Rescuing Jenna - Anna Blakely Page 0,38

suspected it was the same group responsible for Bree’s disappearance. They gave me first dibs on the job.”

“The job?”

A coldness seeped into his eyes. “The fall of an empire is like an avalanche. You start from the top, and the rest begins to crumble.”

Jenna processed this before asking, “You went after the head of the ring, didn’t you?”

“His name was Cesar Ortiz. I didn’t just go after him, sweetheart.” Adrian watched her closely. “I killed him. But not until after I made him tell me where Bree was.”

“Where was she?”

“In a shallow grave in the woods behind the bastard’s house. He fucking used her. Raped and beat her. Then, when he was tired of her, he had one of his men put a bullet in her brain and bury her.”

Shocked, Jenna gasped. Her free hand covering her mouth before she said, “I’m glad you killed him.”

The words were out before she’d even thought about it, but she had no desire to take them back.

She’d always been a black and white kind of person. Something was either right or it was wrong. And for her, killing—unless it was self-defense—was always wrong. Period.

But Jenna was finally beginning to realize the world didn’t exist in only black or white. She finally understood that there were a whole lot of grays mixed in there, too, and sometimes…sometimes people deserved to die.

“I tortured Ortiz, Jenna.” He said it as though he was warning her. “I cut him. Broke his bones. I did whatever I had to in order to get the information I needed. Then, when he finally told me about Bree, I tortured him some more before I slit his throat from ear to ear.”

The picture he painted was one of nightmares, but she knew what he was doing. She’d asked him to share more about his life. She wanted to know who he was, and this was his answer.

He saw himself as a ruthless killer, and while that may be partially true, Jenna needed to make him see he was so much more.

She stood and went to him. Sat down on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I’m sorry you grew up the way you did.” A tear fell down her cheek. “I’m sorry your sister had to go through something so heinous, and I’m so, so sorry you lost her. But I’m not sorry you killed that monster. As far as I’m concerned, he got exactly what he deserved.”

“What about my dad?” He challenged. “Do you think he deserved to die for what he did?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t say he killed him, and she wasn’t going to ask.

Adrian shook his head, looking up at her as if he hadn’t heard her correctly. “Jenna?”

“I get what you’re doing,” she told him. “You’re trying to scare me. I get it, but it won’t work. You want to know why?”

A slight nod.

“Because I see you, Adrian. I’ve seen the walls you put up to protect yourself, and I understand why, but I’m here.” She cupped one side of his face. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. So you can tell me all the horrifying stories you want, but it won’t change the way I feel about you. Because I see you. All of you. And I still want you.”

One minute she was staring into a pair of tortured eyes. The next, his mouth was on hers, and she was being lifted in his arms and carried to the bed.

They stripped each other in a frenzy. Clothes flew in every direction until they were both lying naked on the mattress.

“Can’t go slow.” His voice was tense and gravelly.

Lying beneath him, Jenna leaned up and nibbled his bottom lip. “I don’t want slow. I just want you inside me. Now.”

Urging him on, Jenna lifted her pelvis, brushing her wet sex against his hard shaft. With a growl, Adrian positioned himself to her entrance and slid inside. Exactly where he belonged.

Chapter 8

“We missed our flight.” Adrian ran his fingers up and down Jenna’s arm. He smiled at the trail of goosebumps following in his wake.

He couldn’t believe he’d dumped all his baggage on her the way he had. Telling her about his sister…revealing classified information that could get him tossed into fucking Leavenworth…that shit wasn’t who he was.

But maybe that was the point. He’d changed since meeting Jenna. In ways he never thought possible.

They’d had sex twice in the last two hours, and his cock was already half-hard, again. Or maybe still. He felt like a damn