Page 11 of Javier

“Who’s the one with a potty mouth now?” The man shifted his voice toward Sister Elsa. “Aren’t you gonna get on her ass?”

“The Irish get an exemption from swearing, or so she tells me.” Sister Elsa planted her cane on the ground. “As to the girl, she belongs to the Lord.”

His gaze fell on me. “Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Belong to the Lord,” he said. “Have you taken your vows?”

He locked eyes with me. The intensity of his stare reminded me of his kiss, still tingling on my lips and reverberating through my body in prickles of treacherous pleasure.

“If you need to know, I haven’t taken any vows.” I lifted my chin and pledged allegiance to my sometimes absent backbone. “But that’s none of your concern, is it? I belong to myself, and you’ve got no business being here.”

“The hell I don’t.” Cursing under his breath, he massaged the bridge of his nose. “Angel, I swear. I have no intention of harming you or your friends, but if we don’t get the hell out of here, someone’s gonna get hurt, and that someone’s gonna be me. Since I like my ass as is, it’s time for us to sayadiosto this place. You can come with me voluntarily or not, but you’re coming with me.”

“I’mnotgoing with you anywhere.” I stood my ground. “If you think you’re taking me back to my father, you’re sorely mistaken—”

“I’mnothere to take you back to your father.”

“Then why the heck are you here?”

“There we go now.” Sister Janet drew up to her full height, which was barely five feet. “Why are ye here?”

“I came here to find you, Angel,” he stated. “I’m here to help you, if you’ll let me.”

“You’re lying.” My skepticism grew now that I’d put my backbone to good use, and also some distance between him and me. “I don’t believe you.”

“I cheat and lie all the time.” He scoffed. “Believe me, I’d know if I were lying.”

I frowned in confusion. “What?”

“Never mind.” His big chest rose and fell with another exasperated breath. “I don’t work for your father and we have to leave now, so less talk and more hustle, please.”

“No.” Despite his denials, I was sure he was here to drag me, kicking and screaming, back to my father’s clutches.

“Quick fact.” His eyes glinted like copper. “The men who inhabited those corpses until a moment ago came here to kill you. If you don’t come with me, other assassins will show up and finish the work.”

“We don’t know any of that for sure—”

“I do.” His certainty shocked me. “Now, please. I’m asking nicely. Come with me.”

I narrowed my eyes on him. “If you don’t work for my father, then who are you?”

“My name is Javier Guzman, at your service.” He took a small, playful bow, and flashed his hot-as-sin grin, the one that curled my toes and melted my brain.

“Javier?” I gasped in complete disbelief.

He’d called himself the same in my dreams.

“You aretheJavier?” Strangely, Sister Elsa echoed my surprise.

“In the flesh.” He kept his attention on me. “You, on the other hand, don’t need an introduction. You’re Artemis Astor, the mysteriously vanished daughter of Richard Astor, or ‘Missing Missy’ as we’ve been calling you lately.”

My knees caved. I plopped down on the nearest concrete ledge.Missing Missy. Mysteriously vanished. Richard Astor. No doubt about it. He was my father’s minion.

Chapter Four

Missy

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