Home > Black Hearts (Sins Duet #1)(24)

Black Hearts (Sins Duet #1)(24)
Author: Karina Halle

She tries to glare at him but her eyes soften into liquid pools, dark as teakwood, and he can see her pulse moving delicately along her throat. He’s been worried about her lately so to see this zest return is nothing less than comforting.

“And need I remind you,” she says, hesitantly taking her finger away, “that I chose not to escape. I chose to stay with you. I chose you and all of this, all the ups and all the downs. If I had left, we wouldn’t have Vicente or Marisol. I would have never known this peace.”

“Are you at peace?” he asks curiously. He’s not sure if he’s felt peace for more than a minute of his life. Maybe while he’s coming inside Luisa and the seconds afterward, or the moment he pulls a trigger, ending someone’s life. That peace is fleeting though.

But Luisa doesn’t seem so certain either. She looks away, toward the rocks where the pond should be. “I have moments of it. That’s enough.”

“Javier,” Oscar Barrera’s voice comes from behind them.

What fucking now? Javier thinks. Can’t I stand here and admire my nonexistent pond in peace?

But when he turns around with a heavy sigh to face Barrera, he sees he has news.

“Vicente’s card has been used at the Intercontinental,” Barrera says. He’s Javier’s right-hand man now that Vicente is gone, and has been monitoring his whereabouts when he can. Not that there have been any whereabouts to go by.

Javier wasn’t that surprised to lose contact with Tio and Nacho though he admits it happened rather quickly. It only made him admire his son more.

“Oh, thank god,” Luisa says, hand to her chest. “Can you be sure it’s Vicente using the card and no one else?”

Ever since they lost Tio and Nacho, she’s been worried, too worried, Javier thinks, that something happened to Vicente as well. She doesn’t seem to understand exactly what Vicente is capable of, and it’s quite clear by now that their son has no problems disposing of the people who were meant to protect him.

Then again, Javier knows they were never meant to protect him at all, merely watch and report. Vicente doesn’t need protection over there, not yet.

“We can’t be sure,” Barrera says patiently, “and Vicente is most likely booked in the hotel under another name. The hotel was booked through a website. Two thousand dollars a night.”

“Jesus,” Javier swears, exchanging a look with Luisa. “The girl better be worth it. All right, well. This is good news. It tells us he’s still in San Francisco. Let’s send Parada out on the first flight tomorrow morning.”

“Why tomorrow when he can go now?” Luisa says.

“Patience,” Javier says, giving her a slow smile. “These things take time. You know this by now.”

She lets out a ragged sigh and heads back toward the house with Barrera. Javier turns back to face the rocks and starts mentally landscaping the place all over again.

Dear son, he thinks, let’s see how alike we really are.

Chapter Eight

Violet

I must be getting played.

There’s no other explanation.

I mean, seriously.

Vicente is handsome as hell, loaded, beyond charming, and exceptionally smooth. Half the stuff that was coming out of his mouth yesterday would have made any girl groan at the inherent over-the-topness.

But I didn’t groan. Because I know they aren’t just lines. He means them.

Doesn’t he?

I’m staring at myself in the bathroom mirror this morning, trying to figure out what he could possibly see in me. Don’t get me wrong—I might be a snowflake but I’m no Mary Sue. I know I’m attractive in my own way, it’s just that way doesn’t always attract the right men, at least not the men I want. I’m not tall, skinny, blonde and tanned with big lips, flat abs, and perky boobs. Okay, maybe my boobs are on the perky side, and so is my ass, but that’s from all my kickboxing and training. It’s big, all muscle, as are my thighs, and I do have strong arms and a strong stomach (covered underneath a layer of pinch-worthy flab, of course).

Body aside, I do have a good face. But it’s not sunny, sexy, and open. It’s the face that either makes men shrivel away from me or prompts them to say, “Smile, it’s not all bad.” I wish I had a clever comeback for every time I’ve heard that.

I honestly have never had a man so into me and so bold about it, and who also makes my heart do somersaults.

I know I shouldn’t question it. I should just accept it.

Easier said than done.

“Violet!” my mom yells from downstairs. “I’m going!”

I glance at my phone. My mother is driving me to school today on the way to the studio. My makeup is only half done, so I shove the rest into my makeup bag and pull my hair back into a low ponytail. I don’t know exactly what I’m expecting tonight other than dinner, but I did shave my legs and bikini line, so there is that. Just before I’m out the door, I grab a couple condoms from my drawer and put them in my purse.

Just in case.

I totally just jinxed myself, I know.

My mom is waiting impatiently by the door with her arms crossed. She looks more stressed than usual, her mouth set in a firm line. When she sees me, her expression softens.

“You look nice,” she says, eyeing me up and down.

“Thanks,” I tell her as casually as possible as I walk out the door and down the steps to the street. I’m wearing pointy studded black boots with kitten heels, probably the nicest boots I own, having haggled on eBay for them, black leggings, and a maroon long-sleeve dress with a low and lacy neckline. I left my beloved leather jacket behind since it’s probably too faded and banged up for a fancy restaurant, and I have a black satin bomber jacket on instead (a cheap find but it doesn’t look it).

   
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