Page 19 of Heart of a Villain

It had to be why losing Ayesha stung the way it did; it was like losing his heart all over again, coming to the realization that his fate was a life alone. It was as if he’d learned to love only for the sake of experiencing heartbreak inside an infinite circle of hell.

“We think she might be related to Eesh,” Dez added. “She doesn’t know that yet, though. While she’s here, we plan to check. Maybe we’ll, I don’t know, pluck a strand of her hair while she’s asleep.”

“Or prick her with something sharp,” Joel suggested. “It’s not like we need a pint of her blood.”

“Or, hear me out...you could ask her to do a swab,” Adrían proposed.

Dez wagged a finger. “You know what?”

“That would work,” Joel finished.

Adrían’s gaze flicked to the man standing beside her. “And who’s he?”

Dez, smirking, looked across the room. “He says his name is Julio, and he introduced himself as her fiancé, but Julien ran facial recognition the minute they stepped foot on the property. That, my friend, is Rafael Henriques, a major enforcer for the Chamas cartel in Brazil.”

Chefe Cipriano Castilho had been the boss of the organization when he was still part of the Chamasagrado cartel. Given how effectively Cipriano had led and how well-loved he’d been, it wasn’t far-fetched to assume that Cipriano still sat at the head of the table. Rafael, he had no recollection of, but he’d had little tolerance for peons.

“What is she doing with Chamas?”

“We’ve known for a while, but we don’t know how she got caught up with them in the first place,” Dez revealed.

“Say the word,” Joel said. “I made you a promise. If you want her, I will kill him.”

Dez nodded. “If he’s busy, I can do it.”

“I’m also available,” Mike said, passing by.

“Joel, you only want to kill him because you think me being with Sayeda will help me let go of Ayesha,” Adrían argued.

Joel shrugged. “Well, yeah. I’ve never kept that a secret, but there are other reasons. Valid reasons.”

“Did he hurt her?”

“We aim to find out.”

Adrían cleared his throat and crossed the room, holding his breath. The group around Sayeda had dispersed, except for Theo, who tossed questions at her one after the other, switching topics on a pinhead. While crouched at Theo’s eye level, she answered each one with enthusiasm, but the so-called fiancé enforcer at her side was clearly nearing his wit’s end.

“Excuse me,” he said.

Theo looked up. “Adrían! Look-it! Doesn’t she look just like Mama?”

He kneeled to allow Theo to climb onto his neck, and as he returned to his feet, Theo turned the top of his head into a drum set.

Sayeda stood.

When their eyes met, she gasped, and her eyes widened. He saw her fingers spasm, saw her breaths come up short, and it was hard not to pull her close and seek penance for his mistakes with his lips against hers. Then, although discreet, he saw her mouth silently form the three syllables of his name.

“Um…hi. I’m Juliana.” She extended a hand, her throat visibly quivering as she swallowed. “I’m a friend of Julien’s. It’s nice to meet you.”

He frowned, his hair twitching with each of Theo’s rhythmic pats. “Querida?—”

“Querida?” The man beside her covered half of her body with his. “Watch your mouth, jackass.”

Adrían looked over at the fake enforcer just as Joel and Dez walked up.

“The word,” he said.

CHAPTER

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