Blood Ties (Dinero de Sangre #2) - Lana Sky Page 0,73
my eyes water. “I’ve upheld his little feud against Roy Pavalos. I’ve supplied him with my resources. I’ve kept our family business running in the background. By my fucking self, mind you, while Dom-Dom was off playing toy soldier and wiping your daddy’s ass.”
He grabs my throat, curling his fingers around my windpipe with just enough pressure so that I feel my flesh graze his palm with every breath I take.
“I always had his back,” he continues, regaining his composure. Now he sounds eerily calm, almost monotone. The way Domino used to while carrying out my father’s orders, no matter how heinous. “Always. Because family means something to me. Honor means something to me. Promises, Ada-Maria… They mean something to me. I wouldn’t take for myself that which I already pledged to another man. It’s just not fucking polite.”
He’s implying something. Something dealing with whatever issues lurk between him and Domino, but I can’t keep up. Fear floods my veins slowly as the pain in my lip sets in. The cool casualness with which he uses violence shocks me, and I don’t think part of my brain has still registered the blow. There’s something impulsive and wild about his rage. He can smile while making someone bleed and never miss a beat.
“I always knew he had a soft spot for you, though,” he muses, still smoothing back my hair, his expression contemplative. “The things we initially planned to do to you…” He chuckles darkly, and my breath catches in my throat. “But then little Dom-Dom kept changing his mind, always moving the goal post. I thought, at first, that he just wanted you for himself, but now I think I can see what he was really after. I can tell just by looking into your eyes, that you aren’t like my Lexi-Lex—good for fucking, but not much else. No… I think you’re a little smarter than that, Ada-Maria. Smart enough to know at least some of your daddy’s secrets. And if I were a selfish bastard of a man, looking to betray his only family… I would desperately want to know those secrets.” As he speaks, he lets his fingers crawl up to my scalp, sinking into my hair to graze the tender flesh beneath. Slowly, he starts to squeeze from both sides. “I have to wonder what lies our precious Dom-Dom has been putting into your head. Or what answers he’s been trying to beat out of you—”
I think of Pia and his obsession with the past. Her body.
Jaguar grunts, letting his hands still. “You won’t be a mean girl and try to keep anything from me, would you?” he wonders softly, his smile widening into a beautiful, chilling mask. “Because then we can’t be friends if you deceive me, Ada-Maria. And that, you see, would be a damn fucking shame—” Abruptly, he cuts his eyes to something behind me, and his posture shifts, becoming defensive as he moves his hands to my waist, utilizing them like lead weights to keep me pinned against him. “It’s about damn time,” he snaps, and from the corner of my eye, I see Ines scramble to place a bottle of wine and two glasses on the low table behind me.
Jaguar snaps his fingers, his gaze cold. “Pour it.” To me, he flashes another icy smile. “Ines here has served my family for decades. She practically raised my little brother and me modeling what I thought was the perfect example of loyalty and honor. But then, Ines made her choice. She chose against me, the man who saw her as family, the closest thing to a mother he ever knew.” He speaks in such a level tone that the anger conveyed by those words is only visible in his eyes which glint more dangerously than before. “I suggest you think more carefully than dear Ines, Ada-Maria. I would very much like to be your friend—” Cutting his gaze back to the old woman, he snaps, “Leave us. Though, I’m sure you stalled long enough to ensure that your master is well on his way. I guess that doesn’t leave myself and Miss Ada-Maria long to get acquainted, then.”
He leans forward, jostling my body against his chest, to snatch a filled wine glass from the table. Rather than drink from it himself, he brings the rim to my mouth, and his expression loses all shred of feigned cheer. He’s stern, inspecting me carefully. “Drink.”
I don’t hesitate, slurping right from the edge of the glass.