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)
The suppressed fury in her voice had me turning away from a battered Joy to find my mother looking at the sleeping girl with what I can only describe as maternal affection.
Fuck.
“Mom, don’t get attached.”
“You mean like you already are?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
My mother’s dark gaze sparked, and I wanted to groan, but managed to keep my face blank as she said, “Ramón, don’t lie to me. You care about her, deeply, and I can see why. She’s a good woman, strong and protective, but also very sweet. Someday, Joy will make an exceptional mother and wife. I understand your need to take things slow, to be sure, but you’re running out of time. By your age, I was married and already had Fernando and Diego. You need a wife, Ramón, someone to love. I worry about you, worry about you only feeding the darkness in your soul, not the light.”
“I’m not interested in her like that.”
The lines around my mom’s mouth deepened as she frowned, and I bit my tongue before I got myself in real trouble. If there was one thing my mother hated, it was being lied to. This was something she’d taught me over and over again when I was growing up, but I must be a slow learner ‘cause the lesson never managed to take.
The warning in her tone was clear as she toyed with the large diamond pendant adorning the hollow of her throat. “I suggest you think very carefully before you say anything else. I’m not a fool, Ramón. Don’t start treating me like one now.”
Straining to control my temper, the back of my neck prickling, I muttered, “I’d rather not discuss this.”
For a moment, I thought she was going to push it, to try to force the jumbled, dark mess of my tangled emotions to the surface, and I resented her prodding. I was at war with myself. One part of me wanted to keep Joy, to make her mine forever, and to bind her to me in every way known to both man and God. I wanted to get her pregnant, to watch her already rounded belly grow bigger as she nurtured our baby inside of her. She was going to be an excellent mother and wife.
There was the other part of me, my usually quiet conscience, that occasionally spoke up on matters of right and wrong. I’m not amoral; I just didn’t usually give a fuck. When I wanted something, I took it. But Joy was different. I cared about her, deeply, and wanted what was best for her. The ugly truth was, loving me was dangerous. Being associated with my family was clearly hazardous, and the thought of Joy’s bright, warm light being extinguished from the world drove me to madness.
But I’d almost lost her anyway, despite the constant ache in my chest that came from denying the need to touch her. Hold her. Love her.
The woman I was hopelessly obsessed with had almost been taken from my world before I’d had a chance to kiss her, to taste her, to feel the hot clasp of her body around my cock as I fucked her. I looked away from my mother and took in Joy’s still form. I felt something inside of me start to shift, a new purpose being born somewhere deep in my psyche as I gazed at her.
I had to protect her, from everyone.
Including my mother.
With a sigh, my mom began to walk away after she made sure Joy was tucked in tight. “Fine, fine. I’ll need you downstairs in twenty minutes to help Leo in any way he needs dealing with the men who did this.”
My blood heated at her words, the need for revenge trumping all other emotion. While I wasn’t as savage as my mother and Leo about torturing someone, I did have a highly-refined sense of justice, of honor, and both demanded a blood price from those who had hurt the beautiful girl who tried to save the world. Images from the surveillance video of Hannah getting beat up while Joy was dragged out of the room by her hair, her face stark with terror, sent a tremble through me, and my heart pounded with the need for action.
“Calm,” my mother urged as she gently cupped my cheek, her dark eyes filled with love and worry. “You’ll have your chance, but you’re in a sick room and there is no place for anger here. Stay with her, but make sure your thoughts, your heart, is gentle. It will sooth her to have you close.”
Rolling up the sleeves of my shirt, trying to find the self-control to let go of my anger, I nodded. “I’ll meet you downstairs in a little bit.”
With a soft sigh, my mom paused, her hand on the door and a rare flash of guilt tightening her face. “All I want is for you to be happy, my heart. That’s all I want for my boys—all I’ve ever wanted.”