Blood Ties (Dinero de Sangre #2) - Lana Sky Page 0,64
me. Trapped in a world, he has no clue of how to escape. All he can do is go through the motions and loathe every minute of it.
But therein lies a murkier set of questions that I’m not even sure I want to toy with speculating on. My father had twenty-five years to break me down and mold me into the creature I’ve become. In essence, that time has numbed me to all of the vile things he’s made me do. Some of them, anyway.
But what has Jaguar made Domino do to garner such hatred? For the past five years, he’s spent nearly every waking moment in Terra Rodea? Does their feud stem from before that, maybe around the time he received his mysterious transplant?
I’ll let you put the pieces together, he said last night. I thought it was a cruel jab at first, but now I can parse over all of the other little breadcrumbs he’s let slip. Once, he told me that he owes a debt that can’t be paid with paper money—only blood.
How did he put it? An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.
A heart for a heart.
I brush my fingers along my chest and realize I’m shaking, even before my newest suspicion has fully taken hold. Could Jaguar’s interest in me go beyond sex? He bought my “body,” but in the literal sense…
“I told you to get dressed.”
I turn, startled by the sight of him still here. His gaze flits over me, dark and unreadable. Any other moment, I don’t think I’d be brave enough to provoke him so early.
But, as it turns out, I might not have much time left to find answers of my own.
“You sold me,” I croak, hating the raw pain in my voice—and the fear. “Be honest. You didn’t sell me to some sex dungeon, did you?”
“I don’t follow,” he replies.
“Did you sell my…b-body. You said you owed Jaguar more than money. Did he find your heart? And now you’ve promised him a new one.”
He laughs, and I blink at the sound; it’s rich. Almost as real as the one he displayed with Alexi. As he chuckles, he enters the closet again, and my own heart stutters.
“You think I’ve sold your body parts on some transplant black market? That’s too creative, Ada-Maria, even for me.”
“So then clarify it and stop dancing around the truth.”
His eyes cut to slits. “I sold you to be fucked and tossed from buyer to buyer. Use your imagination to fill in the gaps.” He might as well be referring to an animal. Or a bug. Something he deems beneath the need for empathy.
An object.
I don’t know which ultimate ending would be worse, to be honest. To be used for sex or sliced to pieces. Either way, it’s obvious that he doesn’t give a damn.
“Maybe you should wrap me with a bow,” I whisper, feeling so helpless… I could scream. “Then I’ll be ready either way.”
“I’d tie the bow around your neck,” he suggests. “Then you would be ready either way. Now get dressed.”
He stalks past me and snatches a dress from a hanger. Then he reenters the main room and approaches the makeshift barricade still blocking the door. With graceful ease, he shoves the mattress aside and pushes the wardrobe back to its usual spot.
Opening the door, he leads the way into the hall and into the bathroom. Then he runs the water in the tub, and when he reaches for me, I can tell from the set of his shoulders that he expects me to run or put up a fight.
I don’t do either, letting him drag me into the water with no resistance.
I submit to the surprisingly warm—not scalding—bath and barely pay him any attention as he retreats to the other end of the room.
I’m too busy dwelling on the current state of my life. In retrospect, could I have ever expected to end up any differently? Still a pawn of my father’s, despite what Domino claims. It’s hate for Roy Pavalos that darkens his gaze every time he looks at me.
“You have that look,” Domino scolds, reappearing with a towel that he places on the floor, a rag, and a bar of soap. Sinking into a crouch, he dips the rag into the water and works it into a lather. “That pining, kicked-puppy look that warns Ada-Maria hasn’t gotten her way.”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes,” I say absently, staring straight ahead even as I feel the water swish