All Hallows Eve, Vol. 3

Chapter 5

Five

Ines reached her third climax as Matteo and Justice reached theirs inside of her. The two of them had worked in tandem to bring her to the brink over and over again—all three of them needing to connect once more as the prospect of what was on the horizon loomed closer.

They found Yesina.

But they also found another roadblock.

She knew the Scorpions had helped the Perez organization, but she hadn’t realized the deal they struck had involved what wasn’t theirs to claim.

“You know, usually,” Matteo kissed her neck, “after you’ve had an orgasm or several, your mind goes quiet.” He trailed his lips up to her jaw while Justice kissed a path across her shoulder. “Give us ten minutes, and we can go again to help quiet those rumblings.”

Ines laughed, dropping her head against Matteo’s. “Only ten minutes? I feel like that’s a—” she yelped when Justice’s hand came down on her ass.

“Behave, reina.” He kissed her shoulder before slowly pulling out of her. She whimpered, already missing the fullness of being stretched by both of them.

“Now where’s the fun in that?” Her body shivered when Justice came back with a warm washcloth to clean her up.

“You sure you’re okay? You usually get this sleepy look on your face. But now,” the back of Matteo’s hand caressed her cheek, and she leaned into the touch, “now you look pensive.”

“I’m fine and well sated. I just hate how I missed this vital information,” Ines grumbled and slowly climbed off of Matteo.

She shifted on her back, letting Justice finish cleaning her up. His touch was intimate and thorough and seemed to put her body into overdrive once more, even when her mind was elsewhere. She tried to focus on the way he touched her—tried to remember the way he touched Yesina when he had her, but all she could think about was the man they had locked downstairs who was barely conscious and how chatty he’d been before they tortured him.

“I knew about the Scorpions. We all did. My assumption had always been that when they left Perez to fend for himself it was because they were done with him or double crossed him. It never occurred to me they left because they already had what they were promised.”

She pushed Justice’s hands away and shifted to stand on shaky legs. She wanted to go back downstairs and beat the man they had captured last night—an underling of the Scorpion organization. He’d know enough and watching him bleed had made her feel better, but it hadn’t lasted. She wanted to hurt him again.

In truth she was still reeling, remembering the words Michael had uttered before she took his life.

She’ll never come to you.

But she had come to Justice—had waltzed right into the VIP room with him and would have let him do anything he wanted if they hadn’t been interrupted. But had that all been a ploy? Some misguided attempted to extract revenge?

“She doesn’t know, reina,” Justice whispered next to her. He pulled her into his warm body. “At least she didn’t before last night. Her surprise wasn’t fake, neither was the way it clicked for her that I was the same Justice from before. It was smart to send me in.” He kissed the side of her head. “She hadn’t remembered me.”

There was a slight hitch in his voice, and she knew it bothered him on some level, even though they had been counting on her not remembering him. He’d been the perfect one to approach her and feel her out because they hadn’t spent much time together when they were younger. But Ines’ heart still softened for him. She could understand his need to connect because she felt it too.

She cupped his jaw, and he turned to kiss her palm. She wanted what she’d been promised—wanted them all together again.

“But since that fire wasn’t an accident last night, I’m sure they’ll be in her ear now, especially once they realize we’re here. They’ll be eager to whisper lies about what happened between our families if for no other reason, it keeps her with them and hurts us.” Justice pulled out of her hold to grab his shirt. He pulled it up over Ines’ head, and her body relaxed being wrapped around in his smell.

“Knox’s father hated yours, Ines,” Justice continued, “he had to have passed that hatred on to his son.”

And that’s what she was afraid of. She didn’t know enough about Knox—hadn’t watched him maneuver the way she had his father. She felt like she was going into this blind now, but she wasn’t one to crumble under uncertainty.

She knew how to adjust and keep adjusting.

“You think she’ll show?” Matteo pulled up next to them already dressed.

Justice nodded. “We have someone keeping tabs on her too.” He grabbed his phone from the nightstand. “As of five minutes ago, she was still in the hospital with her guardian.” His eyes darkened. “How much you want to bet they hurt her and made it look like us?”

That would be painfully predictable, but Ines wouldn’t put it past them. If their whole goal was to keep Yesina as their little pet, that would be the perfect opening for them. The guardian she had wasn’t related to the Perez family, and there were no ties to their organization, at least none that they had been able to track once they figured out where she was located.

There was always a nagging in the back of Ines’ mind about why they had not only picked this place but also this random, Joana Slander, to watch over their only daughter. If not for the bloodshed Micheal Perez had ushered in, she would have thought this was a legit witness protection program. She never imagined him using the Scorpions to protect his daughter without having someone from his family or organization here as well.

He never cared about us and especially not her. I couldn’t give him a son to carry his legacy. He was no doubt going to use Yesina as a pawn to hold on to power as long as possible.

Mrs. Perez’s words come back to Ines in a flash. She’d been so eager to offer up her husband on a silver platter, and now seeing that the Scorpions had her daughter, it all started to make sense.

Ines focused on Matteo. They were still going to operate on their plan with a few precautions and pivots. “You’re up. Go to the hospital, but take someone with you.” She reached for him, and he quickly pulled her into his chest. “I doubt they’re going to leave her alone long enough for you to be seen. Be careful, Teo, and be smart.”

“Ay, mi amor, I’m always careful.” He kissed the side of her head. “I’ll be sure to come back to you in one piece.”

“You better.” She’d burn everything to the ground if the Scorpions sought to take more from her.

Yesina rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, yawning so wide her jaw cracked. She was sitting outside of Joana’s hospital room, thankful the attending nurse saw her exhaustion and found an excuse to get her out of the room. Ever since Joana showed up on her doorstep, she’d clung to Yesina like a raft. She looked down at her wrists and arms. They were still a little raw from Joana clawing into her skin to keep her close.

She wasn’t sure what was up with the clinginess, but it was driving her a little crazy. Which ended up making her feel like shit because Joana had clearly been injured and traumatized and was only holding on to what was familiar.

And how I wish that wasn’t me. It was callous, but there was a part of her that had written Joana off long ago, and maybe she was holding on to a little resentment for not only keeping her from her family but also putting her in a financial situation she was barely getting out of.

The door to Joana’s room opened, and the nurse exited with an empathetic smile on her face. “She’s resting, so if you want to go grab some food or coffee, you’re good to go. The doctor should be back soon to let you know what’s going on.”

Yesina tried to shore up a polite smile, but she wasn’t sure it came through. The doctor had seemed not all that eager to tell her what was going on with Joana, and considering she’d been attacked, it was weird there was no law enforcement here to take her statement.

The nurse left, and Yesina pulled out her phone to play a game to pass the time, only to remember the unhinged messages from an unknown number waiting for her. There were several all ranging from ‘remember who you belong to, I will come for you’ and her favorite:

You will regret being intimate with him.

That one sent a shiver down her back. She hadn’t been intimate with anyone, though she had an idea who the him was in question, which only made her skin crawl. Whoever this was had watched her at Delightful Treats and might have been watching her when she’d gone into the VIP room with him. The questions remained, who was sending these messages, and what it had to do with Justice and Ines? There was no way they weren’t related.

They killed your father and tried to kill me. You can’t go to them, Yesina. They’ll hurt you like they did me.

Yesina rubbed at her temples. There was a headache brewing, and she feared no amount of sleep or caffeine was going to get rid of it. It didn’t sit right with her that Joana claimed Ines had been the one to kill her father or hurt her. She’d gone how many years without hearing about them? And out of the blue, the second Justice showed up, they were now somehow the big bad?

She didn’t believe it—she didn’t want to.

She knew about her father’s life. She knew about the turmoil that came with that life, but there had been peace—peace that hindered on her being promised to one of the kids of the other families.

A peace that no longer existed and why you had to flee in the first place.

The thought gave her pause. She never had expected the reason her father had ushered her out of her home was because the Martel family had attacked hers. She always assumed there had been an all-out war against them all.

“You look like you need this.” A deep voice made her jump out of her skin, and she pressed her back into the chair, trying and failing to become invisible. There was a large cup of coffee in front of her face—one from her favorite cafe by the gym she frequented.

“You still drink white mocha with extra whip?”

She looked up at the man standing in front of her. He was tall like Justice, but there were two scars on his face that hadn’t been there when they were kids. He filled out too—a lot. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been all lengthy limbs. Now he was all muscle wrapped in slacks and a button-down shirt, with his sleeves rolled up.

And she hated how her stomach tightened and her pussy clenched—as if it remembered the feel of him moving inside of her.

The first time they had sex had been the last time she’d been home, and seeing him now, after being denied Justice the night before, made her thoughts run wild—like having the two of them at the same time.

We’ll all be together, mu?eca.

The voice in her head made her rub at the center of her chest. The promise made a lifetime ago seemed very real now, after she’d lost hope.

“You remember me,” he murmured, his lips pulling back into a smirk. His eyes roamed her body, and she hated that she was wearing leggings and a baggy shirt—Justice’s shirt.

“Take the coffee, sweet girl.” She hesitated and he chuckled. “Smart to second guess it, but it’s not tampered with. I need you operating at full capacity, and you can’t do that if your loopy from sleep deprivation or being drugged.”

“When you put it like that….” She snatched coffee cup out of his hand. That first sip soaked into her body all the way down to her bones, and she felt marginally better.

She stared up at him, that feeling of home coursing through her, stronger than it had been the other night. “You look a lot like your brother now,” she whispered.

She’d spent so much time in the tattoo shop his older brother owned. If it hadn’t been for the eyes, she would have sworn she was looking at him instead of Matteo.

Something passed over his gaze before he sat down next to her. She didn’t catch it, and they lapsed into an easy silence neither one of them dared to break. It felt surreal that they were both here after all this time. Though she couldn’t help but wonder why Ines hadn’t come to her and why Justice had waited so long to tell her who he was.

“How is your brother?” They had been good friends once—the older brother she’d never had. He’d been removed from the lifestyle in the same way she’d been. Her father hadn’t wanted her anywhere near the business and only gave her enough information so she knew who to trust and who to stay away from. Her and Matteo’s brother had become thick as thieves, and she originally thought she’d be promised to him, but her father and his had nixed it.

Matteo leaned forward, letting his elbows rest on his knees. “In the wind, just like he always wanted.” His voice was barely audible, and she had to lean in to catch what he said.

“I don’t….” Her words trailed off when she realized what he meant. “Oh, I’m so?—”

“You know, I used to envy the relationship the two of you had. You guys were so close, and I always had a crush on you, but the only times our paths crossed was because of him.” He leaned back, and she watched the side of his face. He seemed to be lost in a memory, and she wondered which one it was. She had spent a lot of time at his house when she wasn’t with Ines.

“In hindsight, though, I’m grateful for the friendship you two had. We obviously got closer because of it, but I think you got him in a way no one else did. My father tried but…,” he shrugged.

Yesina mourned the loss of her friend, wishing she could have been there. She wasn’t foolish enough to think she could have stopped it, but she wanted a chance to say goodbye. “How’d it happen?” she found herself asking.

The abrupt laughter that left Matteo’s body pulled her up short. “Your brother’s death isn’t a laughing matter.”

Matteo sobered quickly. “It’s not, and that’s not why I’m laughing.” He turned to face her, and anger blazed in his eyes. “Tell me something, mu?eca. What did your father say to you when he whisked you away in the dead of night?” He leaned in. “Did he tell you his plans for you? For us? For our families? Did he ever tell you what he had you running from?”

Yesina swallowed, and she shifted in her seat away from him. His anger was palpable, it filled the air she breathed. She couldn’t understand why he was mad, though she felt the topic of his brother might have set him off—a wound that had been left to fester and become infected.

“He didn’t tell me anything.” She kept her voice low. She wasn’t scared of him—she never had been. It was the same with Justice and Ines. She knew instinctively they’d never hurt her. “To be fair, he never told me anything other than who to stay away from.”

Her own anger sparked to life in that moment. Matteo’s questions had been a harsh reminder that her life had never been hers.

The sound of an alarm ringing had Matteo cursing and pulling back. “We are out of time, sweet girl, and this was not how I wanted this first meeting to go.” He abruptly stood up and pulled out a cell phone. “Justice gave you the letter and flyer, right?” She nodded, wondering where he was running off to and why.

“Good. Give me your phone.” He held his hand out, and she slowly gave it over to him.

“Why do you guys keep running off, and where is Ines? I can’t believe she wouldn’t come see me.” She cursed when her voice shook. She tried not to sound hurt or annoyed that the first person who had her heart and promised they’d always be together wasn’t the first person she saw.

“There are things that were kept from you and are still being kept from you.” He pocketed her phone and handed her his cell phone. “Your father played a game, and he not only lost but fucked everyone else up in the process.”

The disdain in Matteo’s voice made her flinch. Had Joana been right about them, at least partially?

“Don’t ask questions you’re not ready to have answered,” Matteo murmured as if he read her mind. “That cell has three numbers programmed, anyone gives you problems from now until the night of the carnival, dial one of the three and someone will come get you like that.” He snapped his fingers.

He brought his hand under her chin to lift her face up toward his. His eyes roamed her face like he was committing it to memory. “You have managed to get more beautiful since the last time I saw you. That seemed like a lifetime ago, and I wish we had more time, but I have to go. Make sure you come to the carnival, Yesina. What you seek will be there waiting for you.”