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I looked through the open door, desperate to comfort her. But because of people like me, her brother was constantly on the run. I should’ve tried to help him so Holly wouldn’t be in this vicious cycle of pain.
Donato steered me toward the other chair in front of the desk. Daniel offered me a glass of whiskey, but I declined. I’d learned early whatever solace it provided was only temporary.
I leaned forward, bracing my forearms on my knees.What now?
“I no longer believe he’s as innocent or gullible as it first seemed. We’ll find him. And make sure Holly and Gabriel are safe until we do,” Donato said as if he could read my mind. It had been a mistake not to take him up on his offer the first time to get Jason out of jail and put him in rehabilitation.
I opened my mouth to ask how but decided against it. The man had done more for me than my father ever began to. I shoved my fingers through my hair. Once again I was thinking of him in paternal terms when there was no place for it. I didn’t have a father. Never had.
“I’m going to check on Holly,” I said, unable to bear the thought of her dealing with the news on her own.
“This isn’t our only problem,” Daniel said.
As if I didn’t know that.
A silent conversation ensued between the men. Was this what it would have been like to have a brother and father I could depend on? I hardly knew Daniel. When had I become so desperate for family?
“Eduardo Sandoval surfaced in Miami,” Daniel continued when I didn’t respond.
Fuck me. Despite the fact the city was thousands of miles from here, it made me incredibly uncomfortable to be in the same country. “What’s he doing?”
“He’s placed a bounty on your head to the highest bidder.” Daniel spoke as if he were reciting a news story.
Killing Eduardo had always been a very likely thing I’d have to do, but it had just become essential. It was the only way to get the bounty off my head. Would there ever be a day when I didn’t have a trail of bodies behind me?
Donato uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “The time has come. You have to run.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Holly
“I need to forget.”
I filled a glass with pinot noir and wondered why I’d bothered when I could chug straight from the bottle.
Carlos pried the glass from my hand and set it on the counter. He led me to my bedroom and made a quick check on the way to make sure Gabriel’s door was closed.
He didn’t speak as he removed my clothes, but he conveyed everything he wanted to say with the intensity in his eyes. I lifted my arms above my head, and he peeled my shirt off. He seemed to be drinking in every inch of my body.
Once we were both naked, he gently lowered me to the bed. Instead of kissing me, he rolled us to the side and used his strong arms to pull until we were pressed together. The lights were still on. There was nowhere to hide from his penetrating gaze, not that I wanted to.
“I want you to remember.”
His hands were like brands against my back, leaving imprints that I was sure to feel once they were gone. I touched his chest, surprised at thethump, thump, thumpof his racing heart.
“That’s what you do to me.”
He couldn’t be sweet to me. Not now. I needed him to use my body, not steal my soul.
The blinding truth was he was always kind, even when he ravaged my body. And though I’d told him we couldn’t be together, and we couldn’t, he already owned me.
He lifted my right hand to his lips and placed a reverent kiss in the center of my palm. Something shifted between us. It was powerful and potent. I was locked in the spell of him, and I prayed it would never break.
As much as I desired him, this intimacy was what I needed more than anything. He’d recognized that even when I didn’t. I slid my arms around his back and felt one of the many scars.
He was a cartel king. A killer.
And the most beautiful person I’d ever known.
