me had always been sweet, endearing . . . This smile was cold and cruel. The alcohol had clearly lowered his control over the dangerous man inside. He released my breast, but then his hand started traveling south. My thighs clenched together when his fingers passed over my torso. But it was no use trying to stop him. He was bigger and stronger than me. Diego was the most determined man I’d ever met.
“You’re a cocktease, cari?o. Always have been.” I shook my head, but he shushed me again, the sound harsh and sharp. “A face made by God to torment we who walk with the devil.” His hand cupped me between my legs. I made a garbled sound and tried to push him off, but he didn’t move. I held my breath as his fingers ran along my panties. I felt him getting hard against my leg. My bottom lip started to shake in anger. But I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t let him see me cry. Men like Diego got off on seeing women cry.
Diego kissed up my neck and over my cheek. “But I like that you’re untouched. I like that you’re a virgin and I get to be the first cock your pussy will ever have.” He groaned. “The first and last.”
I sucked in a breath. It shook. I stopped breathing so he couldn’t tell he’d unnerved me. That his touch repulsed me. I shut my eyes as he worked his hand under my panties. I needed to shut him out. To take myself away from this moment.
Only one face came to mind, taking me back to that first day . . .
“Papa?”
“Adelita, is that you? Come here, princesa.” I walked into my father’s office. I had just arrived back from shopping with Carmen and wanted to show him the tie I had bought for him to go with his new suit. But when I walked into the room, a strange man was sitting at my father’s desk. That wasn’t new. He always had businessmen coming in and out.
“I didn’t realize you had company, Papa. I’ll leave you alone.” I went to turn, but I crashed into someone behind me. Strong hands steadied me, then immediately let me go. When I looked up, the biggest man I had ever seen was before me, dressed in a white shirt that clung to his muscled body, and blue jeans with black boots. He had tattoos all over his skin, and a shaved head. The tattoos crept up to his neck. It took me a minute to realize what the tattoos were. But their symbology quickly became apparent.
Nazi tattoos.
A stern look of superiority crossed his face. He folded his arms across his chest as he looked down at me.
“Adelita?” My papa’s voice made me turn. “These are our guests. They will be staying in the guest apartments while we conduct some business over the coming months. I expect you to be courteous to them when they are in our household.”
My skin prickled feeling the man’s eyes on me from behind. “This is William and Tanner Ayers. Father and son, from Texas.” I heard the tone in my father’s voice. They were here for business, but he didn’t trust them. If they were staying in the guest apartments and not in a nearby hotel it was so my father’s men could keep an eye on them, not because my father had a sudden need to play host. They were Ku Klux Klan. I had read the name on Tanner’s arm. The reason for my father’s distrust was obvious. The Klan and Nazis hated anyone who wasn’t white.
“You will need to show Tanner around soon, while his father and I talk business.”
My eyes widened. “Can’t Diego—?”
“Diego has gone away for a while. He will be away during most of their stay. He’ll be back toward the end.” On “family business,” no doubt. Something I wasn’t allowed to know anything about.
A warning flashed in my papa’s eyes. “It would be my pleasure,” I said, and gave Se?or Ayers a forced smile. I turned, and I was immediately caught in Tanner Ayers’s harsh ice-blue stare. I could almost see the instant dislike for me dripping off him waves.
Tanner Ayers . . . The White Prince of the Ku Klux Klan. And me, Adelita Quintana, princesa of the Quintana cartel . . . this would be interesting . . .
“You’ll be so tight,” Diego said, cutting through the memory of that fated meeting. “And we’ll