Blood Ties (Dinero de Sangre #2) - Lana Sky Page 0,36

always bigger than you,” he tells me. “Bigger than us. If you want any prayer of getting out of this alive, I’m the only shot you have. Do you understand that? Ines can’t help you. Not Alexi, not your father. No one but me.”

He’s still speaking softly. But that does nothing to diminish the seriousness in his tone.

“Then tell me why.”

He pulls back, forcing me to stand on my own. “I will,” he says, turning to brace his hands against the hard, granite before him. “But if I do, you will no longer have the luxury of doubting me. This isn’t a game, Ada-Maria. The stakes are higher than you could ever imagine.”

“You keep dancing around the truth,” I point out, approaching him only because I need the support of the wall just to stay upright. I lean against it, closing my eyes as the water continues to pelt us both. I can feel the steam rising, enclosing us in a false layer of privacy. We’re in our own twisted realm now, just him and I.

And I should be busy finding a way out. Not listening to him.

“Speak, or I swear to God, Domino, I’ll…”

“You have four more days.” He says it with such malice that I shrink inside myself, picturing what lurks at the end of that timeframe.

I’ll be sold to Jaguar, of course, and thrown into yet another hell.

But as the seconds pass, I realize that his statement wasn’t a threat. It was a reminder.

“You want to learn more? Then follow my lead for now. I need you blissfully ignorant, and I need you to put on a damn good show. Prance around naked if you want, throw your ass in the face of any man to pass by. Give me that time, and I promise you, I will do whatever it takes to keep you alive.”

“Alive and not sold,” I prod, mistrustful of any way he might play the semantics to his benefit. “Alive and not your captive. Alive and—”

“Alive and with far more freedom than you entered this mess having. Don’t pretend that you were living of your own free will before. You were already a prisoner before I took you.”

I flinch, blinking my eyes open to find him still glowering at the wall, his head lowered, knuckles white with how hard he has his hands pressed against the stone.

I’m startled by how drastically rage can transform him. Consume.

Though, in a way, it makes sense, reinforcing just how expertly he’s lived under his lies. I’m only seeing five years of the rage and hate he’s been suppressing all along.

And God, is it terrifying.

“Be a good girl, and you’ll have my balls in a vice, little Ada,” he adds gruffly. “That’s what you wanted from the start, isn’t it?”

It is. Only now, I want his literal balls and a real metal vice to crush them with.

Still, I’m not stupid enough to stick my nose up at the only shred of honesty he’s offered me. I’ll worry about the details and the morality of it later. For now, I’m desperate for some shred of hope.

Something to fight for.

“Fine, Domino,” I tell him softly. “I’ll be a good girl and play my role. After all, I was born to play pretend, wasn’t I?”

His nostrils flare, his expression guarded. “I suppose you were. Go—” He inclines his head to the balcony. “Get cleaned up. Ines will call you for dinner. I suggest you think long and hard about how exactly you plan on being a good girl and don’t second-guess that decision. I’ll only ever extend my trust to you once. Remember that.”

His words haunt me as I lurch from the room on trembling legs, still dripping blood as I go.

Chapter Eleven

“Dinner will be served on the terrace soon, Miss,” Ines calls from the doorway, jarring me awake.

I peel my eyes open with a groan, feeling more exhausted than I did when I finally rested my head on these pillows. I’m in my pretty white room, but this time I remember how I got here—I practically crawled, merely to escape Domino and his blood-stained bathroom.

This room isn’t a much better prison, but at least he isn’t here. Neither is Alexi, though I’m sure both are still on the property somewhere. Stupidly, I hope that Domino regulated her to her own virtual jail cell on the other end of the estate.

But no.

I can hear her, giggling uncontrollably somewhere beyond this room. Her voice alone isn’t what sets every nerve in my