I stiffened at the prospect of facing the sociopathic head of the cartel. Sebastián’s thumb brushed my wrist in a single soothing gesture that shocked me to my core. Then he resumed his iron hold.
“If you really are innocent, then you have nothing to worry about.” He forestalled any other protest on my part, but I wouldn’t have been capable of formulating words. Not with shock blanking my mind from that brief comforting touch. Moments ago, I’d feared that Sebastián would kill me. But he’d tried to ease my terror, if only for a second.
I stumbled along in his wake, my wrist still shackled in his huge hand. He paused to grip my elbow, steadying me. His voice dropped impossibly deeper, as though soothing a spooked animal. “You don’t want to see what’s about to happen in here. Come with me.”
I nodded mutely, a strange buzzing filling my ears. It muffled the sound of Arturo’s panicked babbling as he continued to plead with Raúl.
Something crunched beneath Sebastián’s boot, and he paused with a low curse. His dark eyes raked down my numb body, pausing at my bare feet. I noticed the debris that littered the floor: sharp metallic shards from the ruined door and shell casings. I’d tear up my soles if I tried to walk up the stairs.
He huffed out a heavy sigh, as though resigning himself to do something unpleasant. All the air whooshed out of my lungs when his strong arms closed around me, lifting me up to cradle me against his chest.
He grimaced. “Let’s get you out of here.”
I couldn’t summon up any indignation over being treated like a child. Instead, I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my face into his hard chest, trying my best to block out Arturo’s bloodcurdling scream.
CHAPTER 2
SEBASTIÁN
Isabel tucked her face against my chest, and all my muscles tensed. I didn’t like having her pressed so close to me. It felt too intimate. I had no business touching the young beauty at all, much less holding her in my arms.
At least she’d closed her stunning caramel eyes. I’d never been able to bear looking directly into them for longer than a few heartbeats. Their rich, sweet color reminded me of the darkest parts of my past. A past I’d worked hard to bury.
I didn’t need a slip of a girl prying open my soul with no more than a glance. Over the years since she’d matured into a striking young woman, I’d tried my best not to look at her at all. It was the easiest way to avoid the sickening mixture of attraction and revulsion that tormented me every time her eyes met mine.
Now, she was so close that her delicate lavender scent suffused the air around me. I thought I’d suffocate on it. I was too hot, and my skin itched at the back of my neck. I couldn’t scratch away the maddening sensation because I was carrying Isabel.
I shook my head sharply and forced myself to draw in a deep breath. Inhaling her floral scent was like knives in my lungs, but the pain centered me. I had a job to do. I had a duty to the cartel.
Duty kept me going on my darkest days. Fierce loyalty to the criminal organization that’d saved me kept my mind focused and the nightmares at bay.
I wouldn’t allow this fragile woman in my arms to distract me from my duty. My boss, Stefano Duarte, would decide what to do with her. Then I could go back to resolutely ignoring Isabel on the rare occasions when I was forced to be in the same room with her. Now that both her father and brother were dead, I doubted I’d have to attend any more of the Vera’s ostentatious parties. I wouldn’t have to see her at all.
Unease stirred in my chest at the prospect of her demise. Even if Stefano didn’t punish her for her family’s role in the attempted coup, she was still alone in the world. Her closest relatives were all dead, and I was sure the sharks would start circling quickly. Isabel was too young and naïve to command the vast wealth and resources she would inherit. Soon enough, she’d be married off to someone who could better manage her fortune for the cartel’s benefit.
Good. I ignored the twist in my gut. She’ll be someone else’s problem then.
“Is he going to kill me?” Her tremulous question was little more than a whisper, but it hooked somewhere deep in my chest and yanked my attention back to her face. I stopped breathing when I met her tawny brown eyes. I stopped moving completely.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” I swore, the guilt-roughened vow as harsh as gravel. With those mesmerizing, tormenting eyes locked on mine, the past blurred into the present. I could fix what I’d broken. I could somehow make things right.