Page 24 of Rogue
I only put two and two together and realize she’s talking about me when she jerks her head at one of her men and Raphael Dela Vega appears. He strains against the taller, broader man holding onto him, desperately trying to get free. I spot the crude spider tattoo on his face and it all comes rushing back to me—him telling me how he was going to rape and kill my mother and sister right in front of me. I feel dizzy, like I’m about to pass out. He’s haunted my dreams, but this is the first time I’ve laid eyes on him since the night Rebel bought me. I’ve tried to pretend he doesn’t exist, tried to pretend he’s dead somehow, that Hector tired of him and got rid of him, but no. Here he is in all his savage glory, only twenty feet away from where I’m standing now. And Maria Rosa’s threatening to set him free on our doorstep. Irrational as it may be, I’m terrified. Since the gunshots, car horn and Maria Rosa’s screaming took place, twenty Widow Makers have materialized out of the compound buildings, all holding guns, all ready to put a bullet in this woman’s head for fucking with their club name. Iknowthey aren’t going to let Raphael anywhere near me, but still… I can feel his eyes crawling all over my skin, can sense the dark things he wants to do to me, and it makes my heart squeeze in my chest.
“Shoot them all,” Shay says. “We don’t need any of them alive. Just fucking kill them all.”
For the first time since I’ve met the woman, I finally find myself agreeing with something that’s come out of her mouth. Less than a second after I think this, the weight of that hits me in the gut like a battering ram. Kill them all. I want them all dead. There are perhaps eleven people on the other side of the gate including Maria Rosa and Raphael, and I just agreed that I wanted them all dead.
Who am I becoming?
They’re drug dealers, murders, human traffickers and rapists. If my father were here, he would forgive them of their sins and invite them inside so he could help their wounded. I want to double chain the gate, douse the bastards in petrol and strike a match.
I would watch them burn.
Maria Rosa snatches a gun from the guy standing closest to her and holds it up, aiming though the bars of the gate at Cade. “If you kill us,” she hisses, “I won’t be able to tell you what Ramirez has planned for you, will I?”
I’m still all for killing her, but Cade falters. Shay cocks a mean looking gun, holding it up with both hands as she moves closer to Cade. “She’s bluffing. She doesn’t know anything about Ramirez. Let me put a fucking bullet between her eyes, man.”
“You think Rebel would do that?” he asks.
Shay’s determination flickers, only for a second. Only for the briefest of pauses. It’s enough for Cade, though. “Exactly. He’d want to know what she knows first. Andthenhe’d kill her.”
I don’t like his tone of voice at all. It sounds for all the world like he’s about to do as she asks. “You arenotgoing to let her in here, right?” It seems like sheer madness that he would even consider such a thing, and yet he gives me a tight-lipped smile and starts walking toward the gate.
“You, Rico,him,”—he points at the guy holding onto Raphael—“and Hector’s guy. That’s it. Everyone else needs to get gone. Then you can come in.”
“You’re crazy!” Maria Rosa laughs scornfully. “I’m not walking into the lion’s den with only one able-bodied guard. You must think I’m stupid.”
“No, I think you’re desperate otherwise you wouldn’t have come here. The choice is yours, Mother.”
Mother? My head is spinning. Why the hell would he call her that? It makes no sense. No one else seems to find it strange, though. The Widow Makers surrounding me are all wearing severe expressions, hands resting on their guns, some blatantly holding them out like Shay. I’m the only one who looks lost, I’m sure. Cade shrugs, smiling in a dramatic, all of a sudden way that is totally out of place.
“When you make up your mind, you let me know, okay? Meantime, I’ll be in the clubhouse drinking a cold one.” He begins to turn around, turning his back on the crazed woman on the other side of the gate, but she starts screaming again.
“¡Te odio! usted es un enfermo, el mal hijo de puta!”
Cade faces her again, grinning. “Oh, don’t worry, Mother. I hate you, too.”
There’s pure murder in her eyes when she lowers her gun. “Fine. Just the four of us. But trust me…if you value your life and the lives of your precious Widow Makers, you won’t lay a finger on me or mine.”
Cade draws an ex over his chest. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
“I’ve hoped you would die many times over already,cabron.”
“Likewise.” Cade stares at her until she loses patience and starts barking at her men in Spanish, presumably telling them to leave. They look unsure at first, and then afraid as she gets angrier and angrier. Eventually seven other men climb into two of the cars, start the engines and leave.
“There. Are you happy now? Rico isdying, motherfucker. Let us inside.”
I have no idea who this Rico guy is, but he sure as hell seems important to Maria Rosa. Cade grunts, still grinning, though the humor has vanished from his face. He looks like he’s grimacing as he slowly strolls to the compound gate and punches a code into the keypad to the left. The metal screeches as the gates swing open and then Maria Rosa is charging into the compound, holding up her gun. She marches straight up to Cade and presses the gleaming metal directly against his heart.
“You’d better fix him,” she spits. “You’d better fix him, or there will be consequences, asshole.”
I’d be curious to see what these consequences are, now that twenty angry Widow Makers surround her. Cade says something, but I don’t really hear it, though. The two of them talk, anger and antagonism lacing their voices, and I stare at Raphael, feeling panic rising in the back of my throat. He’s still being restrained, though the evil motherfucker isn’t struggling anymore. He’s staring right back at me, unblinking, apparently unfazed by the situation he finds himself in. He seems only intent on one thing:me. And the look in his eyes is enough to make the blood run cold in my veins.
“Well? Sophia? Can you do it?”
“Huh?” I tear my gaze from Raphael, shaking, to find that Cade has moved again and he’s standing beside me. His eyebrows are raised in question. “What?” I ask.
“Can you take a look at the guy? You’re studying medicine, right?”
I just look at him blankly. He can’t…he can’t actually be serious. Canhe? “What?No!I studypsychology.”
