Page 2 of Until Retribution Burns (Beauty in Lies 3)

Even wanting nothing to do with that shed and the recent memory that threatened to slow me down, I turned my back on the docks and sprinted in its direction up the driveway. Closer to civilization and escape, even knowing in my heart that the flight was pointless.

I stumbled, my heel tilting to the side as I traversed the slight incline with ragged breaths. The roll of my ankle shot pain up my leg, a whimper escaping my throat as I looked behind me. Rafael was quickly closing the distance between us, his face twisted into a murderous expression as he ate up the head start his cousin’s interference had provided me.

“Isa, stop,” he ordered, his low and impossible quiet voice traveling through the air. The sound shouldn’t have reached me, but something in that command felt like I would hear it anywhere. No matter where in the world I was, no matter where he was, the instinctive desire to submit to his will overwhelmed me.

Only the panic coursing through my veins drove me to keep moving, to stumble along the path with the limp from my sprained ankle. Even knowing it was futile and that Rafael wouldalwayscatch me and drag me back to the pits of Hell with him, I kept going.

That feeling settled down my spine, the slow caress of a nightmare whispering along my skin when he came close enough to almost grab me.

One more step, and I could already feel the heat of his arms reaching to wrap around me in the next moment. The harshness of his grip as it would lift me off my feet.

I ducked, dropping to the ground and crab walking backwards on my hands as the devil himself loomed over me. Even in the moment with his expression calm and placating, cautious, as if I were a wounded animal he only wanted to help, that darkness lurked in his stunning gaze. The animalistic tilt of his head as he studied the prey he’d well and truly caught once again left little doubt as to just what kind of punishment he would deliver as soon as he pulled me into his evil embrace.

A shadow emerged from the other side of the driveway, a figure moving between us as if he didn’t fear death itself. Joaquin stepped over my body, positioning himself so that one foot was to either side of my thighs. “Get up,mi reina,”he said softly, glancing over his shoulder at where I panted on the ground beneath him.

I drew my legs out from between his, leaving him standing in front of me as I pushed to my feet and winced at the pain in my ankle when I righted myself.

“Move,” Rafael ordered, and the bass of his voice coated my skin. That panic and terror settled over me once again, a distinct reminder of the time when I’d genuinely feared for my life while he tormented me.

I knew Rafael wouldn’t kill me, but I also knew there were things far worse than death. The pain of knowing that I’d fallen for him twice, and that everything had been a lie both times,thatthreatened to crush something that went deeper than flesh and bones.

“That’s enough, Rafael,” Joaquin reprimanded, holding his position despite the way Rafael’s fury coated the air.

I watched in horror as Rafael pulled his gun, pressing the barrel against Joaquin’s forehead. My guard didn’t flinch, staring back atEl Diablowith defiance in his face. “Give memi reina,” Rafael growled, the monster not bothering to hide beneath the surface. It didn’t matter that he’d known Joaquin far longer than he’d known me. I didn’t doubt his vindictiveness or the reality that he would shoot him if Joaquin did not obey.

Nothing and no one would get in his way when it came to the woman he claimed as his property.

“Then treat her likemi reinadeserves. Not like an animal that you hunt down in the night,” Joaquin returned, his voice a threatening growl despite the gun pressed to his head.

“Rafe, don’t,” I whispered, my voice pleading as I looked around Joaquin’s shoulder. Neither man spared me a glance, too lost in their mostly silent war as they studied each other.

“She shouldn’t have run,” Rafael said finally, the gun drawing away from Joaquin slightly. He didn’t put it away, not completely, when the other man remained between us.

“You shouldn’t have chased her,” Joaquin said, quirking a mocking eyebrow. “Even those who have done nothing wrong will run when they’re chased by the devil in the moonlight.”

Rafael clenched his jaw, rage consuming his features as his eyes settled on mine briefly before turning back to Joaquin. “You will move, or have you forgotten all that you owe me?”

Joaquin stilled, every muscle in his body locking tight as his eyes darted to glance at me over his shoulder. He sighed, his chest loosening with the loss of air. “If you hurt her, I will owe younothing.”

I watched him in a panic as he stepped to the side slowly, my body turning as if in slow motion to escape the inevitable.

Rafael’s arms wrapped around me from behind as I screamed, turning my body until I faced him, then he tossed me over his shoulder. The ground threatened to swallow me whole as Rafael walked, moving toward the docks by the water and the boat that waited for us with the privacy he undoubtedly wanted for dealing with his wayward wife.

My panic slowed as my eyes met Joaquin’s, watching the hard set to his jaw and the remorse in his eyes fade away.

Something inside me hollowed, the sway of Rafael’s rapid stride lulling me into the familiar embrace of floating in that place where pain didn’t exist.

My head buzzed as blood rushed to it, a reminder of everything I’d felt in those moments when I’d been underwater. Instead of fighting it, I sank into that familiar feeling.

And I welcomed the void like a dark embrace.

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