Blood Ties (Dinero de Sangre #2) - Lana Sky Page 0,63
would have never imagined he could be Navid, either. Namely for one reason.
“Your heart? How did you afford it?” I ask, rolling on my side. The box spring isn’t as forgiving as the mattress would be, and the material protests in grating creaks with every movement.
He sighs. “I’ll humor you, Ada-Maria. Would you like the long version or the short?”
I’m surprisingly curious to hear any ounce of information he’ll give, but I’m not foolish enough to waste his amicable mood on one story.
“Short,” I say, to play it safe and hope he hasn’t grown bored of me yet.
“As a favor to my mother, a kind, mysterious benefactor gave it to me out of the goodness of his heart. How is that explanation?”
“A lie,” I suspect. “No one does anything out of the goodness of their heart.”
Not even him, apparently.
“I’ll let you put the pieces together,” he says, cryptic once again. “In the meantime, I suggest you shut that pretty mouth of yours, unless it’s to beg.”
Because Jaguar is coming tomorrow.
And I have no idea what that heralds for me.
Chapter Seventeen
I wake up to the sensation of warm sun on my back and the feeling of an empty bed, over which I’m lying lengthwise, my feet dangling off the edge. I know without having to open my eyes that Domino is gone.
Maybe I’m too fucking pathetic to check for myself. I don’t need any confirmation to reinforce the coolness of the box spring beneath me or the lack of thick, brutal fingers raking through my hair.
And I can hear his voice…
Faint, it sounds like it’s coming from beyond the room, but not in the direction of the hall. The closet?
“…be ready for me. I know it’s earlier than we planned. Just be fucking ready. I have no idea what he’ll do; just wait for my signal. Gracias.”
Curiosity alone spurs me to open my eyes, just in time to catch him storming from the closet, a cell phone in hand. My gaze latches onto it for a second before my brain sleepily catches up, and I realize why the sight strikes me as so odd.
I’ve heard him on the phone, but I rarely see him with it. In fact, the last time Jaguar called, Ines brought the phone to him. He must be keeping it hidden somewhere beyond my reach.
Just in case, I decided to do the smart thing, like call for help or try to figure out where in the hell we actually are.
“Get up.” He meets my gaze while stowing the phone in his pocket—a spot where I know for a fact that he doesn’t keep the device regularly.
As if aware of me watching, he gathers the clothing scattered across the floor one item at a time.
“Go wash yourself and get dressed,” he tells me, tugging at his collar. Today, it’s buttoned all the way, the closest he’s come to embodying the dress style he utilized while working for my family.
Is it merely coincidence that today happens to be the day Jaguar has made it known that he’ll arrive? I’m not bold enough to jump to that conclusion. Yet.
Instead, I scramble to my feet, still naked. I catch his eyes raking over me, and I note that they gleam as coldly as his tone. It’s a subtle, but disarming change from his relaxed mood last night. Once again, I have whiplash at how volatile he can be. Calm, like a sheet of ice one minute, and blazing the next to rival the most intense inferno.
Staggering to my feet, I slip past him, eagerly darting into the closet. I can’t escape the tension weighing down the atmosphere. I can taste the unease. The dread.
In so many ways, it reminds me of those brief moments when my father would be away on business, right before his return. The faint smile my mother would sport in his absence would fade, and the servants would become frantic, ensuring every little detail was in place.
On second thought, it’s not exactly the same. Jaguar inspires something in Domino that not even my father seemed to. In the presence of Roy, he was always the stoic bodyguard, despite his supposed hatred of us from the very beginning.
But when it comes to Jaguar, or Julian, there is no ounce of restraint that I can sense. He’s shamelessly angry, uncaring of who sees it.
As hilarious as a comparison it might be, in my head, I’m bold enough to make it. When it comes to Jaguar, Domino reminds me of…