Page 4 of Hostile King

He holds his hands up in fake surrender. “I don’t know what you think I’ve done, Tomás. The girl approached me.”

“Move,” I hiss, prodding his ribs with the fully loaded weapon.

Ignoring the sensation of fear I’ve somehow found buried inside me, I keep my eyes glued to the man with lies burning his tongue. Carina wouldn’t go near a scumbag like him, let alone ask for directions to my father’s grave. She knows where it is and paying her respects to the man who had wanted feed her to the tigers, is absurd.

A recent rainstorm has drenched the stones under our feet and the canvas tunnel sheltering the wooden walkway has taken a beating. I nudge him along the path, heading towards the disassembled marquee where the ceremony was held.

Streaks of gold slash a dusky sky, the sun sinking behind thick mountainous clouds. “You know something…” Paco begins, his boots thudding out a rhythm that irritates me. “I recognize her.”

The helix in my gut pulsates, twisting up my instincts. “Go on.” I tighten my fingers around the handgrip.

“Yeah…she was in Rio. Seems like she worked out well for you.” The temperate climate drops to sub-zero. “How was Elias murdered again?”

My hand lashes out like a whip, grabbing his hair from behind and dragging him backwards. “What the fuck are you saying?” I snarl into the side of his face.

He scrambles to stand upright, held securely in my ruthless grip. “Surely Tomás Souza knew the risks of welcoming a stranger into his home?” The mocking tone to his raspy voice scrapes my course of thought to ribbons. “She had a purpose, and it seems like you fell for it.”

I swallow a wave of fury.How does he know she was in Rio?

She had arrived at the plantation drugged and beaten. From the second I had seen her the world appeared brighter. My tortured mind eased. There’s no chance in hell my instincts were wrong about her.

Dragging him by the hair, I keep walking, marching towards the tiki torches that would be kept alight until the house is vacated.

“She’s a traitor, Tomás.”

“Shut the fuck up, asshole.”

Out of the corner of my eye, flickering light catches gemstones. A pair of sandals were abandoned under a jaggy leafed plant, the fat stalks swaying in the earthy zephyr. All the energy drains from my body. Not long ago those sexy heels were on Carina’s petite feet.

My blood scalds me like liquid fire. In a rage, I shove Paco away and slam the heel of my hand to my temple. I take aim as he flounders on the wet planks. “Who the fuck sent her here?”

Paco rubs his head where I had fisted the roots close to his scalp. “Maria sent her here,” he pants.

“Why?”

“To finishyou. Not Elias.”

I want to kill him for breathing, for having the audacity to suggest such an outrageous lie. Shane and I had watched the security footage of Carina leaving the bar that night. I witnessed the shock on her sweet face when my father hit the ground. She wasn’t armed and the second she was, she didn’t shoot me.

I fucked her in the shower and cleansed away my sins. I let her fix me. There’s no way I’ve been played by a bewitching executioner.

No fucking way.

“She knows about the arsenal of weapons in Elias’ tomb. If you ask me, she’s on a mission.”

My heart collides with my ribs, knocking the air from my chest. What if he’s right? What if my unruly dick had screwed with my instincts? What if her tight pussy really was my destruction?

Christ.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion, motherfucker.” I try to pretend I’m not shaken up.

Rather than drop my guard and reveal the confusion poisoning my veins, I hold a pretend, unfazed mask in place, showing him nothing. All of a sudden, my chest feels hollow, a cavernous hole where my defrosted heart once held court. Now, it’s diminished beneath a deadweight of doubt. “You’re full of shit.”

“I guess time will tell.” The fucker actually smirks at me.

Instantly, my self-control dissolves. I launch right at him and smack the side of his head with my gun. My pulse goes haywire, and my legs start to move, my feet pounding the slippery path to reach her. Where the hell is my barefoot beauty now?

Nightfall carries with it a chorus of restless wildlife, bringing the shadowy vegetation to life. Flames tease the muggy atmosphere, the seductive shimmer of orange light enchanting winged insects, so they flit and flee. They’re enamored by the glow, risking it all, drawn to the heat for a thrill or because they’re defenseless.

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