Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
“Then those people would disappear.”
God. What a way to grow up.
“You must have been so lonely,” she said.
“I was supposed to only play with my cousins. Who would become my seconds, my advisors. Only problem is that all of my cousins are psychopathic assholes. Antony was the best of the lot. So when I was old enough, I suggested to my father that we branch out. That I should go down to South America and build relationships with our drug suppliers. That if I was there, I could keep an eye on things better.”
“Is that where you met North?” she asked.
“Yeah, it was. I was walking down this alleyway in Cali with two of my men. Some assholes who were working for a drug lord that didn’t like my family attacked us. North saved me. He killed all of those men, then he dragged me out of that alley, patched me up, gave me antibiotics so I didn’t die of infection. So when I was feeling better, I hired him to be my assistant. It was a bit of a front, even though he does help me. He’s also deadly, smart, and loyal.”
“Wow, that’s crazy.”
“I know. It was like we were meant to meet. Anyway, I had my own reasons for moving to Colombia. I knew that if I ever wanted to get out from underneath my father’s thumb, that I had to build up my own fortune and power. So I started to amass my own contacts, and my own people. I started gathering people. Only my people didn’t work for me because they feared me, but because I took care of them. North kept calling me soft because I didn’t just take in those that could help me, but their families. Elderly. Children. Soon, I had a small village of people living in my compound.”
Oh God.
She had a feeling that she didn’t want to know what had happened to them. But on the other hand, she had to know.
“What happened to them all?”
“North and I were away for business. Rex had come with us as I didn’t trust anyone else to cook our food. Along with six of my men. While we were gone . . . while we were gone, the compound was invaded. Everyone was killed.”
“Even the children?” she whispered as tears filled her eyes.
“Yes, even the children. Everyone. When we got word, we rushed home. Two of the guards with me had families they’d left behind. They were all killed.”
“I’m so sorry.” She tried to reach for him, to hug him, but the pain in her side stopped her from moving.
He glanced up, then stood. “Easy, baby girl. Stop moving around so much.”
“I just wanted to hug you. Because I’m so damn sorry that happened to you.”
He shook his head. “I don’t deserve your sympathy. I failed them. I was supposed to keep them safe.”
“Oh, Jared. I’m sure you did try. You couldn’t have known what would happen.”
“It doesn’t make it easier to take. I should have protected them.” His hands were clenched into fists. His face could have been carved from granite.
It explained why he was so over-the-top with his protection of her now. And why he was horrified that the Fox had gotten through to her.
Shit. He must have been so scared when he came in to find the Fox here.
“And Beltran had something to do with that? He was the one who killed them all?”
“Yeah. I had recently stolen away some of his suppliers and he wasn’t happy. Beltran always left his victims with a symbol burned into their chest. Several of my people had that symbol.”
God.
“I cleaned everything up, buried my dead, and tried to find Beltran. But he and his men went underground. I couldn’t find any trace of them. So I came home. That’s the last time I saw you . . . before my father died, that is.”
That time she’d thought he’d changed. That he’d grown cold.
Okay, that explained a lot.
“And you’ve never been able to find him?” she asked.
“No. I didn’t have the manpower left to take him down. And I had to clean up back here. My father left a fucking mess. But that didn’t mean I didn’t use my connections to search for him. And a few of my guards that survived also wanted revenge. They started a security and investigation company with my backing. They’ve been searching for him too. And like all snakes, he eventually slithered back. He started operating again under an alias, so we didn’t realize at first. Once we did, though, we started hitting his businesses hard. We believe he’s figured out that I’ve been bankrolling them. That’s why either he or someone he’s hired is killing my people here.”
“In revenge?” she asked.
“Exactly.”
“God, what a mess. I’m so sorry about what happened to your people.”