Page 51 of Reign

Great.

“We’re wasting time. What’s our plan?” Diego says, leaning back against the bookcase in the office, arms folded across his broad chest. I see Joelle move ever so slightly in his direction like his gravitational pull has reached out for her and is drawing her to him.

“We get Dominic and Libby set up on overwatch,” Nikita starts but is cut off by Diego.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t take Dominic to the boat? Once Mateo realizes I’m on your team, he won’t hesitate to drop me,” Diego says calmly, like predicting his own death is no big deal. “I’ve touched base with the guys back home and left a couple of voicemails for Mateo hoping to throw him off my scent, but he hasn’t returned my calls, so I don’t know where he and I stand at the moment.”

“NO!” Joelle shouts emphatically, making me jump. When Nikita looks at her with his eyebrows raised to his forehead in question, she tries to backtrack. “I just mean, there’s been enough bad shit. No one is dying tonight.” She looks at her brother. “What he says makes sense.”

Nikita purses his lips at her but Diego takes pity on her and throws her a wink.

I see the shudder run through her and I grab her hand and lean in to her ear. “Diego can handle himself if the need arises,” I reassure her.

She says nothing but squeezes my hand in response.

“Like I was saying,” Nikita continues, his eyes flicking back and forth between his sister and Diego. “We’ll get Dominic and Libby set up on overwatch on the rooftop across from the marina. Diego, I’ll plant you on one of the neighboring boats and I’ll approach Mateo’s boat alone with Max. We’ll offer the trade first. If he wants to pretend like this is about money, then we’ll play along. If anyone has an open shot on Mateo once we get Camila out of the way, you take it without hesitation, clear?”

I know he means we take the shot even if it means killing him or Diego, and I swallow my nausea before nodding in agreement.

“Understood.”

“Good. I’m going to get Max ready and secure Joelle in the safe room. She’ll have a headset on and will be able to talk to all of us,” he explains. “I’ll meet you back here in twenty minutes.”

“Make it fifteen,” Dominic says, throwing a glance at the clock on the wall. The elegant design and its roman numerals seems to be taunting us somehow.

We walk Nikita and Joelle back to the foyer and as they head back out the door, the smell of rain is thick in the air. The darkness of night is moving in fast. At least that will be good for our cover.

I’m halfway up the stairs to start preparing weapons when Dominic grabs my shoulders, stopping me in my tracks. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do. That’smyfather causing all this chaos. It’s the manIlove being threatened and it’smyfriend that he has on that boat. He’s about to learn what true revenge looks like and it’s got long black hair and eyes the color of ice… and it matches his DNA.”

The look of pride shining back at me through Dominic’s eyes gives me the courage I need to believe the words I just said.

He throws a look at Diego who nods, telling Cas, “She’s got this.”

“Then let’s load up and go get our girl,” Dom says and this time, it doesn’t bother me at all that he’s talking about Camila.

I drop the heavy lead vest over my head. I change out my jeans for black cargo pants of my own and fill my pockets with extra magazines and a knife. Suddenly I hear Bea’s voice in my head.Just hope you don’t get close enough to use it but if you do, you aim to kill.

Once I’ve got everything in place, Dominic hands me a rifle. I’ve never used a rifle. Reading my thoughts like always, he brushes hair out of my face and says, “I’ll show you how to use it when we get there but it’s simple. You look through here,” he points to the scope on top, “Put the crosshairs on Mateo’s fucking face, and when you get to the bottom your exhale, hold your breath to steady your shot and squeeze the trigger.”

I nod, my armpits sweating with nerves but I can do this. I’m not afraid, just anxious.

Diego bumps my shoulder from behind, “You’ve got this, señorita.”

Let’s hope he’s right.

~

EIGHTEEN MINUTES LATER, we all pile into a fully-armored Lexus LX600. From the outside, it looks like an ordinary SUV driven by a soccer mom but Nikita explains the bulletproof glass, engine bay armoring, reinforced door hinges, runflat devices, reinforced suspension, and the fact that it can handle 7.62mm rounds from an assault rifle and two explosions from DM51 hand grenades. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

Diego starts passing out ear pieces from the front seat and we all check in with each other and with Joelle. Max is bound and gagged in the way back, his fear finally showing. I try not to think about him or his fate.

I’m trying not to think about a lot of things, like the amount of time that has passed since Camila left for her date with Adam and what they’ve done to her. I try not to think about the scars on her back but I can’t unsee them.

I turn to face Dominic in the back seat. “Tell me about Camila’s scars.” He hesitates for a second, clearly uncomfortable with sharing but quickly realizing we’re all risking our lives for her so he relents and gives us the short version. It’s enough to pack a punch.

“She was taken as payback for a hit I’d done. By the time I found her, her pulse was faint. They’d tied her hands to a metal pipe and whipped her back like it was Rome circa 37A.D. They’d tied glass shards in the tails of the whip and it ate the flesh of her low back as they repeatedly struck her while she was naked. She never gave me up. She never told them where I was that day.” His voice grows thick and raspy and we can all tell he’s holding everything back: fear, tears, anger. “She was prepared to die for me.”

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