“I don’t give a fuck that he had you first,” Cristiano said, shocking me into silence. “It means nothing. He means nothing.” He ran his tongue along his top row of teeth. “It will be the thing I think of when I finally put a bullet in him, but still, it means nothing.”
I couldn’t help a small smile. “And if I beat you to it?”
“You have to find him first.”
“You don’t know where he is?”
He shook his head. “If he’s working with Belmonte-Ruiz, then he could be with Max. I hope one leads to the other.” His assessing eyes met mine. “But nostalgia is a funny thing, Natalia. If Diego were standing here now, you wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger. Too much history there.”
Tucking the sheet under my arm, I popped up onto one elbow. “Give me more credit than that. My blinders have been ruthlessly ripped off. I’d laugh in his face if he tried to talk his way out of it.”
“And you know he would.”
I touched Cristiano’s stubbled cheek, running my finger along his square, angular jawline. I’d never denied his beauty, no matter my resentment toward him. Now, I was free to revel in it. I didn’t want to wait any longer. “And you know what I’d say to him?”
“Tell me, mi amor.”
“That his brother fucked me better than he could ever hope to. And that we’re sending him to an early grave.”
“Then I suppose I’d better fuck you, so as not to make you into a liar . . .” Cristiano bit his full bottom lip, and the small tell of his arousal made my stomach clench. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”
“I know.”
“I don’t mean sex.” He leaned into me until I fell onto my back, and his darkly handsome face looked down on me. He tugged the sheet to my stomach, and I sucked in a breath as cool air caressed my nipples. Licking his lips, he ran a finger between my breasts, eliciting my shudder. “I’ve waited for you to stop acting like a princess and start thinking like a queen.”
“Nothing less would do for my king.”
“I wasn’t a king until you came along. Me coronaste. You crowned me.”
I stopped his hand before it dipped underneath the sheets. “You can’t just storm the castle walls. You need a strategy.”
He moved his hand up to tip back my chin and graze his thumb over my bottom lip. “What should ours be, mi reina?”
“Invade, plunder, and destroy until I beg for the king’s mercy,” I said softly, letting my breath caress his finger. I pushed his chest. He rolled onto his back, and I threw a knee over him to sit astride his hips. “You took me as your prisoner. But you made the mistake of falling in love with me. And when you least expect it, I will claim my throne.”
“Nothing would please a peasant like myself more.” He gripped my hips and pulled me over his crotch. I inhaled as my naked clit slid along the erection straining his underwear. “But there’s more to being a queen than sitting on the king’s scepter.”
My breasts swayed, and my long hair pooled on his chest. “What then?”
“You have decisions to make. The fate of four men rests in your hands.”
I curled my fists on his chest. The whimsy of our dreamy bed and the early morning hours gave way to a brutal reality. Only one man had paid the price for my mother’s death. The others awaited my sentence.
What kind of queen would I be? Fair and forgiving or cunning and ruthless?
Cristiano took my right nipple between the tips of his forefinger and thumb. I sucked in a breath when he tugged, and pleasure traveled down my stomach, ending right between my legs. “Even in times of play, you can’t forget there are enemies to be dealt with. You’re safe with me, but you should never completely drop your guard.”
Just like in physical combat, the fight was ongoing.
“Vicente made the call,” he said, “but he and his family are nobodies now. They’ve paid for their mistakes.”
I froze, my heartbeat reverberating everywhere from my ears to my pussy. “Are you saying he’s not to blame?” I asked, incredulous. “That I should forgive him?”
He pushed some of my hair behind my ear, but it fell forward again, curtaining us from the rest of the world—my new favorite thing. “Simply demonstrating that you can rule two ways. With the truth you want or with the facts. And the fact is, you won’t gain much satisfaction from killing three old men and an innocent teen.”
“So I should let them go?”
“That’s up to you. Most men would say kill all four.”
“What would you say?”
His eyelids fell as he slid a hand up my spine and applied pressure to my upper back. I leaned in until we were face to face, my breasts smashed into his bare chest, my clit pushing against him at a new angle. “I’m most men.”
“No, you aren’t. I thought you were the worst of them, but you’re fair.”
“Is it fair that I’d kill a man for his grandfather’s sins?”
The grandson. If Vicente was to be believed, his nieto, Gabriel, was smart. And he had his whole life ahead of him. “You would?” I asked.
“We’d be fools to ignore history. There’s too much at risk to let any of them live. The betrayal festers—look at Diego.”
“Look at you,” I said, threading my fingers in his hair, putting our lips centimeters apart. I wanted retribution—not just for myself, but for my husband, who’d suffered—and it would be so easy to lump Gabriel in with the others. To turn my cheek as he paid for his family’s sins. But I’d be ignoring Cristiano’s history, which was also my history. “You didn’t stick by your father out of familial duty likes others would’ve. You chose good over bad. Maybe Gabriel would too.”
“True. But here I am, doing everything in my power to avenge Bianca’s death. And I’d do the same for you. The grandson may not feel resentful now, but that doesn’t mean he won’t.” His hand dipped to cup my right ass cheek. A little lower and to the left, and he’d be able to ease the pulsing ache that’d been growing between my legs for longer than I cared to admit. “Being a leader goes far beyond wearing a crown and making demands,” he said with a squeeze. “No decision is ever easy. I’ll make this one for you if you ask me to, but don’t get used to it.”
He wanted me to stand on my own two feet and take ownership over this life. If I’d been paying attention, that was what he’d been asking of me all along. But after years of trying to smother my curiosity and stay willingly in the dark, I was done with that. I wouldn’t let him decide for me.
I shifted my weight on him. “I’ve known what I wanted to do since I woke up.”
“Yeah?” He tilted his head. “Tell me.”
“The grandson can live. If you see fit, he can work here in the Badlands for you.” I met his eyes. “The rest can die.”
He stilled. “Natalia . . .”
I made a fist in his hair and stared into his eyes so he knew I meant every word. “I don’t care how you do it, but finish Vicente and each of his brothers. I want to dump their ashes at the base of my mother’s grave so their worthless souls can spend eternity kissing her feet.”
I had watched my mother die, and every single person involved was going to pay.
Including, if I had my way, the son-of-a-bitch who’d ruined my life.
15
Cristiano
I had never been more aroused in all of my thirty-four years. I deserved a medal for my abstinence since Natalia’s arrival. With the way she was grinding against my dick, and with her order that I execute three men in her name—I was on a rocket ship headed for the moon. She was ready for me; I could see it in her eyes as her hair fell around her face, begging to be wrapped up in my fist.
Even through the haze, though, her pain lived strong. That was fine. Last night, she’d been too deep in it, and it would be a while before it subsided. But now that she’d spent the night grieving in my arms, letting me comfort her, I would give her relief and release.
“It would be an honor to avenge you and Bianca,” I s
aid.
She slid her hips back and forth, leaving a wet spot on the crotch of my underwear. “Is there anything you wouldn’t do for revenge?”
“You know it’s more complicated than that. Retribution can be all-consuming.” I struggled to organize my thoughts with her pulsing slit growing greedy for me, but this conversation was important. “I’ll never let revenge rule my life as my father and Diego did. That’s my promise to you. For me—my wife, family, and people come first.”
She hovered her juicy, delicious lips above mine. “I want to know how it feels to come first,” she whispered.
With a short growl, I slid a hand into her hair, both pulling it and holding her where she was. “It’s a path you can’t come back from.”
I needed her explicit permission, but I wasn’t above playing dirty to get it. With my other hand on her hip, I took a handful of her ass and bucked my pelvis up, ramming my shaft against her clit.
Her eyes rolled back into her head. “Do that again.”
Beg. Demand. Tell me to fuck you raw.
It had to be about me and her and nothing else. She had to want this more than she wanted to resist me or hurt Diego. My erection was turning painful, but I needed her to ask, and for it to be now.
With a knock on the door, we both froze. “¿Señor?” came Jaz’s voice.
I closed my eyes and sighed. God, give me a moment of uninterrupted pleasure in this lifetime. Hadn’t I earned the exquisite pleasure of fucking my horny wife for the first time? “Vete,” I called out, sending Jaz away.
“Es importante,” she replied.
“Important?” Natalia scoffed. “No. She has a sixth sense for when you and I are getting close. She wants to come between us. Ignore her.”
Whether that was true or not, Jazmín was intuitive enough to know when she was needed and when she should make herself scarce. I took Natalia’s ass cheeks in both hands and squeezed hard enough to send the message that this culo was mine when I got back—then moved her off my crotch and stood to pull on some sweats. “It could be about Max.”
I shoved my hand down my pants and tried to calm my raging hard-on as I crossed the room. I hid it with the door as I leaned my head out. “¿Qué quieres, Jaz? It’s not a good time.”
“Alejandro wants you downstairs immediately.”
“Puta madre,” I cursed. “What’s it about?”
She shrugged. “I’m just supposed to tell you.”
“Natalia needs me here. She doesn’t want to be alone.”
“Of course not. She wants you all to herself, even if others need you.”
I frowned at her and warned, “Jazmín.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s true,” she said, turning away. “Alejo’s waiting for you.”
I sighed and closed the door before heading for my closet. “I’m sorry, mi amor.”
“What is it?” Natalia asked.
I threw on a t-shirt, moving quickly so I could get this over with. “I’m needed downstairs.”
“You’re needed here,” she called from the bed. “You always go when Jaz calls.”
“I do not. This is Badlands business.” On my way out of the bedroom, I stopped in my tracks. The interruption had taken care of my erection, but suddenly it threatened to return. Natalia sat with her back against the headboard, the thin white sheet tucked under her arms, barely concealing the rosy berries begging to be devoured. Her long disheveled hair fell around her bare arms. I’d resisted her for so long, and now that I had her, I was leaving her naked and wanting in our bed?
“Qué pendejo,” I muttered about myself.
“What happened to ‘this is a path you can’t come back from’?” she accused. With the vitriol in her voice, I met her glare. “I guess it includes the clause ‘unless Jaz needs me.’”
She was pissed, and I was just close enough to the edge to say fuck it and get back into bed. Especially considering Natalia’s possessive side alone was sexy enough to get me going again. But if Alejandro’s news had anything to do with Max, I had to go. And I had to do it now, before I changed my mind.
“I’ll be back as fast as I can. Te lo prometo.” With my promise, I bent at the hip and pecked her hard and fast, before she—or my dick—could protest. “Don’t move an inch.”
I descended the stairs into the dark basement control center to find Alejandro waiting with his arms crossed over his chest.
“This’d better be good,” I said. “You’ve just put me in the doghouse with Natalia. She needs all of my attention right now.”
“She’ll forgive the dog if he catches her a rat.”
I arched an eyebrow at him as we headed down the hall toward where Vicente and his family remained chained and silenced. Instead, he led me to a different room. Seated alone in the middle was Gabriel, Vicente’s grandson, with his hands bound in front of him.
Alejandro yanked tape off the boy’s mouth and nodded once. “Tell him what you told me.”
Gabriel stretched his jaw but kept his eyes down. “I can help you.”
I followed his gaze to a pair of broken glasses on the ground. “Look at me, boy,” I said.
He raised his fearful eyes, blinking rapidly and squinting. Perhaps he needed those glasses. “I can help you find Max,” he said.
I let my eyes drift over the skinny kid. I was certain I’d weighed more than him at eight years old. “How?”
“My grandfather told you I can find things on the Internet—that’s like calling Lionel Messi a good fútbol player.”
“Lionel Messi, eh? You a sports fan?” I asked, aware of how sinister my laugh sounded as I glanced to Alejandro. “You tore me away from my distraught wife for this?”
“Coding, surveillance, dark web,” the kid spoke quickly, tripping over his words, as if begging for his life. “I can do all of it. I built my first computer from discarded parts. The Internet is my sandbox . . . and that makes the world my playground.”
“My intelligence team is unrivaled,” I said. “They come from all over the world. Beijing, Russia, San Francisco—”
“With all due respect, sir, if that were true, you wouldn’t have had a major security breach earlier this month when Belmonte-Ruiz attacked your household.”
Alejandro seemed pleased—so, this was why he’d called me down here. I, on the other hand, wasn’t so delighted. “How the fuck do you know about that?” I asked, stepping forward.
“All my life I’ve heard of the guts and glory of my grandfather, great uncles, and the cartel they built. Since we were forced into hiding, I’ve had to be invisible my whole life. Now, I’m better at hiding than anyone, and I know how to get information. On you, on Belmonte-Ruiz . . . even on Diego.” He swallowed audibly. “When I learned he’d blackmailed my family into disappearing, I took an interest in him. I’ve followed him for a long time.”
“Do you know where he is?” I asked.
“No, but give me a chance. I can find him.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Your men learned how to hack, but I never knew a life without it; I am it. I never went to school. I only know computers. Let me train with your team, and I will become the best hacker in the world,” he said. “Give me a chance to prove myself before you kill me. Let me show you what I can achieve—under your guidance.”
From the moment I’d heard Gabriel was Vicente’s grandson, I’d known he’d have to die. I wouldn’t make the same mistake I’d made with Diego. But I thought of what Natalia had said. I was the other half of that equation. I’d been right by Diego’s side and had felt no resentment or anger toward Costa for what he’d done—only gratitude and loyalty.
“Why would I trust you? I’m going to kill the rest of your family regardless.”
His fidgeting stopped. “I guess I understand why you have to do it. My abuelo, I love him, but he has lived a long life considering his odds.”
Spoken like a true math whiz. Logic and reason spoke to this kid. One assassination equaled one retributio
n.
But then he continued, “And I saw Natalia’s face in there. I feel bad. I lost my mom in all of this, too.”
Huh. Either there was a heart in that motherboard or he was trying to manipulate my evident soft side for Natalia. “What do you know about Belmonte-Ruiz?” I asked.
“Not much, but I learn quickly,” Gabriel said. “I know more about what you do here in the Badlands.”
“It’s not such a secret anymore. We have our fingers in many, uh, pies, as they say.” My finger should have been in the most delicious pie right then—I mentally hurried Gabriel along.
“Arms, freight, money laundering—but you also traffic in people,” he said, and added, “just in the wrong direction, most would say.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. Rumors had been spreading about our operation, and that would ultimately hurt us, but there was no way the truth could’ve already made it to the impoverished corners of Mexico. “How do you know that?”
“I told you—I’m invisible. Your security is top-of-the-line, but I got through. You need me.”
That kind of skill was lethal in the wrong hands. But in the right ones, it was an asset. How could I know who this boy was, though? His true intentions? “And what do you think of our operation?”
“You’re the good guys.”
“We’re not,” I said, crossing my arms as the fluorescent lighting overhead buzzed. “We’ve hurt far more than we’ve helped. If guts and glory are what you want, look somewhere else. We do what we have to so we survive, and to further our cause. It brings no recognition, only enemies from all sides, and that’s about to get worse.”
“Then you will need good intel, security, and protection. I can help. There are more and more kids like me coming up in the ranks,” Gabriel said. “We know technology better than our own faces. But I have something many don’t—I’ve known the worst of this country, and I’m willing to die before I return to it.”
Violent Triumphs Page 15