“What have you done?” I snarl, my voice hoarse like I swallowed a thousand blades of woe. “Get that off her face.”
My neck strains when I fling my torso forward, still impossibly restrained. “If she’s dead, motherfucker, I’ll make you wish my name never passed your lips… that we never met… that you never looked me in the eye… do you fucking understand me?”
Carlos just sits there chuckling, his arms folded. “Elias is dead. Tomás is the hybrid king who rules a new generation of the Souza cartel. Times have changed, Giovanni, and you, my boy, have something I want.”
When distorted laughter cracks open my throat, it sounds deranged. “You’re not getting shit from me,” I growl. “Now take the sheet off, Blanco. Why the fuck have you covered her face like that?”
He sighs heavily. “That girl is the reason I had to pay out a million in cash to the mother of my top lieutenant… why she mourns the loss of her only son. The Castillos demand vengeance.”
I can’t hear him properly under the thrumming of blood surging to my aching heart, his voice an echo behind my panic. “You’re a fucking dead man.”
“Now, now, Giovanni. Be smart. Think about your options. Consider what could have really happened tonight if I wasn’t offering you a wonderful opportunity. The girlshouldbe dead. We all know that.” He glances over his shoulder at her and my heart stops mid-beat.Should be?“Any otherputain her position would be first in line to meet the butcher. But…”
Carlos stares at me again. Perhaps he expects me to keep eye contact with him, but nothing he could say or do right now could strip my gaze from her.
“I want you to remember this chat. How Carlos Blanco knows exactly how to destroy you,” he gloats, freakishly reminding me of my father’s egoistical taunts. “Yet instead, I offered clemency because you and I have a future together. That’s what real men of power do. They take calculated risks to accumulate beneficial resources. Men like us always take. Inallways. Don’t make me regret my decision to keep you both alive. Otherwise, that little girl in her sexy prom dress will be at the mercy of the Castillos.” He stands. “We’re done here… for now.”
“You’re right, Blanco. This is far from done. Even after I’ve killed you, I’ll raise the fucking dead to hunt you down in the afterlife.”
“I’ll leave you alone for a bit to think things over.” Carlos goes to shake my hand and then smiles, retracting his hand. He knows I’m trapped and relishing it. “She should start to come around from the sedative in a few minutes. It made her very vulnerable in the hands of the wrong people.” As he speaks, he saunters towards the trolley, grabs the sheet at the top corner and pulls it away from her face.
My ribs tighten to create a bone cage that barely contains every wild beat of my heart. Before me, the vision of her pale complexion and elegantly poised profile steals my ability to exhale.
Ebony lashes rest on her lower set and perfect lips are parted ever so slightly. Soft golden strands spill onto the dull metal beneath her head. I focus on her chest, patiently waiting for it to rise. I need to confirm she’s alive. When I notice the slight elevation of her cleavage, everything inside of me goes haywire. Relief and revenge clash in my veins.
She’s stunning. A delicate little thing needing to be safeguarded for the rest of her life. And that task belongs tome.
“You should consider my amicable proposal, Giovanni.” Carlos inches away from her, a sick smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Agree to do business with me.”
“Doing what exactly?”
He raises his brows, signaling to the armed guy to my right. He filters out with the bastard as he leaves. “Doing what you do best,” he calls out back over his shoulder.
Taking a beat to breathe in the silence, I bow my head for a second and growl out my intention. “While there’s still breath in my lungs, I won’t stop fighting to get you out of here.”
3
INDIA
Rattle. Squeak.
For a moment I think I’m in Blackwater when I blink my eyes open and see dark corners with hazy light.
An awareness of pain comes from inside my skull, but my arms won’t respond to my brain when they try to investigate.
Next, I think about wiggling my toes… my fingers… nothing. Only faint pins and needles, all overshadowed by numbness.
What the hell happened?
Intermittent memories of prom make me smile inwardly, the warm sensation abruptly chilled by the flashback of wreckage, floating in and out of consciousness, and a sharp needle piercing the vein in my arm.
A high-pitched squeak continues to echo around me, the sound of it coming from my left. As much as I want to look, my eyes keep rolling into the back of my head.
Where am I?
Using as much strength as I can muster, my head rolls sideways—just a fraction—towards the noise.Giovanni. He’s still wearing his formal attire and sitting in a creaky metal chair.
He rocks back and forth, straining his arms. They look like they’re attached to the seat with zip ties. He elevates his hips at an angle where his stretched out fingers meet his designer belt buckle.
