Page 95 of Sweet Temptation (Men of Honor 2)
Chuckie barks like crazy as I run down my hallway as fast as I can, fear fueling my speed. Right when I make it to the end, a hulking force knocks into me from behind, and it sends us both flying into my living room. My face hits the side of my coffee table. The impact splits my cheek open and has black spots dancing in my vision. Getting flipped to my back, a guy with dark hair and black malicious eyes, which looks vaguely familiar, straddles me and wraps a hand around my throat.
I kick and fight, trying to get him off. When my hand connects with his face he rears back and slaps me. My head snaps to the side, and blood fills my mouth. It was happening all over again.
“Ah, Grace, we finally meet. You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment. I’m actually glad it worked out this way.”
Before I can even attempt to find out what he’s talkin’ about, a loud snarl fills the air as Chuckie jumps at him and sinks his teeth in the side of the guy’s neck.
He howls in pain a second before throwing Chuckie off him. Chuckie yelps and sails a few feet through the air before landing on his back. As soon as he hits the ground the guy pulls a gun and points it at him.
“NO!” I scream. But by the time I grab the guy’s arm it’s too late- the gun goes off, hittin’ Chuckie.
“Chuckie! Oh God, oh no!” I sob, my heart shattering to a million pieces just before rage fuels me. “You bastard!”
The guy is still lookin’ at Chuckie, giving me the advantage. I claw the huge gash that’s on the side of his neck, from Chuckie’s teeth, my fingers getting lost in blood and raw flesh.
He hollers out in pain and falls to the side, cupping the bloody wound. Rolling over, I start getting up when he grabs my ankle and rips my foot from underneath me, causing my already busted-up face to smash into the hard floor.
“You fucking bitch!” He delivers a few heart-stopping blows to my back, before turning me over and jamming the gun against my forehead with brutal force.
His eyes are wild and furious. “I’m going to make this as fucking painful for you as possible!”
“Why? Why are you doing this?” I sob, confused as to why this man wants to hurt me so bad.
“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet. Especially considering how much I look like my brothers.”
My heart stops. Oh my god, now I know why he looks so familiar, he has the same eyes as Miguel.
He smiles malevolently, “Yup, another brother that no one knew about. I grew up in Missouri, with my whore of a mother who got knocked up by the same man who fathered my brothers. Brothers I never knew existed until Miguel found me. I had just finished high school when he told me he wanted me to come to Florida and be a real family with him and Emilio.” He briefly gets a distant look in his eyes before his expression turns enraged once again. He shoves the gun harder into my broken face, making me cry out in pain. “But then you had to go and fuck it all up. Emilio is dead because of you!” he screams. “And now Miguel is back in prison, after all my fucking hard work of getting him out!”
Everything became achingly clear. “Oh my god, it was you. You killed the forensic scientist.”
He smiles again, this one more evil than the last, “You bet I fucking did. This plan, Grace, has been three years in the making. I started Criminal Law at Florida University and I got to know a lot of people, the right kind of people. Like judges,” he chuckles, “and fuck was Judge Robinson such an easy fucking target. Get some drinks into the guy and put some pussy in front of him and that shit was in the bag. I blackmailed that motherfucker to make sure he let Miguel out after I finished with the forensic scientist. It was fucking brilliant. And as bad as I wanted to come with my brother to find you, to make you pay, I couldn’t risk being found out so I stayed.” His smile disappears now, his expression going hard once again, “Then I find out all of our fucking hard work was blown to shit. That Miguel is back in prison. You keep taking my fucking family from me!”
I laugh, I can’t help it, and it’s a “crazy I’ve lost my mind” laugh because what a statement for him to make. “I took your family from you? Your brothers raped and killed the only family I had.” Tears start streaming down my face. “A woman who was the kindest most gentle person, who never did nothin’ to no one, was raped and stabbed thirty-seven times by your fucking family!” I’m screaming now, anger replacing the hurt, “Emilio deserved to die and so does Miguel. They both deserve to rot in hell for what they did.”
I barely finish the last word when he wraps a hand around my throat, cutting off all my air supply. “Shut up! You shut the fuck up! I’m going to make sure you suffer the same fate as your fucking mother.”
Easing up on my throat he goes to grab my shirt when a loud banging starts on my door. “Grace, baby, open up!”
Oh god, Sawyer!
Relief fills me for only a brief second before Miguel’s brother slaps a hand over my mouth. “You shut up! Or I swear to God I will put a fucking bullet in his head.”
Just the thought has me sobbing. “Grace, I fucking mean it. I’m not going anywhere until you hear me out.”
“Shit! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he breathes out quietly but harshly. He looks down at me trying to decide what to do. “You fucking get rid of him, one wrong fucking move from you and he’s dead. Got it?”
