Page 28 of Bad Blood
After I’d recognized Thalia on the surveillance footage, I’d sent Lola to the lobby and Monroe back to the hole he crawled out of. I needed to be alone when she was brought to me. I couldn’t protect and punish at the same time, but while I bore my fangs upstairs, the wolves had already sunk theirs into a main artery.
“Where is she?” I demand.
His answer is to walk back toward the destruction, knowing damn well I’ll follow.
My own casino becomes a maze of lights and blind turns. All I can hear is the punishing thud of my heart slamming against my ribcage.
My movements are mechanical as we reach the lobby. Lola is on the floor, her back against the wall, her bare legs sprawled out in front of her like a rag doll. Her eyes are closed, and her sun-kissed skin is the color of chalk. The tight, black dress I’ve spent all day bitching about is ripped from her mid-thigh all the way up to her hip.
And coated in thick, sticky blood.
I drop to my knees. “Chaparrita…”
Lola opens her eyes and forces a weak smile. “I’m fine.”
I can’t think straight. The black haze is back, and this time, it’s suffocating me. “They’ll pay,” I swear, brushing a piece of drenched hair away from her face as I press a kiss to her forehead. “They’ll all pay.”
“Santi, it’s just a nick.”
“Flesh wound,” RJ notes behind me. “Barely grazed the skin. A few stitches and she’ll be as good as new.”
Dragging my finger through the puddle of blood staining the floor, I rise to my feet and shove it in his face. “Do you see that?Thatis Carrera blood.Family blood.What does that mean to you, RJ?”
“Vengeance,” he says solemnly.
“Take her to the car,” I instruct asEl Muerteawakens. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
“What?” Lola’s eyes widen as I round the front desk and head back toward the main casino. “RJ! Put me down! Where’s he going? Santi!”
I keep walking, forbidding myself to look back. If I do, I’ll insist on taking her to the hospital myself—and I can’t.
Not when I have a dark promise upstairs still waiting to be kept.
Chapter Nine
Santi
I kickmy office door open to find Thalia pacing like a caged animal. The moment she sees me, she freezes, the breath whooshing from her chest. “Where have—?”
The remainder of her words are cut off. In four wide steps, I’m across the room with my hand around her throat. Those dark eyes flare in panic seconds before I’m pinning her against the wall. “You,” I say with a growl.
She claws at my hand, her toes barely dusting the floor. “You’re hurting me!”
Grabbing her chin with my other hand, I turn her head to the side and press my lips against her ear. “Bruises are a blessing, Thalia Santiago,” I murmur, my tone deceptively calm. “They should be bullets for what you’ve done.”
“I don’t know what you’re—”
“Don’t lie to me!” I roar. “A dozen men just shot up my casino. My fucking sister got caught in the crossfire.”
Thalia stills. “Is she…?”
“Dead? No, unfortunately you failed.”
“Me?” Startled, she blinks at me as if I’ve slapped her. “You can’t think that I planned this?”
Not at nineteen... I know how old she is, and it sure as hell isn’t twenty-one like she claims. No, this turn of events has Edier Grayson written all over it.
“I think you were the decoy: a shiny distraction who opened the gates and diverted my attention. Someone should have warned you,muñeca. I always win in the end.”
