Blood Ties (Dinero de Sangre #2) - Lana Sky Page 0,29

as if he’s mulling over the prospect of humoring me at all. Too far, Ada, a part of me warns. You can’t push him too far.

My only hope is to reel him back.

“I want to trust you,” I force myself to whisper. The words fall flat, nowhere near convincing.

And yet, he laughs, amused all the same.

“I love the way you look when you try your mind games on me.” He lets me go and moves to stand near the balcony, gazing at the gardens below. “You get this pathetic, hopeful glint in your eyes. It’s fucking sexy. If I were a dumb cunt like the other men you’ve fucked.” This time the warning in his voice rings out loud and clear. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking I am. For your sake, Ada-Maria.”

“I won’t,” I rasp, though I think I’m speaking to myself more than him. I can’t keep getting caught up in his game. I need to stay one step ahead. “So what if I do know where she is, Pia? Do you have proof that my father is dead?”

With his back to me, I only have his posture from which to discern his reaction. But it’s… Alarming. He stiffens in a way that has me bolting to my feet, readying for an assault from his end at any moment. I hate these volatile shifts in him. They’re like a storm that comes on suddenly with no warning.

“Proof,” he echoes in an unsettlingly deep tone. “Should I have his body dug up for you, Ada? The pieces, anyway. Or dissect the dogs I had the rest of his remains fed to? I’m sure you thought out exactly how you might be presented with such evidence?”

I’m winded by the grisly images. At the same time, I’m resigned, almost anxious to see them. Anything. It won’t be real until I know for sure.

Only then can I truly grieve.

Or dread the possibility that he’s been lying to me all along.

Without revealing an answer either way, he heads toward the archway leading inside the house. I start to panic, worried he’s about to turn the tables yet again. Leave me waiting.

Instead, he cocks his head, my sole warning to follow.

Eagerly, I trail him through the foyer, past my room, and into his. In neither space do I find any sign of Alexi. Is she still here?

I don’t have the strength to ask. He demands my sole focus, and every brain cell in my skull is consumed with him.

I hold my breath as he approaches the bed. Will sex be the next hurdle I’ll have to jump through?

No. He reaches past the rumpled sheets for a nightstand made of dark wood. From it, he grabs a small, electronic device that I’m sure wasn’t there before. He had it ready for this moment. Waiting.

“Here—” He hands the object to me—a small tablet with a video already pulled up on the screen. A white play button lurks over a still shot of what looks like a reporter in a newsroom. “Watch it.”

My finger shakes as I tap the screen, triggering the video to play.

Within seconds, I get my answers as to my father’s fate.

“Tragedy in Terra Rodea, as more details about a fatal crash involving mayoral candidate Roy Pavalos and his wife Lia, who was declared dead on the scene. Mr. Pavalos has been transferred to a local hospital where he’s still listed in critical condition…”

Thud! My knees hit the floor as the tablet falls from my grasp, clattering across the polished marble. It all comes back to me. All of the fear, and the pain, and the uncertainty.

Like a punch, the revelations slam into me, and I sob louder with each one.

My mother is dead, beautiful and sweet and innocent in the grand scheme of my father’s empire. I haven’t let myself think of her until now—I couldn’t. She wasn’t perfect…

But the loss of her guts me. I’m hollowed by the thought of never seeing her again. Never having her presence as a buffer against my father’s criticism.

Because he’s still alive.

Roy Pavalos is still alive.

And I wish Domino would have killed me himself.

Chapter Nine

I don’t know how long I lie here, screaming and screaming. Eventually, he must leave and return because everything goes cold all at once. Wet.

Sputtering, I realize that he threw something on me. Water? It’s cold enough to suck the air from my lungs, rendering me silent in an instant. My mouth is still open though, making noises that scratch from my