Page 28 of Queen's Move

She threw her fist into his face, connecting with his chin. It hurt like a motherfucker even though he was so close to her she didn’t have a lot of leverage. Still, as his head swung to the side, she decided he got the point.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Vee watched her daughter from the window of the bedroom Sotza locked her in. Two days had passed since she’d entered his home over his shoulder, screaming obscenities. Since she’d punched him in the face. Her rage was so great that during those first hours of isolation she would have happily burned the estate to the ground if it had been within her abilities. Since that exchange, her anger had dimmed to seething hatred.

Whenever Sotza came to check on her she simply stood silently staring out the window at the grounds below, always searching for a glimpse of her girl. He would talk to her, in his quiet voice. He didn’t say anything particularly important, spoke about his home, what life was like there, spoke a little about Miami. He didn’t say a word about Raina. He knew she was starving for information on her daughter. Vee thought maybe he knew that and refused to give up the goods until she started speaking to him again.

Now that they were in his home country he tended to speak Spanish. She had to admit he was smooth. His delivery of both languages flawless. Better than hers. She’d started learning Spanish from some of the men who visited her mother when Vee was a child. Later, she’d finished her education in the language formally, through online classes. Despite her fluent knowledge of Spanish, she still spoke in stilted sentences, never quite comfortable with her second language.

No one entered the bedroom except Sotza, and he only came in during meal times. They spent time together in mostly silence because Vee refused to speak and Sotza wasn’t a man to fill silence needlessly. He would sit quietly while she ate, watching her, his face blank, and then taking her tray when she finished. Though she stayed silent throughout these exchanges she longed to scream at him, hurl insults, hit him. The rational part of her brain told her none of these tactics would work. Sotza had proven himself both patient and intelligent. If she wanted to outsmart him then she needed to hold in the tantrum that threatened to erupt whenever she looked at him.

Sotza changed the game when he brought Raina here. Before, maybe she could have accepted her fate, but now, there was more at stake than her life. Not only did she need to escape, she had to take her daughter with her. Raina didn’t belong here. Didn’t belong anywhere near cartel. She’d been raised by a nice, loving family on an isolated farm. Vee’d made sure of it. It pierced her soul that despite everything she did to hide Raina from the world, the sacrifice she made to ensure the child’s safety, the girl had been dragged into Vee’s mafia world anyway.

Vee mostly blamed herself, not Sotza. The man was born and raised cartel. He was a ruthless weapon. It was in his DNA to find and exploit any and every weakness when he was hunting. And she’d given him the ultimate weapon to use against her, a child. No, she laid most of the blame at her own feet. She should’ve done a better job of hiding the girl. She shouldn’t have checked up on her so often throughout the years. Maybe she should’ve sent Raina farther, even overseas, where she might have been out of reach.

No matter what Vee thought, she knew that Sotza would’ve ferreted out her daughter no matter what Vee did, no matter how hard she tried to bury the secret. It was her own fault for bringing the child into a world where Vee’s mobbed up life might one day touch Raina. But when she’d found out she was pregnant at eighteen, the father one of a string of ruthless mobsters, she hadn’t been as horrified or upset as she thought she would be if she was ever faced with that situation. She hadn’t been happy either. Of course not. At the time, she’d been living in a beautiful rental condo, the prize of her latest mafia conquest. She’d been his petted princess, given jewels, clothes, anything her heart desired.

Vee couldn’t quite explain how she felt when she found out she was pregnant but terminating the fetus hadn’t been an option for her. She’d thought long and hard about it, had even gone to a clinic to gather information. But in the end, as her baby grew, she knew she wanted to set eyes on it. Just once. Then she’d send it off to a better life.

Her pregnancy had been one of the best and loneliest times of her life. The father abandoned her almost as soon as he found out. Vee anticipated his reaction. She sold a bunch of her jewelry and moved into a smaller, cheaper place. She spent the next several months getting to know her child. Talking to it, reassuring it, singing and reading to it. She almost never went out, ordering her groceries from a supermarket that delivered. The last thing she needed was for the Miami mafia scene to catch wind of her pregnancy, to know about the child she produced. So she went through the entire thing alone, no friends, no family, no boyfriends.

And now, in Sotza’s home, she discovered that all that sacrifice was for nothing. Her child had never really been safe. If it wasn’t this, it would have been something else. The child was a pawn, something to exploit. The ultimate bargaining chip against a heartless woman who would sacrifice her own life in a deadly mafia war. But she would never sacrifice Raina.

Vee touched her fingertips against the window, watching as Raina sat slumped on a bench in Sotza’s beautiful garden. From her view it looked like a hedge maze. Raina had obviously figured it out and went into it almost daily, spending time among the flowers and shrubbery. Vee watched from above, a relentless sentinel who could do nothing if something should happen to the girl.

She wondered what Raina thought. Was she cognizant of the danger she was in just by existing? Had anyone told her who her mother is? Was she terrified for her life? Was she angry, like Vee? All these thoughts pounded relentlessly through Vee’s brain. And though she was terrified for her daughter, she still craved a glimpse. She wanted to see the woman she had given birth to, this person who looked so much like her it was uncanny.

Vee’s throat and chest ached with tears at the way Raina hunched her posture, wrapping her arms around her sleight body and rocking gently on the stone bench, her long, wavy blond hair flowing over one shoulder, glasses sliding down her nose, her gaze fixed on the stone path in front of her. Vee tensed when she saw someone approach the girl. It was a man, younger than Sotza, probably a bit younger than Vee. But even from her vantage point she could tell that he was as tough as they came. He spoke to Raina and her head tipped up sharply, her posture going from sad to angry in a matter of seconds. Like she knew him and didn’t like him. Was this the man who’d done Sotza’s dirty work, kidnapped Vee’s daughter while Sotza was busy going after Vee?

Raina stood and poked her finger in the guy’s face, snapping something at him before whirling away. He grabbed her before she could stomp away up the path and back to the house. Vee growled, wanting to storm down there, tear them apart and then tear whoever the man was to little pieces. Then she would go and rip Sotza to shreds for bringing her daughter here, for introducing her to the mafia world and putting her in danger.

“She’s beautiful,” Sotza’s quiet voice came from behind her, startling Vee. She didn’t turn around or acknowledge his presence as she continued to watch the scene unfolding below her. She was proud to see her daughter holding her own with the tough guy. “Just like you.”

Vee bit her lip, holding back the insults and accusations she so badly wanted to hurl at her tormentor. By bringing Raina to Venezuela he’d ruined everything she ever sacrificed to give the girl a good life. And he ruined any feelings Vee might have been developing for him. Her lips curled a little as she got a clear view of Raina’s face when she managed to wrench her arm out of the man’s grasp, give him the finger and stomp toward the house. She was definitely her mother’s daughter.

She felt rather than heard Sotza step closer behind her. He leaned over her shoulder looking out the window at the scene below. She felt her hair stir as his chin brushed against her, raising goosebumps along Vee’s arm. She tried to subtlety shift away but he leaned with her.

His mouth was against her ear when he spoke. “We need to talk, Vee.” When she refused to say anything, refused to turn around, he curved long fingers over her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Both of us this time. This won’t be a one-sided conversation.” His voice was low and quiet. Up close he was so much taller, and without her heels, her eyes landed on the middle of his chest. He was wearing a vest over his buttoned-up shirt, but he’d abandoned his tie and suit jacket taking on a more casual appearance.

Vee couldn’t help the shiver that went through her at his touch. She hated that her body was so aware of his, so at war with her own mind. She pushed past him, not wanting him to see his effect on her. She was wearing a short-sleeved silk shirt and a knee length skirt with slits up both sides. Both items were blue, the shirt a softer shade than the skirt. She wore a large ornamental belt at her waist. She had to hand it to Sotza, either he or one of his people had impeccable taste.

“Then talk,” she said coolly, speaking for the first time in two days. Perhaps it was time to negotiate with the crime lord. Speak to him on a reasonable level and see if she could get herself out of the bedroom and planning an escape.

His amused gaze followed her as she paced to the bed and sat on the edge. She realized when he followed her that she’d made a mistake. She should have sat in the chair near the armoire. Sotza didn’t sit though, he stood over her, watching her, using his physical presence to intimidate. She’d seen the tactic many times before. Probably would have done it herself if she wasn’t closer to five feet than six.

“It’s time to set a wedding date,” he said. “Next week, I think.”

Vee nearly swallowed her tongue. Of course, she knew why she was there. He’d told her many times of his desire to marry her. But she couldn’t bring herself to think of it as more than a sick joke. People didn’t force other people into marriage. Not in this day and age. Yet, she shouldn’t be so surprised. The mafia made their own rules, and often followed a code of conduct that could be called old-fashioned. It was part of the reason she’d sent Raina away as a baby. She hadn’t wanted the girl raised in such a world, where she might one day become fodder in the war of men.

“I don’t think so,” Vee replied.

He bobbed his head a little, as though expecting her answer. “Regardless, you will prepare for a wedding.”

Vee had absolutely no doubt Sotza would find a way to make the marriage happen. She’d had two days to decide how she would play this moment. Knowing it was coming. She gripped the edge of the bed and said, “It’ll go easier with my consent.”

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t look otherwise shocked by her comment. Either he had an incredible poker face or he knew what was coming.

“Send Raina back home and I’ll marry you,” she said, toughening her tone as she would for any other negotiation.

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