Page 22 of Alejandro's Prey

Then he followed her over the edge, thrusting hard into her for several more seconds while she clung to him helplessly, staring up at his harsh features with awe. She reached up to touch his face as he bathed her in his seed, his face twisted in a fierce grimace. When he finished, he set her naked on the couch and knelt at her feet.

When their breathing evened out, he began speaking. “We know who was behind the attempt on my life in La Paz and your kidnaping.”

“Who?” Gina asked, eager for knowledge so they could put the episode behind them and move on.

He sighed, rolled his massive shoulders and cracked his neck to the side, relieving tension. He took her hands in his and asked, “How old were you when your family died in the cartel hit?”

Gina frowned. Alejandro knew all this. “Sixteen.”

“What do you remember?” he asked.

“Nothing, I was on a school trip when the hit took place. That’s why I wasn’t killed too,” she told him. “Why are you asking me this? You already know everything.” She was agitated. She hated remembering what happened to her family, the hits.

“Don’t you think it’s strange that an organized crime group would ensure both your and Casey’s family is all together for the execution, then miss you?”

She reached for a blanket folded on the end of the couch and covered herself, averting her eyes. She didn’t want to talk about this, it was too painful.

Alejandro sat down beside her, pulling her into his arms, but forcing her head up so she had to look at him. He tucked the edge of the blanket around her shoulders. “I know you do not like discussing this, but we need to,mi amor.”

Gina nodded, tears pricking her eyes. She shrugged, clutching the blanket against her chest. “I guess I always wondered how I escaped. I assumed it was luck, but the mafia doesn’t really deal in luck, do they?”

Alejandro smiled grimly and touched the tear that trailed from her eye to her cheek. “You were never lucky. You were allowed to escape. Someone in your family sold out to the Mexicans, telling them when and where the hit was to take place in exchange for both of your lives. He didn’t trust that they wouldn’t kill him anyway, so he fled. His plan was to come back for you when the dust settled on your family’s graves.”

Her mouth opened, and her eyes glazed in horror as understanding dawned. There could be only one person that Alejandro was talking about, one person whose body had never been found. “My brother,” she whispered. She’d always assumed he’d been taken, tortured and killed. Like Casey’s, his grave in Miami was empty. “But why?” she asked, heartbroken, already knowing the answer.

Alejandro’s voice hardened when he answered anyway. “Money. Power. The things men will usually sell out their family’s for.”

“My mom,” Gina gasped, the tears coming faster now. She closed her eyes tight and tried not to picture her mother in a pool of blood, shot in the back of the head. She’d been whisked away from her school and put into protective custody the moment the bodies were discovered. She hadn’t experienced any of the violence her cousin had. But she still imagined it, every time she thought of the horrific events that brought her family down.

“Sosa pulled weight and had you across the border and into Venezuela before the feds had any idea what was happening. Their one piece of leverage against the Mexican cartel was gone. It was the one good deed I’ve seen the man do.”

Gina smiled softly. “He’s done many good things for me, for our family. He loves us… in his own way.”

Alejandro snorted. “He loved Casey’s mother, your aunt, and he fucking hates the Mexican cartel.”

Gina shook her head absently. “Love isn’t what motivates him now.” Then she looked up at Alejandro, hope and fear warring in her eyes. “Are you saying my older brother is still alive?”

He nodded sharply. “Si.” The single word held a wealth of disgust.

The hope faded from her gaze. Her brother was not only a traitor, the reason for her family’s demise, but he’d attacked Alejandro and kidnapped Gina. His death was a foregone conclusion. This was the reason Alejandro was demanding her loyalty, why he was angry. Not at Gina, but at this impossible situation. Despair bubbled up inside her until she was nearly choking on it.

“Alejandro…” she let out a sob.

“I know,” he said gruffly and hauled her onto his lap. He held her tight, tucking the blanket around her while she cried against him, soaking him in tears. He didn’t lie to her, tell her that everything would be alright. It wasn’t. She’d found out her missing brother, presumed dead, was actually alive, but he would have to die at the hands of the man she loved. “We will get through this,” he murmured against the top of her head, kissing her.

“I don’t know if we can,” she hiccoughed and snuggled under his throat. “How will I survive another loss? How will Casey? This will crush us.”

“No, it won’t,” he said, steel infusing his words. He stood with her in his arms and looked down at her. “You will be strong because you don’t have a choice. Your family is here, in Bolivia, not with a man that caved into weakness and sold you out.”

“Not me…” she protested weakly as he strode with her up the stairs.

“Everyone you know,cariña,” his voice grew harder with each step. “Just because he didn’t have thecajonesto see your death through does not mean he does not bear responsibility for everything else. Your mama, your papa. Your cousin and her entire family. Do you think that Casey will care that he is blood? He is the reason that she was shot and sold to a monster. Toughen that soft heart and face reality. Your brother is not the child you once knew.”

He set Gina on her feet in the bedroom. She held the blanket against her chest and watched as he pulled a bag from the closet and began packing. Panic swelled within her. “Where are you going?”

He looked at her sharply and said, “Can’t tell you.”

She took a step back, hurt piercing her chest. “I wouldn’t betray you,” she whispered. He continued to stare at her, frowning. She raised her chin and said more clearly, “I may not be exactly what you need in a mafia wife, but I know all about family and loyalty. I know who my family is and where my loyalty lays. I don’t need you or anyone else to tell me that.”

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