Page 55 of Royal Salvation

“And where has this revelation come from?”

Reaper looked toward the front seeing the other two watching him intently now too. “Chess has always been quiet in the background but looking back, he’s the only person Playboy listens to. Playboy doesn’t have the intelligence for this, but Chess does. He was always a good strategist and was on the team on merit, not because of who his father was.”

“Well, it doesn’t change a lot about how we go in, but it will once we’re in there. Do you have any contacts in the village who could give us a heads up if anything is happening or has seemed odd the last few days?”

Reaper thought of all the people who loved Lucía and nodded. “Yes, let me make a call.”

Ten minutes later he was off the phone with a very annoyed Mrs Howard, who was concerned about the potholes getting worse because of people in big cars, but she’d given him more than that. “Mrs Howard says that Mr Jonson in the post office saw four men hanging around old Mr Cradley’s farm. He died last year, and his family haven’t gone through probate, so it’s abandoned. When he confronted them, they said they were surveying it for sale, but he didn’t believe them.”

“Then that’s where they’re going.”

Reaper shook his head, his brain spinning in ten different directions as they came up to the sign advising Whitmore was three miles out. “I’m not sure. Yes, I think they’re holed up there, but I think they’ll take Lucía to her cottage. They’ll want to rub my nose in it.”

Bás stowed his secondary pistol in a leg holster and shrugged. “Then we cover both.”

He dialled the number for Duchess as Reaper mentally prepared for what he might find when he got there. He was trying to be an optimist but if he wasn’t prepared in some way, he’d jeopardise Lucía and his teammates. Even the thought of the woman he knew he loved with those two made him shudder inside, but he locked it down.

He needed to control his emotions, not let them control him or he’d never get out of there safely. He’d always thought his nickname was a joke, not seeing what others did when they looked at him. A man happy to walk the line of death with life beside him, his willingness to go to any lengths wasn’t something he really considered but now he knew he didn’t just walk the line. In this moment, and for Playboy and Chess and any other man in his way, he was death and he was coming for them.

Chapter 23

Her body jolted as she hit something soft, waking her from the unconscious state she’d fallen into. A gasp tore from her lips and Lucía began to fight the ties at her wrists as memories flooded her. Voices behind her made her turn and as she did, the room came properly into focus and confusion speared through her brain when she recognised her cottage.

“Welcome back, Princess.”

The gravelly voice held a sneer which made her skin crawl as she wriggled her body to look at the man speaking behind her. With her arms and legs tied it was almost impossible, but she wouldn’t have her back to him.

Fear leeched into her blood like poison as she faced the man who’d been hunting her. On the outside, he was handsome in a clean-cut way, but she’d seen the cruelty in him when he’d attacked that poor girl and knew his beauty was superficial. He had a black heart full of hate and evil.

“Why have you brought me here?” Her demand made him smile but she needed to control the narrative as much as she could and buy herself time for Justice to find her. And he would, she knew he would. Her tiny bolthole of a home, which encompassed the real her in more ways than any other place she’d lived, was being desecrated by these monsters.

Her eyes moved away from the man smirking at her to see the other one, Chess, watching them closely. Her furniture had been broken, trinkets she’d collected from around the world smashed, and books torn to pieces.

“What? Don’t you like it here?”

Lucía glared at him from her seat on her once loved couch. A place that held so many happy memories for her over the years and more importantly, of Justice and her sharing meals.

Ignoring Playboy, she looked to Chess. “What do you want from me?”

He cocked his head, intelligent eyes watching her. He wasn’t handsome or ugly, but the coldness in his eyes made her shiver. He was the biggest threat to her life here.

“You put everything I’ve been working for in danger. I need you to die, but first I need something from you.”

“You’re crazy if you think Justice or my father will let you get away with this. You’re dead men walking.”

A cry tore through her as Playboy grabbed a handful of her hair and wrenched her head back. “The only people dead will be you and that boyfriend of yours, bitch.”

His face was so close she could see the red flecks in his eyes and knew he was on drugs. Lucía recognised the signs from her time with the charities. Playboy sniffed before he lowered his head and licked her neck, the action making her gag, his warm breath and tongue on her such an invasion. But she knew it could get so much worse and vowed not to show him her fear.

“That’s enough, Playboy. You’ll get your turn when I have my money.”

Playboy caressed her cheek with the barrel of his gun and shoved her away, making her fall back onto the couch, her elbow twisting painfully behind her.

Struggling again, she sat up and faced her captors. “What money? I thought this was about the picture I took.” Her eyes darted around, trying to find some way of escape or a weapon she could use, but nothing was close enough.

Chess moved to look out of the window, pulling the blinds back a little so he could see. Turning back, he looked at Playboy and motioned with the semi-automatic weapon he was holding. “Go check the back and make sure it’s secure, then bring the stuff into this room.”

Playboy frowned. “Let the grunts do it.”