Page 19 of Scarred Queen

“He’s dead,” Diego’s cold voice reached out of the darkness, and she flinched as he drew nearer to her. Terror welled up, as a boot came out of the shadows and shoved Alonzo off of her. “Or didn’t you feel his brain splatter all overyou?”

“Oh god, oh my god!” Casey muttered, panic swelling. She scrambled backwards, crawling rapidly away from Alonzo’s dead body. Once she was a few feet away she started clawing at her own chest and face looking for bits of brain andskull.

She watched in horror as Diego crouched in front of her, his face visible now in the flickering candlelight. His lips stretched in a ghoulish grin as he watched in sadistic amusement while she frantically wiped at the blood on her face, whimpers erupting from her trembling lips. Finally, her head got the better of her and brains or not, blood or not, she turned on the spot and began heaving, her fingers digging into on the concrete. Her stomach was already empty so she could do nothing but vomit a little bit of saliva and stomach acid, burning her mouth and throat as it cameup.

She scraped her knees on the ground, pulling them into her chest in an attempt to curl in on herself. After a moment, the godawful heaving stopped and she dropped her head onto her knees, the tangles of her hair falling around her. Then she felt Diego’s hands slide up her back and curve over her shoulders. She curled harder into herself as shudders wracked her trembling body and stinging tears straggled down her cheeks. She pulled in choking gasps of breath, attempting to force her burning lungs towork.

She tried to shrug Diego’s vile touch off, but he just leaned over her, his hot breath in her ear. “While I wish we had more time down here, the boss is waiting. Time to go,princess.”

He stood up behind her, dragging her to her feet with a firm hand around her arm. Casey’s legs refused to hold her weight and she immediately buckled, collapsing against Diego. He grunted in annoyance and looped an arm across her back, hauling her up against him. Though she hated the idea of needing his assistance she clutched his shirt with the last reserves of her meagre strength and leaned against him. She comforted herself with the thought that she had no other choice. He was taking her back to Ignacio and she’d much rather go to her husband alive than dead, which had clearly been Alonzo’s crazy plan. And since it appeared Diego had no intention of killing her, she was happy to go with him fornow.

“Okay, let’s go,” shewhispered.

She shuffled alongside him as best she could, trying to match his longer strides as he strode down the chilly, damp corridor back toward the entrance to the pool house. Now that she felt safe the effects of the sleeping pill began to overwhelm her once more and waves of fatigue swept over her. She smothered a yawn with her other hand and then gagged when the taste of blood touched her lips. Alonzo’sblood.

She fought back fresh tears and didn’t see clearly when they reached the end of the tunnel and Diego stopped abruptly, she swayed against him and was forced to grab him with both hands to stop herself from falling. He looked at her sharply and snorted in disgust before reaching for her waist and shoving her unceremoniously through the trapdoor leading up into the pool house. She tried to help by gripping the floorboards and pulling herself through, but she was too weak from the pills and the trauma. Finally, he ended up gripping her by the legs and just shoving her the rest of the way through. She lay on the ground panting and waiting for him to pull himself up alongsideher.

Casey groaned when he didn’t even give her two seconds to gather herself, but just reached over and scooped her up like she was some kind of wet noodle. She tried to protest when he didn’t bother to set her back on her feet, but strode through the open door of the pool house and into the pouring rain with her in his arms. Her words were stolen in the fury of the storm and she was forced to turn her face into the shelter of hischest.

They made it through the shattered back door of the house where Diego finally set her back on her feet. Before she knew what was happening he gripped her by the shoulders and pushed her into the wall, holding her upright. “You’re gonna want to pull yourself together before you see him. Make a good impression,babe.”

She frowned at Diego as he used the edge of his shirt to roughly scrub at her face and neck. She assumed he was trying to get some of the blood off of her skin. The rough fabric abraded her skin and she flinched back from his callous treatment. She could see streaks coming away on his striped shirt and knew his ministrations must beworking.

“Good enough,” he mumbled, shoving his shirt down and grabbing her roughly by thearm.

“Why do I need to make a good impression?” she asked, her voicehoarse.

He ignored her and tugged her down the hallway, yanking her hard when she would have stumbled and fallen. She started to go down, her fingertips touching the hard marble but he pulled her back up and swung her around the corner. Casey lurched and narrowly avoided stepping on the dead body of one of her husband’s most trustedbodyguards.

“Oh!” she cried out shrinking back against Diego who didn’t slow down to absorb her shock. That was the first inkling she had that her husband maybe hadn’t won the takeoverbattle.

Diego banged his fist against the door, waiting a few heartbeats for the cold, sharp summons that was most definitely not the voice of her husband. Casey’s body felt hot and numb all at once as Diego pushed the door open and shoved her through, forcing her to stand face to face with the man that had promised he would come forher.

Diego dropped his hand, removing the physical support she so desperately needed. She swayed on the spot, her eyes glued to the dark, foreboding figure standing next to Ignacio’s desk, taller and more imposing in Ignacio’s office than her husband had ever been. She took a few measured breaths, forcing her frozen lungs to work, sipping air properly so her head wouldn’t explode in pain again and disgrace her during this vitalmoment.

“Come here, Casey,” Reyes saidcoldly.

She approached him warily, her legs moving mechanically as she rounded the side of the desk before stopping a few feet from him. He didn’t touch her, just watched her every stumbling move with the sharpness of a predator. Casey turned when she heard a rough choking sound. Reyes obliged by stepping out of the way. She cried out in dismay and slapped a hand over her mouth. Ignacio lay on the floor of his own office, bloody and beaten, one of his knees completely shattered from a bullet wound at close range. She tried to rush toward him, but Diego, who had come up behind her, caught her arm and held her back. She finally looked around the office and noticed that a few of Reyes men were present, including his second-in-command, Alejandro. All held the dead, stony looks on their faces that she knew so well. Ignacio was well and trulydefeated.

Reyes watched her with icy indifference as she tried to control her emotions. To sort through the bewilderment of having her home overrun in such a violent and ruthless manner. He stood in front of her and looked her over as though she were a stranger, as though he were surveying a piece of furniture he’d won during the takeover. She wished desperately that she was wearing more than a pair of soaked, bedraggled and bloody, probably see-through cotton shorts and tank top. By now her hair was such a tangled mess she wasn’t sure if it was even salvageable or if she should just shave it off and start over. She was pretty sure there was blood and possibly vomit in the tangled ends of her hair. She forced her shoulders back, tilted her chin and glared athim.

His dark gaze moved past her and he said coldly to Diego, “She’s filthy. There’s blood all overher.”

“She was exactly where Ignacio said she would be. Underneath the pool house with her bodyguard,” Diego informed Reyes. “Alonzo was about to kill her, just like Hernandez admitted. I took care of the bodyguard, but he was crouched over top of her when I didit.”

Casey’s eyes flew to Ignacio, but he refused to meet her eyes. So, hehadgiven the order for Alonzo to kill her when the mansion was overrun. And judging from the state of him, Reyes had tortured the information out of him. Casey sagged back against Diego and lifted a hand against the side of her head, the never-ending headache from hell thumping away demanding herattention.

Reyes eyes followed the movement, but his face remained dispassionate. She guessed he was doing his job. Or he never really cared about her and she was about to die with her husband. Maybe he would make it quick.At least my head will finally stop hurting, she thought with grimresignation.

She gathered as much courage as she could manage and asked in a faltering voice, “Wh-what happens now? Are you going to killus?”

Reyes expression grew sharp, his gaze taking in her skimpy, soaked outfit, the blood splattered across her chest and neck and the wild tangle of her long blond hair. She must look like some kind of insane asylum escapee that went on a murderous rampage. But the sudden hunger in his gaze told her otherwise. Told her he’d never found her more desirable… or closer within his grasp. She shuddered, her body heating under that look while her heart iced over at the terrible implications of how their union was comingabout.

“I told you how this was going to go,nena,” he told her slowly. “You even warned your stupid fuck of a husband. Not my fault that he chose not to listen. Chose not to run and hide like he should have. Though I would have found him anyway, crushed him like the bug he is and stole his beautiful queen. Now he dies.” Reyes strode to her, picked up her hand and kissed the “H” on the back, flicking his tongue against the scar. Then he turned icy dark eyes on Ignacio. “And we gohome.”

Ignacio made a pathetic sound. She thought maybe it was supposed to emulate rage, but came out somewhere around pain and fear. A rush of unexpected pity rose up in Casey and, despite the years of loathing and hatred that stood between her and her husband, she reached out to grasp Reyes arm. She’d been with Ignacio for ten years. He’d rescued her from the hospital after her family was killed and given her a life filled with beautiful things. And yes, while he’d often been cruel, maybe he hadn’t known any other way. He was still a human being, she still had to try to save hislife.

“Please don’t kill him!” she begged. “This isn’t right, Reyes. Please don’t kill my husband. If you care about me at all, let me take him away from here. You’ll never hear from us again. We’ll go far away and you can take Miami, I promise. We won’tinterfere.”

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