Page 11 of Scarred Queen

He leaned across her back, crushing her further against the side of his unyielding desk, bruising her hip even more. His hot, horrible breath slid over her bare shoulder where her robe had slipped. Involuntary tears of pain glittered in eyes that stared straight ahead, frozen on his big, fancy leatherchair.

Unlike years past when he’d struck her in anger, his voice was surprisingly calm as he spoke. Now he seemed intent on hurting her with dispassionate malevolence, simply to get his point across. “You will do as I say tell you, Casey. Or I have no more use for you. Gotme?”

Casey nodded and blinked rapidly, tears spilling over her cheeks and dripping onto the papers on his desk. Absently she hoped they were ruining something important. Maybe whatever business deal he was trying to seal with the Bolivian. Ignacio pulled her abruptly to her feet and steadied her when her legs would have given way. She was the exact same height as him in bare feet, taller in heels, which of course annoyed him. Fleetingly it occurred to her that Reyes wouldn’t care about something stupid like that. He was enough of a man to feel pride in the presence of a striking woman, whether she was taller than him ornot.

Ignacio smoothed his hands down her arms, wrapped his thick fingers around the thin columns and drew her closer, his thumbs rubbing absently against her chilled skin. She stood stiffly, holding herself as far back as she could, making sure any expression of loathing was wiped clean from her face. Her ear was still ringing and her cheek was on fire from the vicious blow she’dtaken.

“You will dress up, you will look beautiful and you will go to his room at the Plaza at 8:00 tonight. You’ll do whatever he wants to do with you and you won’t disappoint me, will you Casey, my girl?” he asked, his voice cajoling. They both knew he wasn’t asking her a real question, but stating a fact. He’d only given her a small taste of what he was really capable of. Why had she so stupidly forgotten how little power she had under Ignacio’sregime?

“Of course, Ignacio,” she murmured through stifflips.

He led her to the door and opening it, handed her off to Alonzo, who was silently ignoring whatever Diego was saying to him. The two men had never gottenalong.

“Make sure she’s presentable for tonight,” Ignacio said before turning his back on Casey and her bodyguard, dismissingthem.

Chapter Nine

Casey staredat her reflection with a mixture of resigned despair and anger. No amount of makeup could disguise the mark high on her cheek or the swollen bite mark on her lip that were clearly visible through her careful efforts. Absently she wondered if it was part of Ignacio’s plan. To present his wife, damaged goods, to another man who clearly wanted her. Only she wasn’t sure what the other man ultimately wanted with her. A quick fuck? A way to mess with his businessrival?

Ignacio had sent an entire outfit for her to wear, including a dress, heels and jewelry. As the day had progressed and she’d prepared for her meeting with Reyes she began to feel more and more like a pawn in some deadly game. She wore a beautiful white dress that clung lovingly to every curve. It was curved along her legs to give the illusion of length along one thigh, but if she moved wrong it would also give a tantalizing glimpse high on her other thigh. It was sleeveless with a neckline that plunged halfway to her stomach. She didn’t bother with a bra. She’d been blessed with decent cleavage, but hadn’t been eating well lately, which had shrunk some of hercurves.

The dress fit her perfectly though and looked stunning when paired with the four-inch silver stilettos and diamonds Ignacio had sent from the safe room, a bracelet, teardrop pendant earrings and her wedding rings. She almost never wore her wedding set. Ignacio said they were too expensive to wear in public and, honestly, she was relieved. They were so big and gaudy, she hated the sight of them. But tonight, clearly, he intended to send the message that she was taken… even though she had orders to give Reyes anything he wanted. Which presumably included herbody.

Casey sat on the edge of her bed, a hairbrush clutched tight in her hand. The thought made her feel sick to her stomach. Not the thought of Reyes touching her. God, his touch melted everything inside her. Like nothing she’d ever experienced. No, it was the thought that her husband could so easily sell her to another man. And that she had no idea what the true intentions of that other man were. She was beginning to think she was in danger of really caring about Reyes, but he was mafia, just like her husband. No… he was worse than her husband. She could sense the lurking predator in him, getting ready to strike. She just wished she knew whose throat he intended to tear out. She lifted the brush and absently ran in through her hair, trying to hold the tears back so she wouldn’t ruin her make-up and piss Ignacio off. She would have pretended she had a headache if she thought it would get her out of seeing Reyes again, but she knew that wasn’t anoption.

Less than an hour later she was standing in front of his hotel room door with Alonzo and another man, one of Reyes people at her back. She could feel the tension sizzling between the two men, but kept her head tilted down, her hair covering her cheeks when Reyes opened thedoor.

“Casey,” he greeted her, his deep voice caressing her name withwarmth.

She wanted to look up, but kept her eyes on his waist. He wore dress pants with a leather belt and a nice shirt, tucked in. She wasn’t sure what colours he wore, but she thought maybe dark, either black or grey. His shoes were very nice and shined dully in the light of the hallway. She wanted to laugh bitterly. If Ignacio hadn’t marked up her face she would never have noticed the man’sshoes.

“Reyes,” she greeted him, infusing ice into her voice and quickly moving past him before he could question why she wasn’t looking athim.

He closed the door behind her and offered to take her wrap. She nodded and let it fall from her shoulders as he tugged, gently moving her hair aside so he wouldn’t catch the strands. She shivered from his soft touch at the back of her neck and rapidly stepped away from him toward the darkest part of the room, a table next to the window. She could stand in the shadowsthere.

“Thank you for coming,” he said, approaching her frombehind.

She wanted to laugh out loud and point out that she didn’t have a choice, but she kept her mouth closed. It was always smarter to stay silent. When she opened her mouth she said too much, got herself in trouble. Instead she focused on the view outside the window, the incredible swath of lights that swept Miami’s coast before plunging toward theocean.

“A drink?” heasked.

He was standing so close she felt his heat touch her bare shoulder. “Yes, please. Maybe something a little stronger than orange juice this time,” she murmured a hint of wryness in her voice, her eyes locked on the darkness of the water farbelow.

He chuckled and moved away from her for a moment, returning with a glass of white wine. She reached to take it, without turning to look at him. The coolness of the glass against her fingers told her he’d chilled the wine before she arrived. “Thankyou.”

“You like the view,nena?” he asked when she still didn’t move to look athim.

She nodded and took a hasty sip of the wine. It was delicious. Smooth and sweet with a hint of tartness. “I love this part of Miami,” she told him. “Especially these high up condos, they’re so beautiful. Do you own this one?” She hazarded a quick glance around the penthouse suite before moving her eyes back to thewindow.

“No,” he said shortly, not bothering to continue that line of conversation. She wasn’t surprised. Reyes didn’t seem like a man that tolerated idle chat. He said what he wanted to say and movedon.

He reached past her, deliberately brushing her arm with his sleeve. She swore he inflicted those light touches on her as a form of torture. They seemed to do just as much to her senses as when he outright grabbed her. He opened the door leading to the expansive deck and flicked his wrist, indicating she should accompany him outside. She stepped over the threshold, her heels clicking softly against the tiles as she stepped toward the balcony railing, taking in the breathtaking view of the Miami coastline. She made sure to keep her back to him while they stoodtogether.

He allowed the silence to reign for several long minutes as she sipped her drink and tried valiantly to steady her nerves. It didn’t help when he caged her against the railing, gripping the metal on either side of her body and bracing his arms so she was trapped between him and a long, long drop. She glanced down, the liquid in the glass shaking a little as she let that dark voice in the back of her mind run free for just a second. The one that whispered to her, every once in a while, that it would be easier to just let go. That if she succeeded this time Ignacio couldn’t punish her the way he promised after her last botchedattempt.

She tore her eyes away from the beckoning darkness and focused on the strong fingers flexed against the railing. It didn’t matter. Reyes would grab her before she even completed the thought, let alone the action. Besides, she didn’t want him acquainted with that sad, dark part of her. He already had a pretty good idea of how messed up she was and he still seemed to want her. His next words provedit.

“Stay the night with me,” he said huskily, his accent caressing each syllable as he leaned into her back to speak into her ear frombehind.

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