Page 43 of Vicious Savage

I’m not surprised that she’s asking about him. He hasn’t left her side since we brought her to the house, and he’s only stepped out now at my insistence that he get some rest.

“Asleep. You want something to eat?”

She shakes her head and throws the blanket off her as she sits up and rubs the sleep from her eyes.

“How long was I asleep for?”

“A while. From late afternoon yesterday.”

“Wow. I feel like I’ve been asleep for a year.”

“You didn’t miss much,” I tell her.

“Were you saying something about flying out today?”

I inhale and let out a deep sigh. I don’t know how much I’m supposed to tell her, but I do know that Attila wants her to return back with us. But now that the threat of her father is no longer looming over her head, I don’t know what she wants to do.

“What’s next for you, Luna?” I ask, avoiding her question with one of my own.

“There you go, changing the subject again,” she accuses.

“We’re flying back to the States today.”

There’s no point in being dishonest with her, and it’s not something we’re trying to hide.

“All of you?”

Her eyes widen, a delicate fear coating her face. I don’t know if she’s afraid of being left on her own, or the unknown now that her father is gone, or the fact that we’ll be leaving her life. I don’t know what upsets her more.

“The decision was made while you were sleeping, Luna. Attila hasn’t had a chance to tell you.”

“Whereabouts in the States?”

“I believe they’re based in Seattle.”

“Maybe I could fly back with you and then hitch back to Arizona,” she says, a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

“You’re not staying here?”

Luna shakes her head and tells me there’s nothing left for her in Mexico. She’s made a life for herself in the States and she quite likes it there. She has only bad memories here and she doesn’t want to live out the rest of her life being reminded that she was once Coyin Castillo’s daughter.

“I need to check on my friend Nadia,” she says, a faraway look in her eyes. I give her the update I’ve been given by Nadia’s doctor when I checked in with him yesterday. The girl was making progress, although the trauma she’d suffered at the hands of Castillo’s men would take a while to diminish. I downplay the trauma bit and avoid giving her specific details about her injuries, although I suspect she already knows if the look on her face is anything to judge by. If Coyin were alive again, she’d probably kill him herself.

“He ruined so many lives,” she whispers, doubling over herself like she can’t take the pain.

“He’s gone,” I remind her. Dwelling on what he did would help no one. The evil he did while he was alive was enough to destroy lives and homes and families. But now he was gone, it was enough for everyone to just be grateful and move on.

“Any word on my brothers?”

I shake my head, and she gives me a sad look. In one fell swoop, she lost her father and her brothers. The man she believed to be her father was dead with a bullet in his head, his blood staining her skin. And four family members unaccounted for. She was well and truly on her own now, and she probably felt it.

“Nadia is all I have left,” she whispers. There’s a fierce determination in her voice. A sense of new beginnings and looking forward. She has finally attained the freedom she sought, but at what cost?

“You really have no idea where we can find your brothers?” I ask her.

She frowns, grabs a nearby pillow and holds it to her stomach, as though that will protect her from any more impending pain. Concern washes over her face when she looks up at me again. “You’re not going to hurt them, are you?”

I don’t want to lie to her. There’s no telling how this will go. But I don’t want to sugarcoat the matter, either. Instead, I try for diplomatic.

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