Page 27 of Thorns of Blood

A loud pop sounded, and pain sliced through my arm. Damn woman fucking shot me. Before she could shoot again, my shoulder rammed into hers and we tumbled, her back slamming into the glass window behind her.

The gun slipped through her fingers, and I caught it before it hit the hardwood. In the next breath, a hard object collided with the side of my head, and I swore stars burst in my vision. I reached a hand up and felt a sticky liquid trickling between my fingers and down my neck.

My patience shattered. I reached out my hand, wrapping my fingers around her throat. Straddling her hips, I tightened the grip, hard enough that she stilled.

Romeo stood behind me, silent, his anger reverberating off him.

But he wasn’t my priority right now. It was this woman, who wouldn’t hesitate to kill both of us if given the opportunity.

As if she read my thoughts, I made out a long silver blade from the corner of my eye and felt Liana slice through my forearm, deep into the muscle.

With a quick jerk, I slammed the butt of the gun into her temple.

“Fuck,” I muttered as her body went limp against me. I checked for her pulse, pressing my fingers to her throat, leaving streaks of blood behind. Relief slammed into me, feeling it thud steady and strong.

“That was like watching foreplay. In a fucking nightmare,” Romeo grumbled as he came to stand behind me, holding his bleeding arm. “You have it bad for this one, don’t you?”

Unable to look away from the unconscious woman, I didn’t even bother to deny it while Kian’s words of warning bounced against my skull.

TEN

LIANA

My mouth was as dry as cotton. A strand of hair tickled my cheek and I reached up to move it but found myself unable to. Confusion clouded my mind as I tried to make sense of my surroundings.

Perhaps I was dreaming, but something felt off. I peeled my eyes open, blinking against the bright light.

My heartbeat trembled when I saw my wrists secured to the bedposts.

“No, no, no,” I breathed, panic steady but swiftly rising inside me. Memories of waking up in a different bed, of the nightmares I’d survived, slowly started to swallow me whole when a voice brought it all to a halt.

“I’m glad to see you’re finally awake.”

Panicking, I looked over to find Giovanni Agosti—the man who signed his death warrant by kidnapping me—leaning in the chair, his legs crossed while he typed on his cell phone. The fucker wouldn’t even dignify me with a look. I wanted him to see my fury, see my promise of his death in my eyes… and he was fucking texting.

“You’re a dead man,” I rasped, my voice hoarse. “Unless you untie me.”

“That’s too bad.” He continued typing on his phone. “I was kind of looking forward to getting to know each other.” I stiffened. “With words. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

My mind was never in the gutter. The man must be an idiot to think I’d ever want anything to do with him. Oranyman for that matter.

“Where is my daughter?” He didn’t answer and the panic bubbled inside me, clawing at my insides, but I resisted the urge to scream. It’d never done me any good, and it certainly wouldn’t now. So I changed tactics. For now.

“Tell me what you want,” I snapped, yanking at the ropes on my wrists. “And getting to know each other is off the table.”

I couldn’t believe my fucked-up misfortune. To be at the mercy of the Tijuana Cartel.Again. I knew who this guy was the minute he uttered his name. The tattoo on his hand confirmed it. My chest couldn’t handle it, every instinct in me fighting the urge to retreat into my own mind or fight until my dying breath.

“What do you think I want?” he answered, still not bothering to look up. But there was something about his flat, uninterested tone that pulled me from the ledge. “Aside from your safety.”

I glared at him, my pulse racing as hatred burned through my veins.

“Just fucking tell me, you… you…” I searched for the word and finally settled on the one I considered all men on this planet to be, “sick psychopath.”

“If I’m a psychopath, we’ll get along just great.” He finally raised his eyes, the flash in his green gaze penetrating me. “I have a proposition for you.”

I scoffed. “No.”

“You haven’t even heard what it is yet.”