Page 105 of LA Reign

He’s spiraling now, thoughts coming out randomly with no logic or connection. He is unraveling, and he is dangerous. He laughs as his grip tightens again and the blade digs in further. “I fucked her anyway, and then I slit her throat. Your father got pretty mad about that too, the bastard! Nothing I ever did was good enough for him!”

“No, I didn’t know that,” Alejandro says softly as he looks at me for the briefest moment. He gives a subtle nod as though to tell me this is all going to be okay. I so want to believe him, but a raging madman is spouting his delirium while he holds a knife to my throat.

“Did you think that you could walk in here and just take her back?” Carlos asks. “Although I’m not sure you’d want her now. She screamed for more when my men fucked her like the puta that she is.”

I wince at Carlos’s lie. Alejandro’s fists clench at his sides. Then he looks up at his uncle; his body vibrating with anger while his face remains calm. “Did you know that Jax is ambidextrous?” he asks calmly.

“What?” Carlos snaps in confusion. “What did you say?”

“Ambidextrous,” he repeats as bullets whizz past my ears. “As skilled with his right hand as he is his left.”

In a matter of seconds, the four armed men are on the floor with blood pooling from their heads. It happens so quickly, leaving us all stunned.

“You know he’s from Dallas, right?” Alejandro says.

“Quickest draw in the West,” Jax smirks as he walks down the stairs of the basement. With everyone’s attention on Alejandro, nobody noticed Jax slipping back into the shadows and drawing his weapons.

Alejandro looks between the knife at my throat and his uncle. “Please let her go, Carlos. You can have everything. The business, anything you want. I don’t want any of it without her.”

“Fuck you, hijo de puta,” he growls viciously. “I would die before I give her back to you.”

Alejandro takes a deep breath before he speaks. “Ahora.” Now.

I hear another whizz of a gunshot as Alejandro lunges forward, grabbing the blade of the knife before it slices through my throat. Carlos drops to the floor.

“Jax, get Lucia,” Alejandro shouts, and Jax starts jogging down the stairs and over to Lucia.

He drops to his knees in front of me. He pulls the rag from my mouth with his bleeding hand and I gasp for air. Then he works quickly, cutting the ties at my ankles before moving behind me and cutting my wrists free. My arms burn with the pain of a thousand needles as I pull them toward my body. Then he is on his knees before me again. Brushing my hair from my face as the blood from the wound on his hand drips down his arm.

“Alana. I’m so sorry.”

I wrap my arms around his neck, clinging to him as though I’ll never let him go. I sob against his shirt, the shock and trauma of everything that’s happened finally catching up with me.

He runs his good hand over my hair and presses his mouth to my ear. “I love you so much,” he breathes. “I need you to know that I have never regretted marrying you. Not even for a single breath. I would give up everything I have ever known if it meant not losing you. I couldn’t bear the thought of you being held prisoner, remembering that last conversation. I love you, Alana, more than life itself.”

My heart swells in my chest, and my sobs grow even more persistent. “I know, Alex. I love you too. I never doubted you. And I knew you’d come for me, for us.”

Then he is standing, lifting me into his arms. “I’ve got you, princesa. You’re safe now,” he says soothingly into my ear.

“What about you?” I ask. “Your hand?”

“It’s nothing,” he assures me.

We both look over at Lucia. She’s in Jax’s arms and has her head buried against his shoulder. “You okay, kid?” Alejandro asks.

She looks up at him. “Yes,” she sniffs as tears roll down her face. “What the hell Alejandro? That monster was my father?”

His face darkens. “We can talk about that later. Come on. Let’s get home.”

I nestle my head against his neck, breathing in his incredible scent and feeling such relief at being close to him again. Being in his arms, surrounded by his strength, feels as calming as being wrapped in a warm blanket. We could be anywhere in the world right now. I’m already home.

Chapter

Fifty-Two

ALEJANDRO

My blood thunders around my body as I walk out of my uncle’s house with Alana in my arms. I hold her tight, ignoring my own injury. Now I have her back I will never let her go again.