“You speak Spanish?” I gaped at her.
“Oh, yeah. A bit. My grandparents were from Puerto Rico and my dad used to speak Spanish to us.”
How had I not known that?I’d read pages and pages about her background, and not a single word about her speaking Spanish. I didn’t know whether this would be to my advantage or not.
She extended her hand to the men again. “I’m Addy.”
No. Fuck no.
The taller one hesitated, then — against his own instinct, I could see it — shook her hand.
“Rafael,” he said.
His eyebrows lifted slightly as if he wasn’t quite sure what to make of her.
“Do you know where you are, Rafael?” I cut in, my voice dropping in pitch, growing colder.
His eyes flicked to mine. “We go where we want.”
“Not here,” I said simply. “Not without permission.”
The shorter one shifted slightly — just enough for me to clock the outline of a gun under his shirt.
Rafael’s mouth curved faintly. “Territory changes.”
“I’m glad we agree on that,” I drawled. “Because this here is mine.”
He sucked his teeth. “Not for long.”
The air snapped tight.
Behind them, the boutique door burst open and my men flooded in, weapons drawn and breathing hard. They’d had to have been drawn away from their posts. Distracted. That alone was enough to send a fresh wave of cold fury through me.
Hands twitched, instinctively moving to the weapons we all carried. None of us had our fingers on the triggers, but the lines were now drawn in steel, not just implication.
Addy went very still beside me.
“Okay,” she said softly. “This is a lot more tense than I’d anticipated.”
Rafael didn’t flinch at the guns. It told me everything I needed to know. This wasn’t a mistake. This was a message.
I tightened my grip on her, my jaw clenched so tightly I was certain my molars would grind to dust. Rafael’s eyes flicked to my hand on her waist, and I saw understanding sharpen in them.
“You bring her here?”
“I bring her everywhere.”
“Then you should teach her where she’s standing,” he said, nodding faintly toward Addy. “This is contested ground now.”
“No,” I corrected him. “This is mine.”
There was a beat of silence, then Rafael’s gaze sharpened. “Your shipments say otherwise.”
There it was.
It seemed the Familia were testing the boundaries to see where we’d break. I tightened my grip on her, clenching my jaw so hard I was certain my molars would grind to dust.
“You think you can choke supply lines and walk into my territory like this?” I asked quietly.