Page 20 of Thorns of Desire

Her words were cut short as a hand wrapped around her throat. Her perfect ivory skin quickly turned pink, then red, then purple as the man squeezed.

“Please, she needs her voice!” I whispered my silent pleas as her violent scream ricocheted against the walls of our little apartment.

I was such a coward, hiding in the closet, watching my mom being hurt. It didn’t matter I made a promise, I should be brave enough to charge in there and attack them all to protect her.

Another heart-wrenching scream tore out of my mama and through the apartment, and a hand slapped her across the face, making her blink, disoriented.

“Stop screaming,” the man snarled viciously, wrapping his big hand around her throat. “Or I’ll give you something to scream about.”

The sudden, eerily stillness of the room was only broken by my mother’s gurgles. My mind chanted “please stop, please stop,” but no words left my lips.

“I’m here to avenge what was stolen.” I dragged my gaze back to the man looming over her. “You know what it was,” he purred. My brows knitted, and my gaze darted between him and my mother.

The man’s gaze was full of dark fury and hatred that stole my breath away. He released her throat.

“It’s an eye for an eye. Where is she?” he roared. “Where is your daughter, whore?”

I shook in my hiding spot, my teeth sinking into the flesh of my hand to keep my whimpers from being heard.

My mother gasped for air, her breaths filling the room as she slumped to the wooden floor. Her attention snapped to the wall next to me, watching it with a haunted expression.

“I don’t have her,” Mom rasped, her voice barely a whisper. But I was too terrified to worry about her vocal cords now or what it was that they wanted. “I don’t know where she is. I gave her up for adoption.”

My brows furrowed, unable to follow the conversation.

“Then I suggest you find her,” the man growled. “You have a week to get us answers. Or I’ll cut you up, piece by fucking piece.”

I stared in horror.

Mom shuddered. “Please! I don’t know how??—”

The man slapped her across the face again, sending her body flying across the room.

I bit into my hand, holding back my screams and resisting the urge to rush to her.

“Do. We. Understand. Each. Other?”

My mama looked up and nodded without a word, and the men left our apartment like ghosts, disappearing into the night.

It wasn’t until she came for me that I dared to move. It wasn’t until then that I noticed I’d soiled myself.

“I’m okay,” she whispered, her voice hoarse as she wrapped me in her arms and we sobbed against each other.

I wondered what Manuel would say if he knew I was the daughter of his once-upon-a-time mistress. The great Alexandra Maria Bottelli’s daughter. She was always careful to keep that fact from her lovers—and there were plenty of those.

It’s safer that way,she’d say.

I wanted to believe her, especially after what I’d witnessed eleven years ago, but sometimes I wondered if she was keeping me a secret to sell her appeal better. It filled me with shame, and the possibility made my heart clench painfully, but I couldn’t help the way I felt. After so many years, I thought I’d be used to it, but it still nagged at me. We were each other’s only family.

I could still taste the terror from that night and see the fear that lurked in Mom’s eyes. She did it all to protect me, I reminded myself.

Before long, the flight ended and I descended the stairs. The scent of the morning air in Seville hit my nostrils. Lavender, citrus, and most of all, orange blossoms. And it was then that I spotted my mother.

Emotions swirled through me, but I held them in until we were alone. A bodyguard took my bag with a nod, then my momtook my hand wordlessly, squeezing gently as we were guided off the tarmac. There was a limo waiting for us, and the driver held the door open.

It wasn’t until we took off driving and the divider was up that my mother wrapped me in a warm hug.

“I missed you so much,” she whispered into my ear. I loved my mother and I knew she loved me, but feigning we were just friends hurt sometimes.