The woman stared at him for a full second, then she gave him the downright scariest smile I’d ever seen in my life.
“Move, Rafael.”
For half a second he held his ground, just long enough to prove he’d tried. Then, exhaling sharply through hisnose, he stepped aside, the air of a man who knew he had lost the argument from the outset.
“Unbelievable,” he muttered under his breath. “You know Manuel will fucking gut me alive if anything happens to you, right?”
“You’re acting like this is something new,” she retorted.
Rafael followed a step behind her, close enough to intervene if necessary. His willingness to take responsibility told me everything I needed to know.
Then the woman caught sight of Addy, and her expression changed completely.
First came shock, sharp and immediate, followed by recognition so clear it almost felt physical. Then something else settled beneath it — something far more personal than the situation should have warranted.
“Addy?”
Addy, who was still half-pressed against me, lifted one hand in a small, almost sheepish wave.
“Hi!”
The cheerful sound felt out of place in this room. Not with the bodies still cooling on the concrete, not with the guns still raised just slightly too high to count as relaxed, and definitely not with the man beside her now dragging a hand down his face like someone who had just realized this situation had officially left the realm of manageable.
“Javier?” the woman asked, barely restraining herself as she focused on one of the kidnappers. “Why is my friend in your warehouse, cousin?”
The kidnapper opened his mouth but quickly closed it. His companion looked like he might faint. The dots connected in my head. I’d seen the woman before. This was Addy’s friend from the grocery store: Elena, the one she’d been meeting for weeks.
“You know her?” Rafael asked finally, his voice controlled but just edgy enough to betray how much of a problem this had just become.
Elena gestured vaguely in Addy’s direction. “Yes!”
“Of fucking course you do.” Rafael closed his eyes briefly and muttered, “Seriously, could this situation get any worse?”
I didn’t share the sentiment. As far as I was concerned, it already had.
Then he inhaled slowly and turned back toward the two men with the calm, controlled demeanor of someone who was trying very hard to keep their shit together.
Kyrill’s voice murmured quietly through the comms, “Please tell me you’re recording this. No one will believe it otherwise.”
I ignored him, keeping my focus exactly where it belonged — on Rafael.
“What,” I said finally, my voice low and controlled but carrying far more threat than volume ever could, “is this?”
Rafael straightened slightly, his expression shifting into something more deliberate, more diplomatic, even as his gaze flicked once more toward the bodies on the ground.
“Your woman,” he said carefully, “was brought here by men who wrongly believed they were doing me a favor.”
“That’s true,” Addy chimed in helpfully. “They were very enthusiastic about the gift concept.”
Kyrill let out a strangled noise suspiciously sounding like laughter in my ear.
Rafael ignored it.
“They acted without instruction,” he continued, gesturing toward Javier and his companion, who now looked like they were reconsidering every life choice they had ever made.
“You kidnapped her,” I said quietly.
“Theydid,” Rafael corrected. “Not me. I only found out about this nonsense after it was all over.”