Blood Ties (Dinero de Sangre #2) - Lana Sky Page 0,9

retreating down the hall, away from me.

The bastard locked me in, but for whatever reason—in the grand scheme of everything he’s done within the past twenty-four hours alone—this unnerves me the most. It heralds a different mode of operation apart from his usual indifference when it comes to my captivity.

This is possessive. Or selfish. Is he keeping me from Alexi on purpose, afraid of what she might say? Or of what I could learn…

Though, the most likely explanation is that he’s gone to fuck her uninterrupted.

Of all the people in the world to trigger the crippling jealousy biting through my chest, it has to be them. A childhood enemy and a longtime hidden threat, both who hate my family and me for their own reasons.

The devil himself couldn’t have picked a better pair. They belong together. I hope he fucks her raw in the shower and they both trip, earning lethal concussions that will make my escape a literal walk in the park.

I try not to imagine it—but it’s too late; I already am. His body hunched over hers, that sly, stupid smile on her lips, her perky tits bouncing.

He wouldn’t bite her, I bet.

He wouldn’t fuck her hard enough to bruise.

He wouldn’t swear one minute that she was his and sell her to a stranger the next.

The only man who should be on my mind is Jaguar, my supposed buyer—or at least the owner of the place Domino sold me to, La Guarida del Tigre. Despite my limited knowledge of the Spanish language, I can hazard a guess as to the meaning—The Tiger’s den.

“The world is a zoo,” my father told me once, his voice roughened by his nighttime cigar. It was the hour before he usually retreated to bed, when he’d exchanged his suit for a robe and slippers. That wasn’t the most jarring change, though—that time of night was one of the rare few when his trusty Domino wasn’t by his side, already having retired for the evening.

The lack of his “shadow” humbled him somehow. He could have been a normal man—if you ignored the gleam in his eye that warned he was always scheming, no matter who was in his orbit.

The world is a zoo, Ada-Maria. You can either be a warden or a beast. Do you understand that? He reached out, grazing my chin with the tips of his fingers. Without me, all those bastards would be salivating to eat you alive. No matter what happens with this fucking indictment, you remember this—you are a Pavalos. Without me, you are nothing but a morsel they can’t wait to devour. Together, we will always hang on to the keys to this kingdom. Loyalty, that’s what matters. You fucking remember that...

His voice fades beneath the squawk of a nearby bird, and I shiver despite the stifling heat.

If that memory serves a purpose, it’s to remind me that Domino is no longer my main obstacle. In fact, I should ignore him entirely.

The world is a zoo, and I need to fend for myself, damn him and the cage he’s designed around me. Shedding his shirt, I give in to the petty rage and step onto the balcony naked. The sun is just starting to rise, though hidden behind a swath of gray clouds. This section of the estate feels more secluded than the sprawling terrace. I can only see the tail end of the structure from here, as well as the shadow of two people strolling across the second level of it.

Alexi. I’d recognize her slender frame anywhere, her clothing so skimpy it just resembles lines of color across her torso and hips. She’s standing beside someone taller, their bulky frame etched onto my psyche.

Domino.

He locked me in here just in time for a morning stroll. I don’t know what feels worse—knowing that I’m just a hole to him? Or realizing that he doesn’t even think highly enough of me to throw the fact that we’ve fucked in Alexi’s face.

He’s hiding me here out of shame.

How sweet.

The rush of anger blinds me to everything else—like the fact that another figure is standing within view of me, though from a different part of the property. On the far right, a section of circular, flat stone is visible—near the front of the house, I realize, though positioned diagonally from the terrace as a whole. Set within a section of hedges and tended flower beds, I assume it’s a driveway, given the set of black cars parked there. Beside one, holding