Page 40 of Brutal Empire

“In about two hours, your father should get a visitor. Arrangements will be made for him to be transferred. No coverage. As far as the world knows, he will remain there. For the safety of everyone, it is best that no one finds out that he was ever transferred.”

Julian looked at me for a second before he clapped his hands, cheering.

“Eso, compa. Tu dime cuando y adone.”

That’s it, my friend. Let me know where and when.

“Any chance you know where Damian is at the moment?”

I looked at Cam and then back to Julian.

“Take me to Texas, and we’ve got it from there.”

Julian nodded, and I knew that I was about to wage war with Damian, but this time, I wasn’t going to do it as a Sekt agent—since he was already onto me—but as Bastian Kingsley. It was time I went back home.

EIGHTEEN

It wasfunny how money bypassed any law. It was what made the world go round, and although it was a necessary evil, some people used their money to hide all the things they didn’t want others to know.

When we got on the plane, Lobo gave us back our bags. I immediately went to the bathroom and strapped on my knives, letting the cold metal make me feel secure. There was something alluring about blade meeting skin. How it made you alert and aware, and if you weren’t careful, you would nick your own skin.

I’d never be caught off guard.

Being in the air got me thinking about the things I might have left behind now that I would be back on American soil for the first time since I was taken.

What had happened to my family? Did they still mourn me, or had I been forgotten? What about Justin? Was he happy? Did he have a nice life? A family? Did it matter to me if I was going to continue forward with my plan?

“Estas muy pensativa.”

I looked up at the man who was taking a seat. I had no idea what he was saying to me. My Spanish didn’t go pasthola.

“I don’t speak Spanish,” I simply said.

He smiled, and I steeled myself so that I wouldn’t shrink back into my seat.

I didn’t know Julian Rivera, but I knew men. It didn’t matter how good or bad they were; at the end of the day, they wanted to end up between your legs.

“All the members I’ve met have spoken it,” he stated as he brought a cup filled with an amber liquid to his lips. His eyes were on my face, and they moved down my body. I was sure he was fishing for information.

“I would have thought Daphne would be with Sebastian. Those two were always together.” He leaned back and spread his legs to be more comfortable. And the action triggered memories of when my master would do it.

“Come, pet. Kneel.”

“Hmm, maybe now that she’s fucking the other one, she has no need for him.”

I knew Bastian had a sexual relationship with Daphne, but the last time it was mentioned, it flew over my head, and it didn’t bother me, but this time, something in the pit of my stomach churned. My mind instantly compared the two of us. She was beautiful, her face without scars, shorter than me, and she had no problem with intimacy.

I turned my head and looked out the window because these unwanted thoughts were trying to choke me.

“Did it hurt?” he kept going as he pointed to my cheek.

“Does it ever not hurt?” I bit back.

The reflection of the window let me see when he smiled, and there was nothing soft in it. His teeth were perfectly white, the canines sharper, and I assumed that would make him look handsome, but all I saw was a predator. When he leaned forward, my eyes searched the cabin until they found Bastian’s. He was sitting all the way in the back on a small bench with his laptop open, but his eyes were on us. Oddly enough, I found comfort in those dark eyes.

“Sometimes playing with knives is fun.”

Repulsion wormed its way through my body. Without thinking about it, I pushed up my sleeves, revealing all the cuts that were made along the way. There were hundreds of them all over my body, maybe a thousand. He looked at them and then back at me, and I ignored the repulsion in his eyes.

---