Page 14 of Scarred Queen

Casey tightened her arms around her middle and took a steadying breath. Diego made her sick. He’d done things to her over the years, hurt her, at Ignacio’s behest. Usually small things, like hit her with a belt or locked her in a closet. But the look in his eyes when he’d punished her told her just how much he enjoyed every moment of her pain, wished he could inflict worse. He’d been one of the three men in the room with her when Ignacio had burned her hand. Watching her face as Alonzo had pinned her down. She’d known that he’d been desperately turned on by her excruciating pain, seen the terrible lust in his eyes as she’d screamed while her flesh hadburned.

That day had convinced her that she was better off going dead inside, sleeping through life, rather than attempting to resist the marriage that had been forced on her. So, she had essentially tucked Casey safely away from these ruthless men until such a time came that she could emerge. The look in Diego’s eyes as she begged to see Ignacio frightened her. Not only was he refusing her, controlling her ability to see her husband, but he was silently telling her something with those terrible dark eyes. Telling her that their time would come and that it was comingsoon.

“Fine,” she snapped, looking away from him. “Since you refuse to allow me to see him, or he refuses to see me, whichever it is, then I’ll tell you what I need to tellhim.”

Diego waved his hand in front of her. “By all means,chica. Speak tome.”

She gritted her teeth, but forced herself to voice the warning that she’d been trying to get to Ignacio since her meeting with Reyes. She turned icy eyes up to Diego and said as coldly as she could, “The Bolivian’s are planning some kind of takeover. Reyes intends to killIgnacio.”

The mockery fell from Diego’s face for a moment and shock replaced his expression. “Reyes told you this himself?” he asked incredulously, his voicesceptical.

“Yes,” Caseyreplied.

Why wasn’t Diego freaking out and dragging her in to see Ignacio? Shouldn’t he be more concerned? Unless they already knew of Reyes plans. Suddenly the look on Diego’s face became speculative as he looked her over. “Now, why the fuck would the Bolivian tellyouof his plans?” He stalked closer to her. Casey moved swiftly backwards until she bumped into Alonzo who jumped quickly out of the way so he wouldn’t accidentally touch her again. “You got a pussy made of gold?” Diego demanded crudely, lunging towardher.

Casey cried out and fell backwards as her sandal slid on the marble floor. Unable to catch herself she hit the side table and fell, crashing hard on the unyielding marble. She heard Alonzo swear viciously, but there wasn’t much he could do. Diego hadn’t actually done anything except frighten her. She was the idiot for letting a thug get to her. She shoved herself up onto her knees and shook her hair back, glaring at Diego for all she was worth. She might be down, but she was still going to let the guy know exactly how much she fucking hatedhim.

She felt his eyes crawl all over her exposed flesh where her robe had come open during her fall. Her hands moved automatically to pull the two halves closed while she kept her eyes on him as he crouched down in front of her. He flexed his biceps, making sure she saw how massive they were next to her insignificant strength. She breathed hard through her nose, forcing herself to hold hisgaze.

“Stupid woman,” he drawled. “You think we don’t know what the Bolivians are planning? You are just a distraction for that lowlife savage while we move our people into place and call in somefavours.”

She frowned in surprise. She’d been used to distract Reyes? Somehow, she thought he was too smart to fall for that. But he had definitely been interested in her. Had pursued her. Was still pursuing her, sending gifts to the mansion for her. “I don’t understand any of this,” shewhispered.

“Poor, baby,” Diego mocked her, his cold eyes raking over her breasts while he talked. “You don’t need to understand, you had your chance to be useful. And it seems you were more useful than we thought. I’ll tell Ignacio that Reyes revealed his plans to you. Only a man in love does something stupid likethat.”

Her eyes widened in horror as the impact of his words hit her. Had she been utterly wrong in telling Diego of Reyes’ plan? Had she taken her loyalty to Ignacio too far? She’d lived by her own personal code for so long that maybe she didn’t see the right path any more when it was directly in front of her. But… no. Reyes seemed to understand her, seemed to understand how she worked. He knew she was unfailingly loyal to Ignacio. He knew she would rat him out to her husband, had been counting on it. She had to believe that the man who made her body sing and was starting to look toward her scarred heart knew what he was doing. Because she sure as fuckdidn’t.

She jumped when the door to Ignacio’s office slammed open and he stood glowering in the doorway. He stared with open hostility at the tableau in front of him for a moment. Then, completely ignoring the fact that his wife was sprawled on the floor next to his second-in-command, snapped, “Diego, I needyou.”

Chapter Eleven

“He has a sense of humour,”Casey murmured with amusement, eyeing the array of gifts Reyes had senther.

Each one had significance and, if she were being honest, chipped away a little more at the armour around her heart. She hadn’t seen him again since their erotic and stormy encounter in his penthouse suite almost a week ago. But each time a new gift arrived, it was a reminder that he hadn’t forgotten her. Nor had he forgotten the things that she’d said to him in each of theirconversations.

None of the gifts were overly expensive, which told her that he’d listened when she told him that the luxuries surrounding her meant little to her. Her fingers drifted over a framed picture of herself. She had no idea when it was taken because it was a close up of her face. In the photo she was leaning forward, her hair covering most of her face, except for a carefree smile curving her lips as she stared off at nothing in particular. The expression on her face surprised her since she so rarely smiled. Casey lifted her fingers and touched her lips, wondering when she’d smiled like that and what she’d been thinking at the time. How had he gotten such an intimate picture of her? The mansion was locked down tight and she so rarely wentout.

She put the picture down and picked up the next item, a book. This one made her laugh out loud and roll her eyes. It was a tourist’s guidebook to Bolivia. She’d actually read the entire thing cover to cover in one evening, eager for knowledge of Reyes’ home country. She wondered which region his home was in since there were several. She tried not to think too hard about the significance of his giving her thebook.

“Kantuta,” she whispered, picking up the gorgeous blooms, yet another gift. They looked so exotic she wondered if he’d had to go to great lengths to find them. They were strange looking, but hauntingly beautiful with a long tube-like bell instead of petals. On a suspicion, she’d looked up the national flower of Bolivia to discover that there were two. This one was native to the cooler, western side of the region that contained the Andes. She wondered if he was telling her, indirectly, where helived.

She flipped the guidebook open and pressed the flowers inside, wanting to preserve them for as long as she could. This was the second time in her life she’d received flowers. Both times from the same man in the space of a week. She was beginning to think he likedher.

The other gifts included a lovely silk wrap that she discovered was a light pink colour by asking her maid. He also gave her several books on the science of migraines written by reputable neurologists from around the world. This particular bundle had filled her eyes with tears and made her think he was doing more than playing terrible games with her. It also broke her heart a little. Because it didn’t matter how thoughtful he was, how much he treated her as though he actually cared. She still belonged to anotherman.

And Reyes had made it clear to her that he valued her loyalty, even if it belonged to someone else. That was the tragedy of her blossoming feelings for the Bolivian mafia boss. Though she suspected he could be as much of a monster as her own husband, she also thought maybe he was capable of loving her back. His thoughtful gifts proved that he felt something. But she couldn’t go to him, no matter how much she wantedto.

Ignacio ownedher.

* * *

“We move as planned,”Reyes growled toAlejandro.

His second nodded sharply, but hesitated. Reyes stiffened and waited. He knew the other man had something to say, but was so used to heeding the boss’s orders without question that he didn’t know if he should verbalize the thought. Smart decision. However, Reyes had appointed Alejandro his second for a reason. The man was uncommonly intelligent and had survived twelve years in Venezuelan intelligence before moving on to the head of a mercenary organization and then to Reyes who had lured him away with the promise of unparalleled riches and a medical treatment for his mother that would have been out of his reach without Reyes’intervention.

“Just say it,” Reyes snarled, already knowing where Alejandro’s thoughts were, but knowing they had to have the conversationanyway.

Alejandro stood a little straighter, his eyes on the window behind Reyes. “What about thewoman?”

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