Pretty Killer Read online

  "Sit down Mr.. De Los Santos. I want to get this meeting over with already."

  "Look, ma'am. I don't know why Roman is letting you play dress up, but I came to have a meeting with the boss today." This asshole had some nerve.

  "That's exactly what you are doing sir. Now I could tell you that I do not wish to have a meeting with someone trying to play ‘boss' - as you put it - and refuse this meeting until your father shows up. So enlighten me as to what exactly my father has arranged with you and make it fast."

  That smirk. Damn that sexy smirk. If I didn't want to stab him as badly as I wanted him to fuck me against my desk with those looks and attitude, I may actually have offered. Wait. What did he just say?

  "Hold on, you want to take over our business here in Mexico? And why would you ever think that would be an option?"

  "Simple, Rosie. You are a woman and no one is going to respect you enough to work with you. Let alone actually follow you as a boss. I have no idea why you would think any differently."

  Did he just call me Rosie? No one but my father had ever called me Rosie. "First of all, my name is not Rosie. My name is Rosalina Maria. Second, we will not be giving our business to you."

  If he thought we were giving our business to him just because I was a woman, he was a fucking idiot.

  "Look, Rosie, I mean Rosalina, I will talk to my father to see if we can find another solution. When I arrived here I was under the impression Roman had taken over, not you. I honestly had no idea you existed until recently."

  Sighing louder than I should have, I agreed that we would talk more once he got permission from his daddy.

  3

  Anthony

  Fuck me, no one told me that Rosalina Maria was sin in heels. I was literally told an hour before I got to this military base that the new boss was a woman. Glancing around I decided that's exactly what Ricardo had built here, a military base. Hell, from what I had seen of her doing her flippy jumpy thing inside, and hearing the men talk about her skills, he had practically made her into a soldier too. A hot as hell soldier. Damn it, I could not think of her like that. I was here to - essentially - take her business from her. Now I had to explain to my father that things wouldn't go as easy as we thought. Roman would have handed over the weapons trade here with no problem at all. I know that Rosalina Maria would rather go to war than give it away.

  Time to get this call to my father - the boss of my family - out of the way. Standing a little straighter, I dialed the number I really hated to call, but it had to be done. "Patrón, we have a problem. Ricardo's daughter is the new boss, not Roman."

  Taking the phone away from my ear while he ranted about how a woman had no place in power, I thought of her back inside her office. She looked so innocent in that dress. If I didn't think she would have stabbed me for trying, I would have given it my best shot and asked for a date or a quick fuck. Yeah a quick fuck would do it. Noticing that my father had stopped yelling, I began speaking again.

  "What would you like for me to do now?" What in the world kind of plan would he come up with, I dreaded asking the question.

  "How do you feel about marriage, hijo?"

  What was my father thinking? Marriage to a woman I didn't even know. He had finally lost his mind to greed for power if he thought that I would marry someone for a position willingly.

  "You cannot be serious Papa!" I wasn't doing it. There was no way.

  "It will be done if that is what I demand Anthony!"

  There went my choice, as boss of our family he had every right to demand this of me, and I couldn't do a thing but go along with his insanity.

  "I make the arrangements Anthony. This is what must be done for the success of the family. She will go along with it, she’ll have no choice since no one will work with women."

  Rolling my eyes even though he couldn't see me, I simply answered him in the way that was expected of me, "Fine, boss. I will let Roman know to expect a call from you shortly."

  Rosalina wasn't around when I made it back inside. Roman said she had gone out for a run, but apparently not one of these sorry ass men had thought to even go with her. I heard that she was able to defend herself against just about anyone, but that was no reason to go alone. Slamming the door shut to the room I was given during my stay here, I flopped down on the bed and attempted to relax. This was insane. Why was I so worried about her anyway? I needed her out of the way if I ever wanted this business. With that final thought, I found myself drifting off, tired from my trip here.

  4

  Rosalina

  Pacing around my office, I couldn't help but think of the way Anthony had spoken to me. I’d never had a man stand up to me in any way before with the exception of my father. I found that both surprising and alluring. It still made me want to kick his ass, but at the same time I wanted to see if he was always that commanding. Taking a deep breath, I willed myself to focus on more important things, like the report that Roman had dropped off an hour ago. Apparently, he did not believe the police report saying that my parents simply had a car accident after my father’s letter either, so he decided to look into it for me. Sitting down at my father's old desk I slowly pulled the file to me, trying to calm my racing heart as I opened the folder. With a gasp, I looked at the pictures from that night. There were the pictures of my parents lying inside the car dead. Quickly turning over the stack of photographs, I picked up the official report. There were no witnesses and no one was alive when the EMT arrived, but there was a call placed for them minutes before. That did sound a bit odd to me, so I kept reading to find out who called it in if there wasn't a witness. A woman had seen the car on the side of the road and called the police, apparently.

  I think I read that report three times before I found exactly what I was looking for. My father did not die on impact from what the coroner claimed. He should have been fine based off of his wounds, but he died from suffocation. I picked up the picture of my father and looked around his body at the surroundings. The way he was sitting and positioned, he shouldn't have suffocated on anything since nothing was near him.

  Dialing Roman on my cell phone, I say for him to get in my office immediately. Roman didn't even knock, he just barged in with his gun drawn looking around the room. When he realized that no one was in the room other than me, he holstered his gun and asked me what the problem was.

  "Did you know, Roman?" I was seething. If he knew that my parents were murdered then his body would be the next at the morgue.

  "I don't know what I am supposed to know señora." Roman looked nervous, which was understandable since I was never able to hide my emotions from him. I handed the file to him as I turned and walked to the windows, trying to keep my emotions in check. Crying was not allowed. That was what my father had always told me. Roman started cussing behind me, I knew it wouldn't take him long to see what I had found.

  "Senora, what are we going to do? Who would do this to su padres?"

  That is the million-dollar question, I thought to myself. Turning to look at Roman, I asked him if anyone had threatened my father recently and who he had problems with. No one came to mind, but this was the mafia and I learned long ago that people would kill for what my father had.

  I had to get out of this room, this house. I just needed to escape for a bit, so I changed into some running gear and took off out of the gates. Scream My Name by Tove Lo was the song that came on my playlist. I could run the tears away. It was a pastime I knew well. Growing up without family around when I needed them gave me all the practice I needed to do five miles of running away.

  5

  Rosalina

  Fresh air was all I needed. It was the cure-all for everything I had dealt with in my life. I know you think that's a pity party statement, but I honestly don't even remember having much of a life outside of daily training and spending holidays alone. I couldn't help it but, being back here reminded me of the last time I was sent away.

  That smell is one I could never forget. My mother was co
oking her famous Posole, that's a typical Spanish stew but no one made it quite like my mother. "Ma," I said when I walked into the kitchen where she stood making tortillas for my father's men.

  "Ay Rosalina, my nina, how are you?" she asked as she wiped her hands to give me a hug.

  "I'm great Momma, just tired from the plane. Do you need any help?" She was shaking her head before I could ask anything else. Shooing me away to rest since, apparently, I wasn't allowed to help.

  "Rosalina Maria, come." Ah, there he is, the man in charge, my father was summoning me to his office and I hadn't even been home more than fifteen minutes.

  "Sir," I walked into his office with a sigh.

  "Close the door." Great. This would be a meeting with the Boss, not my father. Standing in the middle of the room, I waited for him to speak. I learned before the age of ten that I was not to speak before El Jefe told me to.

  "Sit down," he said indicating the chair directly in front of his desk. God, I hated that chair, that was the chair I was sitting in when my father told me I was leaving to go to school in Japan and that I would stay there through the New Year. Sitting down, I waited for my father to speak. I knew this wouldn't be enjoyable for me, whatever it was that he had to say.

  "I know you just arrived home, however, I need you to meet with an associate of mine in Perth," he said without even looking at me.

  "That's in Australia if you didn't know Rosalina." Oh, I knew, I had studied geography in "school" as my father liked to call it.

  "When do I need to leave, sir?" Best get this out of the way now, I thought to myself.

  "You leave in two hours. Elis will go with you."

  Two fucking hours! I had literally just walked in the damn door! With a sigh, I nodded and left his office to go pack my luggage again.

  "¿A donde vas mija?" My mother asked with a confused look on her face when she spotted my luggage beside the door.

  "Business. Apparently, I'm not going to be home this Thanksgiving, instead, I will be in Australia," I replied, trying not to sound too upset about the change of plans my father sprung on me.

  The only good thing that came out of the trip was that I had met Elis. We were together for a year before I caught him with my cousin Amalia Erica Valentine, future heiress of the Brazilian Diamond industry.

  Stopping to take in the river and my surroundings while I caught my breath, I heard a faint scream. What the hell was that? I took my headphones out to see if I could tell where the sound came from. There. The person was still screaming in an alleyway not far from where I had stopped. I took a deep breath and headed in the direction of the male voice and the woman that was yelling for help. Rounding the corner, I saw the commotion that caught my attention. A woman was being held against the brick wall of some building I didn't know by a rather large man.

  She was trying to push him away, but she didn't have the strength. I couldn't help but come out of my hiding spot when he punched her in the side. "Hey!" I called out to get their attention hoping that would make him let her go. It didn't. He completely ignored me and began to unfasten her jeans. Glancing around for some kind of weapon to use I spotted a bar just a bit longer than my arm. "Hey, shithead! She obviously doesn't want your tiny dick, so get away from her." That got his attention.

  "Mind your own business puta. Unless you want to be next." Walking closer to them with the bar in my hand, all I could think of when I saw her was Flora being raped.

  He looked down at the bar and smarted back a reply, "Put it down before you hurt yourself. I'd hate to kill you before I get a chance to fuck you."

  Standing a couple of feet away, I swung at his legs. His knees buckled but he didn't go down. Instead, he pulled a switchblade out of his front pocket. Well damn, of course he had a knife. Swinging the bar again, I aimed for the other knee, but it was no use now that he knew what to expect.

  The woman barely looked back as she took off running out of the alley, now that his attention was elsewhere. Well, thank you too, so much for women sticking together. Focusing back to the douchebag in front of me, I turned right into his fist. Son of a bitch! I cupped this side of my face where his fist had struck me as I fell against the wall. I pushed against the wall trying to gain my bearings.

  "Not so tough now, are you, little girl?"

  What the fuck did he just call me?! Gripping the bar, I still held onto I swung at his side. While his attention was on where the bar was, I kicked him in the balls. He doubled over from the pain. I used that opening to swing my leg and hit the back of his head. He was making his way to his feet and spitting blood where his face had made contact with the pavement.

  "That all you've got bitch," he taunted me. He still held onto that damn knife. I internally chastised myself for not thinking of packing weapons on me during my run.

  "Just thinking about the way you’re going to scream while I rip that pussy apart is making me hard," he said to me as he grabbed his crotch.

  "If you could find it, then I might be a bit worried. That tiny thing isn't going to do much at all. In fact, I may even let you keep it when I cut it off."

  He glowered at me and began to punch me repeatedly in the ribs while backing me against the wall. Damn, he was stronger than I had thought. I pushed against him until I could move away from the bricks digging into my back and slip under his arm. Rounding on me, he grabbed me by the hair and threw me down. I couldn't help but taunt him some more which was my downfall most of the time. While he was kicking me in the stomach, I grabbed his leg to pull him down. When he fell, I rolled over him and began to punch him repeatedly. I saw that he had dropped the knife just inches away, so I scrambled toward it. I had the handle in my hand when I felt him pulling my leg back to him. Not thinking in that moment, I turned with the knife and stabbed him in the throat. Letting go of my leg, he clutched his throat where the knife was while I looked on in horror at what I had done.

  He attempted to pull the knife out, but his blood was covering the handle already. He never managed to get it out, instead, he simply fell to his side while I listened to his gurgled breathing. I couldn't report this and I couldn't let anyone else know what I had just done even if it was self-defense. Mexican authorities believed that others needed to mind their own business and didn't interfere. Climbing to my feet, I grabbed the handle of the switchblade and pulled. It would be going with me, along with the bar that lay a foot away. Walking along the same route that I took on my run I threw both the bar and the knife into the river that I was admiring earlier. Now it would be my accomplice in the murder I just committed.

  6

  Rosalina

  I took my time getting home, hoping that most of the men would be asleep or out working and not see me clutching at my side. I knew I would have a nasty bruise later if it had not already started to form. Finally reaching the house, I noticed that most of the lights were off but not Roman's or the room that we had let Anthony use. Roman said it would be best to keep him close since we could track his movements this way and I had agreed. I made myself stand up straighter and braced myself while I walked into the house.

  I needed ice and a pain reliever for the swelling, so that tomorrow I would be able to move without being in pain. I entered the kitchen for ice only to almost run right into Anthony. Anthony reached out to steady me and touched my side in the process. I took a quick step back and winced in pain from the jarring movement.

  "What happened Rosie," he asked me with a look of concern on his handsome face.

  "Nothing Tony, not that it's any of your business. Haven't I told you not to call me Rosie?"

  Nodding he took a step back and turned, “Where is your first aid kit?”

  "In that cabinet," I said, pointing to the one next to him.

  Grabbing the case and my hand, he all but pulled me along to my office. "Sit Rosie." Anthony grabbed my hips and lifted me onto my desk.

  What in the hell was happening?

  "I am not a dog to be commanded Tony," I was practically seethin
g.

  He smirked and replied, "Oh I know you aren't a perro, you are far too gorgeous to be a dog."

  "I'm going to take off your shirt so I can see what is bothering your side, alright?" He asked me with his hands raised, almost like he was surrendering.

  With a sigh, I attempted to take off the shirt myself but the movement stretched my ribs and I couldn't do it. Anthony stepped between my legs. "Trust me, Rosie," with a nod from me, he grabbed the letter opener that was on the desk to my left and sliced through the fabric.

  Letting out a sigh, he looked up into my eyes and asked what happened. Umm now, what could I say? "I told you already Tony. Nothing happened. I got into a fight and got hurt," laughing to myself I added comically, "You should see the other guy."

  Tony just glowered and said, "I want to see the ‘other guy,' as you put it. No man should put his hands on a woman. Ever. I want to kill him for what he did to you."

  Taking a shaky breath, I looked into his eyes and saw a glimmer of lust. I had to look away. Tony had his hands on my ribs, inspecting the bruise that was forming already. This was the first time in a long while that I didn't want to push someone away for touching me. That thought alone had me questioning why Tony was affecting me this way. I’d only just met him earlier today but I couldn't deny that he had been on my mind.

  "There, I'm done," Tony stated with one final glance at my exposed skin. I hadn't even noticed that he had finished wrapping a bandage around my waist while I was lost in my internal struggle.