But it’s too late now, regardless of what Carmen said.
Carmen “he has very nice arms”Rubio.
I don’t think she realizes she said that out loud, but it immediately went straight onto my list of ways to antagonize her at the next available opportunity.
I file the thought away for later the second I see who’s waiting for us on the other side of those doors.
“Dante Grasso.”
My shoulders sag at the sound of her Italian annunciation.
Evelina Grasso seems to have barely aged a day. If it weren’t for the tastefully styled streak of gray in her dark hair, I would have thought I’d gone back in time.
My mother was always beautiful, but the years have been especially kind to her, amplified, as ever, by her immaculate wardrobe and graceful mannerisms.
She stares at me with matching near-black eyes, before holding out her hand before her delicately.
I turn to one of the men at her side and nod toward my captive. “Hold on to this for me?”
The man bursts into action immediately, and I bite back a smirk as Carmen grumbles against her new captor. But my attention is trained on my mother as I bow my head, take her hand, and place a reverent kiss on the back of it.
When I step back, her eyes are assessing, very obviously appraising every inch of me, her lips pursing in that infuriatingly indiscernible way that suddenly makes me feel like a child again.
I clear my throat. “Hello, mother.”
For a fleeting moment, a soft smile graces the older woman’s lips.
Then…
“¡Chingada madre!”
Her face hardens again as she takes in the Spanish cursing coming from the woman at my side. A cool sneer already replacing any lingering softness.
“This is your hostage? No?” Evelina takes a step forward to assess Carmen herself. “I have no quarrel with the Spaniards.”
“She’s Mexican,” I reassure her.
Evelina hums slightly before returning to me. “Non mi avevi detto che era bella.”
You hadn’t told me she was beautiful.
I wish the floor would swallow me whole.
“I didn’t think it was particularly relevant,” I reply in English before snapping at the man restraining Carmen. “Take her to the dungeons, get her settled in. I’ll see to her later.”
The look on Carmen’s face is something quite priceless.
“You’re not serious,” she hisses, caramel eyes molten with anger.
I chose not to address her out of sheer spite. “Feel free to ignore any questions she has and trust that whatever sob story shecomes up with is entirely false. This woman is, in fact, a sexual deviant who enjoys preying on vulnerable men.”
“I’m going to murder you.”
The string of curses that leave her mouth is swiftly cut off the second she’s dragged away by my mother’s guard to the dungeons below.
The holding cells beneath the castle were, in fact, dungeons at some point in theCastello de Ferro’s long and quite boring history. They span pretty much the entire footprint of the property at ground level.
These days, most have been removed to make space for an extensive gym and sauna facility. But there are still a few cells that have been refurbished for purposes such as this.
