Page 27 of Queen's Move

Sotza was home once more, and he brought a queen who, once tamed, would share his throne.

Chapter Twenty-One

Sotza’s words echoed through her brain in a constant loop.Ask me for the world. What if she did? Then what. Would he give it to her? Was he implying that if he fell in love with her that he would give her anything she wanted? Would he grant her freedom if that’s what she asked for? Vee’s head spun with the possibilities. She never once thought to cultivate his attentions.

When Vee was younger, in her late teens and early twenties, she’d been forced to do things she wasn’t proud of. She had no skills, no education. The only thing she had was beauty, a sharp mind and extensive knowledge of the Miami criminal world. She’d done what she could to exploit that world, but it had slowly chipped away at the good things inside her until she was certain they no longer existed. Sotza said she had heart, but he was wrong. While his might be a block of frigid ice, her chest cavity was empty, a gaping hole. Nothing beat within. Her heart had died decades ago when she lost her mother, the broken, sad woman who had been Vee’s whole world.

But something in what Sotza said… and the way he looked at her, made her non-existent heart beat a little faster. As though it was interested. As though, maybe, possibly he could revive it. It was an exhilarating and terrifying thought.

They got in a waiting all-terrain vehicle, driven, presumably, by one of Sotza’s men. She had noticed they all wore a uniform of black fatigue pants and green shirts. Another sign of his need for order and control. They drove a paved road, through a dense forest for about ten minutes then the car pulled into a massive garage. Sotza helped her from the vehicle.

As they left the garage and followed a neat stone path, Sotza took her elbow, leaned down and said, “I have acquired your daughter, Vee. I need your compliance in some important matters we’ll be discussing over the next few weeks and I believe her presence will help sway you to my way of thinking.”

Vee stopped walking, stumbling on her high heels when Sotza took another step, accidentally dragging her with him. She jerked her arm away and stared at him in horror. She could feel the blood draining from her face. She felt faint, should probably have allowed him to keep his hold on her arm. But in that moment she didn’t want the evil bastard’s touch anywhere near her. “You have Raina?” she asked, making sure she’d heard him right.

“Correct. My second-in-command collected her from her University campus almost two weeks ago. It’s my understanding that she’s settling in nicely, though she does take after you. She also toyed with the idea of a food strike.”

It took Vee so long to process his words, to understand what he was saying that it took her a full minute to launch her attack. She threw her fist at his face, uncaring if she broke her fingers. She didn’t care about anything except destroying the man who allowed his people to lay hands on her daughter. It felt like her heart was breaking, though she didn’t know how that was possible, since she didn’t care about him.

Sotza moved swiftly to the side, grabbing her fist and swinging her around so her back was against his chest. She wasn’t done trying to kill him. Or scream for all the world to hear. “You motherfucking son-of-a-bitch!” she screeched. “You fucking dared to touch my child? MY CHILD!? I will fucking kill you for this, Sotza, I really will!”

She threw an elbow into his side, enjoying his grunt at the impact. When the arm he had around her waist loosened a little she reached between her thighs, tugging her skirt up, going for her gun. He slid a hand over her hip and grabbed her wrist tightly, yanking it up to her waist. “Calm down, Vee.”

“Fuck you!” she yelled. “I won’t calm the fuck down, you unbelievable asshole. You, you, evil Butcher.”

“If you don’t calm down right now I’ll be forced to haul you into the house, past all my staff and lock you in the bedroom until you stop screaming.”

“I will fucking calm down after I’ve done cartwheels on your grave, you sick child kidnapping monster!”

“Right,” he said grimly, his mouth against the side of her head so she couldn’t head butt him. “You are clearly not in the mood for rational thinking.”

He swung her around so fast her vision spun and she had no idea what was going on until he picked her up off the ground and tossed her over his shoulder, an arm wrapped firmly around her thighs. She gripped handfuls of his suit jacket and pushed herself up, trying to see as he strode toward what appeared from her limited vantage point to be a mansion.

“You kidnapped my daughter, you motherfucking bastard, of course I’m not in the mood,” she yelped.

“I had hoped that you would greet my staff, your daughter and my second with the respect your new position should command. Instead they’ll all get a surprising view of your ass as you enter your new home.”

“I’m going to stab you the first chance I get,” she replied.

“I believe you’ll try,” he agreed, striding up the stone staircase to a set of open double doors.

Vee saw a flash of people as he walked past all of them, ignoring hastily spoken greetings in both Spanish and English. She tried shoving her hair back with one hand and bracing herself against his back with the other. It didn’t work. As soon as he started ascending a set of interior stairs she was jostled and forced to lay flat against his back, bunches of his coat balled in her fists.

“Is that my mother?” a curious voice reached through the pandemonium following their arrival.

“Raina?” Vee yelled.

She wasn’t given a chance to confirm that it was indeed her daughter who spoke because Sotza didn’t slow. If anything he sped up when they reached the landing above the main floor, his long legs quickly taking them away from the people below.

“Put me down!” she yelled, now panicked that she wouldn’t get to see the daughter she hadn’t set eyes on since she was a baby. “Please, Sotza!” The last part came out in a sob.

He ignored her pleas, throwing a door open, going through and kicking it shut behind him. The carpet was a beautiful blur as he walked. Then she was flung through the air, shrieking until her breath was slammed from her lungs as her back met the mattress of a bed. She started to scramble back off the bed, but he dropped on top of her, pinning her down with his body.

She froze as she saw his face. He was furious, completely unhinged. Except for his eyes, those held the lust that he could never quite conceal when he looked at her. And though she felt the rapid beat of his heart against her breasts, his breathing was even though he’d just walked a long way with her over his shoulder. The man wasn’t human.

“Welcome home, Vee,” he said grimly.

“Fuck you.”

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