MelinaWaiting is the hardest part. I spend a lot of time thinking about these last months. About my life before Austin. I hated school, but it was a way to get out from under my brother’s thumb and I was willing to do anything—even sit in a classroom learning a subject I detest.I would go back to school and learn for Austin, though. If he plans to marry me, he loves me. I think he just doesn’t understand love. I’ll spend the rest of our lives teaching him.It’s almost midnight when we hear a commotion at the front door. The men are home and the muscles in my stomach unclench.Moon sports a bloody white dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar. Gomez is pristine in a three piece suit looking like he doesn’t have a care in the world, and my man looks sexy as hell in jeans and a black T-shirt. Mak raises her eyebrows at her husband. He pulls her into his arms. “One down,” he says softly, but I hear it and hope it’s my brother.“You’re sexy when you kill someone who needs it,” Mak replies.
MelinaHe leans across me first and turns off the light. I don’t mind. If it makes it easier for him to talk in the dark, I’m good. “She was a bitch.” He remains silent for a minute and I give him time. “She sold me to men who liked little boys and then to men who liked older boys. She was a fucked-up mess for as far back as I can remember. Not mother material.”I dig my fingers into the skin of his arm, but he doesn’t flinch. “Her boyfriend, from the article, was he one of them?”“The worst.”I can just barely make out his face in the dark and I lift my hand to his cheek. It’s what he isn’t saying that’s even more horrifying. He was only twelve when he killed them. To give a child no other way out is inconceivable and at the same time not surprising. I thought of killing my father for what he did to my mother. I’ve thought of killing my brother for what he’s done to me and any person or animal I’ve cared for. To push Austin over the edge at twelve had to be a living nightmare. “I’m g
AustinReflecting on my past isn’t good for me. I’ll do my best to move forward after Fernandez is dead. He’s in hiding again and building his base. I’m taking Melina home with me. Victor and Cindy’s home will now be ours. I’m already thinking of it as Melina’s. I want her decorating in a style she loves. Thank God her taste doesn’t run to dead animals. For her, though, I would put up with it.This is love.I try constantly to wrap my head around it. She’s forgiven me for everything I put her through. What’s more, she knows who and what I am. There’s no turning back for either of us.Melina wasn’t happy that I didn’t tell her about Andreas taking a bullet. She’s fussed over him since we boarded the plane. It’s been fun watching him deal with her. From his clipped responses, he doesn’t appreciate her care. As long as he knows she’s mine, she can fuss all she wants and he’ll be pleasant. I give him a sharp look when he groans and he nods.Moon, Mak, Gomez, and Celina are on the plane wi
AustinThe laughter follows us when I pull her from Moon’s room and head to our suite at the end of the hall. Andreas stays back, making sure we enter our room safely. I close the door with a solid thud and secure the locks.“Turn around slowly again so I can see the back of that fucking dress.”“Do you like it?” she asks as she slowly spins for my pleasure.“I’ll like it more when it’s off,” I offer because I want the dress on the floor and Melina naked in my arms.She laughs and spins around again, stopping so all I see is her back. “It’s secured in the back. Unfasten me and your wishes will come true, I promise.”There are small buttons at her waist that require finesse. My fingers feel overly large when I try. The smell of her skin is simply too much to resist and I kiss her back and shoulders. She shivers beneath my lips and I smile wickedly. The last button is impossible and my restraint is at an end. With a sudden jerk of the material, a button goes flying and I rip the dress f
AustinThe laughter follows us when I pull her from Moon’s room and head to our suite at the end of the hall. Andreas stays back, making sure we enter our room safely. I close the door with a solid thud and secure the locks.“Turn around slowly again so I can see the back of that fucking dress.”“Do you like it?” she asks as she slowly spins for my pleasure.“I’ll like it more when it’s off,” I offer because I want the dress on the floor and Melina naked in my arms.She laughs and spins around again, stopping so all I see is her back. “It’s secured in the back. Unfasten me and your wishes will come true, I promise.”There are small buttons at her waist that require finesse. My fingers feel overly large when I try. The smell of her skin is simply too much to resist and I kiss her back and shoulders. She shivers beneath my lips and I smile wickedly. The last button is impossible and my restraint is at an end. With a sudden jerk of the material, a button goes flying and I rip the dress f
MoonMy fingers shake with rage as I read the goddamn note again.I have your beautiful wife. There is no ransom. You’ll receive pieces as I see fit.Fernandez has Madison. Forget about how he got her, which is driving Alex, my enforcer and friend, crazy. Fernandez plans to torture Madison, bringing my worst nightmares to realization. I will not lose her, and that bastard will die painfully by my hands when I find him. If he wants to talk pieces, he has no idea that the pieces of his body won’t fill a plastic sandwich bag when I’m finished with him.Austin, my counterpart in Southern California, should have wiped Fernandez off the face of the earth when he threatened Melina, Austin’s woman. I don’t give a fuck that Fernandez is her brother. He’s a danger to us all and his vendetta against Austin has now landed on my doorstep and my wife is suffering the consequences.Holding back my fury, I pull in a calming breath even though I feel anything but. The knot in my stomach slowly expands
MadisonOne day ago…It had been a long, hassle-filled day and now worry is added to the mix. Cori didn’t show for her last appointment and I just got off the phone with the client. Cori never misses appointments and I’m getting worried because she’s also not answering her cell. I lift the phone again ready to call my security team, but I’m startled half out of my chair when it rings in my hand.“Hello?”Heavy breathing fills the line and I almost hang up. “Hello, Madison. Are you missing your friend yet?” I hear. The voice is low with a heavy Spanish accent.No one but Moon calls me Madison or they’d be eating my fist. “Who is this?” I demand while my fingers tighten on the phone.The maniacal laugh gives him away. I instantly know who I’m speaking with. My stomach clenches before he speaks again and my worry for Cori shoots through the roof. “We’re about to become very good friends, Madison. Now listen carefully… a car is waiting for you downstairs. You will leave your office, take
MadisonFrom Melina’s stories, Fernandez is obsessed with his appearance. She told me he showers and washes his hands constantly. He insists that each item of clothes he wears is starched and ironed. The gold chains he displays his wealth with are absent today, but his dark chest hair shows in the open vee at his throat surrounding the rolls of fat at his neck. Add his small, dark beady eyes and I want to puke.When I don’t immediately respond to his threat about removing my clothes, he waves the knife in front of my face to gain my attention. I glance down at my dripping wet skirt and blouse. The blouse and my bra are too sheer to offer cover now that they’re wet. Losing my clothes might make Fernandez think I’m more defenseless and he’ll be wrong. I’m more than willing to lose this small battle if it gives me a mental edge. I need to see Cori alive with my own eyes before I fight back.I pull the shirt over my head, which isn’t easy because it’s sticking to my skin. With perfect acc