Page 1 of Devil's Property

PROLOGUE

Fallon

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. These precious gems last forever as do promises and contracts. Repayments will be made.

In blood.

Ask your father…

I stood in the ruins of what had once been my beautiful little home. Every painting had been ripped from the walls, cut to shreds by a sharp blade, and every piece of furniture tossed aside like trash. I moved slowly, touching the last painting I’d been working on, a rare abstract portrait of my sister. Whoever had destroyed my precious little world had driven a blade right through her heart.

Exhaling, I turned in a full circle, only allowing a single tear to fall.

Then I read the note again, the red block lettering resembling blood. With my hand shaking, I closed my eyes, terrified of the memories that I’d managed to shove aside. A twisted understanding settled in.

There was no running from the past.

There was no escaping the truth.

There was no possibility of keeping the lies.

I took my phone out of my jacket pocket, staring at the screen, allowing the note to flutter from the whispered wind of the open windows to the floor. Steeling my nerves, I walked to the last painting, gingerly wrapping my fingers around the carved bone handle of the knife, pulling the blade into my hand.

As my phone connected, the sound remained dull, the solid thudding of my heart echoing in my ears. I stared at the knife, twisting and turning it until the blade shimmered in the waning sunlight.

The phone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

Yet my father didn’t answer.

CHAPTER 1

Fallon

There was a beautiful symphony in the act of deceit. Sight. Sound. Taste. Touch. All working together in an artistic dance of wills. He’d yet to learn mine was much stronger.

When he did, it would be too late.

Men like the stunning monster in the ten-thousand-dollar suit were like the worst vermin on earth. Cockroaches. Big, brown, and ugly.

Although if I had to admit, this particular cockroach was passable enough. Maybe even considered sensual in a predatory kind of way: dark hair framing a chiseled face, tall and muscular with broad shoulders, and dark, piercing eyes that could condemn a man with a single look.

However, the moment I laid eyes on the man who’d been responsible for kidnapping my sister and terrorizing my family, spots of crimson had formed in front of my eyes. But there wasmore, a secret that had haunted my family for years, a past life that had resurfaced.

Now fury had been unleashed.

With a single man responsible for the destruction of my world.

Navarro Delgado.

The merciless commander of the Torres Drug Cartel.

I wished him a torturous death. The key being I had full intentions of completing the task myself. Maybe I could keep his cold, dead heart in a glass jar like some boys did with bugs they’d scavenged from the mud.

The thought of inflicting pain brought a smile to my face.