Chapter 4 #2
He nods. “Sí, I’m aware of your father’s…situation.” He arches a brow as he glances at me. “And his difficulties with, among others, your brother. Families can be complicated, no?”
I puff out a mirthless laugh. “Tell me about it.”
Andrés pulls off the main road, and we start to drive up to the peak of Griswold Hill, which sits above the Knightsblood campus and the nearby town of Hawthorne Hollow.
“I think I’m beginning to realize what you wanted to talk to me about,” Andrés says as we drive up the winding, wooded road to the top of the hill.
“I understand that it’s no small thing for a family such as yours to involve itself in something like this,” I say hesitantly. “But it’s getting bad. My father has a lot of enemies out there, and I understand that he isn’t a good man, I really do. But—”
“He’s still your father.” Andrés pulls to a stop in the little parking lot next to the clearing at the top of Griswold Hill and switches off the engine. “Believe me, I understand.” He sighs, a small smile on his face as he turns to me in the darkness.
Below us, Knightsblood sits perched like a dark jewel on the cliff above Connecticut Sound. The coastal town of Hawthorne Hollow twinkles with lights down closer to the shore.
“You’re right, it would be no small thing for my family to become entangled in this business.”
I nod quietly. “I know. And I’m very thankful that we’re even having this conversation.”
He turns to me and flashes another winning smile. “Of course.”
“Now, if your family were to take my father under their protection—”
Andrés laughs quietly. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves, Evelina.”
Shoot.
“Sorry,” I blurt. “It's just…my father doesn’t really have the luxury of time—”
“To start with…” Andrés unbuckles his seat belt and clears his throat. “Why don’t you show me.”
My brows knit. “Show you…what?”
“How thankful you are that we are having this conversation.”
Suddenly, the car feels smaller. The air feels thicker and more cloying. My seat belt feels constricting. And that charming smile no longer looks so charming.
It looks…predatory.
“Andrés—”
“I’m a man of business, Evelina.”
An icy coldness stabs into me when his hand suddenly lands on my thigh, right at the hem of my skirt.
“Wait. Andrés—”
“And in our world, yours and mine, there are many things that are….” He chuckles quietly. “Transactional.”
“I think I’d like to go back to—”
“And I’d like you to stop being such a little cocktease and spread your legs.”
A choked sound claws its way into my throat as he shoves his hand under my skirt, pushing it up my inner thigh.
“Andrés!” I blurt, grabbing his wrist and trying to shove his hand away. But he’s much stronger, and his cold fingers dig into my thigh, unyielding.
“This is how it will work, Evelina,” he murmurs. “My family will shield your father. But only if you stop being so coy with me.”
When I see him start to open his belt with his other hand, my soul leaves my body.
“No, Andrés, wait, please—”
“Are you going to be a good girl for me, Evelina?”
His hand slides further up my trembling thigh as horror floods my system.
“Andrés, stop. STOP! STOP IT! STOP—!”
It all happens incredibly quickly. One second, I’m frozen in my seat feeling like I’m literally going to throw up as Andrés’ hand creeps toward my underwear. The next moment, the driver side door is suddenly yanked open, and Andrés is forcibly ripped from the car.
All I can see is the dark shape of a man, snarling and growling as he knocks Andrés to the ground next to the Porsche. Andrés is swearing in Spanish, and my eyes go wide when I see him wrestle a knife from inside his jacket.
The second man roars as Andrés’ blade slashes his upper arm. But then the knife is knocked aside, and the two men fight with their bare hands, roaring and twisting on the ground.
With a scream, I’m fumbling and yanking at my seat belt, throwing the passenger door open and bolting from the car. I hear a roar of pain from behind me, and more swearing and thrashing. But I don’t look back as I run in a blind panic into the woods surrounding the little clearing.
My heart pounds like a drum against my ribs. Blood roars in my ears, mingling with the ragged sound of my breathing as I crash through the underbrush. Branches and leaves tangle in my hair, like clawed hands trying to slow me down.
Then suddenly, someone actually does grab me.
I scream a strangled cry of pure fear as the hand gets my ponytail in a fist and yanks, hard. My scalp explodes in pain as I’m tugged clean off my feet and land on my back in the dry leaves.
Pure survival instinct bursts inside me. I kick and scream and claw, fighting like a mad thing with the dark shape looming over me. I manage to catch him someplace soft with my heel, and he grunts and doubles over, giving me just enough time to scramble to my feet and turn to bolt.
Not happening.
A strong hand, wet, wraps like iron around my neck from behind. My scream withers and dies in my throat as the man wrenches me around and slams me up against the rough hardness of a tree. His fingers tighten as his chiseled face suddenly looms down into mine.
My heart stops beating and the world goes quite still.
The moonlight glints through the jagged branches, illuminating the horror-show sight of the man…
the man I know…his bleeding arm, his bloody hand wrapped around my throat, his icy blue eyes piercing into my very soul as his body presses hard to mine.
“My my… What have you gotten yourself into this time, Evelina,” Vaughn growls.