Falling With Grace

Islapped his boots off the furniture. “No. We’ll go to him.” A burst of heat roiled through my gut. My jaw clenched. “Did you change her guards?”

“One thing at a time…”

My fists clenched as I turned on a dime and marched up the stairs, Javier at my back.

Antonio stood “Jefe.”

Eduardo glanced at him with tight lips.

“I warned you.” I kept my voice low and clipped. “Didn’t I?”

“She must have—”

I seized his arm and whirled him towards the banister, his back colliding with the unforgiving metal railing. “Not good enough.”

Gathering the back of his jeans in my fist, I heaved him over the edge.

Antonio collided with the last step, landing face-first, his spine audibly cracking in two, leaving him sprawled in a mangled heap.

I pivoted back to Eduardo, my chest heaving, a red haze clouding my vision.

“Please,” he raised his hands in defense. “She must have slipped away while I was in the bathroom.”

My hand coiled around his throat as I shoved him against the wall, my finger pressing against his temple. “Step away from your post again, even for a piss, and you’ll face a fate far worse than Antonio’s.”

His eyes widened, his throat constricting under my grip. Eduardo nodded, and I released him, my jaw solid and tight as I stepped back.

Grace’s door swung open, her head peeking out between the crack. Her eyes widened as her gaze locked onto mine. “Is everything okay?”

I tucked my hands into my pockets.

Her damp hair cascaded around her shoulders. The collar of her fresh shirt nestled just below the hollow of her throat, her nipples pressed against the fabric.

“We’re just taking out the trash.” I gave her a soft smile. “Mandar al diablo.”

She cast a fleeting glance toward Antonio’s previous station, her lower lip captured between her teeth.

“Go to bed, Grace. It’s late.”

Her cheeks flushed as her doe eyes flitted to each man standing in the hall. She nodded and disappeared behind the closing door.

I turned my focus to the useless guard. “I hope I’ve made myself clear, Eduardo.”

“Si, Jefe.”

Javier and I descended the steps, my bare toe skimming through the crimson debris oozing from Antonio’s nose. “Tell the men to tidy up this mess before she wakes.”

He chuckled, and I dismissed him with a wave before striding towards my bedroom. “Not taken by her at all…”

Harsh discipline had nothing to do with Grace. I’d killed men for less. She just happened to be entangled in it all.

At least, that’s what I’ll keep telling myself.

23

Grace

He killed a man.