Page 32 of Injustice and Absolution

“Well, well, well...” he begins. “Royce Taylor. Long time, no see.”

I remove my helmet and sunglasses after cutting the engine on my bike. I’m not one for pleasantries, especially in such a patronizing tone, and I sure as hell don’t like surprises.

Diego being here is a big fucking surprise.

“Diego,” I respond, dismounting my bike and placing my helmet to rest on the seat before walking over to him. “Where’s Andres? I thought I’d be meeting with him.”

“He had … business I’m not at liberty to discuss … to attend to. And as this region’s new cell head, he left me in charge while he’s gone.” When he holds out a hand to me, I narrow my eyes before taking it.

A cell head? I don’t pretend to know the inner workings of a cartel or its organizational structure, but I know enough to understand that he’s not a small fish any longer.

Diego acknowledges Draven who stayed back by our bikes rather than approach him with me. Wanting to get out of here as soon as possible with as little conversation as necessary, I get right down to business.

“I see,” I utter, trying not to let my surprise show.

“I trust you have the entire shipment with you,” he states.

It would be a huge mistake if I didn’t.

“Yes.” I nod to the truck behind me.

“Good. I was curious about the reason behind your presence here today. Thought maybe you couldn’t come up with the full shipment, and therefore, wanted to show up in person to smooth things over.”

“Nothing to smooth over. Just felt like getting away.”

I regret my words the second they leave my mouth, and I watch as he can’t stop the smug smile from forming on his lips.

“That daughter of yours still getting under your skin? How is Maggie, by the way?”

I see red, but I’m not stupid enough to punch this motherfucker in the face like I want to.

“Maggie is none of your fucking business. I’m here for one thing and one thing only. Now how about you order your men to start unloading the truck like a good little cell head. Can’t have you making Andres look bad, now can we?”

I’ve heard rumblings of people claiming I’m evil. Saying I’m not to be crossed and that my fierce punishments are things of legend. But I’m a fair judge of the wicked. I only deliver consequences to those deserving of them.

But Diego Rojas?

The evil glimmer that flashes in his furious stare is like peeking into the soul of the devil himself.

“You better watch it, Royce. Unless you want your daughter to disappear in the dead of night like your ol’ lady did.”

The subtle lifting of his brow and cocky twist of his lips hits me like a punch to the gut. The air leaves my lungs, and I fight to keep myself from staggering.

Not once in the past seven years have I thought Penny was taken by force. There was a note, written in her own handwriting. All her most prized possessions were missing as sure as she was.

Didn’t you pay the same attention to detail when you killed Delilah’s father?

But I didn’t leave a goodbye note. It didn’t feel like something her father would have done. Penny wrote a page-long apology to Maggie when she left—front and back. That’s not usually something you have time to do when you’re being forced to leave.

Unless they made her...

“What did you do?Where is she?” I demand, shaking and seconds away from losing control of myself.

“It’s too late for her,” Diego smirks, “but not for Maggie. So if I were you, I’d control yourself before you sign her death warrant. And before I order my men to get you under control.”

The cocking of several guns echoes off the still river water, and it’s just what I need to check myself before I pull my own gun from its holster beneath my cut and fire a shot right between Diego’s motherfucking eyeballs.

Suddenly, I feel Draven’s hand on my arm, tugging me backward. I narrow my eyes at Diego before turning around and letting Draven drag me away.

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