Confident he wasn’t being observed, he made his way quickly through the flowering shrubs, bougainvilleas, and various trees until he reached the ten-foot stone fence. Once again using one of the many wayaca trees spread around the property, he made his way to the top to the divider and dropped into the Fuentes grounds once again.
From there, it was only a short distance to the villa. Diego’s night guards didn’t notice his passing, and the dogs the guards used never flinched at his scent. He was a part of the grounds, nothing to get excited about, so they did nothing to warn the guards of his presence as he climbed to the balcony outside his bedroom and let himself back inside.
As he closed the glass doors behind him, Deke rose from his reclining position on the couch in the sitting area of the room and stretched stiffly.
“You said an hour.” The other man reminded him irritably of the amount of time he had been gone.
Ian let his lips quirk at the querulous tone. “I had the cell phone on me, you could have called if you needed me.”
Deke snorted at that one, his eyes narrowing on Ian then. “Man, you look like you been rode hard.” There was a note of envy in the bodyguard’s voice. “Bastard. Hope you enjoyed it enough for the both of us.”
Ian almost chuckled. Deke’s lover, an American law graduate, was waiting patiently at home while he played in the criminal element, both of them surviving on the impromptu, secretive visits the other man managed to make every few months. Sometimes, only a few times a year.
Yeah, he had enjoyed the night enough for four men, and still he was far from satisfied.
“You gonna try for a few hours’ shut-eye before the day begins? I can take up watch in the main room.”
Ian shook his head. “Did you manage some sleep?”
“A few hours.” Deke nodded.
“Go catch a few more,” Ian instructed him. “I’m going to shower and take care of a few things before we meet later. We have that meeting with Radacchio and his three sons later this afternoon. I’ll catch a nap on the way there and then on the return.”
“Yeah, good ole Radacchio called daddy dearest just after you left. That meeting might not be so important, because Diego informed him in rather bloody terms of the fact that the Fuentes cartel will no longer require their services.”
Ian grimaced and shook his head. He should have known Diego wouldn’t leave it alone. Hell, a part of him had known. Diego had ruled with a bloody hand, and he saw no reason to do things differently now that Ian was stepping into the cartel. For some reason, he thought he could make Ian enjoy the killing, the drug wars, and the blood lust that fueled them.
“I’ll take care of Diego before we leave.” He sighed. “Be ready to roll by nine. I want to be in place and I want the meeting site secured before we enter. I don’t put betrayal past Valence Radacchio any more than I put it past any of Diego’s other business associates but I want to hear what he has to say about that last attempted hijacking.”
Deke touched his fingers to his forehead in agreement and farewell before slipping from the bedroom, then the adjoining sitting room. Left in the dark alone, Ian stared around the bedroom, his eyes narrowed, as he considered the spy Sorrell had on the estate now.
He’d received proof of the transfer of information before leaving the night before. Not that she had been able to take much to her contact. Ian didn’t keep Diego in the loop for the most part, knowing his habit of discussing everything that passed by him with Saul. Diego was careful, he was smart, but one of Sorrell’s spies had slipped by him.
Shaking his head, Ian headed for the shower. He needed to clear the scent of Kira from his head so he could think and move on with his own plans. No doubt, he was going to have to find a way to get rid of her now. The past night had proved his weakness to her. He would never be able to stay out of her bed knowing she was so close.
And it wouldn’t take long for someone to catch on to the affair and to betray it to Sorrell or one of the other cartel enemies. Hell, even to Diego, which would be just as bad. He knew his dear old pop. The minute he learned Ian had a lover, a woman who meant more than a one-night stand, then he would start plotting, conspiring. Because nothing mattered more to Diego than learning a weakness; he had a need to exploit. And Ian was smart enough to know just how easily he could be manipulated if Kira were in danger.
He had realized that somewhere around the time he had looked down and seen his cock spearing between her lips, seen the hunger in her eyes, and the need glowing in her face. Or maybe about the time she had stopped fighting him, stopped fighting the control he stole from her and let him enforce his own.
TWO HOURS LATER, IAN STALKED into the servants’ quarters on the first floor of the villa, his foot landing squarely on the locked door of Liss Dannear’s bedroom door and splintering it from the hinges.
With Deke behind him, he moved slowly into the room, his eyes narrowed on the two women now cowering on the bed.
“Surprise, surprise.” His smile was tight, hard, as he looked from Liss to Eleanor. “My, my, ladies, been up to fun and games, have you?” It seemed the known and the suspected information leaks were keeping more intimate company than Ian had guessed.
Eleanor’s kittenish features were twisted into shock and dismay, while Liss lowered her eyes quickly, but not before Ian glimpsed the anger that filled them.
He stared at them coldly, aware of Deke and the others spreading out around him, the automatic rifles they carried held confidently in their arms.
“El Patrón, it . . . it is not as it seems,” Eleanor gasped, her dark brown eyes widened in distress as Liss cowered against her naked body.
Their bodies quivered, breasts bare, as the women made no attempt to cover themselves. The obvious signs of recent sex lingered on their thighs, on the reddened discoloration of their nipples, and the dampness of the sheets beneath them.
“Oh, I think it’s very much as it seems.” He jerked a wooden chair forward, straddled it, and braced his forearms on the back. And then he smiled at them. A triumphant, knowing smile.
Eleanor pulled the sheet toward them.
“Leave the sheet alone.” His hardened voice rasped through the silence that had been broken only by Eleanor’s gasping breaths.
“El Patrón Fuentes does not mind how we find our pleasure.” Liss suddenly had the temerity to speak up. She tried to simulate fear, but there was too much triumph, too much anger in her for her to carry it off.