Page 22 of Scarred Queen

“It stopped raining,” she pointed out. “I hadn’t noticed.” Apparently, she wasn’t ready to start noticing everythingyet.

“So it has,” he agreed. “The weather is cooperating with my plans to fly outimmediately.”

The breath caught in her throat and she looked at him sharply. She knew he planned on taking her back to his home, but somehow, she hadn’t though it would be this soon. If she were being honest a part of her believed she might somehow get out of being taken to Bolivia, either by talking Reyes out of it, or possibly by escaping. But now, glancing out the window, she saw that they were indeed on their way to theairport.

After 20 minutes, they arrived at the airport and parked the vehicles near a private hangar. Reyes escorted Casey from the vehicle and led her to the side of a building where she stood watching in shivering fascination while he and his men talked to a pilot that clearly worked for Reyes about take-off preparations. One of the men used a water bottle to soak a towel and handed it to Reyes. Reyes rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, took the towel and absently washed the blood from his skin without once breaking conversation with thepilot.

Casey shivered at his callousness, his ability to take a life one moment, steal the dead man’s wife the next and then continue as if nothing had happened. And yet… there was something undeniably attractive about him. His scarred face and thick, black hair woke something within her. Called to her with a wildness that frightened her because she knew the things she felt for him were nothing like anything she’d ever felt for her husband. And that if she wasn’t careful she could find herself in danger of becoming obsessed with her husband’skiller.

As if sensing her stare, he turned his head to look at her, returning the intensity of her regard with interest. She knew she wasn’t alone in her feelings. Not even close. He abruptly finished his conversation with the pilot and turned to her, taking her arm once more. “We’re in luck,nena. Hatcher assures me that the weather has cleared enough that we can maintain my original schedule. We will be able to leave withinminutes.”

Her mouth felt suddenly dry and all she could do was nod. She was going toBolivia.

Moments later she found herself bundled onto the plane and buckled in. She looked around in wide-eyed awe. She knew she’d flown before, when she was a child, or a teenager, but the memories were fuzzy and hard to grasp, not concrete. Somehow, she knew this was much different. The plane was some kind of smaller commercial carrier with passenger seats. It didn’t look very comfortable for a trip that she knew was going to be as long as a flight to Bolivia would take. Then she frowned, a thought occurring to her as the men shuffled past her and began taking seats in theback.

“No one checked our passports,” shemumbled.

Reyes crouched in front of her and checked her seat belt, tightening it across her lap. He chuckled at the annoyed look on her face. “You don’t need to worry about that,cariña.”

She gave him a scornful look as he took the seat across from hers. “You are such a criminal,Reyes.”

He ignored her scathingcondemnation.

She turned in her seat and clutched the window frame, watching the goings on of the crew as they prepared the plane for takeoff. Within minutes the plane was taxying down a runway and she was bracing her back against the seat. She could feel Reyes’ eyes on her face, taking in every minute expression, but she ignored him. With each mile that passed between her and her home, her angerclimbed.

She watched as the plane banked and soared higher, taking her from the only home she’d ever known. As the airplane rose and the city gradually receded, giving way to ocean the reality of her situation hit her. Panic and rage flared up in her chest and she swung her head away from the window. She glared at the source of her angst, the man who had entered her life like a bulldozer, smashing everything within, figuratively andliterally.

“How could you do this, Reyes?” she hissed, and then raised her voice to be heard over the airplane noise. “How the fuck could you do this tome?”

He watched her, his eyes roaming over her stiff body, branding ownership with every heated touch. She wanted to strike out at him, to say or do something to cause the type of turmoil she was now feeling. She hated that this was her life. That she was forever bound by the unspoken laws of the mafia women. Shut up and wait for your orders. He confirmed her thoughts with his nextwords.

“Don’t worry your pretty head over it, Casey. Just relax and do your job,” hesaid.

“And what is that?” shedemanded.

“Stay gorgeous and fuck me when I tell youto.”

“You know what, Reyes?” she snarled, gripping the edge of her seat to stop herself from launching at him. “You can go fuck yourself, I’m not touchingyou!”

His eyes glinted with humour and she heard several of his guys chuckle around her. She whipped her head sideways to glare at them. They looked away quickly, not wanting to get caught staring at the boss’s new lady while she stepped dangerously close to the edge of mouthing off to the big guy. Everyone sat in breathless anticipation as Reyes leaned forward and took her chin gently in his hand, tilting her face so she was forced to look athim.

“There is the fire I want from you,cariña,” he said softly, for her ears only. Then he pushed her back, double checked her seat belt and tucked a blanket around her legs so she wouldn’t get cold. “Sleep if you can. It’s a long flight to La Paz and you’ll need therest.”

Casey subsided and watched warily as Reyes settled into the seat next to hers. But he did and said nothing more to her. She couldn’t really believe he had allowed her to have her small temper tantrum in front of his men. Confusing fucking man. One minute he was acting like a caveman telling her he could touch her whenever he wanted and the next he was telling her to fight him. What the hell did he want fromher?

Chapter Eighteen

They stopped onceto refuel the airplane in a mountainous region about four hours into the flight. Neither Reyes nor any of his men told her where they stopped, but they seemed relaxed enough as they disembarked the plane to stretch their legs at the private air field. Reyes helped her off the plane and walked with her toward a building where she was able to use the facilities and grab asandwich.

When Casey emerged back into the morning sunlight she was keenly aware of the intense perusal of several armed men wearing military uniforms. Reyes joined her again, sliding his arm possessively around her back. The eyes that had been on her fell quickly away as though they knew exactly who he was. Apparently, his claim on her sealed her position. Not having any clue where she was, she wasn’t going to fight him on it. He handed her a pair of large, aviator style sunglasses that covered half her face when she slid them on. She was grateful for the coverage. They boarded the plane as soon as it was ready togo.

In less than three hours they were landing in Bolivia at a private airstrip just outside of La Paz. Reyes spent most of the flight either lightly napping or in low-voiced discussion with one of his men, who seemed to replace Alejandro when the second-in-command was left behind. But Reyes also talked to her about her new home just before they landed, perhaps sensing her rising trepidation as they flew over the sprawling city of La Paz, surrounded by the high mountains of the Altiplano. She already knew from the guidebook he’d given her that La Paz was the highest capital city in the world, located in a canyon Southeast of Lake Titicaca. She swallowed hard, allowing her ears to pop as the airplane banked through the thin clouds and went in for a landing while Reyes explained that the next part of their journey would be taken by helicopter as his home was accessible through no othermethod.

She stared at him with a mix of dismay and astonishment when he told her this, and caught the deliberate satisfaction he clearly wanted her to see on his face. He wanted her to know that she was trapped. That he was taking her to a new cage. He leaned against her, his arm across her back as he pointed out different aspects of the city they were flying over. She was excited despite herself. She’d lived in Miami her entire life and rarely travelled. Having been under Ignacio’s roof and sole control for the past decade, she hadn’t even considered a different type of life for herself. A gentle thrill started to ripple through her, starting in her belly and swelling up through herchest.

Reyes leaned in and spoke low in her ear, “I like that smile,cariña. You are uncommonly beautiful without it, but when your lips curve like that, fuck, it makes me want to conquer the world for you and hand it over on a silverplatter.”

Startled, Casey touched her lips, not even realizing she had been expressing joy. So much had happened in the past twelve hours it didn’t even seem possible. But… a part of herwashappy and excited. She was in a new place. And despite being caged once more in a new type of prison, it wasn’t Ignacio’s prison. She dared a glance at the man watching her so intently as she surveyed his city, the city that was rushing at them faster and faster. She was now the property of a man that she knew deep in her soul could be as much of a monster, if not more so, than her late husband. But Reyes was also capable of great passion. He said beautiful things to her and gave her meaningfulgifts.

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