Guilty by Blood (Santiago Family)

by CJ Bishop

  •

  Caterina fought the urge to run to the shower and scrub away the residue of Riccardo’s touch—and the evidence of what he’d forced her body to do for him. She could feel the wetness soaking her panties and it made her feel sick, but she was afraid he’d come back while she was naked in the shower and rape her this time.

  He’s coming back anyway. And your clothes aren’t going to stop him from taking what he wants.

  There was nothing she could do but sit and wait for him to return and finish what he’d started.

  How long would Flynn be gone? What would he do if he found out the things Riccardo had done to her? Would he do anything? The things he’d said to his own father suggested he would.

  When Riccardo returned a short while later, Caterina tried to steel herself for the inevitable assault. To her shock, he didn’t immediately come at her. “I must apologize,” he said. “I hardly acted in a gentlemanly way. But you must understand, a woman like you can drive a man to less than acceptable behavior.” The lust in his eyes hadn’t abated as he looked her up and down, and the depth of that lust forced her to wonder if Terrell had ordered him to back off—because he looked like he wanted to attack and was barely keeping himself restrained.

  He walked over and sat on the bed as before, and she feared he might continue his previous mission. He began to feed her more strawberries dipped in chocolate and whipped cream. She accepted the food, afraid that her refusal could set him off.

  “I don’t want you to worry,” he murmured and gently wiped chocolate from her lip with his thumb, then fed his digit into her mouth to suck away the sweetness. “We are going to fuck. And you’re going to scream for me. Scream my name and beg me to fuck you harder.” His breath began to rasp, making Caterina uneasy; he was getting himself worked back up. He leaned in as before, sucked whipped cream off her lips, then slithered his tongue in her mouth, groaning thickly. She had fastened her blouse and he squeezed her breast through the fabric, rubbing his thumb around her nipple. “Fuck,” he panted, drawing back just a little, his lips brushing her mouth as he spoke. “You got me so fucking hard right now. But the boss man needs my attention elsewhere for the time being, so we’ll have to postpone our fun till later.” He groaned again and spread her legs, shoving his face between her thighs. He bit at her pussy through her slacks, then breathed deeply. “Fuck, woman, you smell delicious. I’m gonna eat your pussy like you’ve never been eaten…then you’re gonna swallow my cock and my load.” He raised his head and smiled, eyes ablaze. “How does that sound to you, sweetheart?”

  Gross as fuck, Caterina thought sickly but said nothing.

  Riccardo chuckled and stood up. He leaned down and kissed her mouth as he rubbed his hand between her legs, squeezing her pussy. “I can feel your wetness through your pants,” he whispered. “You want me, don’t you, baby? You want to cum for me again…and again.” He grinned against her lips and kissed her hard and hungry. “Fuck, I better go before I defy the boss and just fuck you right now.”

  Caterina held her breath until he actually backed off. She shuddered at the massive bulge in his pants as he squeezed it and adjusted his stiff package.

  “All this is for you, sweetheart. Can’t wait to give it to you.”

  When he finally left the room, Caterina hurried to the bathroom and locked the door, stripped down, and climbed in the shower, cranking the water as hot as she could stand it and began vigorously scrubbing her body until her skin stung beneath the steaming spray.

  An unexpected sob caught in her throat, startling her, and she pressed into the corner of the shower, sliding down the wall until she sat huddled on the shower floor, hugging her knees. She had never felt so helpless in all her life; so vulnerable and…weak.

  She didn’t like it—not one fucking bit. She pressed her face against her knees, choking back her tears.

  Get a grip, woman. Get a fucking grip. You’re stronger than this—you are! She trembled. You have to be.

  CHAPTER 28

  “Quid Pro Quo”

  ______________________________________________

  Sanchez came around from the backside of the old house, weapon raised, aimed at the remaining man’s head. “Drop your weapon, amigo. Unless you want to join your boys.”

  Rodriguez produced a gun and stepped out from behind the car door.

  The man hesitated then dropped his gun and slowly raised his hands a bit.

  “Not a twitch,” Sanchez told him, approaching slowly. “My cowboy friend has an itchy trigger finger—as you just saw—so you’d best stay still.” As he closed in and got a better look at the guy, his pulse skipped. The stripper’s description was spot on and this guy fit it to a T. Flynn Pisano. Sanchez hadn’t expected the boss’ son to come out on a run like this. They may have just hit the jackpot. “What’s your name?” Sanchez needed to hear it, despite his obvious appearance.

  The young man stared at him coldly. “You first.”

  “Sanchez.”

  “Flynn.”

  Sanchez nodded. “Caterina’s new man. Yeah, I thought you fit the description.” He shook his head. “You fucked up big time. Caterina is one hell of a woman and I believe she sincerely liked you. Then you go and pull this shit on her? Kidnap her?” He huffed. “Hope you were through with her because you’re not coming back from this little stunt.”

  Flynn’s eyes remained steely—then something flickered behind his stare.

  Yeah, show me something, kid.

  “For your information,” Flynn muttered. “I didn’t kidnap her. My father did.”

  “But you work for your father, right?”

  “I don’t work for anyone.”

  The bitterness was right there, on the surface. Apparently, Carter had been telling the truth that Flynn and his father didn’t see eye to eye. This was good. Even better was the fact that he made it clear it wasn’t he who took Caterina.

  Sanchez motioned Rodriguez over, who produced a pair of handcuffs and restrained Flynn’s hands behind his back. They walked Flynn to the rear of the car and opened the trunk. “Sorry for the shitty accommodations, but we can’t take any chances.” He stuffed him the trunk. “Enjoy the ride.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Sanchez smiled and closed the lid. “You got this?” he asked Rodriguez.

  “Yeah, no problem.”

  “Get him set up,” Sanchez said. “We’ll be along shortly. As soon as we clean up our mess.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  Sanchez shook his head. “Get going.”

  When Rodriguez left with their cargo, the other men came out of hiding; Cruz, Clint, and Cochise. The cowboy and Egyptian went straight to the bodies and began hauling them into the garage.

  “It was Flynn,” Sanchez told Cruz.

  “You’re positive?”

  “Yeah. He told me his name, but I’d already recognized him from the stripper’s description.”

  “So, what do you think?” Cruz asked. “Any hope he’s our wild card?”

  Sanchez exhaled deeply. “If I had say right now, I’d go with yes. But we’ll get a better idea once we question him. Though I get the strong feeling he has no love for his father. And he made a point of telling me he wasn’t the one who abducted Caterina.”

  “You believe him?”

  Sanchez thought about it then nodded. “Yeah,” he murmured. “I think I do.”

  The odor of gasoline sifted their way as the other two men drenched the bodies and the interior of the garage with the flammable liquid. They exited the small structure and closed the doors then splashed more gas along the front and sides. Clint looked their way. “We ready to go?”

  Cruz nodded.

  The cowboy lit up the garage and the four of them walked away, cutting through the rundown neighborhood in the direction of their car parked a couple blocks away, hidden out of sight in another garage.

  •

  Flynn was hauled from the trunk by the Hispanic fellow and a couple other guys, a
nd ushered inside what looked like an old warehouse where he was tied to a chair. He half expected them to beat the shit out of him, but no one touched him. The one named Rodriguez brought him a cup of cold water and allowed him to drink. He didn’t understand this somewhat civil behavior. Had it been Hal and Cullen—or Riccardo—who had abducted a man from one of the other families, they would have beaten the fuck out of him and certainly not offered any pleasantries.

  Were they just waiting for the other men to arrive before they began to torture him? According to Rodriguez, Carter had been barbecued. Burned alive? There hadn’t been any hesitation in killing Hal and Cullen. Did he really think these niceties would continue once the cowboy—and likely, Cruz, arrived?

  Flynn watched the men mill around, clearly waiting on the others. When Rodriguez drifted his way, Flynn asked, “You gonna torture and kill me?”

  The young man stood before him. “That’s not my call. I just help with the grunt work.”

  “You are part of the Santiago mob, right?”

  “Yeah. Though I don’t know if mob is accurate.” He smiled. “We’re more like one big happy family.”

  “And Cruz Santiago your ring leader?”

  “I think of him more as a big brother type.”

  Flynn saw him only one way; cold-blooded killer. He stopped talking to the young man and Rodriguez wandered away. Anxiety seeped through him, working its way into his heart. What if he didn’t make it back? What would happen to Caterina? But he didn’t have to contemplate her fate, did he? He knew what would become of her. With each passing minute he was gone, she was in more and more danger of being raped.

  Surely no more than twenty minutes passed before the other men arrived, but it felt like hours. Flynn recognized Cruz Santiago the moment he walked in. The last time he’d seen him up close, the man was maybe nineteen or twenty. He had gained maturity in his face and body, but there was no mistaking it was him. And the cowboy who entered behind him looked the same to Flynn, though he’d only gotten a brief glimpse of him in the hallway of his home nine years ago.

  “Flynn Pisano.” Cruz approached him, grabbed a chair, placed it in front of Flynn, and sat on it backwards, arms resting on the back. “We finally meet. Caterina seemed quite taken with you.”

  Flynn stared at him silently as a war raged inside him. His age-old need to avenge his mother’s death grappled with the desperation to somehow convince these men that Caterina was in danger and they needed to let him go so he could keep her safe.

  “The strong silent type?” Cruz nodded. “All right. We’ll start with something simple. A warmup question to see if you’re capable of telling the truth.” He traced his index finger across his lower lip. “Why did you beat and murder Caterina’s ex?”

  An indignant fuck you was on the tip of his tongue when his fear for Caterina pulled it back. “I beat him,” Flynn said stiffly. “I didn’t kill him. That wasn’t me. Riccardo, one of my father’s men, put the bullet in his head.”

  Cruz gazed at him for a long moment, then called the cowboy over. “You’re skilled at distinguishing truth from bullshit…is he on the level?”

  The cowboy seized his stare and held it firmly. A low chill rippled through Flynn. “He’s telling the truth.”

  “All right. Now that we know you can be honest—why did you seek the man out after just one night with Caterina and beat the hell out of him?”

  They were wasting precious time. What did any of this have to do with the situation at hand? “I know his type,” Flynn murmured. “How they escalate, and the damage they will ultimately cause. I beat the fuck out of him as a warning to stay away from Caterina. I knew by the way he was treating her at the pub that he would eventually harm her if someone didn’t make him walk away.”

  “Hm.” Cruz nodded with interest. “Perhaps we are men of like mind after all.”

  “Doubtful,” Flynn muttered.

  Cruz just looked at him then went on. “Answer me this. If you’re so concerned about Caterina, why did you go along with your father’s plan to abduct her?”

  “I didn’t. Riccardo came in and took her at gunpoint. There was nothing I could do, so I went with her, to keep her safe.”

  “And how does she feel about you right now?”

  Flynn looked away, a sudden knot in his heart. “My guess would be she hates me and distrusts me.”

  “Does that bother you?”

  Flynn released a hard, frustrated breath. “What the fuck does this have to do with anything? We’re wasting time!”

  Cruz sat back and cocked his head. “Wasting time?”

  “Listen,” Flynn heaved. “Without me there, Caterina is not safe. Riccardo will rape her!”

  •

  The man’s words numbed Cruz’s mind, the fear in Flynn’s eyes very real; he wasn’t bullshitting.

  “If you kill me,” Flynn said. “You won’t find her—and she will be raped repeatedly.”

  “We already know her location,” Cruz told him. “We just need you to tell us where, inside the house, she is being kept, and the most efficient way to get her out.”

  Flynn stared at him, then suddenly shifted topic. “Why did you kill Hal and Cullen?”

  “The two men who were with you?”

  Flynn nodded.

  “They were bad news. We could see that right off. They had nothing to offer us but trouble. Were we right in our assumptions?”

  “Yes.”

  “Were they friends of yours?”

  “No.”

  “Good.” Cruz’s voice lowered with sincerity. “I know how it feels to lose a friend.” He looked at the young man and was startled when rage bubbled up in his eyes, his face straining. “Something wrong?”

  “You’ve asked me questions,” Flynn whispered tightly. “Now let me ask you one.”

  “All right. Shoot.”

  Flynn’s throat worked and a film of tears glossed his hard eyes. “Why did you kill my mother? I want to know—the god damn truth—before I kill you.”

  Cruz frowned. “Your mother? I don’t know-”

  “You’re that kid.” The cowboy came closer, face shadowed beneath the brim of his hate.

  “What kid?” Cruz looked up at Clint, confused.

  “Nine years ago. The one who would have blown your head off if I hadn’t grabbed him.”

  Cruz stared at the young man in quiet shock; Flynn was that kid?

  “Why didn’t you kill me, too?” Flynn asked thickly. “You would have done me a fucking favor.”

  “You were just a kid,” Cruz murmured. “We don’t kill kids.”

  “Just innocent women,” Flynn whispered fiercely.

  Cruz rubbed his forehead and frowned. “I’ve never in my life killed a woman. What the hell are you talking about?”

  “My mother, you fuck!” Flynn cried. “I saw you, there by her body! You shot her!”

  CHAPTER 29

  “Shadows of Doubt”

  ______________________________________________

  Flynn wasn’t prepared for the look on the man’s face. He had imagined a lot of reactions when he finally confronted his mother’s killer—but not this one. Cruz Santiago stared back at him in utter confusion, everything about him insisting he honestly didn’t know what the hell Flynn was talking about.

  No! It was him! He was right there—with a gun!

  Cruz sat back, genuine anguish in his eyes. “I didn’t kill your mother,” he said quietly. “I found her that way. I was checking to see if she was still alive. If she had been…I would have helped her.” He shook his head slowly. “I swear to you—on the life of everyone I love—it wasn’t me, or any of my men.”

  Flynn couldn’t process this now. It made no sense. “Caterina’s in danger,” he whispered, avoiding Cruz’s eyes, redirecting his focus. “I have to get back there-”

  Cruz’s cell vibrated. He quickly checked the display then looked at the other men. “It’s Caterina.” He answered the call. “Cat?” The look that came
over his face informed Flynn that it wasn’t Caterina. Cruz listened a moment, then confirmed his identity to the caller.

  Flynn glanced at the man who had cuffed him, Sanchez. “Don’t tell them that two of their men are dead and that you’re holding me. You won’t gain any leverage from me. My father sent me on this job because I’m expendable.”

  Cruz looked at him, catching his words. “If you harm Caterina in any way,” Cruz spoke into the phone, voice low and dangerous. “There will be no corner of this earth for you to hide that I won’t find you.”

  “They will use Caterina to make Cruz surrender,” Flynn murmured. “They want him first.”

  Though they had surely figured that out on their own, Sanchez nevertheless grew anxious, his eyes holding on Cruz. Caterina had mentioned her brother and his boyfriend. Was this the boyfriend? His attention and concern directed at Cruz suggested so.

  Flynn watched Cruz as well. I swear to you—on the life of everyone I love—it wasn’t me, or any of my men. He understood now why Caterina had a hard time believing that Cruz committed this heinous act. Flynn had condemned him long ago, wholly believed in his guilt for nine years, yet in the face of the man’s sincere declaration…even he was confronted with a shadow of a doubt.

  For the first time in almost a decade, Flynn was plagued with the troubling notion that maybe he’d been hunting the wrong man.

  But if not Cruz or one of his men…then who?

  •

  “Come alone, and you have nothing to worry about,” Terrell said. “If I even think you have someone tailing you, I will turn your bitch over to my men—after I have a go at her myself—and my boys like to fuck hard and rough.”

  “Fine,” Cruz Santiago answered stiffly. “But this is a trade. Me for her.”

  “No deal,” Terrell countered. “I’m not giving up the pretty prize just yet. As long as I have her, I know you won’t be giving me trouble while you’re a guest in my home. Will you?”