Dom breathed out through his nose and put his cigar down on the silver ashtray. He folded his hands in front of him. “And I’ll be on the payroll till my death, isn’t that the case?”

“You have a lovely wife and two lovely little girls. What were their names again?”

Dom’s eyes darkened momentarily, like a shadow passed over them. He and Javier stared at each other for a few moments, the clock on the wall ticking loud. Then Dom said, slowly, “Estella and Abril.”

“Right. So lovely. They must be what, four years old now? Such a precious age. They live in Aguascalientes still? With your beautiful wife. Does she still work for the bank?”

Dom was starting to look nervous. I looked to Javier who was as cold as stone except for that cunning look in his eyes. He was threatening him.

“Javier,” I warned, hoping I wasn’t jumping to conclusions, that they were still just having a simple business discussion.

“Ellie, shut up,” he said, not even looking at me. “This is for you.”

“This is extortion!” I cried out.

He shook his head. “No, this is loyalty. This is Dom proving how loyal he is. He knows he’ll help us get to Travis. I don’t even have to take his children. He’ll do it because he’s loyal. I just like to remind him from time to time that what he has, what I gave him, can oh so easily be taken away.”

Javier then leaned on the desk, coming closer to Dom’s face, beads of sweat running down his temples. He started speaking in Spanish to him, fast and cutting, too quick for me to pick up on it. Javier’s tone was so smooth that I couldn’t even tell if he was further threatening him or what.

Dom nodded a few times and averted his eyes. “Si. Comprende.”

This was ridiculous. I had to wonder what the hell Javier had said, if Dom was agreeing to something that was nothing short of a death wish. I mean, that’s all this could be, couldn’t it? Me, Camden and Javier heading off to find Travis Raines, now, when he knows we’re out there, was a suicide mission. It wasn’t until I saw how reluctant Dom was to get involved that it finally hit home for me, the futility of it all.

And just like that, my bravado was slowly slipping away, like the wisps of cigar smoke that were trailing up to the ceiling. The thought that I may never get to see Gus again. The fact that Camden and I were heading into something that we most likely would never return from.

Javier turned his head to look at me, as if sensing my hesitation.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “Everything is good.”

More lies. I couldn’t smile. I licked my lips and put my cigar beside Dom’s in the ashtray.

“Thank you for that,” I told Dom earnestly. “I don’t think it can help me anymore.”

“He must really mean something to you,” Dom said. I looked to Javier in confusion and Dom went on, “Not Javi. This man that Travis has.”

I nodded. “He does. He came here for me. It’s the least I can do for him.”

“Very well,” Dom said, getting out of his chair. “I will help you, Ellie. I will do this for you, because I like you. I am not doing it for him.” He jerked his head at Javier.

Javier rolled his eyes. “You can think of any reasons you want to, Dom, as long as you get the job done.”

Dom sighed and rubbed his chin. “Si. Always getting things done. Okay, I will write down where to bring your sister. Then I want you to meet me here.” He started scribbling on a piece of paper he tore out of a notebook. “We can talk there tonight. It’s a bar. Busy but safe. There’s a small hotel attached to it, also a safe place to stay.”

Javier gently took the paper from his hands and narrowed his cat-like eyes ever so slightly. “If you are trying to fuck with me …”

Dom gave him a small smile. “I’m not an idiot, Javi.”

“That remains to be seen,” Javier replied. Then he straightened up and grabbed my arm, wrapping his fingers around my bicep. “Come on, let’s go.”

Dom opened the door and Javier escorted me outside, his fingers digging into my skin.

“Don’t you fucking touch me,” I hissed at him as he brought me down the hall. People were passing us, giving us dubious glances.

“Oh, give it a rest, angel,” he said, exasperated. “One minute I’m hurting you, the next minute you like it.”

“I haven’t liked it for a long time,” I seethed through my teeth.

“Is that so?” He cocked his head at me. “I could have sworn it was just a few days ago that I last made you scream.”

“Fuck you.”

He grinned. “That you did, my angel. That you did.”

I ripped myself out of his grasp before we exited the building. Outside the air was cooler, the sky layered with pink, blue and orange, like the sand art I used to see in the gift shops along the Mississippi coast. As we walked toward Jose, looking more battered than ever in the fading light, I asked him, “Are you sure we can trust Dom?”

He shook his head. “Can I be sure? No. But he knows if something goes wrong, he will pay for it in the end. Or, his family will pay and he will have to watch.”

“Does everything have to be a threat with you?” What I really wanted to do was call him a sick fuck but he’d heard it too many times already.

“If there are no threats, then people die. I don’t feel like dying anytime soon. Do you? Does Camden?”

I rubbed my lips together, wishing I had some lip balm on me. Actually, what I really wished for was a long hot shower, then a drink or two, then a few hours by myself to think.

No. Not by myself. With Camden. I needed him to think with me.

When we got to the car, he was turned around in his seat and speaking to Violetta. At a closer look, he was holding her hand as she lay in the back. My lungs pinched at the sight, as silly as it was. Poor thing was in agony and I was getting jealous.

“What are you doing?” Javier asked him as he got into the backseat, Violetta slowly sitting up.

“He’s holding my hand, what does it look like?” Violetta asked snidely. She looked like utter shit. Her face was ashen, her forehead thick with sweat, her lips dry and cracking. A shiver occasionally rocked through her despite my leather jacket that covered her shoulders that Camden must have gotten out of the trunk.

Camden looked to me and said, “She’s in a lot of pain.”

I nodded. “We’re taking her to the doctor now.”

“Took you long enough,” she said, then groaned. I noticed Camden squeezing her hand harder. I looked behind me at Javier who was watching them with a look of utter disdain.

“Javier,” I said carefully, slowly, until he looked at me. “Where are we taking her?”

He looked at the piece of paper that Dom had given him. “Outside of town. I know where this is. Take your first left until you see signs for the highway. Take it west.”

I did as he suggested, hoping the cops wouldn’t pull us over for driving with one headlight. It was Mexico but Aguascalientes was a lot more civilized than Mexico City and Veracruz had been.

We drove for a few miles outside of the suburbs before we came to a ranch house that was surrounded by darkness, only a few lights on inside. It looked like a farm – not exactly the place I had been picturing in my head. You know, like a doctor’s office or a hospital.

“This better not be another vet,” Camden mumbled. “Though I could use a refill on the dog medication now that we’ve run out.”

“Not a vet,” Javier said with impatience. “Pull up beside the truck there. This is Alonso’s house. He’s part of my … family.”

His cartel. I wondered if he was still on the “payroll” as Dom seemed to be, if he too was banished back to Mexico when Travis up and switched sides. More and more I was finding out that Javier didn’t have the power I once thought he did.

We got out of the car, Camden easing Violetta to her feet and supporting her. Javier marched past them, apparently no longer caring that Camden was touching his sister – not like he was offering to help her himself – and went for the front door. The path lit up from motion sensor lights.