Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Diego, dressed in a sharp black suit, made his way through the crowd to us, a broad smiling lighting his sculpted face. “Fancy seeing you here, little sister.”
I scooted over so he could have a seat, eager to have someone to talk to who wasn’t either fighting or sucking face. “Hey, Diego.”
Leo, instead of greeting his friend, dragged a protesting Hannah out of the booth and onto the dance floor, arguing in whispers the whole way.
Arching his dark brows in a questioning look, Diego said, “What’s up with them?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“Well, while they’re busy, you want a tour of the club?”
I smiled, glad I wasn’t going to have to sit here by myself like a loser. “Sure, that would be great.”
Diego led me through the VIP area, pointing out different details about the building and staff, clearly proud of the place.
“So is Obsession like your baby?”
He nodded. “I spend most of my time here. My office is up on the third floor, want to see it?”
I glanced back over at our table, but Hannah and Leo were still dancing. “Yeah, I’d love to.”
We passed a set of big bouncers guarding a hallway off to the side of the VIP area, then passed yet another pair of bouncers before we took some stairs to the third level. The music was more muted up here, a distant background thump of bass muffled by the thick gold carpeting. We went down a long hallway with various closed doors until we came to the end.
Diego placed his palm on the digital pad next to the door, and there was a small beep before he opened the door and ushered me in.
My first impression of the room was a big office done in shades of black, plum, and silver, elegant yet masculine. The lighting was low, and my attention was caught by a large bank of screens that showed camera feeds from different parts of the club. It was cool to watch what everyone was doing, from the kitchens to the bouncers out front, and I wandered over to get a closer look. All the champagne I’d downed was starting to get to me, and I had to lean against the edge of Diego’s large black lacquered desk as I wobbled in my heels.
It was only after the door shut that I realized Diego hadn’t followed me into the room, but I wasn’t alone.
“Joy.”
That one word tore through me, and my heart thrummed so hard in my chest I thought I might be having a heart attack.
Spinning around, I put my hand to my mouth in shock as I tried to understand what I was seeing.
It was Ramón…but not the Ramón I remembered. Gone was his shoulder length dark hair, his head now buzzed so short that at one point I know he’d been bald, revealing thick, pink healing scars that raked down the right side of his once perfect face. He stood across the room from me, dressed in a tight maroon button-down men’s shirt and black slacks, his fists clenched at his side.
My stomach lurched and I managed to stammer out, “Ramón? What…what happened?”
He started to cross the room to me, and just as my knees began to give out, he managed to sweep me into his arms before I hit the floor.
His body shook as he held me, and I struggled to make sense of what was going on.
“Joy, my sweet, beautiful Joy,” he whispered as he sank to the ground, sitting on the floor with me curled in his lap. “I missed you.”
Sudden anger filled me, and I tried to push my way out of his arms before he made a pained grunt that stopped my thrashing even as I yelled at him, “What the fuck is going on?”
“Shhh,” he soothed me even as the lines around his eyes tightened with pain. “I’ll explain, just please, calm down.”
Tears burned my nose, and I was torn between kissing the hell out of him, demanding that he show me his injuries, and killing him. “I am calm!”
The darkness in his gaze lifted, the green in his eyes standing out as his lips twitched in a smile. “So I see.”
Unable to help myself, I ghosted my fingertips over the healing scars on his cheeks. “Ramón, what the hell happened? Where have you been? Why didn’t you call me?”
He took a deep breath and held me close, his body shaking beneath mine. “I couldn’t contact you because my helicopter was shot down over the jungle in El Salvador during a rescue mission.”
“What?”
He proceeded to tell me this crazy story about this girl being kidnapped and how she was sold into slavery, her virginity to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. It sounded like something out of a movie, but the scars covering his face were all too real, and I knew from my own brush with Manny and his goons what terrible fate awaited the girl. Even with her virginity intact, there were ways that they could have…defiled her. The thought of someone doing that created a fire inside of me, a burning need for justice. I internally cheered when I learned Ramón and his men had slaughtered the bastards holding that girl. When Ramón got to the part about his helicopter crash and subsequent flight through the jungle to safety, I started sobbing, my heart hurting for all that he’d endured.