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Madelena
“I said, get your motherfucking hands off my wife!” Santos physically pulls Liam off.
“Not to nit-pick, but you didn’t use motherfucking. Had I known you’d be so upset—” Liam says with a casual, relaxed grin until Santos cuts him off by fisting a handful of his shirt and jerking him toward himself. He has a predator’s confidence, Liam, and they’re well matched although Santos’s anger is somehow more. He has a bigger stake in this.
Standing nose to nose, Liam looks every bit as amused as Santos does furious. This only irritates Santos, who shoves Liam hard against the wall, forcing his breath out of his lungs. But Liam still stupidly manages a chuckle.
“You ever so much as lay a finger on my wife again, and I will rip your arms from your body. Do you fucking hear me?” Santos asks in a tone so low, so menacing, that I believe him.
“That wasn’t your specialty, if I recall, although I don’t doubt you’d do it.”
Santos jerks him forward then slams him against the wall again, this time making Liam’s head bounce off it.
“What the hell is going on in here?”
We all turn to the man who has just entered—at least, everyone except Santos and Liam, the latter of whom is no longer amused but ugly. Vengeful. Hateful.
“We were just introducing ourselves to Santos’s new wife,” Camilla says in that soft, almost child-like way she has. She’s all big blue eyes and innocence. Not. “I mean, if we’re going to be neighbors, we should be neighborly. It’s what Daddy always taught us.”
Neighbors? What does that mean?
Santos’s body goes rigid, and a weighty silence descends like a shadow.
Caius puts a hand on Santos’s shoulder. A long moment later, Santos’s grip eases on Liam. He breathes in a tight breath as he takes a step backward, then turns to the man who just entered and shoves Liam in his direction.
“Keep control of your family,” Santos says through gritted teeth.
The man, who is bigger and clearly older than Liam, catches him, looks him over and straightens his shirt before releasing him. His eyes cut to me, and his expression doesn’t change as he takes my measure. I’m not sure which out of the three is the most dangerous. This one, with a scar that marks his throat from ear to ear may look the most violent, but the others are just as terrifying.
“Thiago,” Camilla starts, going to him, head tilted to the side, lips in a pout. “We really were just being nice.”
He shifts his gaze to her. “I told you both to stay put.”
“I had to pee.” She shrugs her shoulders, somehow making her big eyes even bigger.
He exhales loudly, gestures with a nod of his head to one of his soldiers, who steps forward. “My brother and sister will be returning home.”
Camilla stomps a foot. She literally stomps her foot like a two-year old. “We just got here!”
Thiago steps toward her. I expect her to back away, but she stands her ground.
“You act like a fucking child, and you will be treated like a fucking child,” Thiago says.
She glares, then gets control of herself. A moment passes where that innocent, pretty face is replaced by something other, something ugly, but it’s gone in the blink of an eye. She grins, glances at me, and gives me that blinding smile again. “See you soon, Madelena. It was really lovely to meet you. Come on, Liam. Let’s go. This is boring anyway.”
Liam, like a little puppy, follows her out, tugging his arm free of the soldier who tries to take hold of him.
Thiago faces Santos. They’re the same height, and of similar build, two dangerous men in a space too small to contain them both.
“He comes near my wife again, and he won’t walk away. I don’t care who he is to you, Thiago.”
Thiago’s jaw is so tense I can imagine how hard he’s gritting his teeth. I hold my breath as I wait for his response, but he forces a breath in and his entire demeanor changes. His eyes move to me, over me, and his mouth morphs into a smile. He looks more like his brother and sister now. A little more. He’ll never be quite as pretty as them. He was once, I can see that, but no more.
One corner of his mouth curves up into a grin and he shifts his gaze back to Santos. “Family is important to men like us, isn’t it? The things we care about, we’ll do anything to protect. Which makes them a weakness.” That last part is a threat. Even I hear that.
Santos’s hands clench into fists at his sides. I get the feeling he’s about to get in Thiago’s face when Caius steps between them, stopping him. He puts a hand onto Thiago’s shoulder. I can’t see Caius’s face; his back is to me. But I watch Thiago’s, as does Santos. Thiago’s eyes move to Caius’s hand. He sucks in a slow, tight breath, every muscle tensing like he wants to pounce.
Caius says something too quietly for me to hear.
