The corner of his lip lifted in a smile and his dark eyes lingered over her curves, stopping on her bare knees where her legs were crossed. “I can assure you, Vee, when it comes to you, I am an inferno of heat.”
Her face warmed. She was actually blushing, and from an almost poetic statement. He hadn’t even said anything crude. But the erotic undertone to his words charged the atmosphere around them and she was unprepared for his next words. “I was nine the first time I killed someone.”
Vee’s heart lurched. She tried picturing him as a child. “What happened?” she asked.
“My father wanted me to learn the family business, to understand my duty. He forced me to participate in something…” His voice trailed off. Vee felt devastated for him. For the child forced to do something so awful. He looked over at her, pinning her with that dark gaze. “Don’t pity the child, Vee. Even at that young age I was not innocent. I’d done things that would shock you. Murder was just the next step in an evolution.”
“An unnatural one,” she said. “You were only a child. And you’d been forced to live a life without choices. Even if you’d done terrible things, it wasn’t your fault. What happened to your parents?”
He paused for a moment, then, “My father died of pancreatic cancer fifteen years ago. My mother lives in Bogotá, Columbia. She spends her days travelling, shopping and visiting friends. I’m sure you’ll meet eventually, though she doesn’t often make her way up here.”
The explanation of his family was so normal it was unexpected. Vee had expected something more dramatic, like an enemy taking them out or something, Sotza becoming The Gentleman Butcher in bloody revenge. Despite the normal, something had shaped him, changed him to the man he’d become. “You should never have been forced into the family business. Your father was wrong to do that to you.”
He studied her, his face impassive. “Are you defending me, Vee?” he asked.
She frowned and thought about it. “Yes, I suppose I am.”
“Good,” he said, satisfaction leaking into his tone. “This is the woman I saw when we were in Miami. This is the woman I want by my side. I want your loyalty. The loyalty you so easily give to others.”
Vee jumped to her feet and would’ve moved away from him except he grabbed her wrist.
“The people who have my loyalty earned it,” she snapped twisting her wrist.
“And I demand your loyalty,” Sotza said standing. When he stood that close to her, he towered over her.
She tipped her head back and glared at him. “You tricked me into this garden… to prey on my sympathies!”
He held her locked against him. “I brought you here so you could experience my sanctuary.”
“You played me,” she accused.
“I spoke the truth, Elvira.” He hunched his shoulders and lowered his head to press his face into the curve of her neck. His breath tickled just below her ear as he breathed her in. “You are my peace. You belong in this place with me.”
“I belong where I choose…” Her voice came out more breathless than she intended as he kissed her behind the ear, right next to her hairline, his nose nuzzled against her.
“You belong to me,” he said gruffly, his arms tightening. “Say it, tell me who you belong to.”
“Isaac…” she said warningly.
“Yes,” he agreed. “You belong to Isaac Sotza. Now say it again.”
A smile quirked her lips and she tilted her head back, closing her eyes and soaking up the sun. She wouldn’t win against his brand of persuasion and his touch was too heavenly to resist. “Why don’t you make me…”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
It was pouring rain as they ran behind the garden hedges, ducking the security that Vee knew had passed less than thirty seconds before. It hadn’t rained since her arrival in Venezuela, but it sure as hell was raining like some kind of vengeance water apocalypse now. Vee wasn’t sure if it was a good thing because the rain would provide cover, or if they were likely to drown before she accomplished her mission. She also worried about the helicopter being able to land.
“I don’t think I could possibly be any wetter,” Raina complained from beside her, swiping at her glasses in an attempt to clear the water.
Vee agreed. They were both dressed in dark clothes, hats pulled low over pale faces. They weren’t wearing any kind of rain gear. Vee’s shoes sent up a shower of water from the grass with every footfall.
“We don’t have a choice,” Vee said to her daughter as she hustled them around the backside of the garden. She had intended to use the shadows cast by the bushes to hide from the moonlight, but the rain eliminated the need.
“I thought you said we were going to brazen this out,” Raina yelled as loud as she dared so Vee would hear her over the pounding rain. “This feels a lot like covert sneakiness.”
Vee ignored her daughter and reached out to grip her wrist dragging her across a dip in the lawn. Raina tripped and nearly landed face down in a puddle. Their timing was definitely bad. Especially if they went through all this and rescue wasn’t able to land in the deluge. She just had to hope that they were coming no matter what.
The trek out to the small airfield took much longer than usual since they were on foot. Her getaway plan was going to go down in a fizzle if they both caught pneumonia and died. She gripped Raina harder as they sloshed across the soggy lawn under the cover of darkness. They stopped at certain points while Vee looked down at the timer on her phone counting down the seconds until she knew security had either passed or not arrived yet, then she would hustle her daughter to the next stopping point.
She had decided to leave the mansion directly after their evening meal. Sotza always closeted himself in his office after supper, attending to oversea markets as they opened. He rarely paid Vee any attention once he disappeared, leaving her alone for three to four hours until he was finished and ready to come to their bed. His predictable pattern was a benefit to Vee, though if she’d been a good wife she would have pointed it out, insisted he change his routine so he wouldn’t be caught by surprise by an enemy. Instead, she was taking advantage. She shoved a sliver of guilt aside. She had no choice, she needed this to work. After spending two decades protecting her child she wouldn’t just roll over and allow the mafia to have her.
As they approached the airstrip, Vee looked around, her sharp eyes attempting to see through the haze of rain. It was difficult to tell but she was pretty sure that there was no security beyond one man, who was currently hiding out inside the control booth. She gritted her teeth, hoping she was right about both her observations and instincts. She watched her phone intently. It was turned off to any signal, but the timer and clock still worked. She hoped Sotza wasn’t tracking them by any other method, that her careful planning would be enough to enable an escape.
She stared down, hunching to protect the device from getting wet, counting down with the clock until it ran out. 19:10. Time to go.
“Now,” she said to Raina.
Raina glanced back toward the estate, almost longingly, before she nodded decisively and followed her mother onto the tarmac. They didn’t run, they didn’t hide. They strode confidently toward the shack, two soaking wet blonds with matching attitudes that blazed bright despite the rain.
Vee flung the door to the control room open, surprising the man who huddled within. He leapt to his feet, gun in hand, facing the two women. He gaped for a moment before lowering his weapon.
“Señora Sotza,” he said, surprise in his voice.
“Rodrigo,” she acknowledged, nodding toward the instrument panel in front of him. “Someone will be landing here in two minutes. You need to give them clearance.”
He eyed her sceptically. “Do they have permission to land?”
“I’m giving them permission, Rodrigo. They’re my friends.” She stared him down until his dark eyes darted away. “Tell me, what has my husband told you and the other men about my needs?”
“That any and all requests are to
be met immediately,” he said without hesitation.
“And I am requesting that my friends be allowed to land,” she said sharply. “Without difficulty from you or anyone else on the Señor’s security team.”
He frowned as though contemplating her words. She glanced out the window and was gratified to see a shadow against the mountainous backdrop moving rapidly toward their positon, all but obscured by the rain. It didn’t matter what conclusion he came to at this point, the helicopter was about to land. Apparently Rodrigo decided that he didn’t entirely trust her. He began reaching toward the phone on the desk. “I think I’d better…”
Vee pulled her gun from the holster hidden beneath her dark jacket and pointed it at him. “I was a little worried you would think something like that,” she said coldly. “Drop your weapon. Hands up and away from that phone, Rodrigo.”
“Si, Señora,” he said, his eyes darting around nervously. He carefully placed his gun on the desk and raised his hands slowly. They twitched a little as though he wanted to go for the phone anyway, despite her threat.
She sighed and tapped the gun against her thigh. “I think you better step over here so you won’t be tempted to interfere. I don’t want to have to kill you Rodrigo. Up now, please stand and walk toward us, slowly. Hands behind your head, fingers locked.”
He did as he was told, perhaps correctly reading the deadly glint in Vee’s eyes. Her gaze snapped rapidly from him to the incoming helicopter, still barely visible through the rain. He took two steps toward them, away from the panel, away from the phone. Vee shot him and barely paused to let him fall as she stepped over him and reached toward the phone. She lifted the receiver and pressed it against her ear and then glared down at Rodrigo.
“You need to shut up so they can hear me,” she snapped impatiently over his shouts of pain.
“But you shot him!” Raina said loudly crouching at his side. “Why did you do that?”
Vee ignored her horrified daughter and called the cell number her friend had provided. “We’re here,” she said, then listened for a moment. “Yes, both of us. You’re safe to land.”
She dropped the phone back into the cradle. Although most people used cell phones, land lines were better for security. Sotza was smart in his choice to keep parts of his organization old-fashioned. She dropped to her knees next to Rodrigo and pressed her gun against his side so he wouldn’t do something stupid like grab her or Raina. She checked his injury and nodded to herself. “You’ll be fine. I didn’t hit either arteries or bone.”
He glared at her and didn’t respond.
“But why did you do it?” Raina asked angrily, her hand on his shoulder. “You promised no one would get hurt, yet you shot the first person we came across.”
Vee frowned a little. Clearly Raina didn’t understand. “He’s not hurt.”
“He has a gaping hole in him that you put there!” Raina snapped. “Obviously he’s hurt.”
Vee thought ‘gaping’ was a little melodramatic. She raised an eyebrow considering, trying to see things from her daughter’s perspective. Was this what Sotza experienced when he tried to understand her objection to the way he cold-bloodedly tortured his victims? She tried to calm her annoyance and said, “He isn’t dead, child. He’ll survive. Trust me, it needed to be this way. If your dear step-daddy thought that Rodrigo had let us land a helicopter here he would do a lot worse to the man. I’m saving him from Sotza’s wrath and making sure he doesn’t get in our way. You know, killing two birds with one stone.”
Rodrigo’s complaints suddenly died away as he saw the truth of her words. He pressed his hands against his wound and watched her silently, new respect lighting his brown eyes. Raina frowned down at him unsure. Vee wanted to hold her daughter. She was caught between worlds. Between the brutality of mob life and the kind, loving family she’d grown up in. This was why Vee wanted her out. She wanted Raina to have the choices she didn’t have.
“We need to tie him up,” Vee said, her voice hardening. “So he can’t come after us or call for help while we’re boarding the helicopter.”
Raina nodded hesitantly, clearly uncomfortable. She helped her mother tie Rodrigo with his hands behind his back. Vee was efficient in knot work and was able to tie him quickly and tightly.
“Let’s go, they’re waiting for us,” she said pulling Raina to her feet.
After securing Rodrigo, they pushed the door to the shack open and ran back out into the rain. Vee gripped Raina’s arm and made a beeline for the helicopter which was just finishing its landing. She didn’t want it to have to wait. She wanted it to take off immediately. She rushed toward it, grateful when she saw the side door open and a person crouch in the doorway, beckoning them.
When they were within feet of the chopper a female voice shouted, “Raina!” Vee grinned as Diane Duncan hurled herself out of the door, into the rain and on top of her daughter. “Oh god, Raina, I was so worried!”
The older woman sobbed as she gripped her adopted daughter.
“Mom?” Raina asked, completely shocked and mystified at how her sweet old mom was standing on the tarmac of a notorious mob boss. “What are you doing here?”
Diane looked up, her eyes meeting Vee’s. “Elvira,” she said softly, reaching out to pull Vee in for a strong hug. Vee wrapped her arms around the other woman, hugging her back, tears forming in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Diane,” she said, her voice catching with emotion. “I thought I did a good enough job of protecting her…”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Joe’s gruff voice reached them through the rain as he stepped from the helicopter, enveloping Raina in a tight hug, holding her close to his chest. “We always knew there was a possibility she could get pulled in, one way or the other. You did everything you could to make sure she lived happily.”
Vee nodded, unable to speak, tears mingling with the rain. She reached out blindly, gripping Raina, who was sobbing in the arms of her dad. Vee needed the connection. Needed to experience the wonder of touching the child she created, the child she’d given up to these people who loved her just as much as Vee ever could.
“You… you know each other?” Raina asked pulling away from her dad and swiping at the tears leaking from beneath her glasses with the back of her arm. It was a useless gesture as she was immediately soaked.
“Yes,” Diane said, beckoning them toward the helicopter. “We’ve known Elvira almost since she was a child. In fact, we consider her as much a daughter as you are.”
“Diane…” Vee said softly, climbing in behind the others, into the dry warmth of the helicopter. She glanced worriedly behind her and turned to Raina gripping her arms. “We helped each other when we were at our most desperate. Diane and Joe wanted out of the mob life and I needed to hide a baby. They were low level enough that they could disappear with a little help.”
“She gave us everything she had,” Diane said fondly. “Enough money to start over in a part of the country that no one would think to look for us.”
“I had access to records, things that might make them traceable. So I was able to destroy anything that would make them a target. No one thought I was smart enough to understand or care about such things.” She looked out the window squinting into the darkness again. “But your parents can explain all that, you need to go.”
“What?” Raina asked, her voice high-pitched. “No, you need to tell me more! I don’t understand.”
Vee shook her head and tried to step out the door. Raina tackled her in a surprisingly tight hug. “No!” she yelled, her arms tight around Vee’s neck. She could feel the girl’s hot tears against her skin. Her own forlorn tears made paths down her cheeks. “You’re my parent too, I can’t let you go, not after I’ve just found you.”
Vee allowed the hug for as long as she could, a few precious seconds, and then she pushed her daughter away. She took Raina’s face in her hands, memorizing it, the features that matched hers so exactly but also had a life of their own. “He will never
stop looking for me, Raina,” she explained, hardening her words so she could push them past the lump in her throat. “I need you to go so I can breathe easy again. I need to know that you’re free. And I need to be with my husband. One day our needs will meet and so will we. Until then, go, and be happy… for me.”
“But mom…” Raina sobbed unabashedly. Diane reached out and held Raina’s shoulders.
“I love you, Raina.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Almost as soon as the helicopter took off Vee was surrounded by Sotza’s men. Mateo strode toward her, his anger almost a living thing. He took her gun and threw it at one of his men. He snatched her neck and dragged her toward him, nearly lifting her off her feet. Rain streaked his face, dripping off his clenched jaw.
“Where is she?” he snarled.
She stared at him, willing her heart to slow. She wasn’t in danger. Mateo wouldn’t hurt her. Not only because she was the wife to his boss, but because she was the mother of his love. She knew he cared deeply about her daughter. It didn’t matter though. Mateo was mafia and Raina was not.
Instead of answering his question, she said softly, for his ears only, “You need to let me go, Mateo. Before Sotza sees. We both know he won’t react well to anyone else touching me. I don’t want to be responsible for what happens to you.”
He surprised her by tightening his fingers just a fraction, threateningly. Then he shoved her away. “If you don’t wanna tell me where she went then you’ll tell him. I guarantee it.”
He ordered two of his men to take her up to the house while he turned and strode to the control shack. She hoped Rodrigo would be ok. Not from the shot she gave him, he would definitely survive that tiny nick. No, she worried he wouldn’t survive Mateo if the man decided to take his frustrations out on the guard who had failed in his job.
Vee walked through the rain, setting the pace between the two men. She wanted out of the rain, but she certainly wasn’t going to rush toward her own reckoning. They took a car this time, which she was grateful for. She didn’t particulalry want to walk back through the deluge.
Queen’s Move: Book Two of The Queens Page 24
