Page 112 of Till Death Do Us Part

I couldn’t do this again. I wouldn’t.

Aléjandro and I found one another, two unlikely people who when we were together made the world, our lives, everything better. Our too-brief relationship played on a loop in my mind as I was driven to the hideout. Each smile. Each word. Each kiss.

There weren’t enough. I wanted more.

I’d been told that he was being attended to by one of the cartel doctors. The man at the door didn’t hesitate to allow us entrance.

I scanned the room, seeing a different scene than I’d seen the last time I was here. The mood was somber, and the men were quiet. A few even bowed their heads. Not one made a comment about me, Dante, or the famiglia.

My heart thumped wildly against my breastbone as I clung to Dante. “Why are they looking down?” I asked between sobs. “Why won’t they look at us?”

“Señora.”

“Muerte.”

The words were muttered as we made our way back to the room where the doctor worked. The guard at the second door turned the knob, opening the barrier. While the scent of perspiration and disinfectant was present, it was the prevailing odor of copper that filled the air. My gaze went to the spot where I’d found Aléjandro the last time.

The cot was empty.

A woman in scrubs stepped out from behind a curtain. “SeñoraRoríguez?”

“Where is he? Where’s my husband?”

She pulled the curtain back. Tears clogged my throat as I ran toward the man lying on the gurney. I threw my arms around him. “Don’t you dare leave me.”

Aléjandro’s arms wrapped around me. “You thought you were free.”

“No.” My tears dampened his shirt. “I don’t want to be free.”

As I stood to see him better, his hands framed my cheeks. “We found the mole.”

I nodded. I’d heard them talking to Liliana. “What about you?”

“A little scratch,” he said, feigning a smile.

I turned to the woman. “May he go home?”

“His wound isn’t life-threatening, but he did lose a lot of blood. We have someone securing his blood type. After a transfusion, he can go home. He needs to rest.”

“Fuck no,” Aléjandro said. “I’m going where they have Gerardo.” He grunted as he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the gurney.

Rei came forward. “You’re listening to the doc.”

“No. That fucking scum targeted my wife. I’m going to watch him die.”

I lifted my husband’s hand, and his dark orbs came to me. “I don’t need a head. I just need you.”

Aléjandro’s stare searched my expression as time forgot to tick by. Finally, he looked over at his brother. “Go. You’re my second. Make him pay.”

Rei nodded. “I will.”

Dante stood with his back to the wall and his arms crossed over his chest as I sat on the gurney beside my husband. The transfusion took over two hours. By the time Aléjandro was released, it was somewhere between midnight and morning light. Once we were home, Silas helped me get Aléjandro upstairs and into bed. They’d given him something for pain and to help him sleep. He was out within seconds of his head hitting the pillow.

I went back downstairs, finding Dante in the living room with a glass of tequila. “I didn’t think you were a tequila drinker.”

He turned, flashing his smile. “You need bourbon in your liquor cabinet.” He tilted his head. “Shouldn’t you be upstairs?”

“Aléjandro is asleep. I’m ready to be too, but I wanted to thank you.”