by Karina Halle
But she refuses to back down. She makes a move to turn and I’m quick.
I have her against the wall, my hand over her mouth, the gun under her chin. Such a similar position to the way I was with Violet a week ago.
“How do I make myself more clear?” My lips are at her ear. She’s breathing heavily against my mouth, her eyes wide. “You have nothing on me. I am Vicente Bernal, nothing but a ghost in your country. Before you can do anything about me, I’ll be long gone. You, on the other hand, can easily be thrown away without a key. Is that what you want for your daughter? What about Ben, the son who isn’t your son? Do you want them to live their lives knowing their mother was a criminal, a con artist, that their father was a money launderer who killed people? And whatever did happen to Sophia Madano? She’s dead somewhere. I just can’t figure out if it’s your fault or my father’s. It’s hard to tell, you’re both so similar.”
Ellie whimpers, I press the gun harder into her chin, tipping her head back. “Shhh, shhh. Good girl. You be quiet now. Be the good mom you always wanted to be but never could. Now is your chance, you know. Just let your daughter go. Let her be with who she wants to be with. Let her live the life she wants and be the person she needs to.” My lips raze the tip of her ear. “You know, she’s a lot like you and you don’t even know it. You hide it. She doesn’t. She can’t hide anything, that’s what makes her so special. And in time, she’ll know exactly what she’s capable of. No more being weak. She’s going to embrace every bad bone in her body and come out stronger. You’ll see.”
I pause, trailing the gun down her neck, to her chest. “Or maybe you won’t see. Maybe she’s never coming back. Maybe you’ll never see her again because I can give her everything you couldn’t.” I feel it punch through me like a fist. “You won’t believe this but I’m in love with her. So I guess you don’t have to worry about that.” I steal a glance at her face. She looks even more terrified than before. “Or maybe you should be more worried. I can see what my father’s love did to you.”
She tries to laugh.
I remove my hand, curious.
“Your father never knew what love was,” she sneers, gulping in air. “And neither do you.”
Then with sheer disgust she spits.
Right in my face.
I stare at her in shock before slowly wiping it from my cheek.
“I will never hurt your daughter, Ellie Watt,” I tell her, fire rising from my chest. “But I don’t feel the same way about you.”
With one quick thwack, I bring the gun down on the side of her head, knocking her to the ground where she crumbles in a heap.
I glance up at the ceiling, listening, wondering if Violet heard anything. While a semi-conscious Ellie moans at my feet – clearly my pistol-whipping skills could use some work – I grab her by the arms and haul her into the kitchen and leave her on the floor. I quickly rifle through the drawers until I find the one with all the junk, then bring out the duct tape.
I tear off a few strips placing it across her mouth, then bring her over to the dining room chair which I sat in a few weeks ago. With her head slumped over, I make her sit up and place her hands around the back of the chair, tying them together with the tape before taping her across the chest to the actual chair itself.
It’s not the best but it will buy us enough time.
I can only hope that Camden doesn’t come back in the next few seconds – now that I know him better, I have a feeling that man fights dirty – and that Violet has already snuck out and is making her way to the car.
I shove the tape into my jacket along with the gun and then raise Ellie’s chin to get a better look at her. She tries to open her eyes but can’t, passing out. She’ll be all right. Hopefully nothing more than a terrible headache when she wakes up.
“Sorry,” I tell her, kissing the top of her head. “My father probably wouldn’t have approved of that.”
Luckily his approval doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.
The only thing that does is hopefully waiting by my car.
I run out of the front door, gently closing it behind me, and head down the street like I was never in the McQueen’s house at all.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Violet
Where the fuck is he?
I’m standing by his Mustang, illegally parked on Clayton, mind you, but Vicente is nowhere in sight. It’s freezing cold, my scarf and jacket doing little to warm me up and after everything I’m jumping at every shadow I see moving in the fog.
Am I doing the right thing?
I’m trying not to have doubts. We’ll just go away for the weekend. When I come back, maybe everything will settle. Maybe when Ben gets here he can find a way to talk to them, to get the truth. I think with me it’s that there’s too much baggage, especially since they’ve somehow roped Vicente into all of this.
I wish they’d just give him a chance. Honestly, if they could see how he treats me, they’d know he’s not capable of hurting me. I mean, outside of the bedroom of course. Plus, there’s the fact that he really does seem to get me, know me inside and out, all my dark and ugly places, and he still wants to be with me. He celebrates it.
Of course they wouldn’t give him much of a chance if they knew the whole truth, what with his father being head of a cartel and all but that’s something they never need to know. They have their secrets, I can have mine.
“Violet,” Vicente says, sounding out of breath. He’s walking toward me fast, hands shoved in his pockets.
When he reaches me he pulls me into a long kiss that sends shivers on the inside of my skin. Fuck, this man leaves me breathless.
“Where did you go?” I ask softly once I have the strength to pull away from his warmth.
He unlocks my door and opens it for me. “I was early so I went to Haight to see if I could get a coffee. Everything was closed.”
I throw my bag in the backseat and get in while he walks around the front.
“By the way, I saw your father,” he says casually as he gets in the driver’s seat.
“What?”
“On Haight.” The car starts with a purr. “He looked pretty pissed. Something happen?”
My head leans against the window. “Oh god. What didn’t happen?”
“I figured something was up since you said you wanted to leave tonight.”
“Did he see you?”
“Your dad? No.”
“Good.” I exhale loudly. My breath fogs the glass.
Vicente pulls the car out onto the street and starts driving through the mist. The streets look extra dark tonight. An obscure song but one that I know well comes on the radio, Calexico’s “Two Silver Trees.” I lean over and turn it up, hoping to block out …well, everything.
Just everything.
Doesn’t help that Calexico is my parent’s music.
“Want to talk about it?” Vicente asks after a bit. “About why we’re driving off late at night.”
I shake my head. “Not right now. I just want to…go. Fly. Far away.”
I can see him smile out of the corner of my eye.
“And where shall we fly to, mirlo?”
I want to say anywhere. But that’s not true. I don’t want to go just anywhere.
I still want the truth.
I want to understand where this all started.
“The desert,” I tell him. “Palm Valley. To where it all began.”
Vicente grabs my hand and tenderly kisses the back of it. “For you, I’ll go anywhere.”
I know he means it.
It’s 6 a.m. when we pull into Palm Valley. We’ve been driving all night and I’ve been asleep for most of it.
Still, I’m beyond exhausted and can barely keep my head up while we cruise down the main street. The sun is rising from the east, casting a coral glow over the treeless mountains. This really is the desert, a land of shrub and cactus and date palms that hover over the sidewalks. It’s dry, stark and beautiful.
I wish I cou
ld properly take it in but by the time we pull into our hotel, which I hastily booked on my phone during the drive, I just want to crawl into bed and fall asleep.
Vicente goes into the lobby while I wait in the car. I told him I’d let him do whatever he wanted to me as long as he was able to get us a room this early. I have a feeling I’ll be doing something pretty fucking dirty later because that man is nothing if not persuasive.
He’s been in the hotel for a while and I’m half asleep when I notice a man standing at the front of the car, just beyond the hood. Through my blurry eyes I can’t quite make him out but I figure it must be Vicente, maybe getting the license plate number of the car for the hotel parking pass.
There’s something a little off about the way he’s not moving, though.
He’s staring at the car for far too long.
Is he staring at…me?
My eyes close.
“Violet.”
Vicente’s voice shakes me awake. I open my eyes and look around. He’s leaning in through his door, a wide grin on his beautiful golden face. The way his dark hair falls across his forehead makes him seem full of boyish charm.
“Let me guess,” I say groggily, sitting up. “You were able to get us early check-in.”
“What else did you expect from me?” he says, wagging his brows. “Remember, mirlo, you promised to do anything I want. I’ll hold you to it. I’ll hold you to a lot of things.”
I roll my eyes, pretending that whatever dirty sexual thing he has planned will be a chore. The truth is I’m excited to see what limits he’ll push with me, what path he’ll bring me down.
He’s already brought me down this one.
All the way to the desert.
To my parent’s past.
To a glimpse at freedom.
I feel like I’m ready for whatever is next.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Javier
“Javi,” Luisa’s voice calls him from his sleep.
He rolls over, moaning bitterly, a sharp knife of anger striking through him. He hasn’t been able to sleep for weeks, just bits and pieces here and there, and now that he has finally fallen asleep, his wife is fucking shit up. Sleep is a precious commodity in times like this.
“You better be waking me up to suck my dick or I swear to god, Luisa…”
“Javi, wake up,” she says.
He blinks his eyes open and slowly props himself up on his elbows. His bones ache but he ignores it.
She’s got the bedside light on and for a moment he thinks she looks like an angel in her white silk nightgown, the glow of the lamp radiating around her. For a moment he thinks he’s still a very lucky man, no matter the insomnia and creaking bones.
And then she shoves his phone in his face.
“You were out cold,” she says. “Your phone has been ringing like crazy. It’s Parada.”
He checks the time before he takes it. It’s five in the morning. He could have slept for at least another hour.
“What is it?” he says, his voice husky with sleep. Luisa, such a good wife, props up the pillows behind him so he can sit up more comfortably.
“Javier,” Parada says. “They made a run for it.”
“Who?”
“Vicente and the McQueen girl.”
“When?”
“They left the city last night around nine.”
“And you’re only telling me now?” Javier has to fight the urge to either chuck the phone across the room or smash it on the floor. Many phones have met their death this way.
“We wanted to be sure where they were going. We could hear them in the Mustang, through the wire. They said they were heading to Palm Valley so we got a man in Los Angeles to beat them to it. He’s already there. They’re just about to pull in. We’re tailing them, a few minutes behind.”
“Palm Valley,” Javier says slowly. He smiles, amused. “Let me guess, Violet is the sentimental type.”
Luisa looks at him sharply as she eases back into the bed. This is the first she’s heard of anyone called Violet. Javier’s been very good at keeping her in the dark.
“I guess,” Parada says. “She told Vicente that she and her parents had a fight over him. They forbid her to see him.”
“Smart. Too bad that didn’t work.”
“Yes, well. The minute you tell your kid they can’t do something, the minute they go out and do it.”
“Spare me your anecdotes, Parada. Tell me the good news.”
“The good news is that we have them. They’ll stay at a hotel here for a few days. They already booked it through their phone. They’ll settle in, look around. At some point, we’ll grab them.”
He eyes Luisa who is still watching him, perplexed. “You remember the rules, right?” he says to Parada. “Don’t hurt him unless you have to.”
“Javi!” Luisa exclaims but he raises his finger for her shut up.
Surprisingly, she does.
“We won’t. Figure he’ll be easier to take now that he has her. We just need to grab her first and he’ll do what we say.”
“Hopefully.”
“He will, Javier. You haven’t heard what we’ve heard, seen what we’ve seen. He’s in love with her, no doubt about it.”
“What about her, you know…parents?” Even the word is hard for him to say.
“They’ll find out she’s gone pretty soon. The funny thing is that Violet has said to Vicente that the trip is only for the weekend.”
“Then you better grab them today.”
“We’ll do what we can. But we’ll get them.”
He’s about to hang up the phone but pauses. “What about the man who attacked her? Is she still being followed?”
“That we don’t know. I thought I saw a man hanging around in front of their house the other day. He just stood there, watching. But didn’t do anything. I couldn’t get a good look without giving myself away.”
“That’s fine. Just keep your head up.”
“Will do.”
“Call me when you have them.”
“Si, patron.”
Parada hangs up.
Javier puts the phone down and a smile slowly spreads across his face, making him look maniacal and distorted. He looks up at Luisa.
“Well I have good news and not as good news,” he says brightly. “The good news is our son is coming home soon. Very soon.”
“When?”
“Maybe tomorrow? Maybe the day after? But soon, my love.”
She narrows her eyes suspiciously. “And the not as good news?”
Javier tilts his head, enjoying all of this a little too much.
“He won’t be alone.”
My dear Vicente, he thinks, nearly giddy.
Time to see what you’re really made of.
To be continued…
Thank you for reading Black Hearts. The conclusion of this duet – Dirty Souls – will release on March 17th, so please look out for that. It’s going be a very dark and wild ride!
In the meantime, if you haven’t read the backstory of the Bernals and the McQueens, while you wait for Dirty Souls to release, it would be an excellent time to get acquainted with how it all began!
Start with The Artists Trilogy
-Sins & Needles
-On Every Street (just 99 cents!)
-Shooting Scars
-Bold Tricks
And then move on to the Dirty Angels Trilogy - these books deal with Javier and Luisa, how they first met, plus the nitty gritty of the dark and depraved cartel world of Mexico (note: though a romance, these books aren’t for the faint of heart and are very violent and disturbing)
-Dirty Angels
-Dirty Deeds
-Dirty Promises
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Read on for the acknowledgements (am I the only one who loves reading the acknowledgements section?)
Acknowledgments
I’m going to keep this short and sweet because I have a book full of mayhem to write and I just can’t wait (hint, it’s Dirty Souls).
The world is in some challenging times lately, so even while I live on a tiny hippie island on the west coast of Canada (it’s called Salt Spring Island and yes you should come visit) it’s not always easy to buckle down and write when things are turned upside down. But I’m grateful that I have such a large support network of people who are always rooting for me, because without them I’d still be curled up in the corner. Whether I know you from FB groups or Twitter, whether you’re readers reaching out to me or my friends and fellow authors, know that I love and appreciate you!
Thank you to my Anti-Heroes for being so excited for this book and especially to my street team for going above and beyond when it comes to, well, everything, really.
Thank you to Hang Le for her amazing (as usual) cover design as we created the perfect Vicente and of course thanks to Wander Aguilar for having just the right model.