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  She didn’t look happy.

  The man reached out an arm, but didn’t touch her. Her lips moved as she said something, and then shook her head.

  Jesus, couldn’t they have the decency to speak up?

  Gabriella turned her head away from the man, staring at something hidden from Lars’s view. Then she put her hands over her eyes, as if holding back tears.

  It was probably the only chance he’d get. He shuffled over the cobblestones and ducked behind the low wall. He held his breath, waiting for one of them to cry out that they’d seen him. But they thought they were alone here in this stinking place.

  He kept low, ignoring his complaining thighs as he crept forward as quickly as he dared.

  “…couldn’t wait,” Gabriella was saying.

  Lars paused, but the man’s response was too low for him to make out. He just had to get a little closer—

  With his back to the wall, he was facing the curving wall of the courtyard. And, as he steeled himself to creep closer, he noticed for the first time that there were grates set into the bricks at even intervals.

  Some sunlight shone through those ornate metal screens, but not enough to bathe the enclosures in full light.

  Because that’s what they were. Animal enclosures.

  An African lion padded forward, dirty fur yellow in the sunlight. It studied Lars with dull, drooping eyes above a mouth that hung open in a slow pant where the pink of its sagging gums contrasted with aged, beige teeth.

  It let out a cough that made every hair on Lars’s body stand on end.

  “Fuck my life,” Lars said silently.

  As if the lion had heard, it shook its shaggy mane and let out another deep cough.

  Was it sick? He thought lions were supposed to roar. Fuck, don’t let it roar. He was less than three feet away—if it walked closer, he could probably feel its warm breath on his legs.

  “I can’t stand this place,” the man said. “We could have met—”

  “And have one of his men see us?” Gabriella cut in. “He knows nothing about us. And I’d like to keep it that way.”

  “You think he doesn’t know?”

  “You’d be dead if he did.”

  The man made a pissed off sound. “I got shot, Gabby.”

  “Javier didn’t order a hit on you. I would have known,” she replied, sounding surprisingly sincere. “I’m sorry.”

  “You think Tony found out about me?”

  “Who else?” Gabriella said.

  He let out an irritated sound. “This fucks up everything. Now Javier has her exactly where he wants her.”

  Lars wanted to close his eyes so he could stop seeing that panting, massive lion watching him. But then he wouldn’t know if the thing came closer.

  He loved animals. Truly, he did. But this creature didn’t resemble a brave Simba, all majestic like and shit, on the top of some plateau in Africa. This lion had been wronged. He could feel loathing pouring from the beast as if it was one and the same with its stink. Fur that the animal didn’t bother cleaning. Teeth that hadn’t had the pleasure of crackling bones for too long.

  He’d never felt as edible as he did right then. All soft and squishy meat, nothing but his tiny—and ineffectual-seeming—pistol to defend himself.

  The thing would probably maul him to death before he could put enough rounds in it to take it down.

  “How?” Gabby’s acquaintance asked. “How could he possibly have found out anything? Javier was careful. We were careful.”

  “I don’t know.” She sounded utterly defeated.

  “So what now?”

  Gabriella was quiet for a moment. “She can’t stay here.”

  “I’ll figure out a way to smuggle her out.”

  “No. Javier’s going to be watching you,” Gabriella said. “If he suspects something…”

  More than anything, Lars wanted desperately to peek over the top of the wall he was crouched behind. But he had no idea if the man on the bench would be able to see the top of his head.

  And the last thing on earth he wanted was to turn his back on the lion.

  “I have to get her out of here, Gabby.”

  “It’s too dangerous. This wedding is just the start of his plan.” She practically spat out the word.

  “We can’t let her stay here.”

  “We can’t risk helping her,” Gabriella whispered angrily. “Not now.”

  The man cleared his throat. “I won’t let her stay here.”

  There was a long silence. Lars moved a little to the right, hoping to be able to move to a spot where he could peek out and watch the pair. But the lion’s eyes tracked him, and it took a lumbering step forward. Although its skin sagged from lack of exercise, Lars could still see more muscles on the big cat than he’d ever want to contend with.

  Yes, there was a big fucking grate between them. But it looked so puny compared with the lion’s massive teeth. Teeth that looked capable of bending those bars apart as if they were play dough.

  “Have you gone soft on me?” Gabriella asked, making Lars start at the snap in her voice.

  “Soft?” the man repeated quietly. “She’s a person, Gabby, not a thing. She deserves a life—”

  “She deserves nothing!” Shoes scraped against cobbles.

  Lars hurried to the side, hoping Gabriella’s movements would mask his own. He came to a gap in the wall, and ducked low to see through a few ivy leaves.

  Gabriella had her back to him now, less than a yard away. Her hands were on her hips, shoulders forward as if she wanted to spit on the man still sitting on the bench.

  At his angle, he could see the man clearly now. He looked like someone who drove a Harley on the weekends and worked at the docks during the day. Broad, but not as big as Finn. His tattoos were faded, even though he couldn’t have been older than thirty-five.

  And the look he gave Gabriella was that of someone who’d lost their patience a long time ago.

  The man rose to his feet. Gabriella took a step back, but then froze as if forcing herself to stand her ground.

  “If that’s what you think of her, then I won’t be part of this anymore,” he said.

  “And what about your family?” Gabriella called after him as the man headed for the courtyard exit.

  He came to a stuttering halt. When he looked at Gabriella over his shoulder, his gray eyes had the gleam of a razor edge to them.

  “First Javier, and now you? That all you got, Gabby?” The man turned back to her, mouth in a grim line. “My family?” He turned his head and spat. “I’m dead to them.”

  “But they’re not dead to you,” Gabriella said airily. She crossed her arms, golden nails digging into the back of her hoodie. “Yet.”

  He stormed closer, and for a moment Lars tensed. If this thing turned violent, he knew he couldn’t just stay crouched behind this wall. But which side of the fight he’d be on he didn’t have a fucking clue.

  But the man didn’t touch Gabriella. Although his hands curled into fists, and he leaned close enough that she could have kissed him if she wanted, he didn’t lay a hand on her.

  And Gabriella held her ground.

  “I’ve spent too long living with threats. I’m done.” He slashed a hand, glaring at Gabriella before turning for the exit again.

  “Wait, please!”

  But the man kept going.

  Gabriella tugged straight her hoodie, and hurried after the man. She grabbed his sleeve, quickly sidestepping his arm when he swung it at her.

  “I need her gone!”

  “You just told me I can’t help, so what the fuck do you expect me to do?” He grabbed Gabriella’s shoulder, backing her up a few feet, so fast that her sneakers scraped on the cobbles. “What?”

  “I…I can get her out of the villa.”

  He let out an irritated growl. “So why do you need me?”

  “Because I need you to make sure she’ll never come back.”

  His face dissolved into pure incredulity. “Yo
u think I’ll kill her for you? Really?”

  “No,” Gabriella hung her head and let out a sigh. “Of course not. I just want her gone. But…” Gabriella looked away and toyed with her hair as she stared toward the lion’s cage.

  Thank god he wasn’t still crouching there.

  “If Javier suspects I have anything to do with this, he’ll kill me.”

  He stepped forward, head cocking to the side. “So it was him that did this to you,” he said, pointing at Gabriella’s neck.

  She shrugged.

  “What the fuck are you still doing here, Gabby?” He grabbed her arms, looking as if he would shake her. “Get out.”

  “No!” She gave her head a shake that sent her hair tumbling down her back. “I can’t leave Neo.”

  “Then take him with.”

  She let out a bitter laugh. “I’ll be fine. And as long as I’m here to protect him, Neo will be fine too.”

  “And when you’re not?” The man touched his fingertips to Gabriella’s throat, making her flinch. “When he does this to you again and doesn’t stop? Then who’s going to protect your kid?”

  Gabriella bowed her head, and let out a sob. He watched her for a second before pulling her into a hug. He closed his eyes, shaking his head when she began crying against him. He pulled away, holding her at arm’s length as she sniffed and wiped at her face.

  “Hey. Hey! Look at me.”

  She lifted her head.

  The man wiped a cheek and gave her a grim smile. “What if we get them both out? Cora and Neo?”

  “How?” she whispered.

  “I dunno, Gabby.” He pulled her into a hug again. “I don’t fucking know.”

  25

  Boys’s talk

  Finn was helping Cora dismount when footsteps came running toward them. When he turned, Lars crested the small hill between the villa and the stables. Lars spotted them, waved, and slowed to a jog.

  “What’s wrong?” Finn asked, handing his reigns to one of the grooms. Javier’s two shadows emerged from the side of the stables, standing too far to hear but close enough to know they’d be seen. Interesting...they seemed to have no interest in Lars going his own way. Maybe they’d been assigned purely to keep an eye on Cora. He would have to test that theory, and soon.

  “We gotta talk,” Lars said. He turned, spotted Javier’s goons, and grimaced at them. Then he gave them a friendly wave, which they completely failed to return. “Cunts,” he murmured, turning back to Finn. “Come on.”

  “Cora,” Finn called. She turned to them, smoothing down her jeans.

  “No, just us,” Lars said, gesturing for her to stay back. She did, but with a glorious scowl for both of them.

  “Why?” Finn asked through a sigh.

  “Because reasons.”

  He glared at Lars, but the man just gave him a grim smile. “Are you deliberately trying to piss me off by being so mysterious?”

  “A magician never reveals his secrets,” Lars said, clapping him on the back as they walked.

  “We can’t leave—”

  “Then we’ll drop her off at her room, or at the jacuzzi or wherever she wants to be. Trust me.”

  Finn let out a low growl, and flicked his fingers at Cora so she’d join them. As they left the stables, Javier’s henchmen began following them. Definitely seemed they were more centered on Cora than him or Lars. Could be a blessing, that.

  “What’s going on?” Cora asked.

  “Say…” Lars slid his arm around Cora’s shoulders. “That ride must have been exhausting. How about you kick up your feet a while? Rest up until lunch.”

  Cora shrugged Lars’s arm off. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “Nothing to worry your pretty little head over, bunny. Just some boy’s talk,” Lars said.

  She frowned from Lars to him. “Finn?”

  “We’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said. God, even his voice sounded tired and it wasn’t even noon yet.

  Cora lifted up her palms. “Where am I—?”

  “Go to your room,” Finn said. And the moment the words were out of his mouth, he knew they’d been the wrong ones.

  She cocked her head at him as she stopped walking. Lars went ahead a few paces before reluctantly turning back.

  “Go to my room?” she whispered furiously. “Do you even hear yourself?”

  “Cora, just—”

  “Forget it.” She sliced the air with her hand and strode away from them. He heard a muttered, “You’re unbelievable,” before she was out of earshot.

  “Hope this is worth it,” Finn said to Lars. When he turned to the pale-haired man, he expected a smile. Instead, he got the gravest expression he’d ever seen on the man.

  “Understatement of the fucking week, Milo.”

  26

  Mixed signals

  When Cora reached the villa, she realized she’d been heading for her room. And because that was where Finn had sent her like a girl who’d just been grounded, she decided that would be the last place she’d be. Except...where the hell else would she go? She stood by the edge of the villa’s interior gardens, but she’d walked through them before and didn’t feel like sitting outside in the heat of the day, anyway.

  The library.

  She nodded to herself and veered to the right, heading for the opposite corridor. The library was a few doors down from Javier’s study, but his door was closed and his guards were waiting outside, so he was probably having a private meeting with someone. Santino gave her a wide smile and a half-bow when she passed, and she gave him a wave. She actually preferred Eddy to Santino—there was no mistaking his stony face for anything other than that of a cold-hearted killer. Santino was so nice, you could almost forget that he would kill at the snap of Javier’s fingers.

  Even her, probably.

  Why had Finn dissed her plan so quickly? Javier would never see it coming, especially if she told him she wanted to discuss cartel business. He’d be over the moon that she was taking her role seriously instead of pushing back at every turn. They could meet in his study. Surely Finn couldn’t object to that. He could even wait outside with Javier’s—

  Behind her, a door slammed. She spun around, startled, and stopped walking as Neo strode a few steps away from Javier’s study door. The man fisted his hands at his side, and looked as if he might punch Santino. But then he turned on his heel, as if deciding against it, and caught sight of her.

  Her heart stuttered at the ferocious scowl on his face. She’d thought he’d looked a lot like Javier—but she’d never seen Javier’s face so contorted with rage.

  And then he came straight for her. With his long legs, it took him only five strides before he was close enough to grab her. And she’d gone and frozen like a damned bunny rabbit in the wake of his furious advance. But at least she managed a squeak of protest when he grabbed her arm and herded her forward.

  “Hey! What—?”

  “Shut it,” he muttered. He paused outside the library’s door as if wondering what room it was, and then shoved it open, tossed her inside and followed a second later.

  She almost fell to her knees, but managed to scramble up as Neo reached her. Yanking out her Taurus, she leveled it at his chest.

  He stuttered to a halt with wide eyes, and slowly lifted his hands. “Okay…just relax.”

  “Fuck you,” she spat. She wiped a lock of hair from her eyes and glared at him. “You can’t just go around manhandling people like that.”

  “Not even my fiancé?” Neo said sourly.

  She stabbed the Taurus in his direction. “Fuck.You.” she said through her teeth. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “I’m getting mixed signals,” Neo said, pointing at her hand.

  A stray beam of light caught the ruby on her finger. “¡Dios mio!” she swore, whipping her hand away from the Taurus. Keeping the gun trained on Neo, she stuck her ring finger in her mouth all the way to the ring. She caught the edge in her teeth and tried pulling it off.

&
nbsp; It got to her knuckle, and then refused to budge further. “The thing’s stuck!” she yelled, lifting her hand so he could see. “Else it would have been off last night already.”

  Neo still had his hands up, but he began approaching her. “We need to talk, okay? That’s all. I just want to talk.”

  “Then you could have asked.” Cora shifted her feet, better distributing her weight, and then let the Taurus dip a little. “What about?

  Neo threw his hands and then dropped them to his side. “What do you think? The goddamn wedding.”

  “There’s not going to be a wedding.”

  The man laughed. In that moment, he could have been a twenty-something Javier. Shorter hair and with his mother’s eyes, but even the way he put his hands on his hips and studied her with that wide smile...the resemblance was uncanny. “Oh, there’ll be a wedding, all right.” He waved a hand at her, stepping closer still. “White dress. Bridesmaids. A garter.” He sneered at her. “All that shit. I’m even going to feed you a slice of cake, if I have to shove it down your fucking throat.”

  She cocked the Taurus. It wasn’t necessary of course; pulling the trigger would have done that. But the sound echoed in the still library, and it made Neo stop advancing on her.

  “There can’t be a wedding if you’re dead,” she said calmly.

  Neo’s chest puffed out how he drew a breath, and then he held up his hands again. “Okay, shit. Just…put it down, would you?”

  She let out a laugh. “I don’t think so.”

  He spun to the side, grabbing his jaw and working his muscles before twisting to her again. His eyes flashed over her, and he gave her a tentative smile. “Look, if I don’t marry you, I’ve got nothing.”

  She shrugged.

  Neo’s cheeks were tinged a darker color than the rest of his face. She’d thought it was anger, but when he spoke again it seemed that it was more embarrassment than anything else. “He’s got me by the balls, Eleodora.”

  “Cora,” she murmured.

  “Cora,” Neo amended. “He’ll cut me off. I’ll be left with nothing.”