“I’m twelve, Dad. I don’t need to be babysat all the time. I just want to—”
“No,” he said. “Jesus, Jess, let it go. We’re not in Redondo Beach, California—we’re in the middle of Mexico. It’s not safe for Americans to just wander around.”
“I wouldn’t be wandering, just—”
“No.”
“Fine.” Jesse walked to his bedroom and slammed the door. He was so bored. And a little scared. Because his dad was acting weird, and Jesse didn’t like all these guys with guns everywhere, and he thought for certain that Gabriella had seen that guy with the scar on his neck grab him and she didn’t say anything … what was his name?
Kane.
The guy Sean called him Kane. Who were they? Why had they tried to get him to go with them? Kidnappers? But if they were kidnappers who wanted to ransom him like his dad was afraid of, wouldn’t they have like maybe knocked him out and carried him out of the stadium? Or drugged him or something? Why try to talk to him about coming with them? And they sounded American.
It was weird, and Jesse really wanted to talk to his mom.
Maybe Gabriella would let him use her phone.
He fell back onto his bed and looked at the clock. It was still early, not even eight in the morning. Gabriella never got up early, but Jesse knew she’d be around later. He’d wait.
It wasn’t like he was going anywhere.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Kane left camp before dawn.
Neither he nor Sean had slept well, but now that they’d confirmed Jesse was at the Flores compound, there were really only two options. First—convince Gabriella to let them inside. The chance of that was slim to none. Revenge that had been percolating for ten years wouldn’t be set aside for anyone, and especially not for a Rogan.
Which left the second option. One that Sean would never agree to, so Kane needed backup not only to protect him, but to protect his little brother. The risk was great, but Kane had mentally worked through all scenarios, and this was the only one that had a chance.
If Carson Spade was really as deep into the Flores cartel as Kane thought, Dominick wouldn’t let him just walk away. He’d require something … an action from which there would be no turning back. Kane had seen it before, and because Jesse was here, it would involve Spade’s son. Jesse might be allowed back to the States … he might return home unharmed … but he could become part of something from which there was no return.
Years ago, Kane had witnessed the brutal slaying of a traitor to one of the cartels. He couldn’t have stopped it if he wanted to—he was deep cover, and if he exposed himself, far more people would have died. But the traitor was tortured and killed in front of his own teenage daughter, who had been so traumatized that she committed suicide months later.
Kane couldn’t care less about Carson Spade. He was a grown man who had made the wrong choice; whatever the consequences, death or prison, Kane didn’t concern himself with it. Jesse was innocent. A child.
Sean’s son.
Kane would not allow the kid to become lost, to be forced to witness violence, to live in danger his entire life. He would not allow Jesse to become one of them, because he knew how easy it was to turn a boy. He’d seen that, too. The flip side of violence was the rewards it brought. The money. The toys. And when he was older, the women. The power that the cartels had could be heady to someone who wasn’t raised to discern good from evil.
His nephew would not become one of them if Kane had a breath left in his body.
The Flores cartel had its fingers in many pies, which was what made them particularly dangerous. If one route or supply was cut off, they had a dozen more to pick up the slack.
Dominick Flores had been the leader of the family ever since his father died. Murdered, on the vote of his own sons Kane had once heard, back when he and Dante were on better terms. Dom’s brother Samuel was far more dangerous—he enjoyed violence. He was the one who had killed Gabriella’s fiancé. Tortured and murdered him.
Gabriella had found his butchered body. If it weren’t for Jack Kincaid, she would also be dead.
She’d changed since then, as violence often changed those it touched. Not that the Romeros were pacifists or innocent, but after her fiancé was murdered, the rules of the game changed for them. Kane understood far too well.
Kane hadn’t told Sean that he was on the Flores cartel radar because Sean would have sent him away. And Kane could hardly leave now. The cartel wanted Kane’s head on a platter, and he was going to give it to them. He just had to convince Gabriella Romero that it would benefit her—and her brother—to take revenge in a different way, and perhaps sooner than she’d planned.
Not him. Gabriella wouldn’t listen to him. But there was one person she would listen to.
Jack Kincaid.
Jack rarely took jobs south of the border since he was now married to a fed, but he had a unique skill set and the near two decades he’d spent in the Army came in handy.