Page 5 of Scarred Queen

“I use it to wake up,” she finally told him, her soft voice carrying to his ears alone. She was ashamed of her substance use, though her bodyguard knew everything about her, right down to her underwear size. It wasn’t like she had any secrets from Alonzo. He was the one that kept secrets fromher.

“What do you mean?” he asked, dark eyes cutting to her face, demanding more of anexplanation.

Casey blushed. “I… sometimes get bad headaches. I was in a car accident when I was eighteen and there was head trauma. I had surgeries, but there was only so much doctors could do… there was some brain damage… not much! Don’t look at me like that. But now I get migraines and I take prescriptions for my head, only they don’t always work and the pain just gets to be too much, more than I can bear. I can’t sleep because of the pain, but I just want to sleep the pain away.” She knew she was talking too much… she did that sometimes when she was nervous. Started babbling and couldn’t seem to stop. It was why she often chose not to talk, so people wouldn’t get to know this side of her. But he’d asked the question. “Well… sometimes I also take stuff to help me sleep too, pills and… and alcohol together. It helps my head. But when I get up in the morning I feel fuzzy. I guess I just need to de-fuzzify.”

“Fuck…” he murmured, his gaze darkening. He was quiet for a moment before he said, “That’s dangerous shit, Casey. You do thisoften?”

She wanted to deny it. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she hardly ever did as she’d just described. In fact, she’d never admitted out loud that she took that dangerous combination before. Of course, Alonzo knew, which meant Ignacio also knew. And neither man had put a stop to her drug use, so she assumed they were okay with it. She didn’t know what else to do. She had terrible headaches almost every day that medication barely controlled and Ignacio would only let her see his personal physician. A man who wasn’t a neurologist and not even remotely specialized in migraine therapies. She was forced to manage the pain as best she could. And then there were the prescriptions Ignacio and his doctor forced her to take, for herhealth.

She bit her lip andnodded.

“How often?” he demanded in agrowl.

“I don’t know,” she whispered, shifting in her chair, sitting up straighter. “Why do you care?” she asked suddenly, piecing him with hereyes.

He turned fully toward her, placing his arms on the table and closing the distance between them until the small table felt like no barrier at all. She knew it was significant that his back was to her bodyguard, opening him up to possible attack. In the dark world of mafia, men of his standing just didn’t do that sort of thing. She glanced nervously around them, but they sat in a private cocoon of rain and patio furniture. His thick brows lowered in a frown as he studied her features, taking in her vulnerability, the side of her she tried so hard to hide from theworld.

“Fuck if I know,” he told her. “But I want your promise never to do it again. Even if you’re fucking head feels like it’s going to explode right out of your damn skull. You call for help instead. Got me,nena?”

Tears filled her eyes suddenly and she looked away from him so he couldn’t see. It had been so many years since someone had cared enough about her to make such a demand. Anyone that had cared enough had died in a fiery crash on the side of a highway. Just distant, fuzzy memories. People she knew she loved, but couldn’t quiteremember.

He reached out and snatched her hand, pressing it hard between his long, brown fingers. She flinched at the intensity of his touch and saw her bodyguard shift uncomfortably out of her periphery. She flicked her wrist, waving Alonzo back, hoping he would stay. He was her husband’s man, after all. She didn’t know what his actual orders were. He subsided though and continued to stare atnothing.

“My name is Reyes. Vow to me you will not harm yourself again,nena. No more sleeping pills, no more mixing pills anddrinks.”

A shiver ran through her from head to foot. She forced herself to meet his dark eyes, knowing it was what he was demanding of her. She frowned a little. Though he was highly compelling, she didn’t want to make a promise to a man she barely knew and definitely didn’t trust. “I’ll try… Reyes,” she whispered, his name feeling foreign but good on hertongue.

He let her go, releasing her hand from his warm grip, apparently satisfied with her answer. Wanting to put distance between them, she stood and walked out from under the umbrella and into the rain. Without looking back, she slipped off her heels and robe and dove into the pool. The water enveloped her body in a cool embrace, reminding her once more what it felt like to be alive. This is why she loved swimming so much. She needed the reminders so she wouldn’t slip too far into the shadows. She didn’t watch as he walked away from her, but she felt as though he were taking a piece of her with him. She didn’t know how it was possible. It was like waking up after a lifetime ofslumber.

Chapter Six

“When do we make our move?”Alejandro asked, leaning against the doorframe of Reyes’ Plaza condominium. He’d rented an entire suite for himself and two more for his right hand and the rest of theguys.

“Soon,” Reyes grunted, flicking him a look, daring him to keeptalking.

Alejandro was as good as a brother, but some lines were not to be crossed. This one question was the only one that would be allowed. Reyes would set the date and time when he was ready. He knew the guys were talking about his hesitation. So far, the talk had not crossed any lines into dangerous territory or Reyes would have had to deal with his own men. But he knew he would have to act soon, before his hesitation to act swiftly and brutally on the Miami front was perceived asweakness.

He just wasn’t certain yet what to do about the woman. He needed more information and so far, getting that information was harder than getting into a bank vault. His private meeting with her had not gone down as he’d hoped. He thought maybe he would look into her beautiful, vapid face and feel nothing. Expose that feeling of six months ago for the fleeting fraud that it was. Instead, the woman… Casey, had shaken him to the core of his very being with her baldadmittances.

“Go,” he said without lookingup.

Moments later he heard the door open and close, indicating Alejandro’s exit. He ran a hand over the thick spikes of his hair and then stood to pour himself a drink. His hand hovered over the bourbon as he remembered her pathetic story and he glanced at the clock, 3:00pm. Then he closed his fist over the bottle and strode to the window overlooking the city. A city that would soon belong tohim.

He needed to make a decision about the woman. Did he go with his original plan and clean house or did he take the scarred woman for himself? With a growl, he twisted the lid off the bottle and drank deeply, allowing the smooth alcohol to slide down his throat, soothing the questions that burned him with unfamiliar doubt. Unfortunately, it was the uncertainty that burned so heavily in his gut that made her fate become more and morelikely.

He was Reyes. He was a king. He couldn’t take a scarred queen from a despotic man and set her up at his side. She was weak and pathetic, a drunken shell of a woman. She wasn’t strong enough. She would fail and she would collapse. He would eventually be forced to put her down if she didn’t find a way to do it herself. He’d found the iron will to clean out his own house. He’d harden his heart and do another man’shouse.

Yet, despite this resolve, he found himself tipping the bottle once more, then turning to put on a shirt so he could intercept the woman he had every intention of letting go of with brutal finality. It wasFriday.

Shoppingday.

* * *

“What colour, Alonzo?”she asked absently, handing her silently suffering bodyguard anotherdress.

Perhaps if she cared enough to examine her motivations she’d question why she tortured Alonzo this way. He never actually hurt her or touched her in any way, unless called upon by the boss to touch. Which was extremely rare. Alonzo didn’t allow so much as a flicker of malevolence to cross his expression when he looked toward her. He was nothing but coldly solicitous of her every want and need unless it conflicted with something Ignacio wanted. Then, Ignacio’s desires camefirst.

And then it struck her; this was why she needled Alonzo. Because he looked through her instead of at her. Because he’d stood at her side for nearly a decade. Stood at her side during her surgeries after her accident, watched over her during horrific migraines and tried to wake her in the mornings when she’d taken too many pills or too much alcohol. He’d made the panicked call for an ambulance when she’d tried to kill herself three years ago and he’d stood next to her hospital bed, pity finally lighting his expression as Ignacio had ranted at her for daring to try to leave him while she was strapped to a bed, forced to listen to everyword.

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