Inferno (A Hotter Than Hell Novel Book 7) Page 7

  “I don’t think my stomach will keep the food down,” I tell her honestly.

  “The food is here for you and you will at least try to eat. The smoothie is your dessert. I made it with fresh strawberries and those detestable goji berries you like.”

  I turn my head and stare at her. “Please, Gabriella, I can’t eat.” From the look on her face she’s about to go into another Spanish tirade. “How is Cori?” I ask to steer her in another direction.

  “Poor chiquita. She woke for long enough to eat.” Gabriella’s nose pinches with stern condemnation. “She eats her food and you will eat your food.”

  Changing the direction of her thoughts didn’t work. “Leave, Gabriella, I don’t want you in here.” It was heartless, but I have no heart left.

  “What did that man do to you?” Her voice is stricken and I think she’s figured it out when I don’t answer. My eyes are still locked on hers and I watch as she wipes away tears. Without asking if she can, she rests her butt beside me on the bed and threads her fingers through my hair. “Does Xavier know?” I’ve never heard her call him by his middle name before.

  “Yes,” I answer, glad I can do it with one word.

  “This shall pass, princesa. You are strong and you have the heart of your man. He will love you and never stop.”

  I close my eyes and allow her hand untangling my hair to soothe me. Maybe it will pass in a hundred years and maybe not. Right now I just want privacy. “Thank you but I need to be alone.”

  The bed beside me dips further and then she stands and quietly leaves the room. She doesn’t take the tray and the smell nauseates me. The ceiling and I go back to our staring contest.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Fernandez

  A growl leaves my throat. "Stop your fucking whining. He’s dead, get over it. The bitch killed him and all you have left is revenge. I feel the same way about my sister. Both of them will pay along with their men.”

  We’re in a dump of a motel room in a shithole town called Casa Grande, which is far enough away from Phoenix that Moon won’t look here for a while. I need some time to regroup and I also need a man with Goose. One who can drive because this piece of shit never learned. How you live in the United States without driving is fuck-all ridiculous.

  “She’ll pay,” he says while clenching his fists and opening them repeatedly.

  “Yes, she’ll pay, blah, blah, blah and so will the black bitch with her. Your cousin was a dickhead for getting himself killed by a woman to begin with. Learn a lesson from this. Never trust whores. They’re good for a piece of ass and that’s it.”

  Goose is too stupid to understand I disrespected his dead cousin and only hears what he wants. “We’ll get them both and get your sister back.”

  “Get out,” I say and point at the door because he has his own room. There’s no way I would sleep in the same room with this fucktard. “Sleep or you’ll be worthless to me tomorrow.”

  When he leaves, I make a phone call. It’s a last resort but one that motherfucking Moon will regret more than I ever will.

  The man answers in Spanish and I reply in kind. Owing a debt to the cartel was never in my plans. Moon’s bitch forced it on me. Moon and his organization will become a blood bath. They’ll all pay and I can focus on my cunt of a sister. When this is over, I’ll take care of Goose so I never need to hear his fucking whining again. I end the call after the deal is made.

  I lean back in the stale sheets and think about Melina. I plan on fucking her until her cunt is as dry as this godforsaken desert. The thought makes my dick hard. She was mine and that fucking crazy motherfucker took her from me. Austin will die and Melina will watch.

  My dick grows harder and I fist it in my hand. Just imagining my sister’s sweet cunt gets me off quicker than I did with the other bitch beneath me. I spill my seed on the sheets, roll over, and fall asleep.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Moon

  It’s been two frustrating days since Madison’s return.

  With all my fucking money and connections, it makes no sense that I can’t locate Fernandez. Taking him out is all I think about. Well, almost. Madison is killing me slowly with her silence. Bringing her Fernandez’s head could help. It must.

  She’s not eating. I asked Carlo about putting in an intravenous line to get some nourishment into her. He won’t do it yet because she is drinking water. I don’t care that the average person can live thirty days without food. She’s losing weight.

  Neither Madison nor Cori have left their bedrooms. Each night and morning I hold Madison’s hand and talk to her. Rarely do I get a reply. She’s always been a fighter, but that son of a bitch has taken the fight out of her. I’ve eaten lunch with her the past two days and that’s even worse. She stares at the ceiling and nibbles a bite or two when I push her to. This is so unlike my wife. Under normal circumstances, she would snap my head off if she didn’t want to eat something and I forced the issue.

  I need my wife back.

  The image on the video stays in my mind constantly. It’s the desolation in Madison’s expression that I’ll never forget. Her eyes have carried the same look these past two days.

  My feet drag as I head upstairs to check on her again. I never thought I could intentionally hurt her, but if slapping her face would help, I’d do it. I glance inside our bedroom and see her sleeping. Or she could be faking it. I stand there for a few minutes and watch. After a deep sigh, I close the door and head back down the hall planning to take the stairs down to my office. But when I reach the landing, I go left, which takes me up the stairs to the third floor. Madison hasn’t wanted company, so I’ve kept everyone away. Gabriella and Melina have taken turns sitting with Cori. Carlo remains worried about her as are the rest of us. When I try to press him about Madison, he tells me to give it time. My wife is fucked up in the head and I have no idea how to help her. A doctor should. And I know it’s unfair that I even think it.

  I should have gotten to her sooner.

  I enter Cori’s room after a soft knock on the open door. Gabriella is sitting with her. Alex and Austin took their women out because they were going stir crazy. We’ve been on lockdown since Madison’s disappearance, and the women decided they had had enough.

  “The people are eating me out of house and home,” Gabriella grumbles. “You stay with her and I will go to the store.” Gabriella thinks they’re making a dent in the food. The truth is, we have enough to supply an army for a year.

  “Fresh fruit and vegetables,” she snipped when I told her exactly that. I also made her take two guards which earned me a dramatic eye roll that had no effect on my order.

  She leaves me with Cori. We’re alone, if you can count a ten-man security team along with Madison downstairs alone. The entire house feels like someone died and we’re in mourning. This room especially. Even Two Dogs is depressed and moping around like someone stole his favorite toy. The lockdown hasn’t helped the overall gloom floating around either.

  My territory in New Mexico is also on lockdown until Fernandez is dead. It’s causing a nightmare with my next weapons shipment; I had to delay the arrival. This will wait and things will settle soon. They must. Right now my biggest worry is Madison.

  I take the chair next to Cori’s bed. She opens her eyes and then closes them much like Madison does when I sit with her. Maybe this is a bad idea. “How are you, Cori?” I ask softly. The bandage on her hand is so large it looks like she has a bowling ball under the gauze.

  She opens her eyes and blinks several times still without looking at me. “I want to leave here and no one will help me.”

  At least she’s talking to me. “Where will you go?” I ask.

  “I don’t know.”

  “It’s dangerous and Fernandez is still out there.”

  “What?” Her mouth thins and it’s apparent something I said pissed her off. She looks at me for the first time since I entered the room. “The great Catch Xavier Moon can’t find one man?” She bites her lip a
moment later and I see the regret she feels for saying what I’ve been thinking all along.

  “No, Cori, I can’t find him. I also didn’t stop him from hurting you or my wife.”

  She looks away and then very slowly, she pulls her good hand from beneath the covers and searches for mine. I take it and thankfully it’s cool to the touch. Carlo reported her fever finally broke during the night and she should improve daily. I give her hand a gentle squeeze.

  “Your woman is strong. Don’t give up on her,” she whispers.

  “I’m not giving up on her or you.”

  “I’ll never work again.” So much despair is in her words.

  “Do you really want to?”

  Just the touch of a smile curves her lips. “No, I don’t think I do.”

  “You had to have dreams before you became an escort.”

  She sighs softly. “Dreams are strange things. I always wanted to be a doctor.”

  That surprises me. “So be a doctor.”

  She turns her head and looks at me again. “That’s so easy for you to say. I never had money growing up. Hell, I barely graduated from high school. I had to get out of an abusive home and by doing that I chose an abusive man. Escort work was my revenge.”

  “If you want to go to college, it’s paid for and so is medical school.”

  For a moment, hope shows in her eyes and then it’s dashed. “I doubt they’d take a three fingered intern.”

  The only gift Fernandez gave her was cutting the fingers of her left hand instead of her dominant hand, if you can call that a gift. I’m not sure what to say. If she learns to use the hand minus the fingers, a medical school will most likely take her. I have no doubt she’s intelligent enough to make the grade.

  I watch as tears stream down her cheek and then she whispers, “I just want to die.”

  “No,” I say firmly. “My wife needs you and you need her.”

  Cori’s lips tremble. “She hasn’t come to see me.”

  “That’s the problem, Cori, she doesn’t see me either.” I squeeze her hand again and we remain quiet until Gabriella returns an hour later.

  After I leave Cori’s room, I walk back to our bedroom and check on Madison. But this time when I enter the room her breathing tells me she really is sleeping. I close the door gently behind me and head downstairs. Alex has been keeping Two Dogs in his apartment upstairs, which is off the kitchen. The dog scratches the door when he hears me approaching. I let him out and give him a pat on the head.

  “She needs you too, boy, and maybe you can get through to her. If not you, I’ll need to allow that smelly goat in the house and neither of us want that.” I take Two Dogs outside to do his business and then lead him up to the bedroom. Opening the door, he slips through and I close it and head back downstairs.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Alex Gomez

  Two bored women are more than Austin and I can handle for another day. Moon won’t allow anyone in to see Madison and our incoming information on Fernandez, which was keeping the women busy, dwindled to nothing. Too much estrogen at loose ends is not a good thing.

  Dax took Sofia home so she could see their children. At least she’s happy. Melina and Celina—yeah, their names sound funny when spoken together to me too—want to shop at the mall. I could tell by Austin’s expression that it’s not exactly his favorite thing to do either. We decided to man up even if it kills us.

  Fact—the women will go nowhere without us until the threat from Fernandez ends. I don’t even trust twenty guards watching over them at this point. Celina will stay in the house or within my sight at all times.

  Window shopping became the women’s answer to the boredom problem. If there’s a dumber waste of time on the planet, I’m unaware of it. The way Celina explained it to me, if you shop to buy, you find nothing. If you window shop, it changes your shopping mojo, her words, and you find clothes you actually want. I rolled my eyes at that logic and Austin’s head may have been turned away to do the same.

  The ladies also decided we needed to dress casually so we didn’t look like a couple of thugs. I thought Austin would put a stop to that one, but he’s so fucking in love with his woman that he just smiled, kissed her, and came downstairs in khaki pants and a polo looking like he just showered and changed after a day on the golf course. Now I’m wearing jeans and a black dress shirt along with fucking western boots Celina bought me last Christmas. The only description I come up with is flaming queer cowboy. If anyone actually says the word cowboy in my vicinity, I’ll drive my fist into their face until only jagged teeth remain.

  The mall is crowded with everyone using it to escape the sweltering 109-degree temperature outside. I realize now that full suits would have made us stand out, and as much as I feel like an idiot, we halfway fit in. As we walk through the mall, it surprises me that mothers and fathers allow their young teens out in skimpy outfits better suited for night club wear. I also don’t understand the amount of cash these kids carry. Life was not this simple for me. We never had money, even though I worked alongside my father from the time I was old enough to brush my own teeth. But that was a lifetime ago, and now I’m trying to blend. “Blend” is another of Celina’s words.

  We’ve walked through the crowded mall for at least an hour and I’m ready to make some shit up so we can leave. Sore feet maybe? A bunion? Celina’s tried on more clothes than will fit in her overflowing closet. I had no idea “window shopping” included dressing rooms.

  We leave another store behind and enter the main lobby of the mall. “The man over there in the black shirt and pants, is he one of yours?” Austin asks casually.

  I glance at Austin and then in the direction he nods. A short, thin, Hispanic man, dressed in black pants and gray shirt, with a pencil mustache is watching us. He doesn’t look away when I spot him. I don’t see the bulge of a gun but that doesn’t mean he isn’t armed. “No, he’s not one of ours,” I say without taking my eyes off the man in black.

  “He’s been following us for ten minutes. He waited out here while we were in the last store and made a quick phone call about sixty seconds ago.”

  I walk three steps and take Celina’s hand in my left one while keeping an eye on our tail. “We’re leaving. Walk quickly and be prepared for anything,” I say urgently. Thankfully both women are armed and know how to handle themselves.

  I usher Celina in front of me and Austin does the same with Melina. The rest of the crowd has no idea they’re in danger. Our SUV is parked outside one of the larger department stores and we beeline in that direction. Celina places the bag she’s carrying in her left hand and lifts her purse so it’s at her midsection. The purse was special order and it’s made to release her gun quickly with the pull of Velcro.

  The man behind us makes another phone call while trailing us and I’m sure there are men outside waiting. I send a text to the control room at the house requesting backup while my eyes scan the area. We walk past the east side main entrance doors and two Hispanic men wearing long black jackets enter. No one wears a jacket during the Arizona summer much less full length. I push Celina behind a circular stairway that leads to the second floor of the mall and Austin does the same to Melina.

  Then all hell breaks loose.

  Automatic weapons ignite the crowd and everyone starts screaming and running. The two men continue walking our way, firing at random. There are fucking children in this mall, but they don’t care where their bullets hit. We are their targets and they’ve brought the firepower to take us out. I dive behind a cement garbage can and Austin hunkers down beside the women. I shoot at the men and hit one, but he doesn’t go down. Cement shatters and a huge piece falls off beside my ear. Bodies are littered around us and we’ll be next if something doesn’t give. Austin scrambles to a door beneath the stairway and it thankfully opens. He waves the women inside and returns fire while I make a run for the door. “Go,” I yell because the women are waiting for us. They turn and run through a dimly lit, long, narrow hallway
and try a door on the left, but it’s locked. The next door opens. Austin places his hand on my shoulder and turns slightly so he can take care of business behind us without running into a wall. Automatic weapons fire after we’re through the door and clear of the hallway. Austin turns the deadbolt on the door after we pass through. We keep running because they’ll shoot through the door and possibly hit one of us before they shatter the lock.

  “You’re bleeding,” Celina says.

  “It’s a scratch, don’t fucking stop running.” My head was either grazed by a bullet, or a piece of cement from the trash can nicked me. I’ll live if we make it out.

  The hallway turns left and we keep running. The very faint sound of sirens can be heard outside and I’m hopeful we’re close to an exit. My prayers are answered when we take a right turn and a bright red Exit sign is over a door about twenty feet away. “Put away your guns,” I tell the women. The door we stop at is an emergency exit with a big sign that says an alarm will sound if we use it.

  The women practically fall through the door when the men chasing us turn the corner and open fire again. I’m through the door when Austin goes low, slides through, turns, and fires back.

  Police cars pour into the parking lot and they may not be in time.

  “They backed off,” Austin yells. He’s on his knees and holsters his gun beneath his shirt. I grab Celina’s hand as one police vehicle pulls in front of us. “Act hysterical,” I whisper into her ear.

  “It’s not hard,” she says with a grimace.