He laughed grimly. “Knew our time was coming to an end. That Ignacio was about to give the order. Wanted the chance to tell you how I felt, even if you didn’t know it was me.”
“Alonzo…” she breathed, her heart breaking a little. How long had he felt that way? Maybe he was as fucked up as she was. “What order, Alonzo?” she asked, trepidation speeding the blood in her veins, making her head pound even harder in both pain and fear.
His terrible gaze told her everything she needed to know, a mixture of resignation, pity and love. “You know what order, Casey. His orders must always be followed. We both know that.”
She shook her head, a sob crawling up her throat and escaping her lips. “No, Alonzo, they don’t need to be followed, not this one. We can leave here together, try to run away. What if Reyes takes him out? Then he’ll never know that you didn’t follow this order. We can slip away during the fight, he’ll never, ever know.”
Alonzo just stared at her until she knew she was begging in vain. He wasn’t going to save her. He was as broken as she was. Maybe worse. He was a soldier incapable of ignoring the orders of his superior officer. Either that or he truly believed she was better off dead and he thought he was doing her a favour. Tears trailed down her pale cheeks and more sobs leapt up her throat. His gaze turned truly agonized as he watched her cry. This was the most emotion she’d ever seen from him.
“Please don’t cry, Casey,” he said, reaching out to brush the tears from her cheeks. “Trying to make this special for us. You won’t be alone. I love you too much to let you go by yourself, baby. I’ll be there the whole way and then I’ll follow you into the other side so we can always be together.”
She stared at him in horror as she realized what he was saying and then her stomach lurched. Murder-suicide. He was going to kill her and then kill himself. Her teeth chattered as she begged for mercy for both of them, “Alonzo, d-don’t do this. Please just think about it! P-please, for the love of god!”
“Shh, baby, it’ll be fine. Just lay back and rest,” he told her huskily and pressed her shoulders until she was forced to lay back on the blanket.
Casey let out a small scream and tried to fight him, surging up against him, but he easily held her down. “No, no, Alonzo, just listen to me!” she cried out hysterically, almost blind from the pain rising up in her head.
“Don’t do this to yourself, Casey, baby,” he said soothingly crawling over top of her and pinning her down with his big body. He gripped her throat and squeezed until the breath left her lungs and she was forced to stop fighting him. She let her fingers rest on his arm, but she stopped thrashing. She just pleaded with her eyes, knowing it wouldn’t make a difference.
“It’s okay, love,” he said gently, sitting over top of her, making sure he wasn’t crushing her with his weight. She wanted to laugh at the ridiculous concession. He was practically strangling her and about to murder her, but he wanted to make sure she was comfortable while he fucking killed her! “It’s time. You’ve been in pain for so long, drifting along like a petal in the breeze. Never knowing where to land. I’m going to carry you home in my arms. We’ll go together.”
She really wanted to tell him that he sounded like a psychopath, but thought it wasn’t the best time to mouth off while his hands were wrapped around her fragile neck and he was talking poetically about murdering her. “Just close your eyes, baby, and let the sleeping pill take hold again. Just drift back to sleep and I’ll take care of everything.”
A bitter laugh escaped her throat and she rolled her eyes. Because she was definitely going back to sleep under these circumstances. Her skimpy clothes were soaked through and she was in some kind of underground hideout with a splitting headache while a gun battle raged above. Oh yeah, and the guy she was hiding out with planned on offing her as soon as she closed her eyes. Then he made things even better by pulling his gun from the holster at his side and pressing it against the side of her head. The laughter died on her lips and she knew that this was it, she was about to die. Would their bodies ever be found or would they just rot here in this dingy room somewhere underneath the garage or the pool house?
“I’ve always loved you, Casey. I’m sorry I couldn’t be a better man for you,” Alonzo said, his voice taking on a tortured edge. He leaned down and pressed his cool lips to hers.
Chapter Fifteen
“Well this is touching,” a voice drawled out of the darkness.
Alonzo jerked back from Casey bringing his gun arm up, exactly as the voice had been hoping. The moment his head was clear of hers and his gun away from her head a shot rang out. Casey screamed as blood sprayed across her chest and face, soaking her in in its sticky wetness. The noise of the gun echoed through her head and she nearly passed out from the agony it caused. She flung an arm across her face and moaned. Dead weight fell across her legs and she couldn’t restrain another hoarse cry from escaping her lips.
“Alonzo?” she whispered tentatively, moving her arm away from her face and searching for movement in the shadowy lump across her legs.
“He’s dead,” Diego’s cold voice reached out of the darkness, and she flinched as he drew nearer to her. Terror welled up, as a boot came out of the shadows and shoved Alonzo off of her. “Or didn’t you feel his brain splatter all over you?”
“Oh god, oh my god!” Casey muttered, panic swelling. She scrambled backwards, crawling rapidly away from Alonzo’s dead body. Once she was a few feet away she started clawing at her own chest and face looking for bits of brain and skull.
She watched in horror as Diego crouched in front of her, his face visible now in the flickering candlelight. His lips stretched in a ghoulish grin as he watched in sadistic amusement while she frantically wiped at the blood on her face, whimpers erupting from her trembling lips. Finally, her head got the better of her and brains or not, blood or not, she turned on the spot and began heaving, her fingers digging into on the concrete. Her stomach was already empty so she could do nothing but vomit a little bit of saliva and stomach acid, burning her mouth and throat as it came up.
She scraped her knees on the ground, pulling them into her chest in an attempt to curl in on herself. After a moment, the godawful heaving stopped and she dropped her head onto her knees, the tangles of her hair falling around her. Then she felt Diego’s hands slide up her back and curve over her shoulders. She curled harder into herself as shudders wracked her trembling body and stinging tears straggled down her cheeks. She pulled in choking gasps of breath, attempting to force her burning lungs to work.
She tried to shrug Diego’s vile touch off, but he just leaned over her, his hot breath in her ear. “While I wish we had more time down here, the boss is waiting. Time to go, princess.”
He stood up behind her, dragging her to her feet with a firm hand around her arm. Casey’s legs refused to hold her weight and she immediately buckled, collapsing against Diego. He grunted in annoyance and looped an arm across her back, hauling her up against him. Though she hated the idea of needing his assistance she clutched his shirt with the last reserves of her meagre strength and leaned against him. She comforted herself with the thought that she had no other choice. He was taking her back to Ignacio and she’d much rather go to her husband alive than dead, which had clearly been Alonzo’s crazy plan. And since it appeared Diego had no intention of killing her, she was happy to go with him for now.
“Okay, let’s go,” she whispered.
She shuffled alongside him as best she could, trying to match his longer strides as he strode down the chilly, damp corridor back toward the entrance to the pool house. Now that she felt safe the effects of the sleeping pill began to overwhelm her once more and waves of fatigue swept over her. She smothered a yawn with her other hand and then gagged when the taste of blood touched her lips. Alonzo’s blood.
She fought back fresh tears and didn’t see clearly when they reached the end of the tunnel and Diego stopped abruptly, she swayed against him and was forced to grab him with both hands t
o stop herself from falling. He looked at her sharply and snorted in disgust before reaching for her waist and shoving her unceremoniously through the trapdoor leading up into the pool house. She tried to help by gripping the floorboards and pulling herself through, but she was too weak from the pills and the trauma. Finally, he ended up gripping her by the legs and just shoving her the rest of the way through. She lay on the ground panting and waiting for him to pull himself up alongside her.
Casey groaned when he didn’t even give her two seconds to gather herself, but just reached over and scooped her up like she was some kind of wet noodle. She tried to protest when he didn’t bother to set her back on her feet, but strode through the open door of the pool house and into the pouring rain with her in his arms. Her words were stolen in the fury of the storm and she was forced to turn her face into the shelter of his chest.
They made it through the shattered back door of the house where Diego finally set her back on her feet. Before she knew what was happening he gripped her by the shoulders and pushed her into the wall, holding her upright. “You’re gonna want to pull yourself together before you see him. Make a good impression, babe.”
She frowned at Diego as he used the edge of his shirt to roughly scrub at her face and neck. She assumed he was trying to get some of the blood off of her skin. The rough fabric abraded her skin and she flinched back from his callous treatment. She could see streaks coming away on his striped shirt and knew his ministrations must be working.
“Good enough,” he mumbled, shoving his shirt down and grabbing her roughly by the arm.
“Why do I need to make a good impression?” she asked, her voice hoarse.
He ignored her and tugged her down the hallway, yanking her hard when she would have stumbled and fallen. She started to go down, her fingertips touching the hard marble but he pulled her back up and swung her around the corner. Casey lurched and narrowly avoided stepping on the dead body of one of her husband’s most trusted bodyguards.
“Oh!” she cried out shrinking back against Diego who didn’t slow down to absorb her shock. That was the first inkling she had that her husband maybe hadn’t won the takeover battle.
Diego banged his fist against the door, waiting a few heartbeats for the cold, sharp summons that was most definitely not the voice of her husband. Casey’s body felt hot and numb all at once as Diego pushed the door open and shoved her through, forcing her to stand face to face with the man that had promised he would come for her.
Diego dropped his hand, removing the physical support she so desperately needed. She swayed on the spot, her eyes glued to the dark, foreboding figure standing next to Ignacio’s desk, taller and more imposing in Ignacio’s office than her husband had ever been. She took a few measured breaths, forcing her frozen lungs to work, sipping air properly so her head wouldn’t explode in pain again and disgrace her during this vital moment.
“Come here, Casey,” Reyes said coldly.
She approached him warily, her legs moving mechanically as she rounded the side of the desk before stopping a few feet from him. He didn’t touch her, just watched her every stumbling move with the sharpness of a predator. Casey turned when she heard a rough choking sound. Reyes obliged by stepping out of the way. She cried out in dismay and slapped a hand over her mouth. Ignacio lay on the floor of his own office, bloody and beaten, one of his knees completely shattered from a bullet wound at close range. She tried to rush toward him, but Diego, who had come up behind her, caught her arm and held her back. She finally looked around the office and noticed that a few of Reyes men were present, including his second-in-command, Alejandro. All held the dead, stony looks on their faces that she knew so well. Ignacio was well and truly defeated.
Reyes watched her with icy indifference as she tried to control her emotions. To sort through the bewilderment of having her home overrun in such a violent and ruthless manner. He stood in front of her and looked her over as though she were a stranger, as though he were surveying a piece of furniture he’d won during the takeover. She wished desperately that she was wearing more than a pair of soaked, bedraggled and bloody, probably see-through cotton shorts and tank top. By now her hair was such a tangled mess she wasn’t sure if it was even salvageable or if she should just shave it off and start over. She was pretty sure there was blood and possibly vomit in the tangled ends of her hair. She forced her shoulders back, tilted her chin and glared at him.
His dark gaze moved past her and he said coldly to Diego, “She’s filthy. There’s blood all over her.”
“She was exactly where Ignacio said she would be. Underneath the pool house with her bodyguard,” Diego informed Reyes. “Alonzo was about to kill her, just like Hernandez admitted. I took care of the bodyguard, but he was crouched over top of her when I did it.”
Casey’s eyes flew to Ignacio, but he refused to meet her eyes. So, he had given the order for Alonzo to kill her when the mansion was overrun. And judging from the state of him, Reyes had tortured the information out of him. Casey sagged back against Diego and lifted a hand against the side of her head, the never-ending headache from hell thumping away demanding her attention.
Reyes eyes followed the movement, but his face remained dispassionate. She guessed he was doing his job. Or he never really cared about her and she was about to die with her husband. Maybe he would make it quick. At least my head will finally stop hurting, she thought with grim resignation.
She gathered as much courage as she could manage and asked in a faltering voice, “Wh-what happens now? Are you going to kill us?”
Reyes expression grew sharp, his gaze taking in her skimpy, soaked outfit, the blood splattered across her chest and neck and the wild tangle of her long blond hair. She must look like some kind of insane asylum escapee that went on a murderous rampage. But the sudden hunger in his gaze told her otherwise. Told her he’d never found her more desirable… or closer within his grasp. She shuddered, her body heating under that look while her heart iced over at the terrible implications of how their union was coming about.
“I told you how this was going to go, nena,” he told her slowly. “You even warned your stupid fuck of a husband. Not my fault that he chose not to listen. Chose not to run and hide like he should have. Though I would have found him anyway, crushed him like the bug he is and stole his beautiful queen. Now he dies.” Reyes strode to her, picked up her hand and kissed the “H” on the back, flicking his tongue against the scar. Then he turned icy dark eyes on Ignacio. “And we go home.”
Ignacio made a pathetic sound. She thought maybe it was supposed to emulate rage, but came out somewhere around pain and fear. A rush of unexpected pity rose up in Casey and, despite the years of loathing and hatred that stood between her and her husband, she reached out to grasp Reyes arm. She’d been with Ignacio for ten years. He’d rescued her from the hospital after her family was killed and given her a life filled with beautiful things. And yes, while he’d often been cruel, maybe he hadn’t known any other way. He was still a human being, she still had to try to save his life.
“Please don’t kill him!” she begged. “This isn’t right, Reyes. Please don’t kill my husband. If you care about me at all, let me take him away from here. You’ll never hear from us again. We’ll go far away and you can take Miami, I promise. We won’t interfere.”
Reyes stared down at her, his face devoid of any emotion. He dropped her hand and pushed her away. With that one look he made it clear, this was business and she wasn’t wanted. She wasn’t allowed an opinion and she most certainly would not be allowed to interfere. He nodded at Diego. “Take her. Let her pack whatever she wants to take with her.” He moved his malevolent gaze to Ignacio who’d moved his bloody, broken body against the far wall. “We leave in three hours.”
Diego wrapped his hand around her arm and pulled her, unnecessarily hard, toward the door. Casey fought him with the little strength she had left in her. “Please, Reyes, don’t do this!” she cried out. “If you do this, I won’t go w
ith you. I’ll fight you, you’ll never truly have me!”
Reyes swung around to look at her just as Diego dragged her through the door, his dark brown eyes pinning her, marking her. “Wrong, nena. I take what I want and I just took you.”
The door slammed shut between them.
Chapter Sixteen
“Fuck you, Diego,” Casey hissed when Diego opened her bedroom door and threw her inside. She went flying through the door and luckily was able to catch herself against the bed post before she hit the floor.
She turned toward him in time to see him stalking toward her. She tried to cringe back against the bed, but he was on top of her before she could roll away from him. He gripped her arms and swung her further into the mattress.
“You’re lucky we don’t have much time and this place is crawling with the Bolivian’s men or I would show you exactly how good I can fuck you, Casey,” he snarled in her face. “Maybe when he gets sick of your scrawny ass I’ll let you crawl back here to lick my boots and eat my table scraps like the bitch you are.”
She wanted to scream and rage at him, but she knew she couldn’t. Knew she was in a precarious position. Diego was a sadist who thrived on the pain of lesser creatures. He would love to take her and break her down to nothing. She stared up at him, knowing it was the only power she had. Diego was superstitious and as much as he’d always loved her body and enjoyed hurting her he despised her different coloured eyes. They creeped him out. Sure enough, he looked away from her in a matter of seconds.
“Stupid bitch,” he mumbled, climbing off her. “Pack your fucking bags so I can get rid of you.”
Diego rolled off the bed, strode away from her and slammed the door shut with a warning of “three hours” tossed over his shoulder. Casey ignored him, pulling her legs up to her chest with a moan. She dropped her head onto her knees and finally allowed the fatigue she’d been battling with all night to overtake her. Intense shakes swept over her tired, beaten body. She found enough energy to lift an arm and tug her thick quilt over herself, burrowing into some desperately needed warmth for the first time in what felt like days, even though barely an hour had passed.
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