Page 25 of Alejandro's Prey

“I did do something,” he assured her, reaching for her. He dropped his hand when Alejandro growled. “I saved you, Gina. I saved you for myself. So we could be together.” His face darkened, and she saw the edge of selfish savagery that must have been present when he’d sold their family to the Mexican cartel. “But then I lost you. They didn’t give you to me the way they were supposed to. You went into custody and I didn’t see you again. Not until I heard you turned up in Bolivia, living with our cousin in a fucking fortress.”

Gina studied him, seeing something she hoped wasn’t possible but suspected was true. Her stomach twisted with nausea. “You were saving me for yourself?” she whispered, prompting. She felt Alejandro stiffen at her side. She was getting information out of his prisoner that he likely hadn’t been able to extract.

“Yes!” Beck nodded emphatically. “Once our parents were gone, there was nothing to stop us from being together. We could live across the border, be happy, run our own syndicate, just the way we were always meant to. No interference, no one to stand in our way.”

“Oh god,” Gina whispered, covering her face. Her brother was truly a sick man.

“Come on,” Alejandro wrapped a hand around Gina’s arm and lifted her from the chair. “Time to leave. You don’t need to hear any more.”

“Please,” she whispered, lifting wounded eyes to her husband. “Just one more moment. To eat with him. Meals were very important with our f-family and I wanted to say goodbye by breaking bread one last time. Then I can walk away without any regrets.”

She knew that she was manipulating Alejandro, saying exactly the right thing, looking at him exactly the right way to get him to comply. But they both knew that Beck wasn’t going to be any danger to her. His worshipful devotion toward her was painfully obvious. Alejandro searched her face, taking in the strain on her pale face before finally giving her a sharp nod.

“Two more minutes. You eat together and then you go. No more time, no more arguments,” he said firmly, releasing her arm.

Gina smiled as much as she could under the circumstances and brushed her hand along his arm. She felt the bunch of his muscle and then the release. His face seemed to relax slightly too, though the severe expression remained. He was truly worried about her. Her feelings toward him capturing her brother and what he would have to do next. She wanted to tell him not to worry. She turned back to the table and lifted the lid off the tin.

Beck leaned forward, his expression serene and happy. She wanted to slap him and demand he wake up to the precariousness of his position. He was an idiot for thinking he could get away with the murder of their parents, with his obsession with his younger sister. Still, he was her brother and she would observe some semblance of formality before washing her hands of him. Wrinkling her nose, she offered the tin. “Would you like to eat with me, Beckett?”

“You remembered,” he whispered, pleasure filling his voice as he took one of the muffins. “Chocolate chip raspberry. My favourite.”

Her stomach heaved in revolt as she took a muffin as well and placed the tin back on the table between them. She had not, in fact, remembered his preferences and she seriously doubted these were his favourites. At the moment, she rather thought Beck was ready to be pleased by just about anything Gina said or did. She didn’t bother offering a muffin to her husband. She knew Alejandro wasn’t interested in their custom of breaking bread, nor would he care to share a last meal with his prisoner.

Beck took a large bite of his muffin and said, “Thank you, Gina. I’m grateful they allowed you to come see me and that you were thoughtful enough to bring food. It was our family’s tradition to eat together when times were happy and when they were tough.”

She waited for him to take several more bites before setting her muffin on the table and standing. He watched her curiously as she stepped toward the table, pressing her hands against the metal. She allowed him to see every ounce of loathing she felt for him. “You dare to claim the Giancarro traditions as though they are yours?”

“Gina…” he murmured, chewing and swallowing, his eyes searching her face for compassion, but finding only anger.

“You murdered us,” she shouted at him, hitting the table with one hand and smacking her chest with the other. “You may as well have shot our parents yourself and then put a gun to my head. I was nothing without my family. A shell for so many years. Just drifting until I found Casey.”

“But you have me…” he pleaded weakly.

“I don’t want you!” she snapped hoarsely, then said, “And I don’t have you. Not anymore.”

Alejandro caught on right away, stepping forward. “What have you done, Gina?” he demanded, taking her arm and swinging her around to face him. She refused to look at her husband though, not taking her eyes off Beck as his breathing grew laboured and he struggled to remain upright in his chair. His muffin fell to the floor and he began to claw at the collar of his T-shirt.

“You should’ve told daddy or gone to our uncle the moment you knew we were under threat, you spineless coward!” her voice rose to a scream by the time she finished her sentence. “You could’ve saved us all!”

Alejandro shook her, snapping her head up until she was forced to look at him. “What the fuck did you do to him?” he yelled at her.

“I killed him!” she screamed, spinning in Alejandro’s arms, surprising him. She managed to break free for a second. She used it to her advantage, lunging across the table at her brother. She threw herself at Beck who was slumped in his chair wheezing and turning blue. They tumbled to the ground together. Beck brought his arms up, but instead of protecting himself, he wrapped them around Gina and used the last bit of strength he had to tug her head down to his, pressing his lips to hers.

“C-come with me,” he wheezed against her lips and kissed her.

Furious, Gina fought him, punching him for all she was worth. She’d wished she shoved a switchblade down her bra; she could’ve stabbed him in the eye too. Somehow Beck managed to maintain his grip on her, prolonging the kiss while the life slipped from his body. She heard Alejandro’s shout from behind them, heard the table flip against the wall, felt Alejandro’s grip around her waist as he tried to wrench her away from her brother.

Beck’s arms locked around Gina and he began convulsing, his face was rigid against hers. Grey eyes locked with grey. She tried desperately to keep her lips sealed. Alejandro finally managed to yank her away just as Beck began spitting and gagging, his blue lips peeling back in a horrified grimace as his eyes flew open in a death stare.

“You motherfucking murderer!” Gina screamed kicking out at him.

“Stop it, Gina,” Alejandro snapped, gripping her under the arms and dragging her away from the body as he succumbed to death in the grip of a massive seizure. “Look at me,” he demanded. “Did he get anything in your mouth?”

Gina elbowed Alejandro in the side, lunged against his iron hold and spit on the body of her brother. “Burn in hell, Beckett.”

Chapter Sixteen

Alejandro flung her into another room. She’d been marched through the sterile halls of the prison building in such a hurry that she couldn’t tell at all where she was until she got a good look around. His office. There was a large desk, impeccably tidy with an ashtray for his cigars. She smiled fondly, tilting her head so her hair covered her expression. He didn’t need to see the peace on her face while he was in such a towering rage.

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