Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
So, yeah. I was fucking fucked.
She looked up at me, her eyes wide. I could see her trying to decide what to do. Rather, trying to decide if she could out-stubborn me. I had news for her. She couldn’t.
“Start talkin’, honey.”
At first, she lifted her chin again. Then, after staring up at me for a full minute, she seemed to deflate.
“David isn’t… he’s not a nice person. He singled me out because he thought I had money and because I got the better of him, but it’s more than that.”
When she stopped, I prodded her. “Keep going.”
“He…” She trailed off, looking away. “He’s mean.”
“How?” I barked out the question that was more of a demand she tell me than an actual request.
“When I wouldn’t sleep with him --” She closed her eyes as if trying to shut out the memory, and my stomach balled into a knot. Then she whispered. “He hit me.”
I tightened my arms around her before I could stop myself. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to register that she might be uncomfortable. Try as I might, though, I couldn’t let her go. Taking several deep breaths, I tried to find some semblance of calm. And failed.
“What do you mean he fuckin’ hit you?” I bit out each word through clenched teeth. I could tell she was disconcerted by my anger, but she didn’t flinch or try to move out of my arms.
“Does it really matter? Just knowing he did is enough.”
“No, it’s not,” I snapped. “I want to know every fuckin’ detail of every second of everything he did to you, Dawn. Then there’s gonna be a reckonin’.”
“No, Ice. This is between me and you, or not at all. That’s my condition.”
“Why are you protecting this guy? Do you love him?”
“No. I’m protecting my dad.”
“Fuck.” I wrapped her up tighter in my arms. I was sure it had to be uncomfortable for her, but Dawn didn’t say anything. In fact, she bunched her fist in my shirt and clung to me nearly as tightly as I clung to her. I tried to use that time to get myself under control. I needed to keep my wits about me for several reasons, not the least of which was the intensifying storm. I needed to be aware of everything, especially my phone in case Ripper needed to give me updates or a critical weather alert went out.
We sat there for a long while, the wind roaring outside and debris hitting the glass outside our room. Occasionally, Dawn would shiver, but she never tried to get up, seeming to take as much comfort from me as I needed to give to her. She seemed to have burrowed her face against my neck and stilled. I let her.
“This isn’t over, honey.” I didn’t want to break the spell, but she had to know I was serious when I said I wanted to know what that son of a bitch had done to her. “You sit here as long as you need to, but we’re gonna talk about this, and you’re gonna give me what I want, Dawn. As to protecting your dad? He can take care of himself. They don’t call him El Diablo for nothing. He didn’t choose that name. The name chose him.”
“It’s not physically I’m talking about. I may not know everything about my father or his past life, but I know he was an assassin. I’d be naive if I thought he’d never kill again. But each kill had to take a little piece of his soul. David isn’t worth chipping away another piece. And if Daddy knew he’d even used harsh language around me, he’d kill David. If he finds this out? Yeah. David would not only die, he’d die in the worst possible way El Diablo could manage.”
I felt her shudder in my arms. She wasn’t wrong. That’s exactly what El Diablo would do.
“Honey, I think killin’ someone like this guy would be doing humanity a service. El Diablo ain’t gonna lose nothin’ by killin’ him. Even if he skinned the fucker alive. A man hurts a woman like that, he don’t deserve to live.”
She looked up at me then, meeting my gaze with sad eyes filled with tears she fought off bravely. “Maybe once he could have done it without it taking a piece of him, but Dad’s not the same man he was before he met my mother and his daughter, Magenta. I’ve heard Rycks and El Segador talk about it. Samson too. They both gave him something that made him softer somehow but no less protective. Probably more protective than ever. Just telling him someone hit me might push him over the edge. I’m fine. I’m alive, I got away with just a few injuries, and I’m safe. Why torture my father with something he can’t change that would only hurt him, my mom… all of us?”