Blood Ties by Lana Sky

Chapter Fourteen

Sound travels in this house. I can hear the clinking of silverware and muttered voices. Apparently, Domino and Alexi have carried on with their meal without me.

Somehow, I find that more unnerving than if he had hunted me down the hall and was banging on the door. It means that he’s willing to make me wait, stewing in his anger and devising a crueler punishment.

The full extent of what I’ve done doesn’t sink in until I parse over what I said to him—all within Alexi’s earshot. If I truly wasn’t supposed to know about his role in masterminding the twisted plot that got me here, well, then I’m about to find out.

Though, I can’t feel too guilty for tarnishing his little ruse when I realize that Alexi let a secret of her own slip. Domino had her sleep with Tristan and was ready and waiting to take pictures.

Did he convince her during those sexy sessions between the two of them that he also documented? All she had to do was “play her role.”

It stings to think of him working with her—of the two of them plotting against my family and me. Even if I did cause a rift between him and Jaguar over his apparent deceit, I shouldn’t care. Right?

I can’t ignore the way he looked at me in the bathroom as blood dripped down my face. He seemed unguarded then, as though he had nothing to hide. Nothing left to lose.

What will he do if he thinks I’ve put a wrench in his carefully crafted plan?

I don’t have to speculate for long.

I hear footsteps first, light initially, then firmer. Heavier. They advance slowly in this direction, as though the source of them has all the time in the world.

But the closer they come, the more anger becomes apparent in every steady, resonating footfall.

My heart starts to race as they grow nearer, eventually stopping where I assume the door to be. I hear a distinctive jangle as if they tested the doorknob, finding it locked.

I tense, expecting banging. A threat. Promises of violence.

Instead…

The steps retreat.

My confusion spurs me to creep from my hiding place, straining my ears for any other sound that might give me a clue of his next course of action. All I hear is silence, and the chirping of insects encroaching from outside. I must have left the window open.

But despite how hard I listen, I can’t discern any noises that might be coming from inside the house. No footsteps. No voices, either Domino’s or Alexi’s.

No noise at all, except for my rapidly beating heart and the frantic sound of my own breathing.

Warily, I creep to the closet door and push it open—only to have it wrenched out of my grasp, flung from the outside.

Domino lurks behind it, though I don’t believe my eyes at first. Behind him, the mattress and wardrobe are still positioned before the closed door. There’s no way he could have gotten in.

Then I feel him—the heat of his breath against my temple as he exhales harshly. With one hand, he grips the doorway, blocking me in. His fingers shake, the knuckles stark white, his entire body resonating with tension.

“You have no fucking clue what you’ve done,” he tells me, but his voice is worlds apart from the restrained growl he displayed in the dining room. It’s nowhere close to his bellowed shouts or the angriest snarl I’ve heard him utilize. It’s different. Colder. Softer. Like a whisper ripped from his chest, against his will. Something so hard for him to voice he can’t believe he’s actually doing so. “Do you?”

He releases the door and snags my chin, dragging me toward him. “You stupid, foolish…” He breaks off as if I’m not even worth the effort of insulting. “You’ve just fucked up everything I’ve spent five fucking years putting into motion. Again.”

I flinch at that. It sounds like such an overreaction to one petty outburst. Alexi Rojas has the power to unravel the schemes of the great and powerful Domino Valenciaga? I wouldn’t believe it if it weren’t for his words that choose now to haunt me.

She works for him.

His eyes narrow, nostrils flaring. “Goddamn, I should just let him have you. You’re not even worth the fucking effort of—”

“Maybe if you would stop lying to me,” I croak, trying to wrench away. “I could actually trust you.”

He tightens his grip, tugging me even closer. My breasts graze his chest, and through the heated skin, I swear I can feel his heart pounding. Pulsating. Raging.

He’s so angry, and I can’t resist this pathetic need to defend myself, even though I damn well shouldn’t have to.

“You sent Alexi after Tristan.”

He blinks, and I take advantage of the brief moment of distraction to pull away and stagger further into the closet, putting as much distance between us that I can.

“You told that whore to fuck my boyfriend, and then you took photo evidence as proof. For what? So you could get off on having both of us as your little pawns?”

“No.” He shrugs the insinuation off, his expression cold. “I sent Alexi to Tristan to find out what he knew. Your father had been coy on his role in their little scheme. As it turns out, I had a damn good reason to be suspicious.”

“My… My father?”

It doesn’t make sense. There are too many strings composing this twisted web. I can’t make heads or tails of it.

Domino advances a step, clenching his hands into fists at his sides. I can practically feel his restraint, causing a shift in the atmosphere like a building storm cloud just before the rain breaks loose.

“He was growing paranoid, Ada. Restless. A wild beast is always the most dangerous when it’s cornered. When it feels its life is on the line. By that point, it will resort to any option it can to free itself. Like using its daughter as a pawn to throw off suspicion for its connection to a potential crime spree.”

It’s my turn to blink, caught off guard by the word choice.

“What are you even talking about?”

He scoffs. “Silly little Ada. Of course, you wouldn’t take time from your shopping to educate yourself on something as trivial as your father being openly linked by the media to a sex trafficking ring.”

I swallow hard, bristling at the disgust in his tone. “My father was about to be indicted for some silly hit and run,” I say. “They didn’t even have strong evidence against him. He was just being set up to take the fall so his enemies could run roughshod over his reputation.”

I’m parroting exactly what my father told me—what he ranted and raved about for the last month before this mess even began. He needed me to use Tristan as a way into the prosecutor’s case, though he wasn’t assigned to it. Somehow, he still knew enough information to make those shitty, unmemorable nights with him worth it to my father. Enough that he kept pushing me to meet with him.

And maybe, I liked the attention. I liked knowing that, despite having someone as beautiful as Alexi to screw around with, he still desired me—even if it was because of my proximity to my father. I still won.

It’s so silly now to think about that. I feel my cheeks flame, and I almost miss Domino’s reaction to that statement. Rather than look shocked or satisfied that I at least knew something about the case, he frowns.

“What was the man’s name?”

“What?”

“The man who died, what was his name?” He makes his tone flat, speaking deliberately slow.

“I don’t know. Some jogger, I think—”

“Some jogger.” He laughs, raking a hand through his dark hair. “Try some businessman that authorities had been trailing for six months as part of a sting operation to catch the ringleader of a sex trafficking ring that stretches from Terra Rodea to halfway across the country. That man dies and so does the investigation and the only link they had to finding a mastermind. Unless they could put pressure on the suspect who might have wanted that man dead, even if they had flimsy fucking evidence.”

“My father?”

“Bingo, as they say, Ada-Maria. I know you rarely left that mansion of yours, but I would think you’d have access to the internet, at least.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Think.” He takes another step, and I hit my shoulder on a shelf in my haste to retreat. As the wall meets my back, I realize that I’m trapped. There’s nowhere left to go. “Who stands to benefit if you happened to be kidnapped—let alone murdered—in a violent raid on some fancy restaurant? Maybe the man desperate to prove to the police and the world that he isn’t connected to the same ring that might have stolen his only daughter? It’s a sloppy plan, but desperate times call for desperate measures, Ada. Tell me that I don’t have to spell it out for you.”

“You’re lying,” I snap. And I have plenty of reason to doubt him, stemming from his own cruel attempts at manipulating me. Besides, I remember something else from the night I was taken. “The indictment was being called off. Tristan told me. They weren’t going to make an arrest.”

Domino’s brows knit together with a swiftness that makes me suspect he didn’t know that tidbit of information. Just when I start to believe that might be true, he shrugs.

“I wonder what else did Tristan tell you? That he was fucking multiple other women? That he was working with your father behind your back? That you were just a steppingstone on his own ambitious career path?”

“And maybe I should have appreciated him more,” I croak. “Because he at least pretended to give a damn about me. Which is more than I can say for you. You want me to be worried that I ruined your little plan, Domino? Well, I’m not. You’ve yet to prove that you’re any better than the hell you claim awaits me. A hell you sold me to—”

“Sir?” The quiet voice, paired with a delicate series of knocks on the door, seems so out of place amid this tension that I lose my train of thought.

Raising his voice, Domino heads into the bedroom. “Yes, Ines?”

“Mr. Jaguar will arrive tomorrow afternoon,” she says. “I will make the necessary arrangements.”

“Thank you.” Domino waits until her soft steps retreat down the hall before he turns to me, snatching my wrist.

“You doubt me? Well, now you’ll get to see firsthand if you’ve made the right choice or not. Don’t you realize?” He yanks me to him, staring me down with eyes like fire. “I can’t protect you this time, Ada-Maria.”

“This time?” I echo hoarsely. “When have you ever protected me? Even once?”

He slams his free hand against my jaw with barely enough restraint to keep from hurting me. He merely forces my head to the side, inspecting me from this newer angle. It provides him the chance to lower his mouth to my ear without breaking eye contact.

“When have I protected you? From the second I set foot in that fucking house, my only focus was you.”

He shoves me aside, and I trip, landing on my knee. As I scramble to regain my balance, I realize exactly how he got in.

One of the large, French-style windows is open, letting in the warm night air. He must have come through it. But why?

The easiest explanation is that he wanted to catch me off guard, but I think it’s more than that, lurking in the reality that a man like him would have no problem breaking through my barriers. Easily.

The only reason he’d circumvent the more violent action is if he wanted to avoid making a scene—and exposing Alexi to his more ferocious nature.

God, I don’t know why the thought stings. It’s so stupid to take offense to his apparent awareness of her. She’s his accomplice, after all.

“You never cared about me,” I say, eyeing one of the many scrapes on my legs that prove that point. “I was an idiot to believe you’d ever keep your word.”

“No,” he growls, advancing toward me. “It’s your turn to keep your word.”

A rustling sound catches the air, and I brace for a blow. Instead, something lands against the floor within my reach. I have to blink just to make sure it’s really here.

He must have had it on him all this time, at least during dinner. Pia’s diary.

If Jaguar’s impending visit has him on edge, then why choose now to bring up the past again?

Because he believes this will be his only chance, a concern that should definitely add strength to the “jaguar is no better than he is,” column.

“You think Pia’s at the house. Her house. Why?”

“It was a guess—”

“You’re not that naïve, Ada,” he snarls. “Neither am I.”

He appears before me, crouched on one knee, his expression like ice, each rugged feature etched in stone. “Give me a reason to believe there might be something in that empty skull of yours worth salvaging.”

I can’t escape the feeling that he’s proposing the dare like a test. Make him value me. Give him something worth saving. Cower and beg.

“You never knew her very well,” I say, matching his soft tone. “Your sister. Because if you did, you wouldn’t seem so puzzled by the breadcrumb trail she left behind. That’s what she did, Domino. She kept secrets. She fed on lies.”

“And you seemed to have learned plenty from her.” He stands, crossing his arms, staring down at me with a glare so piercing I go numb in the face of it. “You’re more selfish than I gave you credit for. Too fucking spoiled to even consider what might be for your own fucking good.”

“So tell me, then,” I counter, jutting my chin. “Stop dancing around in circles and just tell me what kind of danger I’m in. Tell me the truth about everything—”

“The truth?” He inclines his head sharply, his eyes narrowing to slits. “The truth, Ada-Maria, is that Jaguar doesn’t see you as some worthless pawn through which he can control your father. That’s just a bonus. He sees you as…”

“What?” I demand, unnerved by how his voice deepens and his eyes take on a faraway gleam. It’s as if he’s staring a million years into the past, rooted here by sheer force of will.

“Jaguar sees you as a way to get to me,” he says. “And he’ll do that however he can. He’ll hurt you. Violate you. Anything he can think of to keep me in line.”

He doesn’t sound like he’s lying, but I can’t square that description of me with a man who’s done all those things to me himself. Hurt. Violate. Anything he can think of. A part of me questions if it’s just jealousy that has him so on edge. Even so, I’m not sure if I’m brave enough to be at the mercy of someone else.

“Who is he to you?”

He stiffens, his teeth gritted. Again, he tears his hand through his hair, turning his back to me as he starts to pace. “He is… No one,” he declares, looking down on me from over his shoulder. “No one that will interest you, anyway. But congratulations, Ada-Maria, you’ve gotten your wish—someone seeks to use you beyond just getting to your father. Congratulations. I can’t save you this time.”