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I don’t let myself be seen again by her until I want her to. Although I don’t look the part of the drunken college student, I’ve never had a problem disappearing. It’s why five years ago it was so easy to fake my death and walk away from all of it. Any connection I had to family was severed the night Marcello cut my baby from Maya’s womb before letting her bleed to death right before my eyes.
Elio Lombardi died that night.
The world I left and the world I entered were never supposed to cross paths, but that didn’t prevent my sister from popping back up in my life, swearing she’ll hate me forever for the pain I caused her and my family. She claimed my mother died of a broken heart after my death. I should feel something about that. It should make the muscle in my chest clench. There should be regret or something, but I feel nothing.
I recognized my sister that day at Angel’s office, but the sight of her didn’t spark anything inside of me. I wasn’t hit with a wave of nostalgia or regret for letting her think I was dead for five years. The pain of betrayal in her eyes didn’t tug at something inside of me.
I think a part of my thoughts at seeing her again would have some sort of effect on me. It’s why I kept my distance, why I never went back to Chicago. The only fear I’ve felt since watching the life drain out of Maya’s eyes that night was the sheer terror of feeling anything again.
Not long after that night, a car wreck provided the perfect cover for my disappearance.
I shift in the shadows once again, my movements dictated by her search around the room.
She doesn’t have any idea how bad her night could be, how attractive the uncontrolled sway in her body caused by the alcohol is to traffickers.
Her hips move in a way that makes every man in the room think about taking something she isn’t offering, and there are even parts inside of me that feel that tug of attraction. Hell, she may not even be the type of woman to turn down any offer thrown her way. Maybe she’s equal opportunity. It wouldn’t be the first time a woman had her family fooled. Ayla may think her sister is young and inexperienced, but the way her body moves to the music tells another story.
The song changes and she walks away from the gyrating bodies on the dance floor, forcing me to shift again to keep an eye on her. It’s not often that I get to take such an easy job. More often than not, I’m in a situation where getting shot is a real possibility, and although one of the men here may have been sent by Cortez, it’s unlikely my night will end by dodging bullets.
The douche, trying to get her drunk, offers her another flask as two more men join their little group. The additions to the group look bored and a little out of place. The eyes on the tallest one scans the crowd in a knowing way, and it makes my hackles take notice. His perusal of the people around him is too knowledgeable, too aware.
I step out from behind a group of cackling females, paying no attention to them when their laughter falls away, as I make my presence known.
Alani locks eyes in my direction, as if she can sense me looking at her.
If there is someone from Cortez’s group here tonight, it’s the man standing with her. The girl needs to be taught a lesson, but I wouldn’t get paid if she’s taken right out from under my nose. As horrific and brutal as the Severino family is, I know Angel Guerra can be just as brutal. Letting Alani get hurt under my watch can’t happen.
She isn’t as sure on her feet as she should be as she crosses the room toward me. I want to warn her, to remind her that bad things happen to obtuse little girls, but the second she’s close enough, her hands are on my chest, the warmth of her palms settling against my skin through my t-shirt. Her hips move to the music, the brush of her body against mine more enticing than it has any right to be.
I can’t open my mouth to tell her there’s a bullseye on her back, that drawing so much attention to herself is dangerous even if she wasn’t being targeted already because of her sister. She should know better than to act the way she’s been acting. Hell, another girl her age was abducted from this school. She was at the same place Nash and Ayla were, and the sole reason we clashed with Cerberus, in Mexico, a few days ago.
