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  “Uh oh, Juanita, sounds like you might be a grandmother sooner than you thought,” Roxanne teased.

  Juanita jerked her head to the side like it was on a swivel as she gave Valentina an assessing look. Roxanne, however, wasn’t so subtle. She reached over the seat and squeezed Valentina’s breast, hard.

  “Excuse me?!?!” Valentina squeaked indignantly as she swatted Roxanne’s hand away.

  “Are they sore?” Roxanne asked with a frown as she leaned back in her seat.

  “Are what sore?” Valentina hissed.

  “Your tits, of course! Are they sore? Need me to check again?”

  “No! No, I do not need you checking…that. Ever. What is with you people?”

  “You’ll have to forgive Roxanne, she doesn’t see the need to mince words or waste time, especially when it’s something important,” Juanita said.

  “So, answer the question,” Roxanne insisted. “Are they?”

  “Well, I hadn’t thought about it, but not really. I mean, a little but that’s normal around your period, right?”

  “Hmm,” Juanita sighed sadly as she watched her prospects for being a grandmother evaporate. “You might be right. So does that mean you’re on your period?”

  “I am not discussing my period with the two of you!” Valentina exclaimed, her cheeks flaming pink as she looked anywhere but at the two women.

  “That sounds like a no. It sure ain’t a yes. Interesting. So, you’re late?” Juanita probed. The woman was relentless; Victor came by it honestly.

  “Fine, yes, I’m late but only--”

  Mayhem. It was absolute mayhem as Juanita and Roxanne squealed and high-fived across the back of the driver’s seat, sending the SUV swerving just enough to have Valentina covering her mouth.

  “--but just by a couple of days,” Valentina quickly added as Juanita righted the car in the lane and put on her turn signal. “It’s probably stress. God knows there’s been no shortage of that over the last month. Let’s pull over and just chalk it up to nerves, okay? I’ve got a lot going on.”

  “True, true…” Juanita said serenely as she pulled over into a parking lot next to a convenience store. They got out and headed into the store. “Wait a minute.” They stopped and watched as Juanita went back to the SUV and grabbed the keys, locking the car as she looked around cautiously. Usually they didn’t have to worry about such trivial details because her security detail handled all of that, but today they were on their own. Better safe than sorry.

  The women walked into the store, not noticing at first that the young guy behind the counter was staring at them. Valentina turned in his direction, asking, “Do you have a restroom?”

  He stared, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. When he finally replied he didn’t answer her question right away. “I know you,” he blurted. He pointed at her as if it would remove any doubt from her mind.

  “So you’ve seen me on television? In reality, you really don’t know me.”

  “She’s right,” Roxanne agreed, as she opened a pack of licorice, chewing on the black gooey substance which in turn was turning her tongue and teeth black to match her wig.

  “Well, I just mean, you know, I recognize you. I’m a huge fan, Miss Vargas. I love watching you on TV so, yeah, I guess I feel like I know you.”

  “Maybe that’s why you’ve got a stalker,” Roxanne muttered to Valentina, revealing the evidence of black licorice.

  “Your teeth are black,” Juanita said with a grimace. Roxanne ignored her and continued chomping on the candy, fascinated by how easily Valentina had the poor guy stuttering and blushing.

  “Do you have a restroom?” Valentina asked again.

  “Oh, yeah, wow, sorry. Right back there.” He nodded toward the back and shamelessly watched her ass swaying as she walked away in her tight jeans and five-inch stilettos.

  “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” Roxanne’s voice cut through the cashier’s fantasy, her black teeth gleaming ghoulishly under the store’s harsh lights.

  “Fuck, yeah. Oh, sorry. I mean, yes…yes, she is. I’m a huge fan. I’ve been watching her ever since I first saw her a year ago. I’ve even learned some Spanish because of her,” he boasted.

  “Hey! What the fuck is going on out there?!” Juanita shrieked.

  Roxanne and the cashier watched in horror as Juanita ran out the door. Two young men were bent down by the SUV trying to pop the lock on the driver’s side. They took off running before she got to them. Fuming, she returned to the store, disgusted with herself for letting them get away.

  “Yep…” the cashier said, nodding his head like what had just happened was a common occurrence. When Valentina returned from the restroom, he was telling Juanita and Roxanne what he thought the guys had been doing. “Probably a gang initiation. They sneak into the backseat of a car and kidnap a woman, then they take her back to the gang to prove they pulled it off and it’s their ticket into a life of crime—gang style. They, um, rape the woman in front of the gang to make it official.”

  “I hate to even think about what happens to those poor women—that’s terrible.” Valentina reached into the small purse she was carrying and withdrew a business card. She flipped it over and wrote her cell number on the back. She handed it to him and couldn’t help but smile at the goofy grin on his face. “Call me if you see those guys again—not for anything else though. Seriously, if I start getting calls on this phone because of you, my fiancé will come down here and kick your ass.”

  Even as his smile waned he took the card, carefully placing it in his wallet. “I’ll call you if I see them again, Miss Vargas, but I wouldn’t count on it. I ain’t never seen them before and I’m pretty good with faces, plus they were wearing Narco Polos”—

  “What’s that?”

  “Jerseys with the horseman-with-a-stick emblem.”

  “I read something online about that,” Roxanne said, her teeth now clean of the black licorice she’d been eating.

  “Yeah,” the cashier continued, “I even talked to the owner about stocking them. They’re popular with Sinaloa cartel, so popular that they can’t keep them on the shelves; something about seven high-ranking drug cartel members being locked up over a three-month period, all wearing them in their mugshots.”

  “Charming. Wow, you know a lot,” Valentina noted with a coy smile.

  “I read a lot, you know, during the middle of the night when no customers are coming in. It gets so lonely.”

  Valentina plopped her carbonated drink and a sleeve of crackers on the counter with a thud, telling him to take the licorice Roxanne had eaten out of the money she gave him.

  Juanita smiled at the sight of the crackers on the counter, having visions of a little Victor running around and wreaking havoc. For now, though, she had more important problems to deal with: like finding two wannabe gangbangers who were stupid enough to think she and her girls were targets for a kidnapping.

  “Girl, I knew you’d do this.” Roxanne shook her head. She’d already guessed Juanita would go looking for the guys. She’d wasted no time beginning to scout the streets as soon as they got back in their vehicle.

  “Well, it pisses me off that they got away. I can’t go home not knowing if that was a random kidnap attempt or not. It could be Sinaloa cartel stalking her, we just don’t know right now.”

  “That’s true,” Valentina chimed in as she munched on a cracker. “You can’t be too careful.”

  “You just worry about my grandchild,” Juanita said slyly.

  Roxanne laughed as she turned around in her seat and looked at Valentina, who had decided to sit in the back this time so she could lay down if she needed to. “Judging by the way you’re wolfing down those crackers to settle your stomach, you most definitely have a Ramirez bun in the oven.”

  “Nothing would make Victor happier. Speaking of Victor, could we please not mention the issue of the Sinaloa cartel? I’ll never get out of the house again if he thinks I’m in danger. I’ve had such a gre
at time with you two tonight.”

  “There’s never a dull moment when Roxanne and I get together,” Juanita said as she cast a concerned look at Valentina in the rearview mirror.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna puke. You’re looking at me like you’re worried. Shouldn’t you be looking for the two wannabe kidnappers?”

  “I’m multi-tasking. Like right now, those two in that alley look suspicious.” She abruptly turned into the alley before her passengers could object.

  “Hey, baby, hey…” A working girl called out to the SUV, not realizing three women were in it. The deeper they drove into the alley, the more congested it got. A junkie sat against the wall, stabbing at his arm for a non-existent vein due to years of drug abuse.

  “Bingo…” Juanita said softly. The two men in the popular jerseys turned out to be drug dealers selling vials of crack to junkies who were oblivious to anything but getting their next hit.

  “Getting out of here is going to be a bitch, Juanita.”

  “I’m backing out of here, I’m not getting stuck up in this nightmare.” True to form that’s exactly what she did and other than a couple of people slurring expletives in her direction for almost hitting them, which was an exaggeration, she was able to clear the alley.

  Valentina was caught up daydreaming and looking out the window when she spotted another black SUV. “Well, I’ll be damned. Hey, guys, is that Agent Turner following us again?”

  The girls gasped as they looked in the direction she was pointing in. A man sitting with the window rolled down stared at them and Valentina recognized him. “What?! What the hell is he doing here? He’s supposed to be in Guatemala.”

  “Who is it?” the girls asked in unison.

  “It’s Luis Jimenez.”

  “Wait a minute. Isn’t that your old agent?”

  “Yes. Or no. Maybe I’m seeing things.”

  “Or maybe that son of a bitch followed you here. He could very well be the stalker. Believe me, stranger things have happened.” Juanita’s voice sounded grim and remote, almost as if she were talking to herself rather than her passengers.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  “Took you long enough.” Victor’s voice crept through the darkness toward Valentina as she closed the bedroom door. His silhouette was barely visible from where he sat in his favorite wingchair next to the fireplace. A glass half-filled with an amber liquid dangled between his thumb and forefinger as he gazed into the low, crackling flames.

  “Well, good evening to you too.” She set her purse and the half empty sleeve of crackers down on the occasional table next to the door and hesitated, not sure if she would be better off walking over to him or just making a beeline for the bathroom.

  “Don’t you mean ‘Good Morning’? Now where the fuck have you been? I didn’t expect you to be out half the night.”

  “With your crazy ass mother and aunt, as you well know.”

  He stood and moved over to the bed, glancing over at the items on the table as he lowered himself onto the mattress. When his gaze immediately zeroed in on the crackers, his lips curved into a particularly sinister smile. “Well, that doesn’t give you free rein to stay out all night. Get over here.”

  She kicked off her shoes and walked over to the bed but didn’t sit down. He took her arm and pulled her down beside him. “Have you been drinking?” he asked, going completely still as he awaited her response.

  “If ginger ale constitutes drinking, then yeah.”

  He rubbed his hand over her silky long hair, pulling her head down onto his chest. He let his hands roam freely as he grappled with the conflicting emotions coursing through him. “I want you all the time—when I’m with you, when I’m not with you. I can’t get enough of you. I feel like I’m going crazy when you aren’t around and the thought of losing you makes me want to kill someone.”

  He rolled over on top of her, bracing his weight on his forearms. “I want to put a baby in you more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life. I’ll do anything to keep you here—be it good or evil, I’ll do any-fucking-thing.”

  “How can you be so hard and yet so tender when it comes to me?” Her fingers trailed over his muscular chest. His cock hardened and strained toward her touch.

  “I’ve been trying to figure that out myself, my little vixen. Now tell me your secrets. Something happened tonight, I can tell.” He fisted her hair hard enough to make her grimace as she glared up at him. “Don’t lie to me, mi amor, or I’ll be forced to interrogate a pregnant woman.”

  “What makes everyone think I’m pregnant?” she huffed, exasperated.

  “Because you’re eating crackers and your period’s a week late.”

  “Oh my God, you really are obsessed! You’ve been tracking my periods?! What, are you crossing off the days on a calendar somewhere?”

  “I might have an app on my phone,” he said sheepishly, clearing his throat.

  “Oh. My. God. Well, it’s only been a few days, not a week. It could be anything.”

  “Well, all will be revealed in due time whether you acknowledge the truth tonight or not. Now, I want to know what happened tonight and don’t fucking lie to me. I see everything, you know.”

  “You had us followed? Unbelievable,” she scoffed, shaking her head.

  “From a discreet distance, of course. Believe it.” He tugged on the fistful of hair he still clasped in his hand. “Now, I want to hear it from you.”

  He was so damn sexy, Valentina almost forgot to be mad at him. He had that effect on her all too often lately. She couldn’t help but be enthralled by this dangerous man who was working his way deeper under her skin and into her heart with each passing day.

  Sure, she’d had fans in the past that declared their love for her but they were only star struck. But Victor certainly seemed to be the real deal. It was refreshing. So, she decided to be straight with him. All she could do was hope Victor didn’t go bat shit crazy on her.

  “You want me to be honest and I will, but you have to control all that Latin machismo or I’m going to feel like I need to hide things from you. Can you do that?” she asked when she saw his skeptical expression. “Look, we need to get something straight right now,” she declared, finding with some relief that her backbone was still in fine form, despite all the crazy in her life. “I’m not beneath you, Victor. I don’t need you or anyone else to rescue me. I need you to see me as an equal; anything else is unacceptable.”

  “If anything, Valentina, I put you above me.” Victor could be patient if need be, and if he needed to discreetly deal with a situation, he would do so without causing trouble with his woman. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t kill for her, though. Keeping Valentina was the most important thing. This was the woman he was going to marry. He’d drag her ass down the aisle if he had to. But for now, first things first.

  She took a deep breath then got right to the point. “Alright…you promised. So…the first problem was we pulled into a convenience store parking lot and some gangbangers tried to break into the car while we were inside--”

  “Why did you stop?”

  “Because your mother drives like a crazy person and I needed crackers to settle my stomach.”

  “I see.”

  “You see nothing, okay? Anyway, the guy working in the store told us that if we’d been in the car, they would have carjacked us. They didn’t get anywhere near us, though, just tried to break into the car while we were in the store. The cashier said gangbangers do it as initiation to gangs—kidnap women and take them back to their gang. Since we weren’t nearby, they were going to try to steal the car.”

  She stopped to study his expression before she continued. “The thing is, I think I saw my old agent, Luis. I swear I saw a guy who looked just like him. It was after we left when we were on the way home. I saw another SUV that looked a lot like ours—like the one we saw that was following us before. This time the driver’s window was rolled down and I saw Luis—I saw him, Victor, I know I did. The look he had on
his face was the same look you have for me sometimes.”

  His pleasure at her use of the word ‘home’ was quickly replaced by fury, as adrenalin flooded his veins like an all-consuming rush of lava, blinding him to all reason. He could feel and hear his heart thundering in his ears. He was certain Luis was as much of a stalker as he was but it was for a different reason—Luis had lost his cash cow. Victor couldn’t imagine what the asshole thought he would accomplish by following her, but there was no way Victor would ever allow another man to bother his woman or give her a moment’s unease.

  “I don’t know, baby… The more I think about it, it makes sense.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It makes sense that someone that close to you would be obsessed with you. Due to the close nature of your professional dealings with him, it wouldn’t have been immediately noticeable to you. Just business as usual. I may have underestimated him, but after he pissed his pants when King and Lola confronted him, I figured he was done.”

  “Who’s Lola?” she asked with a frown.

  “Oh, you’ll meet Lola soon enough. She’s a real beauty. That is one lethal creature.” At her pinched look, his chest relaxed and grew warm with pleasure. “Now, now,” he said slyly, “no need to worry about Lola. She’s quite devoted to King. But back to the matter at hand. If Luis is here, the man is willing to be tortured and killed for your sake. Perhaps he’s more dangerous than I originally gave him credit for.”

  “All Luis cares about is the money he could make off me.” Valentina was a smart enough businesswoman to not allow ego to get in the way of common sense.

  “I was so angry about him taking advantage of you that I just wanted to kill him. Instead, I thought it best to let King and Lola pay him a visit. Maybe I have a good reason to end him now,” he teased. “Everyone you’ve had in your life has wanted to use you, but I just want you. I’m obsessed but for all the right reasons.”