Blood Ties (Dinero de Sangre #2) - Lana Sky Page 0,47

flex against my skin, startlingly soft... Until his nails tease my flesh to give me a taste of the pain he’s capable of inflicting.

“You once claimed that everyone wants to use you to get to your father. Well, you’ve gotten your wish. I want you—fuck Roy Pavalos. But unfortunately, Ada-Maria, I won’t just tell you why. I want you to guess.”

My eyes sting, and the moisture falling from them catches me off guard. Tears. As they lash down my cheeks, I realize why they’ve sprung forth now.

It’s so very cruel, the way he’s toying with me. Days ago, I would have died to hear those very words. I’d have done anything.

But now I know that beneath them lurks a million secrets and lies. They mean nothing on their face.

I want you.

I wish he’d claim to use me against my father instead.

“You hate him,” I point out, craving more than anything that I had the strength to shove him aside and swim away. I need to get away—because I can’t hide it. Not my pain or the grim reality that these tears are real and I’m not faking anymore. “Everything you’ve done to me has been retaliation against him. For Pia. For whatever you think he did—”

“This was never just about him,” Domino interjects, his tone cutting. “I warned you of that fact once. I suggest you listen to me, and that you never underestimate Julian.”

His eyes blaze. He means every word, displaying a hostility that I don’t think I’ve ever seen him exhibit, not even toward me.

“What about Alexi? How is she involved in all of this?”

Some of the bitterness leaves his gaze, and I hate that I react to that, my chest tightening. “She is a pawn of Julian’s, nothing more. I don’t feel strongly about her either way,” he adds, conveying a hint of mercy toward her that he’s never shown me. “But she works for him. Do not forget that, and I would advise against thinking of her as an ally.”

I let the jab pass unchallenged, fixated on the way he said that—she works for him. In his cold baritone, he might as well have said—she belongs to him.

“How did she meet him? How did you meet her?”

He strokes the length of my jawline as he withdraws his hand from my chin, returning it to my unclaimed thigh. “I’ll let you ask her those questions, if you’re truly that curious.”

I hiss in exasperation. “First, you warn me not to talk to her. Then you dare me to—”

“I don’t want you to forget…” His voice softens, and I have to strain to hear him. “I’m the only one you can trust.”

I recoil as far as I dare without risking my balance, crossing my arms over my exposed breasts. “My father said that,” I reply.

He laughs, but it’s a sharp, vengeful sound. “I think we both know for a fact that I am not your daddy, Ada-Maria. At least not in that context.”

My breath catches, my cheeks flaming. It’s suddenly hard to suck in enough air to breathe.

“I… You… You were fucking Alexi,” I say, latching onto the next topic demanding an explanation. “I saw the pictures.”

Pictures that he alluded to leaving for me to find in the first place.

His smile returns in full, ripening as his eyes take on a playful, wicked gleam. “You know better than anyone, Ada-Maria. A picture is worth a thousand words. Fake, useless words meant to spin a narrative. You yourself have starred in dozens of photos that might portray a reality that differed from the truth. Videos as well.”

I hate how easily he wields my own past against me. The worst part is that I can’t accuse him of lying. If anyone would know, he would. He was right when he claimed my father would want confirmation that I followed his orders. And, like a good dog, he gladly followed after me, gathering evidence as he went.

“Tell me, Ada, were your simpering smiles and moans genuine then?”

I flinch. He knows precisely where to prod to slip beneath my defenses. I can’t resist wondering if anything else he hinted at was true. Like that my father was indifferent to my impending kidnapping all along…

And my death.

No. He was lying, of course. Besides, I have to stay focused. Meeting his gaze, I look past my own fear and try to find a weakness of his to exploit.

“Whatever your relationship with Alexi is, you were with her,” I point out. “And yet, you don’t seem