Page 29 of No Sweeter Poison

I didn’t see it before but she’s holding a large bag of ice in her left hand. She stands over him and thrusts the bag downward where it lands with a smack between his legs. Alejandro seizes and grunts, biting his lip so hard he might draw blood. He digs his nails into the armrests of his chair and glares at her.

But she looks at me, eyes raking up and down my figure, and says, pointing towards Alejandro’s injury, “You did that?”

I’m not sure what to say. My silence must be all the answer she needs.

Another prim shrug before she gracefully descends onto the lounge chair across from me. “I’d have done the same.”

Alejandro’s eyes are closed and he pinches the bridge of his nose as he sinks back into his chair. “You’re a punishment from another lifetime, Leticia.”

“Can we focus for a second?” Diego looks between his siblings. “We need to figure out what to do with her.”

I glance around before realizing he’s talking about me.

Alejandro looks pissed off. “What do you mean ‘figure out what to do with her’?”

“Don’t tell me you’re actually thinking of keeping her here?” he says. “You can’t possibly be that stupid.”

“Says the idiot who didn’t realize the security detail was compromised.”

“To be fair, they’re both idiots.” Lettie addresses me, crossing one leg over the other and extends her arms over the back of the lounge chair. She looks so elegant in an emerald-green silk pantsuit and white stilettos. There’s an air of sophistication about her that could deceive anyone into believing she was the eldest between the three; but her face is far too youthful, the natural bronze makeup doing nothing to conceal her meager eighteen years. I didn’t believe Alejandro the first time he told me her age. “Everyone knows that between the two of them, they don’t share a single working braincell.”

Diego tugs on her hair from behind and she swings her arm around so quickly it almost blurs out of existence. Her brother snickers and steps away while he sticks his tongue out, confirming the theory that regardless of age, brothers will always, always be imbeciles.

But I’m not here for a lesson in Alejandro’s family tree. Right now, I’m concerned about the status of mine.

“Where’s Karina?” If I’m being held hostage here, then where is she? Did they kidnap her too or is she on a flight back to New York?

Diego says, “She’s been taken care of.”

A jolt goes through me. “What do you mean she’s been taken care of?”

Alejandro chucks the bag of ice at his brother. “Nice choice of words, you fucking moron.”

It’s stupid of me to think the odds are in my favor—that getting out of here is a possibility. But the need to see Karina, to make sure she’s okay, drowns out any logical thought in my head. I make my way for the door but Alejandro is on his feet in seconds, blocking my path. I move and he flinches, eyes dark, brows furrowed, hand low as if anticipating another kick between the legs.

Fighting isn’t in my best interest. I don’t know these people and the last thing I should be doing is provoking them. Just because Lettie is a woman, doesn’t mean she’d protect me against her brothers in the event they ever went to strike me.

Or worse…

“I want my things. I want my purse, my phone, my wallet—”

“Sé que tienes miedo,” his voice softens as he tries to appeal to me. “Pero te prometo que nadie te hará daño. Mucho menos mis hermanos o yo.”

I know what he’s saying to me; not to be scared, that no one is going to hurt me. And I want to tell him that I don’t trust him—how can I, when he brought me here against my will, but I only have one chance to play my cards right. Letting them know I understand Spanish isn’t in my favor. They know Karina is fluent but that doesn’t mean I am too.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

He can’t conceal the shock as it ripples across his features.

“I want to talk to Karina. Now.”

Diego’s the one who addresses me next. “She’s fine. I stopped by the hotel last night.”

Lettie quirks a brow at him. “Did you?”

“I lied and told her Dahlia tripped down the stairs and hurt her ankle and that Alejandro took her to get it checked out,” he explains. “I offered to drive her back with me but she insisted on staying to pack her things.”

“Does she have a security detail?” Alejandro asks.