Page 75 of When Sinners Dare

“Of course, he is. Nothing bad would happen to the Dragon. They have each other, you know. They all do.” More tears stream down my face as I choke on another sob as I reach for another vodka, pouring with a shaking hand and spilling the clear liquid over the bar.

“Mariana, I’m going to call Dante.”

“Good idea. You might want to talk to him. Maybe ask him about what he did to me tonight.” I tilt my head and show her the bruise I know is forming across my cheek.

“No, he would never hit you.”

“Hah!” I burst out. “Abel, Dante, my mother, they’ve all hit me. I’m just one of their whores, after all.”

“Mariana, what… that’s a horrible thing to say. Dante adores you.”

“You know, I used to think it was all my mother. But it’s not. It’s all of them, and I’m sick of it.”

“Please.”

“He made me kill a man tonight. Granted, he didn’t tell me to do it, but he put me in the position that I had no choice. Teaching me a lesson.” My eyes sting as I see the blood-soaked image of Chance’s body.

“Mariana, what?”

“We don’t just whore out women. We buy them, we sell them, and we trade them. Of course, not before they’ve had Dante’s special attention.” The words spring free and drip with hurt and pain. I watch her face as she hears them and her eyes glisten as she thinks the worse. “He uses his particular skill to mark them. Like cattle. Before we move them on.”

“Mariana,” her voice is soft, weak with emotion, as she starts but doesn’t continue.

I swipe again at my nose and push the tears from my face and look away. “The Cortez men rule whoever and whatever they choose. Remember that, Wren.”

“But, I don’t understand. Why, after all this time, have you told me now?”

“Ask Dragon.”

I down one more shot and leave, brushing past Wren and slamming the door on my way out. I crumble to the floor before I reach the lift and break down into more sobs that engulf me as I cry. Cry doesn’t seem a big enough word, though, it’s not enough. My voice echoes in the lift as I wail the hurt and anguish out, my body doubling over as I gasp for air.

Chance’s smile, the feel of his hand on my skin. The gun in my hand. Dante’s cold stare. Kai’s crazed look. The vengeance and sheer violence of his fists and my finger pulling the trigger. Wren’s heartbreak.

The images and feelings play on repeat as I shake with crying on the floor.

What have I done?

CHAPTER TWENTY - FOUR

KAI

I’m walking out behind them like I’m part of them.

Dark corridors.

Dark clothes.

Dark fucking thoughts.

Whole damn atmosphere is tense as fuck, but I couldn’t get out of here until they did. Dragon made damn sure of that by blocking the door and willing me to have a try at him. Guess he needed to vent on something, and the mood I was in then, and still am, I kept on thinking the same. I even tried once, while the two guys Knox had brought with him dealt with a dead body and bagged it up.

All I could see in my head was that slap he sent at Mariana. Add that into them already beating on me, and that dick who dared touch her in front of me, and I was ready to forget thinking straight about any of them. One crazed punch in and Knox held me off him, though, or him off me, or whatever the hell happened until it was done and time to leave.

Now Knox is talking with the guys, and we’re watching what’s left of Chance getting loaded into the back of a car. Fuck knows what they’ll do with him, and I don’t care, either. I just want to find Mariana and make sure she’s good, ‘cause she sure as shit didn’t look it when she left. Doesn’t even occur to me that people saw us leaving with a body-shaped bag, blood and guts inside it, until we’re driving somewhere. Who knows where, but I’m guessing I’ve got more hope of finding her with them than I have without.

I fire off a message to her anyway, telling her to get to my place if she needs space. Text me when she’s there. There’s no response to that, and after ten more minutes driving, I send another. Again, nothing.

Dragon’s phone starts up after a while. He ignores it at first, then, eventually, lifts it to his ear to listen to a message. Car’s swerving like a manic after that, and before long he screeches to the side of the road and pulls up hard.

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