Page 57 of Disciplined: His Forbidden Crush

“Si,” Garcia confirmed. “He’ll manage our operations there while also serving as your personal bodyguard.”

Oh. Summer took a ragged breath, wiping a hand over his eyes. “I understand.” He had to stop to swallow down a sob. “Gracias, Papá.”

Garcia looked at him, something raw in his eyes. “Mijo. Don’t cry.” He pulled Summer into his embrace, and Summer clung to him, but his eyes were on Rafael.

Rafael was alive. They could be together. That was all that mattered.

***

I am alive. Rafael took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching his fists. He’d been existing on adrenaline all this time, and now…now he was going to crash. He could feel it. But he had to hold it together a little longer.

He exhaled deeply, his body trembling with relief, as he watched Summer and his father embrace. Despite the lingering fear that still clung to him, Rafael was grateful for the sight of Summer, alive and unharmed.

“Remember, mijo,” Garcia warned Summer in a low voice. “This stays between us. No one else needs to know about your…situation.”

Summer nodded quickly, his face flushed with a mixture of terror and elation. “Yes, father.”

“Go, then. I need to talk to Rafael.”

Rafael tensed. Clearly he had the same thought as Summer did, because Summer paled. “You’re not going to shoot him while I’m out of the room, are you?” Summer asked, in a shaky pretense of a joke.

Garcia laughed bitterly. “Don’t give me a reason,” he said, pointing a finger at Summer. “Understand me? Now go.”

Still, Summer hesitated for a brief moment at the door, casting one last glance back at Rafael. Their eyes met, and it was as if time slowed to a crawl. Rafael’s heart skipped a beat, his pulse racing at the sheer intensity of what had happened, and what was going to happen next.

The door closed behind Summer, leaving Rafael alone with Garcia, who turned to face him with a dark expression.

“You fucked my son,” Garcia stated bluntly, his voice laced with danger. Rafael’s throat tightened, but he refused to back down from the older man’s gaze.

“Yes,” Rafael admitted, his voice steady despite the tremors shaking his body. “I did.”

Garcia leaned in closer, his voice low and menacing. “You will take very, very good care of my son. And if anything—anything—happens to him, I will find you, and I will separate you from your balls. Maybe I’ll save the bullet from today,” he added, smiling a thin, menacing smile. “Etch your name into it. Just in case.”

Rafael didn’t doubt the sincerity in Garcia’s words. He’d seen the cartel leader’s brutal side firsthand, and he knew that crossing him was a death sentence. But as he looked into Garcia’s cold, unyielding eyes, he found himself making a promise he intended to keep.

“Understood, jefe,” Rafael murmured solemnly. “I’ll protect him.”

“See that you do,” Garcia warned, his gaze never wavering. “At least this way, he might not hate me for the rest of his life.”

Ah. Garcia wasn’t really punishing Rafael; he was trying to save what little relationship he had left with his son. It was twisted, but it made sense in a way.

“I meant what I said,” Garcia continued, his voice hardening once more. “When you’re in L.A., you’ll still be expected to handle any business I need from you. Do we have an understanding?”

“Claro que sí, jefe,” Rafael agreed wholeheartedly, knowing that his loyalty to the cartel was non-negotiable. “Whatever you need, consider it done.”

“Good. Now, go help Summer with whatever he needs. And remember,” Garcia added with one final, chilling glare, “you’re responsible for him now.”

Rafael nodded, eager to escape. His shoulders itched all the way to the door, waiting for that bullet between them.

In the corridor he stopped, leaning against the wall. But when he looked up, there was Raul.

Summer’s elder brother smiled. Handsome as Raul was, it was not exactly a pleasant smile. “I don’t suppose I have to tell you that I have a shotgun and a shovel,” he said mildly.

Rafael snorted. “You watch too many movies.”

Raul shrugged. “It’s true. But I am also perfectly capable of separating you from your balls.”

“Like father, like son,” Rafael said, wondering what Raul was actually going to do about this. “So you heard all of that?”

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