Page 99 of Her Mercenary

I frowned, sifting through the contents. Makeup? My stomach tickled with an unsettled feeling that resembled nerves.

Something didn’t feel right.

I pulled myself onto the back seat, grabbing the door for support as the car jostled over the pitted road.

Thunder boomed.

“Where are we going?” I asked, focusing on Lucas’s reflection in the rearview mirror. His gray eye patch was wet with rain, the damp fabric streaked like a black melting candle.

“To the airport, as instructed,” he said.

“Where’s Roman?”

“He’s meeting us there.”

“Where is he now?”

“Got hung up.”

My pulse rate sped up, every instinct surging to life.

A minute passed in silence.

“Have you talked to him?” I asked, suddenly desperate for Roman.

“Yes, off and on since yesterday.”

“And he’s okay?”

Lucas’s brow furrowed in the rearview mirror, his eyes narrowing.

That increasing pulse of mine? It started to race.

Finally, Lucas spoke.

“You know,” he said, his voice low and reflective. “My papa always told me that blood was thicker than water. That no matter what, family stood by each other. No matter what.” His tone took on a sharp edge. “Family is all we ever have, Samantha. And disobedience to that loyalty should be punished hard and swiftly.” His jaw twitched as he observed the road ahead. “It’s a lesson I learned long ago.”

The car bumped over a tight corner. I grabbed the door handle to steady myself, my knuckles turning white.

Lucas glanced in the rearview mirror, his one good eye meeting mine.

“Papa taught me this lesson when I was just twelve years old. You see, I’d watch him, what he did to all those women. It intrigued—fascinated—me. Every day after school, I’d sneak to the barn and watch him through the cracks. He was so strong, I remember thinking. The women, the girls, the boys, they just cowered underneath him. He owned them. He was so powerful.”

He took a deep breath.

“Papa told me not to watch—I’ll give him that. To stay away, to leave him alone. But you know, some people just don’t know when to quit.” His jaw tightened. “Papa removed my eye on the morning of March twenty-second. You know what happened then, Samantha? I never watched again. I learned obedience and loyalty.”

My fingernails dug into my palms as I steeled myself for whatever was about to come. Because I knew then that Lucas Ruiz, the undercover agent with the Mexican government, was not who he’d said he was.

And I was in a world of trouble.

49

ROMAN

Sometime between finding out that Oisin Cussane was my father and Conor was my brother, seeing my woman caged again, and slicing open my arm for her, the mission became muddled. All plans vanished, along with the feeling of need for them.

My entire life revolved around one thing. Saving Samantha. That’s it.