Page 10 of Jacqueline's Quest

She lifted her gaze to his. “Damn right, I would. My brother didn’t raise an invalid. I have skills.”

He bet she did. “You shouldn’t be saying any of this to me. You know who I am.”

Hannah frowned. “You’re not like the people here.”

Santiago snorted. “I am in my element here. I enjoyed putting Ignacio down after he beat the shit out of that kid.”

“You only liked it because he hurt Scotty, so you wanted to hurt him,” she said.

Damn her for reading him all too well. “Stop treating me like I’m some fucking hero. I’m not.”

She shrugged again. “Then start acting like an enforcer instead of one of the good guys.”

“Goddammit, butterfly. You have no idea what you’re saying or what could happen to both of us if the wrong person hears you spouting off stupid shit.” He ran his hand over his bald head.

“Sorry.”

“Fuck, don’t be sorry, either.” He expelled a breath. “Look, the reason I came here was to give you an update on Scotty. Saw you took a liking to him, so I thought I’d give you a little head’s up.”

“Oh?” She sat up a little straighter, perking up at his comment. “How is he? Is he being taken care of?”

"We both know this place ain't where he'll be taken care of unless it's through sex."

Her brows furrowed. “Yes, well. I meant his injuries.”

“Best as they can be. He calls his bruises sexy.” Santiago smirked. “Crazy bastard.”

Hannah laughed and the warm sound eased some of the guilt eating away at Santiago. “He’s strong. Defiant, too.”

“Tell me about it. I don’t know how much more of this he’ll be able to endure before he turns the tables on everyone.”

“They’ll kill him,” she said, a wave of fear filled her tone. “We have to convince Scotty to play along for now.”

“Yeah...” For the last few days, Santiago found it increasingly harder to not tell Hannah the truth about who he was or about the plan to take down the club. However, for as much as he trusted her, he didn’t. She could be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, and she might have some kind of twisted loyalty to Raul. It was better to keep her in the dark about it all and let it unfold in front of her when the time was right.

“You’re worried about him,” she said.

“I worry about all of you,” he replied. “Ignacio fucked him up.”

“I know. I saw it happen.”

“Enough of all this bullshit. How about we go for a little stroll?” Santiago said, changing the subject.

“I’d love to. Where this time?”

“I thought about the pool on Raul’s floor.” He pointed to the floor above them. “I have the keycard after all.”

“I’d like that,” she said. “Should I grab my suit?”

“Yeah. You should.” He rubbed his hands together. “Make sure it’s the pink two-piece.”

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