my height that I would be able to kiss her while entering her. Her hollows and curves had been the main characters of all my dreams for the past year.
“Elena,” I said.
Her snapped her head up, her green eyes landing on me.
Since the moment I had first laid eyes on her, she had always reminded me of a nymph from a childhood fable. Beautiful, ethereal, otherworldly. Paired with her strange but pretty features, Elena had been the source of many fantasies, proving to be just as out of reach as a mythical forest fairy.
When she had been feeding the dogs, she’d looked so at ease in the garden, more comfortable around plants and animals than humans. I had seen that same reaction the morning we had killed Thaddeo, when she’d been standing in the garden alone, unburdened and calm.
Before me, wrapped up in the shape of a beautiful woman, was the first mystery I had never been able to solve. It didn’t matter how much I knew about her past or her actions, Elena was difficult to read, to decipher. For all her honesty, she was an enigma.
There were not a lot of people in this world I couldn’t figure out. If any.
It made Elena fascinating, alluring.
Seductive.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
I smiled at the arrogance of her question. “This is my house, is it not?”
“It is,” Elena relented. “But I’m sure you have better things to do than hang out in a dusty library.”
I crouched down, leveling our eyes. She blinked in surprise. “I’m sure you have better things to do as well. You visited Tatiana.”
Not a question—nothing happened in this house I wasn’t aware of.
Elena’s face tightened. “I did. But I needed more information, and since this library is too disorganized to be used, I have to sort it out.”
“Can I be of assistance?”
That made her glare at me. I resisted the urge to smile. “What does a Pakhan know about cataloguing books?”
“What does a widow?”
A muscle in her jaw twitched. “More than you.” Then she added, “And I’m not just a widow.”
“What else are you then?”
For a split second, I thought she might tell me. Might reveal one of her secrets—a secret I had but wouldn’t treasure until she told me herself. But Elena caught herself quickly and just glared at me. “Now, I’m annoyed.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re also Tatiana’s savior.”
Elena scowled but amazingly didn’t respond. She bit her tongue out of fear of retribution. An action that made my blood boil. What did Thaddeo do? I wanted to ask her. What was your punishment for speaking out of turn?
Did I kill him too quickly?
“Are you just here to annoy me?” she asked. “Or do you have an actual purpose for interrupting me?”
I almost laughed at her tone, but the somber nature of the topic stopped me. There was no use mincing words, so I said, “Another girl has been killed and had her teeth removed post-mortem.”
Realization took a hold of her expression quickly. “She’s a child.”
“Indeed. Eleven years old, to be exact.” I straightened my cuffs. “She was found outside her school.”
“How has Benéitez responded?” Elena had an almost daring look in her eyes, like she thought I wouldn’t tell her.
This was not La Cosa Nostra. I had no quarrel telling the women the ins and outs of business. After all, how could we expect them to protect themselves from enemies if they didn’t know who those enemies were?
“Within hours after her death, Benéitez sent all the women associated with the Cartel into high-security protection. Wives, daughters, mothers—all of them have disappeared from the public eye.”
Elena’s mind moved behind her eyes, calculating theories and answers. I couldn’t see what she was thinking, the conclusion she was coming to.
I glanced down at her arms, spotting new words against the faded ink. In scrawling handwriting I could make out some words. Authoritative, flourishing.
Her expression hardened. “Is that all?”
“No.” I rose to my feet. She looked up at me, lips parting as I reached my full height. Looking down on her like this, her on her knees, sent my brain straight into the gutter. I could picture her with swollen lips, her warm tongue wrapped around my cock, her delicate hands rubbing up and down…
Elena’s nostrils flared as she took in my expression, the dark glint in my eye. A blush graced her cheeks.