Ruthless Savior

“Please, Raúl. This was all Daniel’s plan. You know how reckless and greedy he is. You know how powerful his family is. I couldn’t say no. All of them are snakes. The entire Vera family. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have—”

“I have nothing to do with this!” A panicked, feminine shriek tugged at my attention. “I don’t even know what’s happening. Armed men invaded my home, so I came down here to hide.”

I glanced over to see Isabel Vera, Daniel’s sister, slowly backing away from Sebastián. Her slim frame seemed smaller than ever as she pressed herself into a corner. She cringed and wrapped her arms around her chest, as though that would be enough to protect her from the cartel’s retribution.

She shot an imploring glance at me before her focus was jerked back to the encroaching threat of Sebastián. “I swear, I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t even know why Arturo’s in my house, and I definitely didn’t want him in this panic room with me.”

I took a second to assess her, muddling through the haze of my anger to look at her more clearly. Her cheek bore the branding red imprint of a man’s hand, and her oversized, wire-rimmed glasses were cracked.

My most feral instincts surged, overtaking me just as they had when I’d found Daniel groping Marisol this morning. I rammed my fist into Arturo’s bullet wound, driving deep and grinding his ruined shoulder against the rough concrete at his back. His anguished bellow boomed through the panic room, reverberating off the cold walls.

“You like hurting women?” I snarled in his sallow face, which had gone pale with mortal terror. “You hurt people weaker than you to get what you want.” Marisol’s bloodstained cheek filled my mind, her soft skin gruesomely sticky beneath my hand.

My lips twisted in a purely vindictive grin, a malicious promise. “Well, I like hurting weaker people, too. Weaker men.”

“I-Isabel wouldn’t let me into the panic room,” he stammered, his teeth chattering. “I wouldn’t have t-touched her if she’d given me any other choice. I had to force my way in. Sh-she was going to leave me out there to die, when her family is the cause of this coup. Please—”

“I’m not!” Isabel cried, distracting me from my victim.

“Get her out of here,” I barked at Sebastián.

I heard her soft gasp just before he rumbled, “Let’s go, nenita. Stefano will want to talk to you. If you really are innocent, you have nothing to worry about,” he added, forestalling any further protest. “You don’t want to see what’s about to happen in here.”

“Wait!” Arturo begged. “Nothing needs to happen. I want to talk to Stefano, too. Let me explain. Daniel—”

“Shut the fuck up.” I was sick of his pathetic excuses. “I don’t want to hear another word come out of your mouth until you’re ready to beg for me to finally kill you.” My cruel, pitiless grin widened. “You’re welcome to scream as much as you want. You’ve been a dead man ever since Marisol said your name.” I slammed my fist into his shoulder again, savoring his scream. “Daniel could’ve killed her. Or are you going to tell me that was all his plan, too? That you had nothing to do with him attacking her?

“Don’t bother lying,” I hissed when he opened his mouth to offer more evasions. “She told me he forced her to take him up to Stefano’s penthouse. She told me you were in on the plan. How else do you think I knew to find you here, while Stefano goes to rescue Carmen from Daniel and Miguel Armendariz? You knew Marisol would be hurt. You knew she’s under my protection, and you should’ve realized what I’d do to you when I found out.” I drew my knife from its sheath, letting the light glint over the blade. “You’re not going to die for a long time.”

“No!” he shouted, his wide eyes fixing on the wickedly sharp steel. “She wasn’t supposed to get hurt. She was in on the plan. Wait, wait!” he babbled, more lies spilling from his lips. “I admit I knew what Daniel was planning. You know that already. But I swear, Marisol wanted to escape from the cartel, and she was happy to help. She knew everyone loyal to Stefano would be slaughtered, so she jumped at the chance to get free. That was her deal with Daniel. He planned it with her. I swear, I swear…” He trailed off on a sob, but his poisonous words had already worked their way into my mind, tainting my memories of what had happened with Marisol this morning.

I’d found her in Daniel’s arms. It’d seemed like he’d pinned her there, but she’d welcomed me seconds later, eager to allow me to hold her curvy body in place for our kiss.