“But you’re not alone. You have her. You even took off my locket. I would have waited for you, Skull. I would have waited,” she says, crying before she fades into the black. My body jerks from the pain on her face and I jar myself awake.
I rake my hand through my hair, despising the way it trembles. I move to the side of the bed, putting my feet on the floor. I'm hung over as hell. My head, my teeth and even my fucking hair hurts. I look at the blonde in my bed. I’ve been pursuing her since Dragon’s so-called funeral. She reminded me so much of Beth. The blonde hair, the unusual eyes. I saw her and went after her. In the end, she was nothing like my Beth. She’s been married before, and there’s nothing innocent about Teena, but she’s a good woman. A woman that a man could claim. If he was whole. If he had every piece of him. If he wasn’t haunted.
My cell phone rings and I grab it off the nightstand, walking away from the bed. I’m not ready to talk to her, or to anyone. My emotions are still raw. When I see who is on the phone, I know it’s not going to get any better.
“You weren’t at the meeting with your brother,” I mutter, wishing I was completely done with all of the Donahues… with everything. I’m starting to hate Beth, hate her for bringing this shit into my life and leaving me in it.
“I did not know about it. I am in France trying to calm the family. The death of my grandfather has left us all scrambling.”
“Si, for power.”
“True. But my grandfather was revered. They want his death avenged.”
“Who killed the motherfucker? I’d like to buy him a beer, hell maybe four.”
“I thought Colin told you?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Beth, she’s alive. My grandfather was keeping her and her sister prisoner. They murdered him and fled.”
“I don’t know what kind of game you and your brother are playing, but I am not—”
“It’s no game, Skull. It is very real. And the family has called a hit out on the girls. They have tracked them down in Texas.”
My hand shakes. Is it? Could it be real? After my meeting with Colin, I started taking precautions, but I thought he was playing me. There was no way she could have survived. I look over at the woman in my bed, and something coils inside of me I do not want to name.
“What is your game, Matthew?” I ask, because though he is slightly better to deal with than Colin, he’s still a fucking Donahue and I do not trust him.
“There is a child, Skull. Your child.”
“I saw Colin’s papers. I know. I’m checking into it, but having some woman pretend to be Beth just so your family…”
“It is not pretend, Skull. Beth and your daughter are very much alive. At least, until my family gets ahold of them.”
There’s so many things running through me right now, I couldn’t name one fucking emotion except anger and bitterness… bitterness is overwhelming me. Could Beth have done this to me? Could she?
“What do you want with me? I know it’s something.”
“I called to see if you would work with us. If you will help us hunt down Beth and her sister. You bring them to me.”
“What do I get out of this?”
“Revenge, and something more valuable. You will have your daughter. If my family finds them first, they won’t care about the child. Some will take great pleasure in ending her young life.”
“So, I just hunt down Beth and her sister, bring them to you, and I keep mi hija, and that’s it? That’s all I have to worry about from you assholes? No more shit? We’re done?”
“Exactly. Do we have a deal?”
I take a deep breath, and stare out into the night through the window.
“Sure. Give me the info and I’ll get the men started on it.”
“I must warn you, if you double-cross me, there will be consequences.”
“There always are when the Donahues are involved. Give me the info. What part of Texas?” Matthew rattles off the information and I write it down. “Got it. I’ll send the men out in the morning.”
“I’m so glad we could work together again, Skull.”
“Sure. Oh. One more thing, Matthew.”
“What is that, my friend?”
His words make me sick.
“Chinga te! The day I make any deal with a Donahue is the day I slit my own wrists.”
I slam the phone down, shaking with anger and with the ramifications of what Matthew said. Where I was reluctant to believe what Colin said, I’ve little doubt in Matthew’s words.
“You okay, mi amante?” Teena asks me from the bed.
The news I just received, the dream of Beth, it all combines, and a mixture of hate and guilt curls in my stomach. Adulterer. Beth has turned me into that. “Come back to bed. Let me make whatever it is better,” she purrs.
I stand there wondering what in the fuck I’m going to do.
The end.
EXCERPT
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Chapter One
Katerina