Damn. He was really throwing them under the bus, wasn’t he?
Before I could respond, Elena stepped forward, visibly irritated, folding her arms tightly across her chest.
“Our cousin,” she said sharply, throwing a scathing look at the man who’d kidnapped Addy, “made a colossal mistake. But luckily we got here before any real harm was done.”
Addy raised a hand and pointed at the two men standing there sweating bullets. “In their defense,theytreated me nicely. Well, aside from the whole kidnapping thing.”
I closed my eyes briefly, exhaling through my nose, because only Addy would try to soften the situation for the men who had just put a gun to her head.
Elena’s gaze flicked back to Addy, scanning her quickly, checking, and then her attention shifted to me.
“Right,” she said slowly, her eyes narrowing just slightly. “And you are…”
Addy suddenly brightened. “Oh right,” she said, turning toward me. “I forgot you two haven’t met yet.”
There was something ominous about that sentence.
“This is Elena,” Addy continued cheerfully, nodding toward the woman. “My friend from the market. The one I’ve been meeting up with, remember?”
When I didn’t react, she added, helpfully, “The one I told you about.”
I blinked in utter disbelief, then gestured between them. “You … know her.”
Addy nodded enthusiastically. “We have lunch together every Thursday.”
One of the kidnappers made a faint choking sound behind Rafael. Kyrill snorted and muttered “Unbelievable” in Russian.
“And for the record,” Elena added dryly, glancing at me again, “I did not realize who Addy was until about two minutes ago.”
“In my defense,” Addy said quickly, “you never asked.”
“That’s because ‘are you secretly involved with a Russian crime boss?’ is not a normal follow-up question over coffee,” Elena shot back.
Addy nodded sagely. “Fair enough. I mean, I didn’t ask you ‘are you secretly involved with a Puerto Rican crime boss?’ either.”
Elena threw her hands up. “How could I have missed that?”
Rafael turned to her. “Yes, how could you have missed the fact that you were fraternizing with the enemy, sister?”
“The enemy?” Addy asked, just as Elena scoffed.
“Don’tsisterme, Rafael. Ask your little soldiers how they could’ve missed that, not me.”
Rafael exhaled through his nose, clearly deciding not to pursue this line of questioning any further.
“Elena. This isn’t the place.”
“Well, from where I’m standing,” Elena mused, her gaze cutting briefly toward me before settling back on her brother, “this whole situation gives us a very convenient opportunity.”
Javier, who had been doing his best impression of a man trying to disappear into the wall, perked up immediately.
“Exactly what I was thinking,” he rushed out, far too eager. “That’s why I—”
“Don’t pretend like this was your plan all along.” Elena turned to glare at Javier, her eyes blazing. “This was the worst idea you’ve ever had, and that’s saying something.”
“What are you talking about?” Rafael asked her.
“I’ll explain in a minute. But first I want to clear something up…” Elena folded her arms, shifted her weight onto one hip, and looked at the two men with a cool, unimpressed expression.