Page 4 of Thorns of Blood
“It was,” Kingston grunted, scowling. At least he agreed with me. “And Lou won’t be taking any risks this time around.”
I wagged my head side to side. I was hesitant to believe their information. Sofia Volkov was not known for her honesty and compassion, and I couldn’t imagine that changing, even at death’s door.
And on top of that, I fuckingknewnobody survived my uncle and Perez. Yes, the girl I met eight years ago was noless terrifying—maybe more so—than Sofia Volkov, but everyone eventually broke. Santiago and Perez were experts at breaking women.
The stories often haunted my dreams, digging their claws into me.
“You’re singing a very different tune from our last meeting,” I reminded her. “If I supported the flesh trade, I would have met the same end as my uncle.” She sighed, but the look in her eyes was one of pure determination. “I told you before, Louisa. You won’t find closure, only more questions. Perez Cortes is dead. Do you plan to take over his empire and dig for information?”
She would fail because Kian Cortes now owned that empire, and he didn’t fuck around.
“That’s not a bad idea…” she muttered, tapping her chin.
It was averybad idea, and judging by the expression on Kingston’s and Alexei’s faces, they knew it too. Unsurprisingly, Louisa was the only one refusing to acknowledge defeat.
“It might fan the flames of your hope, but it won’t make her any less dead,” I told her, and saw Kingston wince slightly at my blunt words.
“She’d come for me,” she said as her spine stiffened and she straightened up. “I won’t stop searching until I find her.”
“Dead or alive, huh?”
“She’s alive.” There was that familiar stubborn expression from our last encounter again. “I can feel it.”
I shook my head, watching her carefully. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe, if she is alive, she doesn’t want to be found? She hasn’t reached out, Louisa.”
“You don’t know her like I do.” She threw her arms in the air. “Besides, she sent a finger to Kingston. If that’s not reaching out, I don’t know what is.”
I glanced over at Kingston. On his face was an expressionless mask, but tension rolled off him in waves.
“Even if she was alive, you might not like the version of Liana you find,” I warned her. Assuming she was even alive. Surviving my uncle would be a miracle, but Perez Cortes…? Impossible.
“Maybe, but she’ll be with me,” she claimed stubbornly. “And if you help me, I’ll be in your debt.”
I sighed inwardly. “You’re already in my debt. I saved you once before. Remember?”
Maybe I should have shared the bits and pieces of information I knew, but I didn’t have the heart to extinguish the hope in her eyes.
TWO
LIANA
Istood in front of the man sitting in the metal chair, his arms fastened behind him, his feet tied to the chair’s legs.
I recognized the Courier from the days when he workedas Perez Cortes’s go-between with the cartel. He’d been given the moniker because of his exceptional abilities when it came to keeping the women in his care under… control, let’s call it.
I was one of those women.
And now, I was ready to unleash what had become of the “blushing bride” he likely remembered me as.
“Welcome,” I greeted him. His features were rigid, jaw tight, and his face beaten. “It took us a bit to find you.”
He lifted his gaze, those cruel, evil eyes meeting mine, and what he saw in them caused his grip on the chair’s arms to turn white.
“We roughed him up a bit, Boss,” my assistant announced. “But he isn’t giving us anything.”
I turned to look at José, my right-hand man, who was a hunk of a man and had been with me since I escaped the clutches of Perez Cortes and my husband Santiago Tijuana. When thenightmares plagued me, it seemed like only yesterday, but it had been three years now of hiding in the shadows, in my little corner of the world.
Even now that I knew Santiago was dead, I didn’t step into the light.
