Page 40 of Vicious Temptation

Fuck.

“Papi! Are you good?”

“Not yet.”

He takes aim again, leaning too far out the window, giving them too much of a clear shot, so I reach across the center console to drag him back inside, but he fires before I can. One shot, then another. Glass explodes from the car behind us, then swerves violently. The tires scream right before it goes airborne, slams back onto the pavement, and spins across the highway.

“Get down!” I snap, yanking him back into the seat.

I wrench the Demon around the wreck as pieces of metal and glass scatter across the asphalt, then keep driving until the twisted car disappears from my rearview and there’s no sign of anyone else following us. Only then do I bring the Demon to a stop.

For a few breaths, neither of us moves. The only sounds are the ticking of the Demon’s engine and the rush of blood pounding in my ears.

Papá and I look at each other.

“We have to check.”

I throw the car into park and reach for my weapon.

“Remi, wait. I’ll do⁠—”

I’m already out of the car and moving toward the wreck with my gun drawn. This is too familiar, too close to what happened four years ago. I need to know if it’s them, if they’re back.

“What are you doing?” he asks as he catches up to me. “More could show up, and we’re out here in the open.”

“I have to make sure…”

The rest dies on my tongue when I see the driver hanging halfway through the shattered windshield. His eyes are half-lidded and fixed on nothing, and the damage to the side of his neck leaves no question that he’s dead.

The passenger is still alive.

He drags himself free of the mangled car, his boots scraping through broken glass as one arm hangs at a sick angle and the other claws at the ground. Blood has soaked through his shirt and runs down his side as he tries to crawl away from us.

I raise my weapon, keeping my finger alongside the trigger.

“Don’t move.”

He freezes, chest heaving, then turns his head just enough to look at me. Blood coats his teeth when he tries to speak, and maybe my brain is fucking with me, because I swear his mouth pulls into something that almost resembles a smile.

I press my boot against the man’s injured arm, and he howls as I lean closer.

Papá catches my elbow. “Remi…”

“He tried to kill you. Kill us. He deserves this.”

His eyebrows pull together, and there’s something in his expression I’m not used to seeing from him when it comes to me. Concern. Not for what this man might do, but for what I’m about to.

I’m too worked up to care.

Crouching beside him, I bring the barrel of my gun to his temple while turning his bloodied arm over with my free hand. I hold my breath, expecting to find a scorpion tattoo, but there’s nothing there. I check the other arm. Bare too.

“What is it, princesa?”

“I thought…” I stare down at him, trying to make sense of it. “I thought he was one of them. Why else would they do this? No one knew I’d be here tonight, let alone driving that car.”

Before either of us can say another word, sirens blare in the distance.

“Gotta go, Remi girl. Leave him. He’s as good as dead.”