by Cora Kenborn
“Then why did you leap?” I had to know why a perfectly sane woman would leave everything behind to follow a criminal.
“Love.” She smiled as a black Land Rover pulled up by the curb. “I considered the consequences of living a life with Val or without Val. The reward of being with him outweighed any risk waiting for me in this life or the next.”
The window of the Land Rover rolled down and Valentin Carrera poked his head out, his eyes shielded by reflective sunglasses. His hair was shorter than Mateo’s but just as dark, the longer strands at the top slicked back.
“Cereza, get in the car,” he called out. “We have a groom to collect.”
Eden grinned, grabbing my hand and leading me down the steps. Just before climbing in, I caught Brody’s eye. Forcing a smile, he tightened his hold on the steering wheel and blew out a nervous breath.
Me too, big brother. Me too.
Thirty-Seven
Leighton
In the middle of wringing my hands, I froze. A side door opened, and Mateo walked out, flanked by two uniformed officers. He looked like a wild animal ready to strike, but it was the feral look in his eyes that stole my breath.
Needing to regain my focus, I turned my gaze toward my brother. “Now what?”
Brody hesitated, eventually stepping between us. “Now I pronounce you...whatever this is.” He opened his fist revealing two gold bands. They weren’t fancy—just simple circles. Reaching for Mateo’s wrist, Brody tilted his hand and deposited both bands into his palm. “There’s a big show outside, kids,” he said, frowning. “Put your game faces on.”
“Mom?” I asked with a sigh.
“She’s worried about you, Lil’ Bit. She’s just doing what she thinks is right.” He smiled while shaking his head.
“For who, though?”
He didn’t answer. Maybe it was for the best. My brother would never see anything but the best in our mother, and who was I to try to sway him? Besides, if her contacts came through for her and found Stella, maybe I’d be the one swayed.
As the three of us walked toward the door, I slowed my stride. Both men turned around, ready to bark commands at the same time when I held up a hand.
“Brody, I think you should stay behind.”
“Why?”
Taking his elbow, I led him toward the tinted window and pointed toward the meticulously landscaped grass covered in wires, cameras, microphones, and hungry anchors. “That’s why. The last thing you need is to be photographed coming out of the police department with a suspected cartel member and his new wife.”
“What about you guys?”
I snorted. “And miss all the fun? Not on your life.”
For once, Brody didn’t argue, pulling out a set of keys and handing them to Mateo. “I had a soldier park your Tahoe one block over in the alley.” Giving me a quick kiss on the forehead, he glared at Mateo. “Take care of my sister, Cortes.”
Before either of us could say a word, he was gone.
After a beat of silence, Mateo brushed my hair away from my eyes. “Te ves hermosa.” You look beautiful.
“Thank you.” My cheeks heated under his gaze.
“I think there’s only one thing left to do.” Holding my left hand, he kissed the small gold band before slowly slipping it on my finger. “For now, mi amor, this will serve as a reminder of my vow. I’ll die for you, and even then, I’ll fight my way back from hell to die for you again.”
Taking the other ring from him, my hands trembled, but I managed to slide it on his finger without dropping it. I didn’t have the perfect words to say, so, I just quoted a certain redhead who suddenly made a lot of sense.
“For you, Matty, I’ll leap.”
He smiled, and although I knew he didn’t understand my vow, I didn’t mind.
Our fingers entwined as we stepped outside. A microphone squealed as my mother’s voice commanded everyone’s attention. “My daughter is a victim here, not an accomplice. She was acting as an informant when members of the Carrera Cartel obviously threatened her.”
My feet moved on their own, carrying me toward the podium. It wasn’t until I was a few steps away that I realized Mateo was gone. Panicking, I scanned the crowd until I saw him leaning against the side of the police station. Lifting his left hand, he kissed his ring.
The words were silent. The meaning was clear.
You can do this, but you can do it alone.
He hadn’t deserted me. Mateo stood back, giving me room to leap.
The minute my mother saw me, she motioned me toward the podium, linking our arms in solidarity. “Speak, darling.”
Instead of making a scene, I settled into my new role. “Thank you all for coming, but I have nothing to say.”
“Did Mateo Cortes kill Hector Diaz? Is he part of the Carrera Cartel?”
The barrage of rapid fire questions came out of nowhere, but I remained calm. “I can’t comment on that. A wife can’t be coerced into saying anything incriminating about her husband.”
A gasp rushed over the crowd. “Husband?”
“Yes,” I answered, keeping my answer concise. “I’m married to Mateo Cortes.” I held up my left hand and flashed my ring. Behind me, my mother let out an Oscar-worthy cry.
A morning show anchor pushed her way to the front. “Are you saying the mayor’s daughter is the wife of an alleged cartel member?”
“No, my mother has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve been in love with Mateo Cortes since I was eighteen.”
The same blonde focused on my mother. “Why have you never mentioned you had a granddaughter, Mayor Donovan?”
I stepped back, happy to let her tap dance her way out of this one alone. Maybe if she hadn’t been so quick to believe her abusive husband over her own child, I would’ve given her a chance to know her granddaughter—hell, even given her a chance to realize she had one.
“Well, as you all know, my daughter and I were slightly estranged...” she explained, stumbling over her words.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Mateo’s eyes filled with fierce pride as I walked toward him.
“Leighton, can you explain why your daughter, Estella James, has been missing for over a week? According to our sources, no one has seen her. Has she become a victim of the cartel as well?”
Fuck. If anyone found out where she was, there would be a witch hunt, and everything would unravel. I turned around with fire in my eyes. “My daughter is in San Marcos visiting her grandparents. Get your fucking facts straight.”
“Leighton!” My mother called after me repeatedly, but Mateo wrapped an arm around my waist and led me around the side of the building and toward the Tahoe.
A few yards away, sharp nails dug into my arm and spun me around. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
I waved my gold band in her face again. “I’m celebrating the sanctity of marriage. You shouldn’t frown, Mother. It causes wrinkles.”
She smacked my hand away. “These people killed your father, and now Finn is missing. If you’re trying to get back at me for being an overprotective mother, that’s fine, but ruining our family isn’t the way to do it.”
I took one look in her selfish face and laughed.
“I don’t see anything funny about this situation,” she hissed, grabbing my arm.
Stiffening, Mateo stepped forward, but I stopped him with a shake of my head. The last thing I wanted was to give her a reason to have him arrested again. Besides, I could handle her.
“I know, Mother,” I said, jerking out of her hold. “It’s because you honestly think everything is about you, but marrying Mateo has nothing to do with you.”
“Lower your voice.”
“Right.” Crossing my arms, I drew a tired breath. “Wouldn’t want the fact that I actually love my husband to make headlines, would we?”
Her shrill laugh echoed in the empty street. “If you think you know all his secrets, you’re a fool,” she warned. “He stole your innocence by staining you
r hands with blood.”
A radiating numbness spread through my body. “How do you know that?”
“Oh, please, Leighton. I know what you’ve done. I’m the mayor. I have access to all police reports.”
Which would be fine. If Alex had ever filed one.
Turning my back, I power walked the rest of the way to the Tahoe. Mateo kept up with me, wisely not speaking. I had no tears for what just happened. Tears made me feel weak, and I needed the strength of an army.
Just as I reached for the passenger’s side door, Mateo spun me around and held my face in his hands. “Did you mean what you said?”
“I said a lot of things.”
“What you said to your mother. You told her you loved me. Was that for the cameras?”
I trailed my hands down his chest, gripping his shirt in my hands. “There weren’t any cameras on us, Mateo. You’ve known how I felt ever since the first night you picked me up and carried me away.”
“We’re going to get through this,” he promised, brushing his thumb over my bottom lip.
“They know about Stella now. If anything happens to her, I might as well die too.”
“I swear to you,” he said, his voice rough, “I won’t rest until everyone has paid for the pain they’ve caused.”
Tightening my hands in his shirt, I pulled him against me and kissed him hard. He immediately responded, his fingers sliding into my hair, his lips just as hungry. But I needed more. Trailing my fingers down his chest, I brushed a hand over his already hardening erection.
However, the minute I cupped him, he pulled away, tilting my head up to stare into his black eyes. “What are you doing?”
I wanted to give him a seductive answer, but fear clawed its way out of me. “I don’t know,” I cried, my weight collapsing under his hold. “But I need to feel something other than this hole in my heart. Everything good inside me is dripping out, and I don’t know how to stop it. I lost you, and now, I feel like I’m losing her. I can’t see her or talk to her. Everything’s slipping away, and I’m numb. I’ve lost my soul, Matty.”
“Don’t ever say that.”
“It’s true. I feel like I’m walking on the fringe of a nightmare. I need you to fix me.”
The eyes that had just held so much compassion suddenly chilled. Releasing me, he turned away. “I’ve told you I’m the monster in your nightmares, not the hero who saves you from them.”
I grabbed his arm, turning him back around. I stepped off the ledge. I leaped, and I’d be damned if he wouldn’t be there to show me the way. “If you won’t walk with me into the light, then drag me into the dark.”
“You don’t know what the hell you’re asking.”
“You’re my only connection to her!” I yelled. “Goddamn it, don’t you get it? I don’t want flowers and rainbows, Mateo. I want punishment. I want your anger.” Swinging my arm, I landed a fist right in the middle of his chest. “I need to feel something.” Pulling my arm back, I swung again. “I need to know you give a shit!”
The growl that tore from Mateo’s throat was nothing less than savage. I’d pushed him too far and I knew it. Grabbing me by the waist, he shoved me against the Tahoe. Pulling my wrists above my head, he held them tightly in one hand. I had no idea what was about to happen. I’d provoked a dark side of him that dragged me into unchartered waters and drowned me by the second.
Jerking up the hem of my flared dress, he bunched it around my waist and held it in place with his hips. His eyes never leaving mine, he wrapped his fingers around the thin string of my panties and ripped them off, the material disintegrating in his hand.
“Is this what you want?” he demanded, throwing the tattered lace on the pavement, his teeth grazing along my jawline. “Do you want everyone to see me fucking you?”
I gasped as he spread my legs, thrusting a thick finger inside me. “Yes.”
“You’re wet, Leighton. Does fucking a criminal get you off?”
“Mateo...”
Thrusting another finger inside, he lowered his mouth to my neck. “Answer me!”
“Yes! God, yes!”
The more he pumped, the more I panted. It was just past dusk, and I was half naked on a public street, but I didn’t care. I needed him to make it hurt, and I was so close.
Then he stopped.
Removing his hand, his smirk darkened. “You think I’m going to stand here and finger fuck you, so you can come on my hand? No, little lamb.” Reaching for the button on his jeans, he ripped it open and shoved them down his thighs while pushing me to my knees. “Suck.”
Any other time, I would’ve been offended, but I was drunk on his dominance. He was already so hard that pre-cum dribbled down the bottom of his shaft, so I licked its trail from base to tip. Mateo let out a howl, prompting me to open wide and take him all the way in until he hit the back of my throat. I tried for a cohesive rhythm, but he was too far gone. Gripping the back of my hair, he pumped his hips, fucking my mouth with wild abandon.
Cursing in Spanish, he threw his head back and sucked air in between gritted teeth. I braced myself for his explosion when he pulled back and hauled me to my feet. Before I knew it, my back was against the Tahoe again and my feet were off the ground. Instinctively, my legs wrapped around his waist just as his fingers dug into my ass cheeks. Tilting my hips, he drove his full length into me without mercy.
As ready as I was for him, it was too much too fast and I screamed. My pain only spurred him on, causing him to pull back and plunge in even harder.
“Did Luis fuck you like this?” he growled, slamming his hips into me.
I couldn’t breathe. “No!”
“Did he make you come like this?” On the next thrust, he ground his pelvis against mine, setting me off.
My muscles convulsed, and I came all around him. “God, no.”
“Who does this pussy belong to?” Mateo demanded, punctuating every word with a sharp thrust.
He’s trying to kill me.
“You,” I gasped. “Only you.”
“Damn right, it does.” Shouting in Spanish again, he bottomed out before grabbing my face in his hand. “Did you let him come inside you?”
I shook my head. “Never.”
“Fuck!” My admission set him off. His cock jerked, and he let out a low groan as he came.
When the insanity cleared, he lowered my feet to the ground, but I didn’t dare move. I wasn’t sure how to react, or more so, how he’d react.
I didn’t have to wait long to find out. Full lips parted mine, devastating me with a kiss so powerful it weakened me. After sharing in an act so dirty, he kissed my lips with reverence.
Stroking a hand down my cheek, Mateo gazed at me with renewed fierceness. “No man will ever touch you again. You’re my wife, mi amor. I’ll protect you, and I’ll die for you.”
My smile faded.
He’d said the same words four years ago after taking my virginity. He’d promised that I was his, and no man would ever touch me again. But a man did in the vilest way possible, followed by a parade of others whose only goal was to destroy me.
Now, every last one of them would pay for their sins.
Thirty-Eight
Leighton
Mateo opened the door to our room, and I walked in, overwhelmed by its extravagance. The room was beautiful. Val obviously spared no expense when booking the Presidential Suite at the Houstonian. Luxurious and extravagant, it was the perfect place to spend the perfect wedding night.
I never heard him move, but I felt his presence behind me even before his warm breath fanned across my neck. “What’s wrong?”
I considered saying nothing, but knowing me as well as he did, he’d take it as an insult. Hugging my arms across my chest, I stared at the fireplace, mesmerized by the orange flames already flickering in it.
“My grandparents are the reason I survived.” Just saying their names out loud drove a knife in my heart. “They were the only ones who believed me when I told them about Fi
nn. They put me through school. They supported me and helped me raise Stella on my own. I owe them everything.”
At the mention of her name, he let out a tortured breath. “So do I.”
I recognized the pain in his voice, and I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn’t. “They don’t deserve this, Mateo. Before I left San Marcos, I could see disappointment in their faces. It almost killed me.”
“I’m sure they understood and were just worried, mi amor,” Mateo soothed, his hand finding its way to my shoulder.
But I didn’t deserve his comfort, so I stepped away.
“Stella didn’t understand. She wouldn’t let me go. She wrapped her little hands around me and cried, begging me not to leave her. ‘No, Mommy, no.’ That’s what she kept screaming as my grandmother pried her off me.” I shook, the warmth from the fire feeling like ice. “That’s all I heard the whole three-hour drive to Houston. I still hear it in my dreams.”
Undeterred, Mateo pressed his forehead against the top of my head. “I know. I’ve heard you cry in your sleep.”
His admission cut me deep. So deep that I turned around and faced him for my most shameful confession. “My grandfather followed me out to my car and gave me five hundred dollars,” I said, the words tasting sour. “They’d spent their whole retirement on me. I knew it was all they had, but he made me take it because he didn’t want me crawling back to my mother. They never liked her, you know—always thought she considered my dad to be beneath her. Maybe they were right.”
I waited for his shock. Even a hardened criminal had to have standards. However, it never came. The only thing I found in his eyes was pity. I wasn’t sure which was worse.
“Leighton, there’s something you should know—”