Tires squealed behind me, and heavy boots slapped the pavement, closing in swiftly. My heart skipped a beat, and I whirled to face whatever—whoever—was coming at us. Before I could fully turn, my guard was jerked back. Steel flashed beneath the noon sun, and hot blood sprayed my cheek when the knife slit his throat.
A small, breathless cry burst from my chest, and I reeled back into a pair of strong arms. I shrieked and twisted away, terror spiking.
“Isabel, we have to go.” Carlos’ familiar, boyish face was drawn in harsh lines, making him look older. Meaner. Determined.
“What?” The question left me on a little puff of air, my mind reeling at the shocking violence. My guard gurgled at my feet, his blood pouring on the concrete to stain the hem of my ivory dress.
The man who’d killed him wiped the knife clean on his pants. He tipped his head at Carlos, who snagged my upper arm in a strong grip.
“I’m getting you out of here,” he promised, yanking me along in his wake. A black SUV waited at the curb, door open and waiting for me to climb in. To safety. To freedom.
It didn’t make any sense. Carlos was risking Stefano’s ire by rescuing me.
“Why?” I managed to ask, stumbling after him.
“Don’t worry, Isabel. I won’t let you marry that old man. You’re going to marry me. Stefano will accept it once we’ve eloped. We’re a better match.”
“No!” I shouted and tried to wrench my arm from his iron hold. His fingers dug in hard enough to bruise. The long days of anxiety and the sudden shock of brutality pushed me over the edge, and I turned practically feral in my rage. I wasn’t some possession for men to claim. They didn’t want to marry me because they cared about me. They only wanted to control me.
Carlos’ heavy cologne suffused the air around me, suffocating me as he dragged me closer to the waiting SUV. I couldn’t stand it for one more second.
“Let me go!” I screamed, lashing out. My nails raked angry red furrows down his cheek. He recoiled, but he kept his bruising grip on my arm.
“Crazy bitch,” he hissed, drawing his hand back. “You will marry me.”
Pain exploded across my cheek, and bright lights popped before my eyes. The world flickered and spun.
An inhuman roar rent the air. Carlos released a strangled shout just before his hand was wrenched from my arm. I sank to my knees, dizzy from the sickening blow he’d dealt.
I watched in a daze as a larger figure tackled my assailant to the ground.
Sebastián had come for me. He’d come to claim what was his.
CHAPTER 8
SEBASTIÁN
The grating sound of her scream had me racing down the aisle and smashing through the vestibule door in a few racing heartbeats. The fear that clenched my stomach exploded into blinding fury when I saw Carlos backhand Isabel. His hands were on her. Touching what was mine. Trying to take her from me.
An inhuman roar burst from my chest, and I slammed into the bastard, ripping his filthy hands off my bride. Feral instinct to protect her overtook my brain, leaving no room for anything but white-hot, furious retribution.
I’d failed once before. I wouldn’t fail her now. Not again. Not ever.
My fist slammed into Carlos’ face. Blood flew from the younger man’s lips as his head snapped to the side.
Her soft cry hooked deep in my chest, wrenching my focus away from my quarry and drawing my gaze to hers. Those wide, caramel eyes shone with tears. The sight of her terror was a punch to my gut, and my body reacted as though under physical attack. The boy in my grip wasn’t capable of hurting me, but my instincts demanded his blood. His death. He’d threatened her, hurt her.
He would die for daring to touch her.
“You thought you could steal my bride?” I bellowed, delivering another brutal punch. The fine bones in his face crunched beneath my fist. Carlos rasped a ragged howl, but I didn’t let up. “She is mine!” I grasped his skull in both hands and twisted. The pop of his spine cracking fed my savagery, appeasing the beast inside me.
He would never touch her again. No one would. I’d kill anyone who tried.
Her soft whimper snagged my attention, and I forgot all about the dead man. I dropped his bloody face from my hands, discarding him like the garbage he was, so I could go to her.
She was on her knees, her full ivory skirt pooling around her like a cushioning cloud. She stared up at me, but her eyes wouldn’t focus on mine. Her lush lips were parted, and her chest rose and fell on rapid breaths, making the crystals in the bodice of her wedding dress glitter under the bright sunlight. She looked like a pure, bright angel crumpled on the blood-soaked ground.