His laugh is booming. “They don’t know how dangerous you are.”
“That’s true. You set up the game.”
“Sure thing.” He moves toward the board on the tiny little table attached to the wall and pulls it to the center. A drawing floats out from beneath it.
I catch the sketch of Rosalie before it lands on the floor. “What’s this?”
He grins. “You. Always drawing and then destroying the paper. You forgot to destroy that one.”
I stare at my woman sitting in her cute suit in the meeting room that first day. I became so caught up in her that I actually allowed the drawing to remain in one piece? Now Reyes knows about her. About my interest in her. “She can make a man forget his own name,” I admit, ripping the drawing into several pieces.
Reyes snorts and starts setting pieces in place.
I check the security camera to note the light off. Yeah, that cost me plenty as well. I pull the handmade shiv out of my sleeve. Barely shifting my weight, I stab myself in the bullet wound I sustained the other day. Pain slashes down my arm. I bite back a groan and move toward him.
His gaze lifts from the game to my shoulder where blood is already flowing. “What the fuck, man?”
I raise my voice and smash into him. “No. Stop it, Urbano. It’s okay. I’m not here to spy on you. Stop it. Fuck. That hurts.” I bellow for the guards, yelling for help.
He frowns and tries to get me away from him. His eyes darken, first in surprise and then in fear. I’m on him then, taking the weapon and jamming it into his throat. I pull fast, and his artery spurts blood in every direction.
His hand slaps over the wound. Blood pours between his fingers. His chin lifts. Dread and an odd acceptance crosses his face.
I jam the weapon right above his hand and into his neck. He’s too weak to stop me. An alarm blares, and running feet clip through the shrill squeal. I leave the shiv in his throat and back away, hands up, dropping to my knees. The door slides open, and two of the guards run inside.
“He stabbed me.” I look down at my shoulder. “I’m not sure if he hit an artery.”
One guard quickly cuffs me while the other drops near Urbano, but he’s already dead. The room begins to waver around me. I may have stabbed myself a little deeper than I planned, and then everything goes dark.
I wake up in the infirmary with a bandage across my shoulder, my wrists shackled to bars on either side of the bed, and a beeping sound above my head. The scent of vanilla tugs at me, and I open my eyes to see Rosalie sitting by the side of the bed, her face pale, an attorney’s badge on her lapel.
“Hi, Peaflower,” I say.
She leans toward me, worry in her eyes. “What in the world happened?”
“Got in a bit of a scuffle.” It had cost me an absolute fortune to pay off the guard to get that weapon, and he promised me that Reyes’s prints would be on it when they investigated the death. The guy better keep to his word.
“I’ve already asked for the security feed, and somehow, it went down. Do you think Reyes bribed somebody?”
My shoulder feels like I stuck a hot poker in it. “Reyes had friends everywhere in this prison.” It’s the truth, and there’s no need to tell her I bribed the security guard for not only the shiv but to take down the cameras. He has a sick dog and needs the money for surgery.
She shakes her head, her face pale. “I’ve already made a motion to get you out of here. It was irresponsible for you to be put here in the first place after your entire ordeal.”
It actually had cost me quite a bit. “Thank you.”
“I can’t believe you were attacked. Don’t worry. We’ll create quite the lawsuit over this.” Now, red highlights her sculpted cheekbones, and I quite enjoy her anger on my behalf.
“I don’t want to sue, Rosalie. I just want out.”
She sighs. “I can’t get you out until Monday, but at least you can stay here in the infirmary until then.”
I look down at the bandage covering my left shoulder. “How bad is it?”
“Twenty stitches,” she says.
Interesting. I did stab myself deeper than I thought, but at least this masks the bullet wound.
She holds my hand, worry screwing up her face. “Don’t say anything here. You’re under drugs.”
