Ruthless Savior - Julia Sykes Page 0,15

threatened to bubble over, obliterating what was left of my tenuous control. I needed that control, so I could savor punishing Arturo. If I flew into a blind rage, I might crush him too quickly.

The hiss and sizzle of the white-hot flame melting steel matched the simmering heat coursing through me, and the echo calmed me further. I settled into my anger, harnessing its strength as a purposeful burn in my muscles.

The heavy door shifted, giving way. I slammed my boot into the metal, breaking down the barrier with a resounding boom. The harsh burst mingled with a sharp scream, followed immediately by the bang of a gun being fired. Arturo barked out a rough shout as his shoulder was shoved back by the impact of the bullet. A Glock dropped from his hand, which dangled limply from his injured shoulder.

I spared a glance and a nod at Sebastián, who was lowering his own gun, now that his shot had found its mark. The older man had been quick to disarm Arturo, and I wasted no time throwing myself at my enemy.

I kicked his fallen weapon far out of reach as my fists curled in his shirt. Leveraging my forward momentum, I slammed him back against the wall. He screamed when his torn shoulder hit the concrete, staining the dull gray with a streak of dark crimson.

The whites of his rolling eyes flashed through the gloom. A low growl rumbled from deep in my chest as I slowly lowered my face to his, letting him feel the heat of my fury closing in on him. His throat convulsed, and he spluttered twice before me managed to force out a ragged plea.

“Please, Raúl. This was all Daniel’s plan. You know how reckless and greedy he is. You know how powerful his family is. I couldn’t say no. All of them are snakes. The entire Vera family. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have—”

“I have nothing to do with this!” A panicked, feminine shriek tugged at my attention. “I don’t even know what’s happening. Armed men invaded my home, so I came down here to hide.”

I glanced over to see Isabel Vera, Daniel’s sister, slowly backing away from Sebastián. Her slim frame seemed smaller than ever as she pressed herself into a corner. She cringed and wrapped her arms around her chest, as though that would be enough to protect her from the cartel’s retribution.

She shot an imploring glance at me before her focus was jerked back to the encroaching threat of Sebastián. “I swear, I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t even know why Arturo’s in my house, and I definitely didn’t want him in this panic room with me.”

I took a second to assess her, muddling through the haze of my anger to look at her more clearly. Her cheek bore the branding red imprint of a man’s hand, and her oversized, wire-rimmed glasses were cracked.

My most feral instincts surged, overtaking me just as they had when I’d found Daniel groping Marisol this morning. I rammed my fist into Arturo’s bullet wound, driving deep and grinding his ruined shoulder against the rough concrete at his back. His anguished bellow boomed through the panic room, reverberating off the cold walls.

“You like hurting women?” I snarled in his sallow face, which had gone pale with mortal terror. “You hurt people weaker than you to get what you want.” Marisol’s bloodstained cheek filled my mind, her soft skin gruesomely sticky beneath my hand.

My lips twisted in a purely vindictive grin, a malicious promise. “Well, I like hurting weaker people, too. Weaker men.”

“I-Isabel wouldn’t let me into the panic room,” he stammered, his teeth chattering. “I wouldn’t have t-touched her if she’d given me any other choice. I had to force my way in. Sh-she was going to leave me out there to die, when her family is the cause of this coup. Please—”

“I’m not!” Isabel cried, distracting me from my victim.

“Get her out of here,” I barked at Sebastián.

I heard her soft gasp just before he rumbled, “Let’s go, nenita. Stefano will want to talk to you. If you really are innocent, you have nothing to worry about,” he added, forestalling any further protest. “You don’t want to see what’s about to happen in here.”

“Wait!” Arturo begged. “Nothing needs to happen. I want to talk to Stefano, too. Let me explain. Daniel—”

“Shut the fuck up.” I was sick of his pathetic excuses. “I don’t want to hear another word come out of