Page 16 of Savage Redemption

I don’t have the heart to tell her that there’s no genetic connection at all to my dad. I’m too busy gazing into Adan’s beautiful features reproduced on my equally beautiful baby girl.

I decide to call her Erin. No particular reason, I just like the name. And from the moment my dad first holds her in his arms, he’s smitten. According to Eva, he always did have a way with babies.

Eva, too, is the doting grandma, and even Bella finds time to enjoy being an auntie.

Despite my trepidation, I take to motherhood as though I was born to do this. Erin gives me purpose again, a reason to wake up each morning, to put one foot in front of the other. I was afraid she’d be a constant reminder of my previous ordeal, and maybe she is, but my memories are of a handsome, smiling face, of someone who was good to me, who seemed to care. Erin will never know her father, but I’ll tell her about him, well, as much as I can. I’ll tell her he was good and kind, and that I loved him.

And it’s true. I think I did love Adan, in a fucked-up, Stockholm Syndrome sort of a way. I’m sorry he’s dead, thoughI can see the relentless inevitability of it. Men like him rarely make old bones, and perhaps that’s for the best. I intend to make a decent job of raising his daughter, though. His legacy, though he’ll never know it.

CHAPTER 4

Adan

Within twenty minutesof the cell door clanging shut, it’s flung wide open again.

“Out,” the guard orders. “You’re to come with me.”

I limp after him into the dank corridor, hanging on to the wall as we march along the narrow walkway to the stairs at the end. He offers me no assistance in climbing the steps into the daylight above, and I don’t ask for any. I’m used to shifting for myself.

Once upstairs, I pause to take a look around. I’m in the central foyer of what was the Domingo hacienda, now the home of Kris Kaminski, or more accurately, his underboss, Baz Bartosz. I gather Kaminski prefers to live on his luxury yacht in one of Tenerife’s marinas, leaving the hacienda to be inhabited by Bartosz and his family. I met his wife and daughter when they were my prisoners, briefly.

I suspect I owe my life to the fact that I was careful not to harm either of them whilst they were in my ‘care’. Gratuitous violence was never my thing, it wasn’t necessary to hurt anyone.The kid was never in any danger, there are lines I won’t cross, and murdering children is one of them.

Speaking of which, a movement to my right catches my attention. I swing my gaze around in time to spot Lily Bartosz darting out of the French windows dressed in riding gear. I vaguely recall that the Domingos were renowned for breeding fine racehorses, so I assume Bartosz has maintained the tradition.

“This way,” the guard snaps, heading for a second flight of stars.

“It’s okay, Pyotr. I can take it from here.”

Julia Bartosz emerges from a room to my left, and seems somewhat more put together than when I last saw her.

I bow my head. “You look well, Julia.”

Her brow wrinkles. “Which is more than can be said for you,señor.Still, we can soon rectify that. Please, come with me.”

“Señora, I—” the guard protests.

“Thank you, Pyotr.” She dismisses his objections with a wave of an elegant hand. “I’m sure you have a lot to be getting on with.”

“The boss told me to?—”

“Yes, yes. But I can take it from here.SeñorSan Antonio will not be causing any problems, is that not correct?”

I assume the question is directed at me. I shrug, which Julia Bartosz takes as assent.

“There. You see. Let me show you to your new… quarters.”

The guard knows when he’s beaten and ambles off, muttering.

I fall in behind Julia as she ascends the grand staircase.

On the upper landing, she pauses at a door on the left and gestures me to go inside. “I trust you will be more comfortable here.”

I doubt if it could be less comfortable than the accommodations I just left so I turn the door handle and enter, to find myself in a guest suite.

Julia follows me inside. “The en suite is over there. I had fresh towels and toiletries put in there, and you’ll find a change of clothes on the bed. I understand my husband intends to provide you with funds to purchase more. I have also arranged for a barber from the village to come up here and give you a shave and a haircut. Is there anything else you might require?

Again, I shrug. “It sounds as though you thought of everything.”

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