The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(63)

“Anna Alvarez is pregnant.”

“Am I supposed to know who that is?”

“Juan Alvarez’s daughter.”

My brows furrowed. “Juan Alvarez…as in the head of the Alvarez Cartel?”

He paled momentarily and then squared his shoulders. “Yes.”

Swallowing the dread inching up the walls of my chest, I shifted on my feet. “I’m going to ask the question, even though I think I already know the answer. Are you the father?”

“Yes.”

My blood ran cold. “Fuck, Rever. We’ve barely tolerated each other our entire life. Why would you come to me? Why do you think I can save you? I don’t have any influence over Ignacio, much less Juan Alvarez. My hands are tied.”

I didn’t want to deal with this. When I drove out of the Vargas Cartel compound over three weeks ago, I never intended to go back. I planned to sever every last string tethering me to that place. That world. That life. Negotiating Rever’s release from prison was supposed to be my last job for them.

“I need you to help me get Anna out of there.”

“What? How?”

“I don’t know. You abducted the attorney general’s daughter. Find a way to abduct Anna and bring her to me. I’ll figure out the rest.”

A laugh nearly escaped my mouth, but I bit my lip, stifling the urge. Rever was deadly serious. He actually expected me to fly back to Mexico, abduct a drug lord’s daughter, and smuggle her where? To the United States. It was f*cking crazy. Bat shit crazy.

“Do you have any idea what is going on between the Vargas and the Alvarez Cartels right now? They are tearing each other apart as we speak. Dead bodies are piling up. The feud has even made its way into the U.S. newspapers a few times.”

“I understand what that means better than you do.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he paced back and forth. “I’ve lived that life for almost thirty years. Do you know how much blood is on my hands?” His voiced cracked on the last word.

I shook my head. “Ignacio protected you from that side of the cartel. He never made you kill anyone.”

A shadow crossed his face, and he paled. “Not with my hands, but I did it with my words too many times to count. Why do you think I ran? It was for her. For our child. I refuse to continue the cycle.” He shook his head slowly back and forth. “The Vargas Cartel will not claim my child.”

“Why now? Since when do you give a shit about anyone but yourself?” I’d heard the stories. Rever had a gambling addiction and a recreational drug problem. So many women had drifted through his life over the last ten to twelve years, he probably didn’t remember a third of them.

He tugged on the collar of his shirt. “Since I met her. She changed everything. She changed me.”

My eyes flickered to the window behind him. A couple of months ago, I would’ve laughed at his words, but not anymore. Not after Hattie. Hattie had infected my mind and poisoned me with her smile and golden eyes. She changed me, but I hadn’t decided if it was a good thing. In my line of work, attachments complicated everything.

“Fine. I’ll help you,” I murmured as I plopped down into a chair in my living room. Even as I said it, I knew I’d regret getting involved in Rever’s life. Nothing good would come out of this, and if I abducted Anna Alvarez, everyone would know. The border between the U.S. and Mexico wouldn’t mean a damn thing if the Alvarez Cartel traced her disappearance back to me. I’d be as good as dead.

“How fast can you do it?”

“A month, maybe two.”

“No,” Rever yelled. “It has to happen within the next week or two.”

“Things like this take planning. I can’t just snatch her from Alvarez territory and put her on a plane. I need to know her habits, her friends’ habits, her family’s habits.”

Rever slammed his hand on the back the chair. “I can give you all the information you need.”

“I need a viable plan or she won’t make it out alive.”

“I have to get her away from her family and out of Mexico before she starts showing.”

“How long is that?”

“Fuck. I don’t know. One to three weeks. Not long.”

I glanced at my wristwatch, then shook my head. I didn’t have time for this tonight. “I don’t know if I can pull it off. Are you planning to stay here tonight?”

“I can’t go anywhere else. In case you forgot, I’m not exactly a welcome visitor in the U.S. I need to keep a low profile.”

I cocked my head to the side. “How did you get across the border, anyway?”

“The border is more porous than it has been in years, but to answer your question, I used a drug smuggling tunnel from Sonora, Mexico to Naco, Arizona. Once I made it to Arizona, I borrowed an associate’s car.”

My eyes narrowed. “Borrowed or stole?”

Rever lifted one shoulder and dropped it. “The details aren’t important.”

“Out of curiosity, how much does it cost to smuggle someone across the border these days?”

He smirked. “We charge thirty-five hundred to smuggle a person on foot, and eight grand using loaded eighteen-wheelers. It’s easy money. The Vargas Cartel made about six million dollars smuggling people over the border last year, and it diverts law enforcement’s attention away from our drug smuggling activities.”