It’s all a lie.
Every word.
I look over my shoulder where there’s no one around to either confirm or deny the allegation. My pulse gallops, making me lightheaded. “Why are you telling me this?” I say breathlessly. “Why should I believe you?”
My mind sinks beneath a veil of violence, where I imagine killing this man for all the venom he’s spreading.
“Because I can offer you a way out.” The sincere look on his face is a beacon of light dragging me away from a rocky coastline where I’d surely smash into a trillion pieces if I’m not careful. “I can give you what Tomás Souza never will.” Each word comes out like a swirl of sooty smoke. “If you kill him, I’ll set you free. I’ll personally make sure you have a seat on our helicopter. We’ve bribed one of the Souza pilots. He’ll take us wherever we need to go.”
I start to laugh, slowly at first and then more deranged as fear cracks my heart. “And you think I'm going to betray him simply becauseyouasked me to? You’re kidding me, right? What is this... a set up? Is Teresa hiding behind a door waiting for me to conspire against him?”
“This isn’t a joke, Carina.” Paco steps into me, bringing the reality of his accusations closer. “You’re in danger. Save yourself before he betrays you.” I fold my arms to protect my shrinking heart. “You don’t have a future with him in it and the second you think you’re free, he’ll send a sicario to your door. He’s meeting with his second in command to iron out the details for his wedding—to confirm a date. That’s why he left you alone... dressed like a queen. So all those bastards could get a good look at you. You don’t mean shit to him, sweetheart.”
“Liar!” I hiss through gritted teeth.
“I know it’s a lot to take in.” Paco reaches for my arm. I flinch, shirking away from his touch. “Don’t take my word for it. He’s down the corridor right now, talking it over with Shane. Your best move is to prepare yourself with ammunition first. Then strike. If he realizes you’re on to him, you won’t see the next sunrise.”
My teeth clench, almost biting my tongue in half with every insult I can think of because I’m already helplessly trotting in the direction he pointed to. I snarl inside, fighting the urge to cry and praying this isn’t real. It has to be a trap and this guy thinks I’d fall for it. None of it rings true and yet all of it makes sense.
The closer I get, the more my body shakes. When I hear Tomás’ godly voice rumble through a sliver of space between a solid door with locks and its frame, I press my forehead to the damask wallpaper to steady myself. To catch a breath and listen.
“Stick to the plan. Get Carina out of here first thing in the morning. I’ll call Morales about the wedding when she’s gone.” His masculine tone is as inflexible as steel.
No!
I stumble backward with no one to catch me. My lashes bat a thousand times on repeat as the words I just heard slice my foolishness to shreds. He took advantage of my vulnerability, abused my body, and forged a fictitious bond of trust.
How dare he?
The black haze stealing my vision goes red. The blood in my veins turns thick like tar, and my entire body quakes from unforgivable shock.
I can barely stand upright, until Paco swaggers into my personal space, clamps my biceps and guides me along the corridor, pushing me into the shadowy mouth of an empty room. With the lights off, I can’t see his face, only the whites of his eyes.
“For your own safety, do not say a word,” he whispers, his voice husky and low, his breath smoky.
I lean away from him, my fists balling for war. “Get the hell away from me.”
“Listen to me, little girl. You’ve fallen for a man who’s using you to keep his fiancé safe.”
“And why would you warn me?” I squirm free of his hands. “What could you possibly gain from telling me this?”
He angles into the light streaming in from the hallway, checking over his shoulder. “The Souzas have ruled for long enough.” His face contorts to a sinister grimace. The flare of darkness widens his pupils, so the steely gray of his eyes switches to black. “They’re out of control. You’re the only one who can get close to him with a weapon.”
The longer I stay in the shadows, the quicker my soul whispers to the darkness. I thought I recognized the damaged part of Tomás, that his trauma clicked with the twisted part of mine. This whole time, he had tricked me into believing I’d met the real man hidden in the depths of a monster.
But this deceit... this is a brutal jagged blade eviscerating my natural born instincts. It’s a wound so fathomless that the vital organ in my chest fails to function.
I’ve personally felt the fingertips of death.
I’ve watched Tomás deliver despicable men to Hell’s cast iron gates.
However, nothing could strip my body of life like the acidic wash of his deception. I understood our time was temporary, but I never expected him to use me as bait. To deceive me with so much conviction that I truly believed we had a connection.
Paco stands before me, patience belying his threatening presence.
“Either you kill him tonight, or I’ll get the motherfucker another day. You and I have something in common—we’ve been wronged by these people. His soldiers slaughtered my men and their families in Rio. The General has agreed to help me take out the Souza brothers one at a time, then he’ll step in to take their place. He’d be indebted to you.”
Moving further into the room, I embrace the veil of blackness disguising my misfortunate heartache. My gut is screaming from within, yelling at me to run far away from here, far away from Tomás, but mostly, far from Paco.