Chapter 49: Natalia

My head feels numb.

And the haze of memory pushing against the walls of my mind sends off the warning that tells me I’m in trouble again.

As the thought strikes me, my awareness returns, but I’m still dazed. I can’t remember what happened to me, and I hope like hell I won’t wake up in Raul’s dungeon again.

I shuffle, and my nerves spike when a heavy hand rests on my belly and smooths over my skin.

When fingers flutter up to my breasts and roll back and forth over my left nipple, I open my eyes, and every muscle in my body goes weak when I see Ivan staring down at me. He’s sitting next to me and is the person touching me.

I jump back and crawl away, crashing into a headboard. I’m on a bed.

Where am I, though?

Where the hell am I?

I remember what happened as the question of where I am comes to my mind.

“Thought that might wake you, Sleeping Beauty,” he says, running his gaze over my body. “Although I’ve wanted to play with those since I first met you.”

“You bastard. Where have you taken me?” I look around. It’s bright daylight. The sun is beaming brightly through the window, but it looks different.

I can’t glimpse anything more than the sky, but the sun shines differently to how it did in New York.

He notices me looking through the window and nods.

“You can feel the difference, can’t you? I always do, too, just after the plane lands.”

“Plane? Where am I?”

“Mi amor, do you not recognize your homeland?”

“Mexico,” I choke out.

My God, I’m back in hell, a new hell with this devil.

With a wide, toothy grin, Ivan stands.

“Yes, you’re back here, and now you belong to me.”

“No.” I shake my head.

“Yes.”

If he thinks I belong to him, he must have done something to Mikhail.

“What did you do to Mikhail?”

“I took care of him. My worthless piece-of-shit brother should be fucking dead by now.”

Pain assaults my ears and rages through my body. I’m so choked up I can’t even breathe.

Mikhail is dead? No.

Tears pour from my eyes, coming straight from my soul.

“You killed him!”

“Not me personally, although I wish I could have done it.” He nods with regret in his eyes. “My aunt deserves all the credit.”

I can’t believe what he’s saying to me. “Sophia?” He must be lying. That can’t be true.

“The one and only. She killed him. She has a penchant for poisons. She likes the way they kill. Slow and deadly. Like lies.”

“Why would she kill him? Why in the hell would she do that?” I don’t understand. “Sophia took care of us.”

“Sophia was what she wanted you to believe. I needed someone to keep an eye on Mikhail. She was the best fit because he trusted her. That’s what you call the perfect spy. My aunt created the same blend of poison for Mikhail that took our father’s life, as well as your pesky little bodyguard’s. José got a full dose, though, but it was a necessity. We needed to keep him quiet. A jab to the back of the neck took him down within seconds. Problem solved.”

Oh my God.

What the hell kind of nightmare am I in?

“This isn’t happening.” I trusted her, too. I did. She made the harder days seem easier “But it is. When you came along, I sent her to check you out because I couldn’t help myself. I saw my brother’s interest in you before he even met you. When I met you, I understood it, and I knew he was in love with you.” His smile brightens. “I knew I could use you against him in some way because you were his weakness. I was able to get so much done on the days he spent obsessing over his shiny new toy. He couldn’t see that you were just easy pussy.”

“You bastard.”

“Oh, please, is that the best comeback you have for me? Do you think I’m unaware I’m a bastard? I know I am, and I’ll admit, I couldn’t stand knowing my fucking brother got the cartel and the beautiful princess I’d heard so much about and never saw for myself. Now I have you.”

“You will never have me.”

He chuckles, cruel and low, dangerous. “That’s what your mother said, too.”

My mouth falls open, and I push back against the headboard.

“My mother?” I whisper the question, although I already know what he’s going to tell me. My heart told me the answer weeks ago.

“Your mother, Lilly de Leon.”

God in heaven, Ivan knows the truth. He knows who my mother was.

He knows the truth.

“That is your mother, and you are not Raul’s daughter. You aren’t Adriana Alvarez.”

What’s he going to do to me?

I have no idea what the hell I’m going to do. I have no one. When I thought I was alone before, I wasn’t.

This is loneliness. This is captivity. This is hell.

“You looked familiar when we first met, and that’s what gave me the inkling that something was off with you, but I didn’t know what at the time,” he continues. “Then it hit me why you looked familiar. I remembered her because I was fucking her for years. She was a gift from Raul every time I visited. I wanted the blonde woman with the bright blue eyes and the beauty like a goddess.”

My stomach lurches. He did rape my mother. Repeatedly. Years of it.

“Your face looks exactly like hers.” He returns to the bed. “I pieced the truth together, but I still thought Raul was your father until I checked her out. Not a damn thing exists of Adriana Alvarez, but look up Lilly de Leon, and details for her, her husband, and her daughter will come up. You obviously became the princess to save your neck, and my brother was none the wiser. I don’t care if he ever found out the truth. You’re fucking mine now, and I’ll do whatever I want with you.”

“What are you going to do to me?”

He catches my face. “Well, Natalia de Leon, there’s a lot I want to do to you,” he replies, enunciating every syllable of my real name. “We have a busy few days ahead of us. First of all, you and I are going to keep that little secret of yours. You’re going to keep being Adriana Alvarez. I have business to attend to, so I’m going to be away today and tomorrow, the day after we have a meeting with the men in the cartel. I need them to know you belong to me now so they can sign their allegiance to me. When that’s done, I’ll fuck you all six ways to Sunday and then some. Then we’ll get married. After that, I don’t know. It depends on how much you can keep me interested and entertained.”

He releases me and gets off the bed.

At that moment, the door to the room opens and Sophia walks in with a bright smile plastered on her wrinkly face.

Aleksander is right behind her.

I don’t know how much more my mind can take.

This is doom.