Page 49 of Wrathful King

“Considering how much he’s freaking out, I doubt it,” I remarked. “Maybe her grandmother?”

“I have men watching her.” Clenching his jaw, he grabbed the glass from the table and poured the rest of his Guinness into it. Thank fuck it wasn’t bourbon or whiskey. That would prove to be very bad. “And I have all her lines tapped. Nothing there, either.” There was a stretch of silence, then my brother eventually broke it. “I’ll find her though. If it’s the last thing I do.”

Lifting my glass, I took a long, slow drink of my bourbon. “Are you sure you’re alright? You seem on edge.”

Dante shot me a sideways look. “I remembered something.”

My brows tightened. “About?”

He clenched his teeth, shadows crossing his expression. “Reina’s needle marks,” he started, rising to his feet. “They took me back… to when I was captured.”

“What?”

He shook his head, pushing his hands through his hair. “Let me sort through it first,” he said, exhaling a heavy breath.

He strode toward the front of the jet and disappeared into the cockpit, but it didn’t take long for Kian to take his spot. Darius would have been here, drinking whiskey with us, but he’d stayed in Colombia an extra day to take one of the women home to her family.

“Your brother doing okay?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why do you ask?”

“Back at the Cortes compound, he looked like he was seeing ghosts,” he remarked. The wheels in my head started turning. Could it be that the Cortes cartel was responsible for Dante’s abduction years ago?

“He’ll be okay,” I gritted.I hope.

“How is Reina doing?”

My gaze flickered to the back of the plane where Reina was sleeping, curled up on her side. She was bruised and weak, but with the way the nurses had dressed her in pink shorts and a baggy white tank top, I let myself feel hopeful.

“Not great, but she’ll pull through.” She had to. For herself. For us.

Rising from my seat, I made my way toward the small bedroom in the back of the plane. The doctor sat there, monitoring her vitals, and the moment I stepped in, he looked up from the IV stand he was adjusting.

“Unchanged,” he stated calmly, anticipating my question, then nodded before making himself scarce.

I sat on the edge of the bed, then reached around my neck to unhook her necklace. I’d kept it on me all this time, holding on to the hope that she’d come back to me.

I fastened it around her neck while pressing my lips to her forehead.

“Cinnamon girl,” I murmured against her damp forehead. “I’ve waited for you since I was twelve years old. I fell in love with you before I knew what love was. Please don’t leave me alone. I’m nothing without you.”

But instead of finding comfort in my words, a terrified scream tore through my wife’s lips. I recoiled, unsure of what to do, all the while feeling my insides turn to liquid.

It was the kind of scream that nightmares were made of.

18

REINA

When I woke up next, I was in the Garden of Eden. It was just me and the sound of the waves. No cold, damp floor. No tortured screams. No blood or filth covering me from head to toe. No shadows and monsters. No Perez Cortes.

I scratched at my forearms, feeling restless as my eyes roamed over the spacious bedroom. Wide-open windows revealed blue skies. A breeze swept through the room, and there wasn’t a single dark corner to be found. The soft hum of the ocean soothed me, at least while I was awake.

Come back to me.I remembered the whispers from sometime in the night. A pair of strong arms rocking me back and forth. My screams. His words.Please come back to me. I need you.

My eyes lowered to my bare forearms and hands. Ugly scars marked my skin, but I chose to focus on the good. I had no choice.

“Welcome home, baby.” My father’s voice pulled my attention, and I found him sitting with a book, looking like he’d aged a decade. He’d lost even more weight than when I’d last seen him. Purple shadows stained the skin underneath his eyes.