Page 30 of Queen's Move

Now he did laugh, a short bark, a chilling sound. “No one leashes me, chica. Definitely not the Señor. I am his second because I earned it, because I’m the best at my job. I am loyal, but I am not some employee. If I asked for your life, he wouldn’t hesitate to give it to me. And one day soon, I will be asking.”

Raina shivered at the viciousness of his words. He was supremely confident in everything he was saying. And she had no come back. Just a desperate wish to disappear before he decided to make good on his words. She spun away from him and stomped toward the house throwing him the bird over her shoulder. She was grateful when he didn’t follow her in.

She sighed heavily as she walked into the dark, sinister interior of Sotza’s home. She’d been there for 14 days now. She hated everything about the place. From the overbearing furniture with its English influence, to the bedroom that she spent so much time in alone, to Sotza himself. The past few days he’d insisted that Raina join him for their evening meal. She had been unable to bring herself to refuse. She didn’t dare treat him the way she was treating Mateo. There was something about Sotza that was terrifying and completely unapproachable. She’d heard whispers among the staff about his nickname, the Gentleman Butcher. Raina didn’t need further explanation to understand that he was a man better left alone.

Though she tried to be respectful with the man who’d had her kidnapped, she’d nearly crossed the line the evening before when they sat down to eat together. He’d explained to Raina that he would be wedding her mother the following week and that Raina would be attending the church ceremony. She’d understood that there could be no argument.

Raina had been spending plenty of time trying to come to terms with her feelings regarding her birth mother. She knew she would have to meet her. And though she’d spent years searching for the woman, Raina didn’t feel ready for a face-to-face, thus she’d refused Sotza when he asked if she wanted a visit. No matter how she tried to look at things, she couldn’t stop the deep sense of abandonment every time she thought about Elvira Montana. There was always a streak of resentment when she thought of her mother, though she was mature enough to understand that the woman probably had her reasons. And those reasons were gradually coming to light the more time she spent in Venezuela. If Vee’s life in the US had been anything like this, then Raina was starting to understand why Vee had given her up.

She was beginning to suspect that these dinners in Sotza’s presence were his way of dealing with Raina’s resentment toward her mother. He spoke in his quiet voice about Vee and Miami. Just light stuff, throwing out comments about Vee’s interests and how much she enjoyed walking on the beach. He would also ask Raina polite questions about her family and life in Pennsylvania. Though the conversations should have been awkward, they never were. The dinners were not something Raina looked forward to. Sotza spoke with such authority that Raina often felt like a child in his presence. She had no choice but to sit and listen, and then respond if he asked her a question.

Until last evening when Raina finally pushed back. Asked some of the burning questions that she desperately wanted answers to.

“How long are you going to keep me here?” she asked during a lull in the conversation.

He lifted his gaze from the table to study her. When he placed his fork gently on his plate and lifted his napkin to his lips, Raina realized she’d asked a more complicated question than she thought. It made her heart ache. Because if there wasn’t a simple answer to when she could go home then that meant she probably wouldn’t get the answer she wanted.

“Your presence here is permanent,” he said, his dark, cold gaze on her face.

Raina’s jaw dropped. It took her a moment to find her voice. He waited patiently until she could speak. “Permanent… as in…”

He didn’t speak though. She noticed that about Sotza. Once he said his piece, he didn’t repeat himself or clarify unless he felt it was necessary. Still, as clear as he’d been, she just couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that she would stay there forever.

“But why?” An edge of panic sharpened her voice. “You have my mother, you said you’ll marry her. You said yourself she’ll cooperate. Once the wedding is over you don’t need me for leverage. My parents will be looking for me, they’re probably completely freaking out, wondering if I’m dead or something. You can just let me go back home. I promise I won’t say anything about you.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” he said smoothly.

“But I’m nothing to you. You needed me to lure her out of hiding, right? Now you have her, what’s the point in keeping me?”

He studied her carefully, his features completely blank. “You are misinformed, child. You were never brought here to be used as leverage against your mother.”

Her jaw dropped again. She wasn’t? It had been her assumption from the beginning, as soon as she found out her kidnapping had to do with her mother. In a way, the knowledge that she could be used against Elvira created a tiny glow within her. Made her feel like maybe she was more than just a castoff to Elvira. She almost felt a little sorry that she’d been so easily captured. Though she resented Elvira, Raina didn’t think her birth mother deserved a lifetime of marriage to this man.

“If I’m not here as a bargaining chip then what the fuck am I here for?” Raina demanded.

“You will watch your language and speak with respect,” he said his brows lowering over hard, dark eyes. Something about his swift displeasure made Raina cringe inside. He was one scary son-of-a-bitch. “You are here because you belong to Vee. This is your place now.”

Raina frowned and shook her head, trying to take his simple words in and decipher their meaning. “But I don’t even know her!”

“You can easily get to know your mother, I haven’t blocked your access to her. You should meet her, develop a relationship, she is an extraordinary woman.”

Raina guessed as much from what little she got from Mateo and Sotza. She was beginning to understand that her mother was some kind of force to be reckoned with. Raina eyed her captor, her sharp mind whirling. “Why do you want her so bad? Is it because she’s so extraordinary?”

“Among other things. She’s passionate, loyal, determined. All qualities I admire and wish for in a wife. She is also very beautiful.”

“But she seems so cold and unapproachable. I’ve seen her up in that window, watching everything.” Raina didn’t really know if Elvira was cold, but it helped her to imagine her mother was awful.

“She isn’t cold Raina. She’s scared. There’s a difference.”

“I don’t get it, what does she have to be scared of? I saw how angry she was that first day you had her here.” Raina had secretly admired the way Elvira had screamed and fought Sotza when he’d dragged her in the house.

“She’s scared she’ll marry me, fall in love and then I’ll turn on her, like her late husband. She’s scared you’ll reject her even though she loves you more than anyone else on the planet.” He delivered the words calmly, though they felt like a punch to the gut for Raina.

She picked at an artfully arranged hole in her jeans while she contemplated his statement. What had Elvira’s ex-husband done to her? And why did Raina care, she was a stranger. “So what if I reject her? She deserves it.”

“And why is that?” He asked, giving her that look of his that sent shivers straight down her spine. “She deserves to have a daughter who hates her? Why? Because she did everything in her power to protect you, give you a life filled with love and certainty.”

Raina snorted. “Look how well that turned out. I’ve been kidnapped and now I’m being held captive, probably for the rest of my life, according to you. Yeah, she did awesome.”

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