Page 65 of Loving Smoke

“I don’t believe that’s any of your concern.”

I pushed off the couch and Blood did the same. “I’ll relay this meeting to Jameson, and we can move on from there.”

My heart sped up as my brain scrambled for answers. Marisol left me determined for the truth concerning her mother’s death, and now she was gone.

Something was definitely wrong here.

Sandoval joined us, then pointed to the sliding door and ushered us back into the villa.

Spinning around from the window, I groaned loudly and bent over from the waist. Both men’s heads jerked away from their phones to stare at me.

“I’m in so much pain.” I screamed out again, then collapsed to my knees wrapping my arms around my middle. “Please you have to help me,” I pleaded.

The two men exchanged a worried look but didn’t come to my aid.

“Are you going to help me or do I have to tell my father you left me writhing in pain?”

I just needed one of them to get close.

Carlos approached me cautiously. “What’s wrong?”

“I have my period and the pain is excruciating.”

His face froze in sheer terror. Nothing got results like mentioning your menstrual cycle to a man.

When Carlos turned to Juan I screamed out again, then wrapped my arms around his thick thigh, levered his weight bracing my feet to the floor and flipped him to the ground. He landed with a thud and I reached into his jacket and relieved him of his gun.

We retraced our steps and when we reached the stairs a loud scream and then a thud sounded from a side hallway.

Blood and I stopped. “What was that?”

“Probably just the cleaning staff.” Sandoval waved us forward, and another scream rang out. A female voice. Marisol’s voice.

“What the fuck?” I moved away from Sandoval and he pivoted gun draw. “Don’t take another step.”

“Iguess you forgot about all those Jiu-Jitsu classes you had to take me to.”

Juan charged and I leveled the weapon at his chest. “Lay your gun on the desk then move next to Carlos.” I circled around until I had them both in front of me.

Carlos made a move to stand and I yelled, “Stay down.” I motioned with the gun for Juan to join him on the floor. “You both know how good I am on the range, and you also know I’m my father’s daughter, so I suggest you do as I say.”

I circled the desk, then rummaged through the top drawer until I found the key. My father’s office had the unique feature of locking from either side and right now I would use it to my advantage.

Their eyes were wide and frantic as they followed my actions, and I wondered if they were afraid of me or what my father would do when he found them.

Ifroze in place making eye contact with Blood. We’d both been held at gunpoint before and knew how fast a situation could fall to shit. I visualized my Kimber resting against my ankle. All I needed was a one second diversion.

“Let’s just take it easy.” I threw up my palms in a semi-surrender.

Two seconds later a door slammed and Marisol appeared carrying a .45. Our eyes connected. Then she focused on Sandoval’s gun.

“What are you doing?” Marisol approached Sandoval. “Let them go.”

“This doesn’t concern you.” Sandoval’s eyes never left mine.

“Is this your idea of working things out?” Marisol leveled the gun her eyes wide and wild. “Remember I’m an expert shot, and as you keep reminding me I’m just like you, so maybe I’ll just pull the trigger and end all this confusion.”

Holy shit, this was a clusterfuck of way too many emotions. I tried to gage the dynamics but there was way the fuck too much crazy going on. I had to wait for an opening, then figure out how to get us out of here alive.

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