Willing To Die — Raymond Hunter Pyle

Adana Delgado had been a special person in Cotton's life. She was just as special to Alice, Cotton's significant other. A year after Adana and her fiancé Ricardo were murdered Cotton and Alice were still grieving but slowly putting it behind them. They thought they had put the whole Delgado criminal mess behind them. Then out of the blue, Estephan Mendes, Ricardo's brother showed up at Cotton's office and introduced his daughter Dina, a three year old, dark eyed little beauty, and asked Cotton to be her bodyguard. For just two or three weeks, he said.
Cotton wasn't convinced of Estephan's story of needing Dina protected while he tried to find an accommodation with the cartel that had murdered his brother. Cotton was sure Estephan wanted revenge and wanted Dina out of the line of fire while he hunted. But revenge for Adana's murder was on Cotton's mind too. He decided to protect Dina and ignore Estephan's real motives. Cotton should have listened to the advice he had given Adana. Revenge never solves anything.