idea of love scared the hell out of her just like it did me?

  “I’m not in love in with you. I mean, I do care what happens to you.” I touched the pad of my fingers to her soft cheek, and her gaze dropped to her hands. No doubt she saw the truth in my eyes. I was in love with her. I’d been in love with her for a long while. I glared at Vic in the rearview mirror. Goddammit. He couldn’t let me have this for one day.

  “Vic. Please drop me off in the next town. I’ll order a car from there,” she said.

  “No.” I pointed a finger at Vic, and he conceded with a nod. At least we were in agreement on this. What Emilia was asking for was dangerous. “You’re staying with me.”

  “I’m not your prisoner.” She pursed her lips, peering at me.

  “Stay with me, please. Or whatever else you want me to say, but I’m not letting you go off on your own.”

  A slow burn unfurled in my gut. The hot sex from last night and the avalanche of emotions that came with it were—possibly—messing with my ability to make sound decisions. Getting involved with Emilia was a bad idea. Regardless, we were here now, and I wasn’t backing down.

  No matter what, my gut told me she needed my protection. This deep desire I felt for her had nothing to do with it. Levi was out of the picture, but we still had to deal with Mickey. I cradled her face. I meant to tell her she was still in danger, but her eyes fluttered closed, and I kissed her instead. The feel of her mouth, full and soft made me wish for the possibility of a future, plans…love, if that was what she wanted from me.

  “We’re here,” Vic announced. A second later the SUV jerked to a halt.

  Emilia placed her hand on my chest and fuck me if the look in her eyes wasn’t one that felt like a goodbye. I pressed her hand against my pecs, letting her feel my heart pounding. “I have to go be a lawyer and a friend. If I ask nicely would you promise to wait for me in the car?”

  “I can’t love you,” she whispered and slid her hand out of mine. “Thank you for everything. I can take it from here.” With one last nod to Vic, she climbed out of the car and slammed the door.

  “You couldn’t wait until we were alone to enlighten me with your fucked-up wisdom, could you?”

  Vic shrugged at my words. “She needed to be reminded of what is at stake here. Hell. Seems you need to be reminded as well. What is it about her? It’s not like you’ve never gotten ass before.”

  “Fuck off.” I kicked the door open and unfolded my frame out of the car.

  I looked to my right and didn’t see Emilia. When I turned left, her bouncing curls caught my attention. Like a fucking eighteen-year-old, I chased after her.

  She had no idea where she was going, but for some reason, she kept going straight toward the wreckage on Main Street and Nikki’s hotel. The entire block was desolate and in ruins. What the hell happened here? No doubt Nikki had something to do with that. Another woman with a knack for attracting trouble, but I couldn’t worry about her now. I meant it before. Emilia was my priority. Even if she didn’t want my help anymore, she still needed me.

  She reached the intersection, but before her high heel touched the asphalt, I snaked my arm around her waist and picked her up. She yelped and kicked as I carried her toward one of the abandoned buildings, some candy store that looked like it’d been closed for the season.

  “Let me go.”

  “Hear me out first.”

  When I set her down, she fell backward on the red brick wall, her breath ragged, cheeks red. She glared up at me, but after a few beats, her eyes softened as they moved down to my lips. At least we still had this intense want for each other. I closed the space between us and covered her mouth with mine.

  With a sigh, she ran her fingers through my hair the way she’d done last night when she let me taste her. I kissed her until the pressure in my chest subsided. Until I was sure she wouldn’t leave me.

  “Promise me you’ll still be here when I get back.”

  “Vic is right. I’m just messing with your head. I’m making things worse for you, and it isn’t fair.”

  “Let me decide what’s fair or not for me.” I thumbed her jaw as I got lost in her beautiful face, her high cheeks, those plump lips now red from kissing me, and her big brown eyes. “Promise me. If something happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.”

  She blew out air. “Fine. Go be a lawyer. I’ll wait for you.”

  “Will I be pushing it if I asked you to wait in the car?”

  “Yes.”

  I raked a hand through my hair. “Of course. Just make sure Vic can see you.”

  “Okay.”

  I pressed my lips to her forehead and headed toward Nikki’s hotel. Vic met me halfway down the block and handed me my briefcase. His gaze darted between Emilia, who’d stayed in the shadow of the building behind me, and my face.

  “If you have something to say, say it now.”

  “The day you decided to go back to the bar to see her, and then brought her home, you sealed her fate. Now you gotta think long and hard how you’re gonna undo all this mess. Not just for her sake but for yours too.”

  Fuck. He wasn’t wrong.

  19

  Hello, Cousin

  Emilia

  We should’ve stayed in our hotel room. I leaned against the brick wall, heart thrashing in my ears while Dom met Vic one block up. Why did I agree to wait for him? Oh yeah, I glared down at my trembling hands…his kiss. It was always the same feeling as if our touching could fix everything that was messed up in our lives. I knew it couldn’t, but every time he was near, I couldn’t help but hope that it was true, that love could conquer all.

  Vic was right. This thing between us made us a target. I blew out a breath and waited for my need for him to dissolve inside me. Do I take off and let him be? I could meet up with Mom and Jess in Sedona and be out of his life before dinner. He wouldn’t say it, but I was sure Mickey’s
change of heart had something to do with me. He thought he had the upper hand now. Dom had finally shown he had something to lose.

  Me.

  I braced my hands on my knees to catch my breath. Love? Dom Moretti loved me? How was that even possible? How could he even know? I squeezed my eyes shut and the wind got knocked out of me. Long, skinny arms pinned me to a body I didn’t recognize while a dark flannel material was pulled over my head.

  The Arizona heat and the heavy fabric had me gasping for air within seconds. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. When the initial shock wore off and the adrenaline kicked in, I swung my legs in the air hoping to kick anything I could. Instead, I got shoved into the back seat of a car.

  My head hit a seatbelt buckle and I balled up my body. Until I figured out what to do, I needed to save my energy and focus on breathing through my nose. I’d spent the last ten years preparing for this moment. How to avoid it and what to do when the inevitable happened.

  Levi or Mickey had me. Now I would find out what my life was worth, and what they wanted.

  I breathed in through my nose and out my mouth. Flutters rushed around my belly. Once again, I’d let my guard down. The reason was simple. When Dom was around, I felt safe.

  Now here I was…taken.

  My hands weren’t tied, which meant there were enough men in the car to keep me restrained. I tested the limit of my freedom by shifting my weight and sitting up. No one stopped me, so I let my feet fall to the car floor for additional support.

  A bit of good news…they just wanted to talk. I moved my hand slowly, palm spread to show them I had no intention of fighting them. When I removed the ski mask, Levi’s face came into view in the seat behind me. Through the back window, I saw Vic as he stood in the middle of the street with both hands on his hips watching the SUV drive away.

  “Hello, cousin.”

  “Don’t call me that.” The scars on my back prickled. Images of the last time he called me that flickered in my mind. He proved to me that day we were not family. “Where are you taking me?”

  “Just going for a drive. We need to talk.”

  “You had your chance for that yesterday. What else is there to say?” The driver made a left turn and hopped onto the 101 heading toward Phoenix.

  “There were things I couldn’t say in front of your boyfriend.”

  “You mean your lawyer?” I met Levi’s gaze. He sat with slumped shoulders, arms resting on his thighs. The bodyguards on either side of him with their straight faces and angry eyes kept their attention on the road ahead and behind us. For someone at the top of his game, he looked tired and beaten.

  “Is he really on your side?”

  “What do you want, Levi?” The usual acid that spread in my stomach whenever I thought of him rushed in. I breathed through my nose again and tampered down my anger. “You want me dead? Go ahead. Let’s just end this already.”

  “I never wanted you or Aunt Sofia dead.”

  I swallowed my tears. “That’s where you and I are different because I do want you dead. One way or another, you’ll pay for what you did to my dad.”

  “Why the hell did you come back? Your presence here puts everything I worked so hard for at risk.”

  “What…?” Red spots flashed in front of me. I launched for his neck, clawed, and punched at his face until the man sitting in the passenger seat pulled me back and shoved me into my corner again. “What you worked so hard for?”

  I kicked the man trying to keep me in place. He gripped my wrists and wrapped his arms around me in a tight bear hug. I gasped for air as hot tears streamed down my cheeks. Levi had murdered Dad ten years ago, left us for dead in a pool of Dad’s blood, and now he was here demanding to know why I was trying to ruin his life. What the fuck.

  “You walked out like we were nothing, you animal.”

  “I gave you a way out. My orders were to kill all of you. If your dad hadn’t fought me the minute I walked in the door, and if he had given me the chance to explain, all of you would’ve made it out of there alive.”

  My face blanched as blood rushed to my toes leaving me cold. I searched through my memories of that night. Yes, Dad had fought Levi, but he did it to protect us. “You showed up with guns blazing. What was he supposed to do?”

  “How about trust me? We were family.”

  “Jess had already told us you had been sent to kill Dad so you could replace him.”

  “I could’ve killed her for saying that. For making it all that much more difficult for everyone. It didn’t have to end that way, Emilia.” He rubbed a hand on his cheek, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth.

  Was he telling the truth? I sat back against the car door. The panel rubbed against my scars where the skin was almost numb. “She could’ve died. Lost the baby.”

  “I never said I was perfect. If you hadn’t told me about the baby, I probably would’ve…I was that mad.” He shifted his weight and braced his arm on his thigh. Was that pain in his eyes?

  “Does Jess know all this?”

  “No, of course not. I couldn’t let her carry that burden. To know that her family was dead because of her. That she only heard part of my conversation with the boss. That even though I had been sent to kill all of you, it was never my intention to follow through. If it hadn’t been for the baby, she never would’ve tried anything. Izzy made her strong.”

  I nodded. “Knowing she had a hand in all that would’ve killed her for sure.” Poor Jess. If she’d known the mess she’d caused, she never would have asked for my help after she saw me at the cemetery the day I went looking for Dad’s grave.

  The car whizzed down the freeway. The sound of tires on the smooth asphalt filled in the silence between us. When he spoke again, his gaze was fixed on the desert landscape outside. He stared at it for so long, I thought he’d forgotten I was there.

  “I wanted a family so bad. Jess is impulsive. She lets her emotions dictate her actions. By the time she thinks things through, it’s usually too late. I know she ratted me out because she loved you. She thought she could save you. I was so angry at her that night. Because of her, I had to shoot the one person who believed in me, but I had no choice. It was him or me. I had a different plan for your family, but Jess ruined everything. I had but a second to decide, to choose. I chose family. My family.” He met my gaze. “I did what I could to save you.”

  “You shot me in the back,” I screamed at him.

  “I made everyone believe you were dead.” His deep voice reverberated inside me. The words flashing over and over in my head like an echo. “Why do you think the cartel never came looking for you all these years you were in New York? I kept them away from you. I kept your secret. Aunt Sofia’s bodyguard was good. He did his job well, but he only succeeded because he had my help.”

  I’d always wondered how Mom’s bodyguard had managed to get us out of the house and into the ambulance unnoticed. Why no one came looking for us at the hospital. So this was the reason why when I showed up to the deposition, Levi had been shocked but not really surprised. He’d known I was alive. He just never thought I’d ever had the courage to come back.

  “Why are you telling me this now? Why not explain all this that night?”

  “Because Jess got to you first. You didn’t give me a chance to tell you I had a plan. Yeah, the cartel wanted Uncle Emilio dead. And they thought I was the right guy for the job. I accepted because I was the only one who could help you leave and start over somewhere else. When I got to your house, all hell broke loose. Instead of taking a few days to plan your escape, I had to make it happen in a matter of minutes. I saw the opportunity and I took it, hoping you’d be smart enough to do the rest. Which you did. Until now. You shouldn’t’ve come back.”

  This conversation was surreal like something out of a nightmare. Everything I believed to be true was only a half-truth. Not once did I consider that Levi did what he did to fake our deaths. Somehow it all made sense. It all fit. We had someone helping us
from inside the cartel. Levi had been helping us all this time. How else did we manage to hide from them for so long? The answer was simple. They didn’t know they had to look for us. Levi kept our secret.

  I sat frozen. Levi’s lips kept moving, his hands in the air as he tried to explain why he did what he did, but I couldn’t hear anymore. All these years, I’d been running away from a ghost, my own fears. All these years, I had an opportunity to lead a normal life. Instead, I spent it plotting my revenge.

  “I came back to kill you.”

  “Seems I’m on everyone’s To Do list.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “The cartel isn’t happy with me lately. They think I’ve gone too soft. Then you show up hell-bent on revenge. What do you think they’ll do to me if they find out you’re still alive? To top it all off, a guy who looks like he stepped out of a Godfather movie shows up at my door and demands my help. Guess what he’ll do to me if I don’t deliver you?”

  A bark of a laugh escaped my lips. The sound boomed in the car, raw and coarse, I didn’t recognize it as my own. “So you told me about how you never meant to hurt me or my family, only to tell me you’re here to hurt me and my family? You really think you can just kidnap me and get away with it? What part of ‘I came back to kill you’ did you not understand?”

  He made eye contact with his driver and smiled. “I always liked you, Emilia. Even now with the odds stacked against you, you still think you can win. I admire that. You’ve got some serious balls. Don’t make the same mistake your dad did. I’m here to help you but let’s be clear. You go against me or mine, I will shoot you. And this time I won’t miss on purpose.”

  “As long as we’re being clear, I’m not an idiot. You’re not here to help me, no more than you’re here because you love Jess and Izzy. You’re here to save yourself.”