“He said he planted ideas in your head, made things available.” I lifted the bar again to do another set of reps. My entire body burned, but I couldn’t stop. I’d go crazy. I’d been spinning my wheels to no end for days.
Shadows flickered through Rever’s eyes. “You really think he could be working with Juan Alvarez?”
I lifted the weight bar eight more times, concentrating on the simultaneous burn and quiver of my pectoral muscles as I counted off the reps in my head.
Eight. Nine. Ten.
“No.” I handed the bar to Rever. “I think he’s playing Juan and Ignacio against each other.”
“Why would he do that?”
I licked my lips. “Think about it. If both cartels are weakened by this turf war, it leaves the whole region open to being exploited by other cartels or new leadership.”
Rever frowned. “How would that benefit Emanuel?”
I wiped my hand across my sweat stained forehead. “Emanuel wants to be the new leader to rise from the ashes, and consolidate the entire region under him. We all know he has people in the Alvarez Cartel feeding Emanuel information. Who’s to say they’re not working for both sides? I’m sure he has plenty of people loyal to him in the Vargas Cartel, but in order to unite everyone behind him, he needs to discredit both of Ignacio’s potential successors. Your name is already shit, and that leaves me.”
“And Juan’s successor apparent is dead.” Rever leaned his back against the wall behind him and tipped his head toward the ceiling.
I sat up and stretched my aching arm muscles over my head. “Yes, and Juan is in the hospital, and we killed almost all of his inner circle when we rescued Hattie.”
“Now the attempt on Ignacio’s life makes a lot of sense. I couldn’t believe his guard screwed up and allowed him to get shot.”
“Right, and who directs Ignacio’s personal guard?” I asked, the pieces of the puzzle shifting into place in my mind.
Rever whistled under his breath. “Emanuel directs the Fuerzas Especiales de Ignacio,” he said, referencing Ignacio’s paramilitary unit.
“Dammit.” I rubbed my temples. “If I suspected we were being manipulated, I would’ve let Enrique live. I played right into Emanuel’s hands.” Images of things Enrique did to Hattie flashed through my mind. “Then again, I probably still would’ve killed him for hurting Hattie.”
“Fuck,” Rever said, his voice rough.
“My thoughts exactly.”
“So what are we going to do?” Rever asked.
“You’re going to help me.”
He nodded. “I’m in. That fucker has manipulated me for the last time.”
I angled my chin to the side. “I have one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“Ignacio has to go too.”
“You’re planning to run the Vargas Cartel by yourself?”
“No,” I said. “You’re going to do it with me.”
He pursed his lips. “I don’t know. I think I’m done with this.”
“You owe me. I helped you with Anna.”
Rever scoffed. “Yeah, well, that didn’t turn out so great. She was jerking me around.”
I shrugged. “A debt for a debt, remember?” I reminded him. He had promised me if I helped with Anna, he owed me a favor in the future.
“I remember.” Rever scrubbed his hands over his face. “Why do you want my help running the cartel? What do I have to offer?”
“You know all the contacts. You know the history. I’d be running blind by myself.”
“What’s going to happen to Ignacio? Are you going to kill him?”
Standing up, I smiled. “No. I have other plans for him.”
Rever’s eyebrows lifted. “Should I ask?”
“No.” I patted him on his shoulder. “But I think you’ll like the outcome.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Hattie
“We’re wasting our time. There has to be another way,” I complained as I sat on the sofa in Ryker’s D.C. apartment to buckle my heels.
I hadn’t done anything about my living situation. The majority of my stuff was still at Vera’s apartment. She was my best friend, but after I saw the email she sent to Evan indicating she fed him information about me, I didn’t fully trust her. Also, I couldn’t imagine what she’d think if I showed up with Noah in tow.
He’d been my constant shadow for the last week, but tonight that was going to change. I’d promised to meet my parents at a restaurant for dinner tonight. Noah wanted to come with me, but I refused. Despite Noah’s insistence that we could introduce him to my parents as a friend from college, I didn’t think the lie would work. After hours of back and forth, we agreed he’d sit at the restaurant bar to keep an eye on me.