Her throat felt suddenly dry and painful with the need to cry. She pressed the heel of her free hand against her eye for a moment. Then she blinked back the tears and swallowed past the lump. “M-my memories of them are fuzzy. It’s like when I was shot in the head and then went into a coma after, my childhood memories were scooped out. But they are slowly returning. It… helps to hear you speak of them fondly. Or almost fondly in my dad’s case.”
He chuckled. “I grew to enjoy his company. It gutted me when your family was taken.”
“Then why did you allow Ignacio to take me? To keep the only surviving member of my mother’s family?” she asked, turning to him, anguish bright in her eyes.
He took both of her hands in his and spoke earnestly. “Child, I… or rather I should say, we, all of us in the underworld circles thought you were dead. I admit there were rumours of a beautiful woman with white blond hair decorating the arm of Hernandez in Miami, but none of us thought it could be you. Not after what had happened. There is a grave with your name on it right alongside theirs. I personally attended your funeral.”
Her mouth fell open in shock. She hadn’t known that. Ignacio had never allowed her to visit the graves, assuring her it would be too traumatizing, bring back memories of the accident. Instead, he hadn’t wanted her in that graveyard because she would have seen her own grave, started to question him about the accident and unravel the truth.
Sotza shook his head and continued, “Of course, this was a weak excuse. I should have looked further into the rumours. It was too convenient that Hernandez had married a woman that looked so much like you, had the same name and was the correct age. I should have flown back to Miami myself and looked you in the eye. I should have done it for Sandra. But I was too damn grief-stricken. I didn’t want to believe it could be true.”
She nodded her head, still stunned by everything he was revealing to her.
“I’m sorry, Casey,” he told her quietly. “So very sorry.”
She lifted her head and pierced him with eyes shimmering with determination and emotion. “Then help me Señor Sotza,” she said grimly. “I want revenge on the people that did this to my family; the ones that planned this and the ones that pulled the trigger. I won’t rest until they’re all dead. Give me this and I will forgive you, both for myself and my mother.”
He stared back at her, unable to smother the emotion in his dark eyes. She saw the sadness and his own need for vengeance reflecting back at her. A cool smile played around his thin lips as he masked every trace of feeling. “Of course I will help, child. As it happens I have been doing some digging over the years, attempting to find the source of the hit. There were many rumours floating around at the time, but as more time passed they died away. Still, one in particular persisted. This one I looked into and found some truth.”
Casey’s heart started pounding in anticipation. She had to remember to school her features. “And?” she asked.
“Though I wish to lay all of my cards at your very lovely feet, my dear, I am still a businessman. I find myself reluctant to give you this information and watch a cherished link to my past walk out of my life, possibly never to return,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.
Casey laughed, knowing exactly where he was leading her. “I see,” she replied and tapped a fingernail against her lip. “And how exactly would you propose to remedy this dilemma?”
“A trade negotiation with new routes into the United States,” he said without pause. “With you as my main point of contact and twice-yearly meetings.”
Casey nodded her head and smiled. “I think this can be arranged,” she told him and then removed her hand from his, deciding Reyes was probably reaching his limit of her touching another man, even if it was in pursuit of information. “Come let’s walk and discuss details, you can show me the rest of this magnificent garden.”
Sotza stood, nodded toward Reyes and led her down another path. He turned to her and said enigmatically, “I have another gift for you, my dear, one that I will give for free.” His face softened as he spoke. “I found this particular treasure when I was digging for information on your family.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Casey was starting to panic. This was not good.
“Get the men off my fucking plane,” Reyes snapped at Alejandro, his hand tight on hers as he dragged Casey across the tarmac toward the private jet. She nearly had to run to keep up with his rapid strides despite her long legs. She was cursing her choice of spiked high heels. Had she known she would be marathon walking she’d have chosen flats.
“What about the pilot?” Alejandro asked, confused.
Reyes didn’t bother to respond, just walked faster until Casey was actually running to keep up.
“Right,” Alejandro said. He shot Casey a pitying look and jogged toward the plane to empty it before Reyes and Casey arrived.
Reyes hadn’t said a single word almost the entire time they were at Sotza’s. He’d watched her interactions intently and listened as she’d negotiated each minute detail with the tough Venezuelan businessman, but he’d never once stepped in. Had she overstepped? Promised too much in her quest for vengeance? Had she given away too many of Reyes’ resources? They’d discussed what she should and shouldn’t say, but Casey had definitely branched out on her own, instinctively knowing when to push Sotza and when to back off. He was not a man to take bullshit lightly, despite the soft spot he clearly held for Sandra’s daughter. Casey had felt as though she’d needed to pull out all the stops when maneuvering the older man into a position that was advantageous to her and the Bolivians. But one look at Reyes’ face now and she was positive she’d done something wrong.
His men left the plane quickly, not looking at her as they passed, though she could feel their tension.
“Vete,” he barked, pointing toward a distant hangar.
Casey wanted to beg him to let her go with them. What had she done to deserve his fury? He could have stepped in at any time and taken over if he thought she was doing it wrong. Was he going to punish her for fucking up her very first negotiation? Remembering her time in the dungeon back home she shivered. He pulled her behind him as he marched up the stairs and onto the plane.
Reyes dropped her arm and turned to her, his eyes glowing with an intense dark fire that seemed to reach out and lick every part of her. She backed up a couple of quick steps and held her hand out to him.
“Please, Reyes,” she begged, breathlessly. “I don’t know what I’ve done…”
He reached out, snatched her wrist with a groan and dragged her into his body. She shrieked in surprise and grabbed for his biceps, clinging to him with wide, worried eyes. He claimed her lips in a fierce kiss. It was hard and somewhat brutal, as though he couldn’t get enough of her fast enough. He held her tightly against his body, his embrace one of passion, not punishment as she had been expecting. When he finally let her breathe, she gaped at him.
Finally, he spoke, laying her fears that he was angry to rest. “Where the fuck did you learn to negotiate like that, woman?” he demanded, punctuating his words with hard, stinging kisses. “Was so fucking caliente, I couldn’t wait to get you back here so I could fuck you properly. It was everything I could do not to strip you in the car and take you in the back seat.”
“Oh!” Casey gasped. So that was what had been wrong with him. If she weren’t so damn happy he wasn’t angry with her she would berate him for being such an intense jerk and scaring her.
“Would’ve had to take out my own guys for witnessing you having an orgasm,” he grunted and then backed them up until he was sitting on one of the benches. He pulled her down on top of him until she was straddling him with her skirt pushed up her thighs.
He tore at her clothes, uncaring that the seams of the delicate fabric were giving way beneath his hard, demanding fingers. Within seconds her demure blouse lay in shreds on the floor. She clung to his shoulders attempting to return his kisses, her own passion rising equally with his. She flung her h
ead back, giving him access to her throat.
“I know lot’s about negotiating,” she panted. “I paid attention when I was a kid. I was the oldest child in my family and my daddy let me listen in on his meetings sometimes. He didn’t care that I was a girl… I guess he knew I’d be a mafia wife one day and wanted me to be as prepared as I could be. As for Ignacio… well he and his guys thought I was just some stupid, pretty girl so they weren’t shy about talking in front of me. Oh, fuck!” she moaned when he bit down on the flesh of her shoulder, marking her. Her pussy flooded with heat for him, impatient for the man that had taken over her life and brought her more pleasure than she could ever imagine. “I guess they never imagined what this cracked brain was capable of retaining,” she mumbled, clinging to his shoulder with one hand and his hair with the other.
Reyes growled angrily, gripped her by the back of the head and swung her forward until she was face to face, nose to nose with him. Recognizing the thunder in his eyes she tried to shrink back, but he forced her to continue straddling him. “You will never disparage yourself again, Casey. Understand?”
She nodded, her eyes filling with tears.
“Say it!” he snapped.
“Never again,” she whispered leaning her forehead against his. God, she was falling hard for this man.
“Mi Reina is not fucking cracked,” he growled, “Mi reina es perfecta.”
A tear slid down her cheek and she cupped his face in her hands and said with all the conviction in her heart, “Mi rey es perfecto.”
He slid his hand down her front, between her bare breasts and over her bunched skirt into her panties. She squirmed when he slid his fingers along her aching clit and then down further into her dripping pussy. Her legs tried to automatically close in reaction to the rough touch of his thick fingers against her soft pussy, but he forced her wider by spreading his knees and tipping her backwards on his arm.
Her cries filled the airplane as he pressed two thick fingers inside her and hooked them against the front wall of her vagina, massaging her. It was too much! Too many sensations flooding her at once. She squirmed on top of him, trying to get closer to the intense feeling building inside her while also trying to twist and crawl away from him. He held her tight, his arm wrapped securely around her waist, anchoring her against him.
Casey would have marvelled at the incredible strength it must have taken for him to hold her up except she was too preoccupied with what was happening to her body. She brought her legs up on either side of him, her knees quaking as building pleasure streaked through her. He flicked his thumb over her clit and sent her spinning over the pinnacle of some kind of super orgasm.
She shrieked and reached out blindly to clutch him, gripping his neck and dragging herself foreword, rocking her pussy up against him and grinding into whatever friction she could find to prolong the blissful aftershocks. She vaguely heard him groan and felt him pull his fingers from her sopping wet passage. She moaned in protest, tilting her hips against his stomach and trying to ride him. She so wasn’t done coming yet.
He reached in between them, tore at his belt and unzipped his pants. He hastily shifted them until he was able to pull his hard, thick cock up between them. Casey panted, lifted herself slightly and allowed him to guide her down. She moaned, her head falling back as he began to fill her inch by slow inch. She wiggled a little when it became too much, the sensations overwhelmingly full.
“You can do it, nena,” he groaned, nipping and licking at her exposed throat and breasts. “You can take me.”
He took her hips in his broad hands and pulled her all the way down until he was impaled deep inside. She moaned and squirmed, tilting her hips forward and back as much as he would allow, rubbing her clit against him until she was seconds away from coming again. He took her nipple between his teeth and teased, increasing the pressure until she was ready to explode.
“Come for me again,” he grunted against her, his voice a guttural groan.
Casey dropped her hand from his neck, running it down the chiselled muscles of his chest to his stomach and then curling her fingers toward her own clit. He leaned back and dropped his head so he could watch as she worked her fingers in between them, using the pads of her fingertips to draw herself closer and closer while her knuckles brushed softly against him, driving him crazy.
“Harder, Casey,” he demanded. “Touch harder. Come now.”
As though her fingers were somehow connected to him, she did exactly as he commanded, pressing harder against her own slippery flesh while he fucked up into her, filling her channel with his hot, hard flesh until she was once more flying into the embrace of another magical orgasm.
“Yes!” she screamed happily, flinging her arms back so suddenly he had to grip her tighter so she wouldn’t fall off his lap. She rocked on top of him, riding him harder, drawing out her orgasm as her pussy spasmed around him.
“Fuck!” he snarled, gripping her waist tight and slamming her down on his cock repeatedly until she felt him grow inside her. She squirmed at the sudden discomfort and gripped his shoulders, hanging on as he forced her to ride him savagely until he was spurting his semen up into her.
He slammed her down once more on his cock and stopped moving, holding her tight on his lap. Casey collapsed against him, resting her head against his shoulder. She breathed heavily, eyes closed, totally blissed out.
After a few minutes, she managed to pull herself together enough to push back from his shoulder and look at him properly. She pressed her forehead against his and sifted her fingers through his thick hair. “Let’s go to Mexico,” she whispered.
His dark eyes heated with fire and she felt his cock stir inside her again. “Si, nena. We will go to Mexico next.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Reyes picked up her hand, brought it to his mouth and kissed the fingertips, all while looking at his host, Benito Alvarez, Mexican cartel boss. Benito sat at the head of a massive table, surrounded by his men, while Reyes sat a few seats down the left side. He listened with barely concealed patience to Benito’s words of long-winded congratulations toward his Bolivian counterpart, mixed with liberal amounts of self-praise. Reyes forced himself to maintain his hold on the cool, pale blonde’s hand, though he didn’t so much as glance at her as she played her part to perfection. He felt her shift slightly in her seat as she reached for her wine goblet and took a small swallow of the rich, red wine, the sleeve of her burgundy dress falling away from her arm. He should have warned her not to wear that colour.
“I must admit, Señor Reyes, I had expected your… companion to be somewhat different,” Benito said with a disappointed sigh.
Reyes felt her stiffen next to him, but, as discussed, she kept her lips closed and allowed the men’s discussion to flow around her without comment or complaint. He knew it wasn’t easy. They had arrived at the Alvarez compound three days earlier for their negotiations and her presence had been the cause for several comments. Benito and his men baited her with several comments about her American origins and her place in Reyes’ bed. They had agreed to allow any insults to pass freely since they were bent on keeping the negotiations peaceful.
Reyes stroked a finger over the back of her hand. He knew how much she despised listening to Benito spew his garbage around a table filled with his own men, men loyal to the Alvarez cartel. Reyes felt her relax under his gentle guidance. She picked her wine up and continued sipping while picking at the cheese plate in front of them. He had to give Benito props, though his manners were disgusting, he set a decent table. They were surrounded by treasures of immense wealth as well, gifts from the Mexican cartel to the Bolivians in appreciation for bringing forth new business, new trade routes and a new partnership. Among the gifts were weapons, jewels and money. But the most breathtaking and, perhaps, telling of Benito’s penchant for drama was a human skull, now sitting in the middle of the table directly across from Reyes, adorned in coins and jewels. Its eyes glowed with a particularly sinister beauty, having been
set with two exquisitely cut emeralds.
“And what exactly do you mean by that, amigo?” Reyes drawled lazily, declining his own wine in favour of water.
“I was told she was unusually stunning,” Benito said bluntly, his sharp eyes on the woman at Reyes’ side.
Reyes placed her delicate hand on her own leg and stretched his arm around the back of her chair, wrapping his fingers around the back of her neck through the blond strands of her hair. It was a move meant to show possessiveness and shut down this line of discussion. He felt the tension thrumming through her body as he touched her, as the air in the room thickened while Benito played with his guests. After three solid days of Benito’s abrasive personality, Reyes was more than ready to take his woman and quit the Alvarez cartel. Permanently.
“And is she not stunning?” he asked through gritted teeth, knowing he should just accept the insult and move on, but feeling sufficiently slighted on her behalf to engage with the pig-like Mexican. Tension filled the room, making the men around the table shift uncomfortably and look to Benito for his reaction.
“Of course, my friend!” Benito was quick to reassure Reyes. “She is a beautiful woman, there is no denying this.” Benito’s eyes flowed liberally over her petite frame, pausing on her full chest before paying particular attention to her face. Then his voice became more serious. “But not unusual. Now, I have heard rumours of your woman…”
“What rumours?” Reyes asked sharply.
Benito flicked a look at the Bolivian boss that suggested a conspiracy, but Reyes sensed a smugness in his attitude. As though he knew a secret that only he could share. “I had heard that you might have picked your woman up from the late Ignacio Hernandez, recently of Miami.” When Reyes said nothing, merely remained in his seat, posture relaxed, Benito continued. “But that would be impossible since I recently gave the order for Hernandez to dispose of his little bitch. Especially if he thought there were any threats to Miami.”
Scarred Queen (The Queens Book 1) Page 21