by LP Lovell
I shove open the front door to Jesús’ house and I’m greeted by one of my men. "You might want to see this, sir."
I wave my hand through the air and he leads the way down a hallway. We stop in front of the open door, and I peer inside of the ransacked office. In the middle of the room, much to my delight, sits a beautiful woman with her hands bound behind her back and a gag tied around her head. I circle around her and she turns her head to follow me, her jaw clenching angrily as she glares at me. I carefully untie the gag and slip it off, tossing it to the floor. She spits at me before swearing in Spanish.
I laugh. "I do love a feisty woman."
I take a seat behind Jesús’ desk and remove a cigar from my pocket, lighting it as I lean back in the chair and kick my heels up on the desk. The woman glares at me. I smile around the cigar and allow a cloud of smoke to puff up.
"Why so angry, krasivaya?"
Her nostrils flare. Her jaw ticks. "You will die, Russian."
"Hmm. I doubt that.” I smile and take a slow drag from the cigar. “Jesús will be dead by now. Tell me, what is your name?"
"What’s yours?" she counters.
"Ronan Cole."
Her expression changes ever so slightly and I catch it. She knows who I am, which means she's not just a whore. "Now, what is your name?" I repeat.
"Camilla."
Oh, this is too good. "Camilla Estrada?"
Her eyes meet mine and in those pretty turquoise depths I find an awareness not dissimilar to that of the very cartel boss who holds her. "Yes."
I chuckle. "Well, well, isn't this an interesting turn about? I did not know you were sleeping with the enemy. Your brother will be disappointed."
"Fuck you."
I allow my gaze to roam over her body—and what a body it is. "Gladly,” I say as I continue to drink in her petite curves and golden skin. Her long white dress dips just low enough in the front that I can see her cleavage and my cock swells at the sight. She squirms in her seat, the movement causing her long, ebony hair to falls over her shoulder. "I can see why you would make the perfect ventana,” I say. “You would be an awful weakness to any man, krasivaya." I shift in my seat because she's making my dick hard.
“Donovan,” I shout and he comes running into the room. "Take her. Put her in the car," I say.
He unties her and she fights, bucking and writhing like a feral cat. I calmly walk over to her and grip her jaw hard as I drag her close to me. "Keep fighting little kitty. I will only break you." She stills for a moment, her hard breaths causing her perfect breasts to rise and fall in ragged swells.
“Vieta a la meierda,” she swears before Donovan drags her from the room fighting.
I check my watch before I pick up the phone and dial Alex. They should be done by now.
"Boss," Alex answers.
"It is done, yes?"
He sighs. "Jesús got away."
A slow rage burns through me. "Did you just say he escaped?"
"Yes."
"How the fuck did he escape? I gave you snipers, mines, missiles if you wanted them!" I seethe. If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself.
"He used the American’s woman as a shield. She died."
I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Shit."
He'll be completely impossible now and if Jesús is still alive, I still need the American. Jude Pearson may be only one man, but that's exactly why he's so perfect. One man who makes people a lot of money. One man with loyal connections, and possibly the only man who actually ever stood a chance of getting his child back from the cartel. He's smart and he took Andrea, which really was a masterful play, but not one that fit into my game unfortunately…
"Get me the American." There's a pause, a rustling, and then silence. I know he’s listening. "I am sorry," I say. "You must stay your hand. As Wilson Meizer once said: 'Many a live wire would be dead except for his connections'. Your child may still be alive. She will need you, American, and a war is coming."
The end
War
Read the final instalment of Tor and Jude’s story in WAR.
Available to pre-order now.
Afterword
Thank you for reading and loving Jude and Tor. We fell in love with these characters in 2015 and gave them their HEA, but we’ve always wanted to come back to them.
Thank you so much for your support and loyalty and for sticking with Jude fucking Pearson. It means the world to us!
If you loved Wire and would like to leave a review, we’d be so grateful. We hope you’ll read War!
Acknowledgments
As always, there are a whole host of people behind every book, so here it goes.
Drew Truckle, thank you for being Jude. We couldn’t possibly have anyone else!
Max Ellis, thank you for shooting the cover image and designing the cover.
Kim Ginsberg, thanks for proofing for us on such short notice.
Kerry Fletcher, you are the best PA ever. You put up with us, you help us and you have the patience of a saint while we are squirrelling our way through life.
Jen Lum and Jill Mackenzie, thanks for beta reading for us!
Nutty Squirrel PR and Give Me Books, thank you for all your PR work.
To all the bloggers, readers, friends….thank you for your unending support of us as authors but particularly this series. There are far to many to mention, but we have to give a special shout out to Totally Booked and Schmexy Girls who discovered Jude and shouted about him from the roof tops.