Page 42 of Scarred Queen

His dark eyes heated with fire and she felt his cock stir inside her again. “Si, nena. We will go to Mexiconext.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Reyes picked up her hand,brought it to his mouth and kissed the fingertips, all while looking at his host, Benito Alvarez, Mexican cartel boss. Benito sat at the head of a massive table, surrounded by his men, while Reyes sat a few seats down the left side. He listened with barely concealed patience to Benito’s words of long-winded congratulations toward his Bolivian counterpart, mixed with liberal amounts of self-praise. Reyes forced himself to maintain his hold on the cool, pale blonde’s hand, though he didn’t so much as glance at her as she played her part to perfection. He felt her shift slightly in her seat as she reached for her wine goblet and took a small swallow of the rich, red wine, the sleeve of her burgundy dress falling away from her arm. He should have warned her not to wear thatcolour.

“I must admit, Señor Reyes, I had expected your… companion to be somewhat different,” Benito said with a disappointedsigh.

Reyes felt her stiffen next to him, but, as discussed, she kept her lips closed and allowed the men’s discussion to flow around her without comment or complaint. He knew it wasn’t easy. They had arrived at the Alvarez compound three days earlier for their negotiations and her presence had been the cause for several comments. Benito and his men baited her with several comments about her American origins and her place in Reyes’ bed. They had agreed to allow any insults to pass freely since they were bent on keeping the negotiationspeaceful.

Reyes stroked a finger over the back of her hand. He knew how much she despised listening to Benito spew his garbage around a table filled with his own men, men loyal to the Alvarez cartel. Reyes felt her relax under his gentle guidance. She picked her wine up and continued sipping while picking at the cheese plate in front of them. He had to give Benito props, though his manners were disgusting, he set a decent table. They were surrounded by treasures of immense wealth as well, gifts from the Mexican cartel to the Bolivians in appreciation for bringing forth new business, new trade routes and a new partnership. Among the gifts were weapons, jewels and money. But the most breathtaking and, perhaps, telling of Benito’s penchant for drama was a human skull, now sitting in the middle of the table directly across from Reyes, adorned in coins and jewels. Its eyes glowed with a particularly sinister beauty, having been set with two exquisitely cutemeralds.

“And what exactly do you mean by that,amigo?” Reyes drawled lazily, declining his own wine in favour ofwater.

“I was told she was unusually stunning,” Benito said bluntly, his sharp eyes on the woman at Reyes’side.

Reyes placed her delicate hand on her own leg and stretched his arm around the back of her chair, wrapping his fingers around the back of her neck through the blond strands of her hair. It was a move meant to show possessiveness and shut down this line of discussion. He felt the tension thrumming through her body as he touched her, as the air in the room thickened while Benito played with his guests. After three solid days of Benito’s abrasive personality, Reyes was more than ready to take his woman and quit the Alvarez cartel.Permanently.

“And is she not stunning?” he asked through gritted teeth, knowing he should just accept the insult and move on, but feeling sufficiently slighted on her behalf to engage with the pig-like Mexican. Tension filled the room, making the men around the table shift uncomfortably and look to Benito for hisreaction.

“Of course, my friend!” Benito was quick to reassure Reyes. “She is a beautiful woman, there is no denying this.” Benito’s eyes flowed liberally over her petite frame, pausing on her full chest before paying particular attention to her face. Then his voice became more serious. “But not unusual. Now, I have heard rumours of yourwoman…”

“What rumours?” Reyes askedsharply.

Benito flicked a look at the Bolivian boss that suggested a conspiracy, but Reyes sensed a smugness in his attitude. As though he knew a secret that only he could share. “I had heard that you might have picked your woman up from the late Ignacio Hernandez, recently of Miami.” When Reyes said nothing, merely remained in his seat, posture relaxed, Benito continued. “But that would be impossible since I recently gave the order for Hernandez to dispose of his little bitch. Especially if he thought there were any threats toMiami.”

Though he wanted nothing more to rip the man’s still beating heart out of his chest and shove it down his throat, Reyes remained seated and merely raised an eyebrow as though he were listening to an interestingstory.

Clearly annoyed that he was getting no reaction Benito’s words became more clipped. “Ignacio’s second, Diego, has reported her death to me… but therumours…”

“And why exactly would rumours bother you?” Reyes asked negligently. “Indeed, why order her death at all? A woman of her standing? She was nothing to you, just the wife of apig.”

Benito chuckled and nodded his head. This was the kind of language he understood. His lack of respect for women was renowned. He had no wives himself and simply fathered children illegitimately, building his cartel with as much of his own blood as he could. “I couldn’t have anyone discover the truth of hispet.”

Reyes picked his glass up on the pretext of having a drink, but used it to hide the shaking of his hand as rage throbbed through his veins, threatening to erupt and fuck all of their fine plans. As he lowered the glass, her hand wrapped around his and steadied him. Their eyes met and her steady green gaze told him to hold it together, grounding him in that moment. He’d gotten to know facets of this woman over the past three days. She was kind, steady and determined. She was willing to sacrifice much for her family. She helped calm the rage and reminded him of hisduty.

Reyes turned to their host once more and asked in a careless voice, “I am curious. Do please tell me why you are so interested in Hernandez’s pet and why my woman’s resemblance to her or lack thereof should matter so much toyou?”

Benito stared in utter consternation as though he’d expected fireworks and gotten a wet fizzle instead. Then he laughed, shrugged his shoulders and leaned back in his seat with hands folded over his belly. “Ah, the rumours must have been wrong then. My mistake,amigo,” he announced and took a bite of cheese. “You see, this Casey, she has been a thorn in my side for years. She should have died many years ago when I ordered her parents takenout.”

“Interesting,” Reyes said. “Well I can assure you that this woman is not now, nor was she ever, Casey Hernandez. But out of curiosity, why did you have this family killed… the ah, Hernandez woman’sfamily?”

“Business,” Benito replied with a shrug. “Her father ran the mafia up in Florida for many years. Ignacio had his small piece but wasn’t satisfied. He came to me with a plan to take the boss out and take his business, provide me with cheaper trade routes, easier, less dangerous ways into the US. All I needed to do in return was provide some firepower for the hit. He was a little squeamish about taking out the whole family, apparently had a thing for the girl. Was even set to marry her, but that isn’t ourway.”

Reyes breathed hard through his nose and forced himself to release the muscles in his shoulders before Benito noticed anything unusual. He curled his lips back in a semi-smile, hoping it didn’t look too much like a snarl. “And why exactly take out a bunch of harmlesskids?”

“It is our belief that when you remove the head of the family, you need to extinguish the entire family line so the young don’t grow up and exact bloody revenge for the death of a parent. It might seem callous, but it only makessense.”

They heard the clicking of her heels against the stone floor before the beautiful blond appeared in the arched doorway. Benito looked around then; it was clear by the surprise in his eyes that he finally noticed that his guards posted in each archway were missing. He scrambled to his feet reaching for the gun at his belt. Several of his men did the same, some clumsy and some lethally fast depending on their level of confusion and skill. It didn’t matter. They were surrounded by men loyal to Casey andReyes.

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Reyes drawled lazily, his own gun pointed directly at Benito’s heart before Benito could even draw. Reyes nodded at one of his men who relieved the Mexican boss of his pistol and stepped away from thetable.

Casey continued into the room, her four inch heels striking the stone with a lethal finality in each step before she stopped at the edge of the table opposite Benito. She was dressed to impress in silver heels and a snow-white halter dress that flowed around her hips with each step she took. She wore her white-blond hair in long, loose ringlets; old Hollywood style. On her wrists and throat she wore the diamonds Reyes had gifted her on the plane trip over. Held loosely in her right hand against the fold of her skirt was her silver gun. Her eyes, one green and one amber, were glowing withanticipation.

Benito looked from Casey to the woman who had been sitting next to Reyes, the woman introduced as Reyes’ wife. “I don’t understand,” hesaid.

Reyes swept his hand toward Casey. “No Benito, you do not. This woman is my wife. I trust she is sufficiently stunning?” Reyes asked with a small smirk, as though he was now the one revealing a secretweapon.

“Casey Hernandez,” Benito saiddarkly.

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