My taste of freedom.
My chance at a normal life.
All gone because of Sam fucking Colton.
I wander around my apartment, soaking in the last moments of normalcy I have left. Sighing, I trail my hand over the white leather couch Santi cursed to hell for over an hour as he carried it up two flights of stairs. I dust my finger along the top of the flat screen TV, still hanging crooked on the wall after Tito refused to use a leveler.
All snapshots of independence soon to be a distant memory…
Stopping next to the window, I move the curtain to gaze out at the empty parking lot, when a flash of color catches my eye, causing my stomach to somersault.
A yellow Post-it Note is stuck to the glass. With a shaking hand, I tear it away and read the familiar slanted handwriting.
When the mouse strays, she gets punished. Slowly, painfully, until she begs for mercy. The hunt is on, chaparrita…
Chapter Seven
Lola
The pulse in my neck beats a furious rhythm. It’s him. He was here, inside my apartment.
But how? When?
When the mouse strays, she gets punished.
Oh God. Lifting my head off the glass, I stare out the window. One that gives a perfect view of the parking lot. Right where Alex’s car was parked.
I fist my hands, the note crumpling in my damp palm as I stumble backward.
He saw us. He saw me.
I should feel violated. Instead, a rush of heat pools between my legs. Thoughts swirl in my head of Sam standing where I am now, watching Alex kiss me. Watching him try to undress me. Watching as I fought back, the Carrera in me surfacing.
Did it infuriate him?
Did his cock harden as he watched?
Images spin through my head faster than I can control them. It’s sick and twisted, but I can’t stop. The more I think about him—his jaw tight, his need strong, and his hate for me, a barrel of gasoline with my taunting a lit match—the wetter I get.
I can’t breathe.
“Lola?”
I jump as my brother’s voice rumbles behind me. “Shit!” Fuck, fuck, fuck. Quickly shoving the note into my bra, I turn around, trying to mask arousal as annoyance. “Stop sneaking up on me like that!” As soon as my heart starts beating again, I shift a nervous glance back at the window. “How long had you been here before I walked in?”
“A few minutes. Why?”
No reason. Just wondering if you crossed paths with my stalker. “Never mind.” With as much dignity as possible, I walk past him toward the bedroom, when he grabs my arm. “What the hell, Santi? Do you or do you not want me to pack?”
He holds out his hand. “Give me your keys.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?”
No, he looks like he’s about to throw me over his shoulder and carry me back to Mexico.
There’s no hope in changing his mind. I’ve been a part of this family long enough to know a losing battle when I see one.
Sighing, I gesture toward the far wall where the contents of my purse lay scattered across the floor. “Help yourself.”
Rolling his eyes, he crosses the room and bends down to sift through the strewn contents. After pocketing my keys, he runs a hand through his carefully styled hair. “I have to make arrangements with Tito. I’ll be back in two hours. Be ready.”
Once again, I heave out a heavy sigh.
Santi tips my chin with his forefinger, the hard lines in his face softening. “Chaparrita, I’m not doing this to punish you.”
“It doesn’t feel like it.”
“You’re my baby sister, Lola. My responsibility. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you.” His hold tightens. “You have to understand that family is everything to me. I’ll kill for you. I’ll die for you. And any man who hurts you will suffer until his last breath.”
Damn it. His fierce loyalty is making it hard to hate him right now. “I know.”
And therein lies the problem. I do know. His words aren’t just idle threats. He won’t rest until Sam Colton pays. Not only for crossing territory lines, but for drawing Carrera blood.
For daring to taint the innocence of Valentin Carrera’s daughter.
The gold flecks in Santi’s brown eyes glitter with affection. “I love you, kid.”
Fucking asshole. “I love you too,” I mumble. It’d be so much easier if I didn’t.
With a final kiss on my forehead, my brother leaves me alone with my wayward thoughts and a ticking timeclock. Closing the door behind him, I turn and slump against it.
Two hours.
Two hours and then it’s goodbye freedom, hello shackles and chains. I love my family with all my heart, but they’re slowly suffocating me.
“You’re in over your head, Lola. You’re fucking drowning, and you don’t even know it.”
How the hell am I supposed to learn to swim if I’m never allowed to sink?
But you did sink, a voice in my head whispers. You sank hard, just like the enemy’s blade did into your skin.
Biting my lip, I reach into my bra and pull out the Post-it Note. Smoothing out the wrinkles, I read the words again, memorizing each slanted line as I wander back across the living room.
When the mouse strays, she gets punished. Slowly, painfully, until she begs for mercy. The hunt is on…
The hunt is on…
What does that even mean? Is he hunting me? Watching me right now?
Before I can stop myself, I wander back to the window. Scraping my teeth over my bottom lip, I lean against the wooden pane and scour the parking lot.
I’m a Carrera. Sam Colton is a Santiago associate. My family’s sworn enemy. I’m meant to hate him and everything he stands for. According to Santi and papá, he wants nothing more than to hurt me.
To kill me.
So, why simply mark me? He had every chance to defile Valentin Carrera’s daughter. To take my virginity and leave me bleeding until I gasped my last breath.
So why didn’t he?
I stared
