“He’s going to be okay, Anna. But there’s something—”
“He is?” Without waiting to hear more, I barge into the room, and then I come to a crashing stop in the doorway.
Joseph’s lying on the bed, unconscious, but he’s not alone.
The devil himself is standing with his back to the window, dressed in his usual black and casting his sin and darkness over everything; destroying any relief I may have been feeling with a flash of those cruel, dead eyes.
“Shut the door,” orders Dante, dispensing with the formalities. Not that he uses them anyway. “You have exactly sixty seconds to convince me not to kill you. Starting now.”
“Fuck you!” I fire back, slamming the door with as much force as I can muster. “How about you have exactly sixty seconds, you soul-burning bastard, to convince me not to call the CIA!”
25
Anna
Ignoring the imminent explosion tick-tocking over by the window, I cross the room to reach Joseph’s side. His huge frame is dwarfing the small single bed. He’s shirtless—his skin as carved and golden as any god’s—but it’s tarnished today with a white bandage tied tight around the top left of his chest and shoulder. There’s a darkening red stain marring the center of it.
I trail my gaze slowly, feasting on it all because I don't want to miss a thing, from the massive biceps swathed in black tattoos to the numerous old scars, and then to the silver chain around his neck with the two gold wedding bands that tug at places inside I’ve yet to visit. Before I can stop myself, I’m leaning over and pressing my lips to his, rejoicing in his warmth; willing him to open his eyes and shoot me with those chilly gray-blues I’ve grown to love because the secrets behind them are ours to share now.
Moon.
I break away, frowning.
He made me a promise.
How am I only remembering this now?
“You look like shit,” I hear Dante say, his black boot stomping all over another precious moment.
“You can’t help yourself, can you?” The dried blood has been wiped away from Joseph’s skin, or maybe it’s because I’m wearing most of it. “Did the doctor get the bullet?”
“Yes.”
“There was so much blood…” I sound lost suddenly. “Does he need a donor or—?”
“Taken care of.”
I turn to find him rolling up the sleeve of his shirt to show me an angry red puncture wound in the crease of his elbow. “We’re a match… Found out in the military. We’ve been sharing blood for a long time, Miss Williams.”
I hear the warning, and I choose to ignore it anyway.
“Is that how you first infected him with your evil?”
There’s a pause. “I offered it freely. He didn't turn me down.” I watch him roll up the other sleeve. “I’m not here to fucking justify myself to you, woman. I don’t even do that for my wife.”
“Who’s Cash?”
He pauses again. “Where did you hear that name?”
“Caleb?”
Without warning, he removes his gun from his holster and holds it loosely by his side. This man isn’t capable of having a simple conversation without threats involved.
Is Gabriela listening outside the door? She knows he’s here. That’s what she was trying to warn me about before I barged in. Is she waiting for her moment to interrupt, or if she as deferential to this bastard as—?”
“Oh my God,” I whisper, as the pieces slam together in my mind. “It was you… You’re the one who helped Gabriela escape all those years ago. The monster was your father. That’s why Gomez’s men don’t dare touch this place, for fear of your reprisal.”
“Gomez does whatever the fuck I tell him to do,” he says coolly. “There will never be a reprisal from him because he’s already had a taste of the consequences.”
“You lost your eldest daughter.”
He smiles at me, but his face is completely devoid of emotion. “Keep talking that way and you’ll lose the back of your fucking skull.” He cocks his gun, but I don’t even flinch. He can threaten me all he wants to, but I know the truth: There are weaknesses in even the hardest of stone.
“You’re not going to shoot me, Dante,” I tell him calmly. “You are a bad man right down to your stinking rotten core, but there’s a sliver of light in there too, and you’ll do anything to protect it. You kill me and you kill that light. You kill me and you hurt Eve and Joseph, and I don’t think you’re capable of doing that.”
He glowers at me until my face starts burning up, and then he’s lowering his weapon. “Welcome back,” he says dryly. “I was wondering when you’d be making an appearance again.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“The night in Rick Sanders’ bar last year,” he goads, holstering his weapon. “The night you nearly took out my jaw with your fist. I think we’ve all missed that woman.”
I’ve had enough of his bullshit.
“Your world killed that woman,” I say angrily, rising to my feet. “What you see here today is nothing but her ghost.”
“What I see before me today is so much more than the woman I freed from a cage in Amsterdam six months ago.”
The bastard almost sounds impressed.
“You didn’t free me,” I argue. “Joseph did.”
“Who do you think provided the resources and the firepower?” His cocks his head at me, his eyebrows dipping in amusement.
“You were there out of duty to Eve. He was there because he actually gave a damn!”
“That’s one way of putting it.” I watch his expression harden as he catches sight of my arm. “What happened to you?”
“Car crash.” I cradle the wound to my chest and scowl at him. I’ve exposed his emotional weakness, and now he’s coming for my physical one. This man never plays fair.
“Let me take a look at it.”
“I’d rather die from sepsis, thank you.”
“Which is exactly what will happen if we don’t clean it up.” I watch him walk over to the medical tray and drag it toward a couple of wooden chairs in the corner.
“Gabriela said she’ll do it,” I say mutinously.
“Gabriela’s not here. Come and sit down.” He kicks one of the chairs in my direction.
“Are you a doctor now as well as a murdering bastard?” I say, refusing to budge. “How can you even show yourself in a place like this when you and your cartel buddies are responsible for most of the pain downstairs.”
“Because I fucking pay for it,” he says, shutting me up. “Now sit the fuck down, before I glue your ass to the seat.”
Shooting evil glances at him, I do as he says.
Sitting down opposite, he swings the medical tray in between us like a mediator and grabs my arm, holding it out to inspect the wound. His touch is like ice and I shrink away from it, which earns me another glare.
“You and Eve are too similar with this defiant shit.”
“I hate you for what you did to her. You kidnapped her, raped her…” My voice starts escalating again as his grip on my arm tightens.