“If my father believes you were not a virgin, or that you did not consummate the marriage, the sacrifice will be useless, and he will execute your brother. While I’m guessing your brother’s not on your list of most favorite people, I’m also guessing you don’t want his blood on your hands.”
He wiped his hand on the inside of her thighs, smearing the last of the blood up near the apex. After a few moments of holding it there to help stanch the slow trickle of blood, he rolled off her body toward his side of the bed and placed the knife beneath his pillow, where it stayed every night in case he needed it.
She stared at him. “You’re hard against me. You want me. You could have just raped me. Taken what you wanted.”
“I could have. But I don’t rape women.” He pulled her close, her back to his front. “I told you. You must trust me, no matter how difficult it may be. I won’t always be able to explain things, so when I tellyou to do something, I need you to do it without question. I will never harm you willingly, belleza, and I will always protect you. Always.”
Someone tapped his shoulder. He opened his eyes, instantly alert, the remnants of the memory pushed aside.
It was Demon. “We’re landing in fifteen and switching planes. There’s been a… development.”
Glancing over to his left, he saw Daleyza watching them.
He looked back at Demon. “What development?”
“God’s going to fill us in when we board.”
He didn’t have a good feeling about this.
18
AUGUST 22, 2024
Daleyza
True to Demon’s word,they were off the small, personal plane and onto a corporate-style jet within fifteen minutes. Medusa had jumped into the pilot’s seat, relieving God of his flight duties and allowing him to meet with the team in the cabin.
As soon as they’d taken off, everyone gathered around a large table toward the back of the plane, where the seats could be turned. She’d never seen anything like it. Not even in the movies.
Their boss was an imposing man. While his voice had warm tones to it, there was also a raspy edge. Combined with cold green eyes and a brusque personality, he did not give off friendly vibes.
To be honest, she felt as if he actively disliked her. Then again, she was part of the reason that one of his team had walked into cartel territory without a weapon and surrendered himself to their whims. If she were in his shoes, she wouldn’t be very accepting either.
One thing did strike her as odd about him. He had a sucker clamped between his teeth and his cheek. She only recognized it because at Halloween last year, Easton had brought some of his candy with him to day care, and one of the pieces had been a green sucker coated haphazardly in caramel-flavored candy. The things were vile and plastic-tasting, but all the other children’s eyes had lit up like he had gold in his pumpkin. Luckily, he had enough to share with them, or there might have been a war. When God pulled the wrapper off, she recognized it as coming from one of those same suckers.
On the far wall of the plane, a telescreen was divided into three spaces. A map of South America consumed the bulk of it, but in the bottom left corner was Midas. In the bottom right corner was a woman with flaming red hair pulled into a tight twist. Esmerelda.
“That’s the woman who came to the house to get my signature for Livia’s care,” she whispered to Steel. “She’s a US Marshal.”
“No, she’s our handler.”
“But she had identification.”
He nodded. “All of us have a variety of legends and aliases for various situations.”
“So it was you who arranged for Livia’s care.”
“Yes. After the last time I saw her, I asked Cherry to keep an eye on her medical records. It was clear to me that she was deteriorating quickly. You were exhausted. Losing weight. It was becoming too much for you to care for her, but I knew you wouldn’t ever give up caring for her without prodding.” He kissed her cheek. “Thank you for looking after her all these years. It shouldn’t have been your job to do.”
“She’s family. I would never abandon her.”
She caught the wince, which he quickly hid behind his usual mask. It was a poor choice of words on her part. “That was insensitive of me. I’m sorry.”
Grabbing her chin between his thumb and forefinger, he turnedher face so he could look her in the eye. “No. Do not apologize. Your faithfulness to her is beyond admirable, and I will forever be grateful that you looked past your disappointment in me. It doesn’t matter that I thought I was doing the right thing at the time. You are right to call me out for abandoning the two of you.”
She didn’t get a chance to agree or disagree with him because Nemo’s voice cut through the space.
“What’s going on, bro?” Nemo asked.
