resolved into a face.
Those eyes —God help him.
Godfather superimposed the motorcyclist’s eyes over a current image of Selena. Stunned, Nikko could not deny the obvious. She was alive! He hadn’t imagined seeing her. His longing rose up to meet his hatred. He sat forward as emotions he had forced from his heart reared up in a wild, dizzying crescendo. It couldn’t be true!
Another picture popped up. This one of her strolling on the beach in a hot-pink bikini the size of a postage stamp with some linebacker-size goon walking beside her. Speechless, Nikko stared at her image. Long, silky black hair he could still feel beneath his fingertips waved in a breeze. Expressive black eyes with just a hint of a feline slant looked straight at him. His gaze dropped to her full, pouty lips.
God, he had loved kissing those lips. For hours, they would lie tangled in each other’s limbs on the beach and just kiss.
He scowled hard. But she wasn’t the same woman he had loved. The light that had shone in her eyes was gone. Now they were haunted and bitter. Her womanly curves were still prominent, more so since it looked as if she had lost some weight. But she was also leaner, more muscular.
She’d be even more dangerous now. Harder to kill. There was no doubt in his heart, he was going after her. And as Godfather had said, he was a whole lot better at killing now.
Nikko dragged his eyes from the screen and looked up at Godfather. “Where is she?”
“Miami.” He tapped the touch pad and another round of photos flashed up on the screens. They were of Miami’s Gold Coast. “She owns a club in South Beach called Lost Souls. High-end, frequented by high-end-criminal types.”
“What the hell is she doing in Florida? Is she so arrogant to think she can walk around and no one would notice that I was sentenced to death for killing her?” Nikko shook his head, not understanding anything. Why had she saved him?
“She keeps a very low profile and goes by de la Roja now. There isn’t much intel on her. What I have I got from running a photo-comparison search of her autopsy photo. The feds have been surveilling several Cuban cartel members in Miami. She’s popped up in a few of the surveillance photos. I couldn’t find anything on her connection to Balderama. But that doesn’t mean I won’t. What concerns me is the fact that a man like Balderama went to such lengths to make it look like she was dead, and then she shows up in our hunting grounds halfway across the world. Why was she there? Does she work for Balderama, or is she working for a cartel? But more important, was she there for the same reasons we were?” Godfather looked at Nikko, who had still not digested that his ex-lover was alive. “I find the fact that she was on-site at the same time as you more than coincidental.”
Nikko jerked his head back and looked at his commander. “Are you insinuating I had something to do with her presence there?”
“Calm the Hell down, Cruz. Of course not. We were compromised in Kyrgyzstan. Then in an elaborate sleight of hand, we lost our target, and now this connection between you and de la Roja. It just doesn’t add up. I want to know why she saved your sorry ass after your attempt to kill her. I want to know her intentions and just how much she knows about you and L.O.S.T. I want to know why she was after the cask of enriched uranium, and if she has it—and for whom.”
“I want to know what she injected you with,” Cassidy said.
“I want the same answers,” Nikko said. L.O.S.T. being compromised aside, it didn’t matter to him that Selena had saved his life. She had ripped out his heart and soul when she killed their daughter. He had died as much that day as his daughter had.
He sat back in his chair, his mind racing with conflicting thoughts and emotions. All these years he’d hated himself for what he had done to Selena. He had loved her completely. That she’d ripped his heart out did not change that he
Those eyes —God help him.
Godfather superimposed the motorcyclist’s eyes over a current image of Selena. Stunned, Nikko could not deny the obvious. She was alive! He hadn’t imagined seeing her. His longing rose up to meet his hatred. He sat forward as emotions he had forced from his heart reared up in a wild, dizzying crescendo. It couldn’t be true!
Another picture popped up. This one of her strolling on the beach in a hot-pink bikini the size of a postage stamp with some linebacker-size goon walking beside her. Speechless, Nikko stared at her image. Long, silky black hair he could still feel beneath his fingertips waved in a breeze. Expressive black eyes with just a hint of a feline slant looked straight at him. His gaze dropped to her full, pouty lips.
God, he had loved kissing those lips. For hours, they would lie tangled in each other’s limbs on the beach and just kiss.
He scowled hard. But she wasn’t the same woman he had loved. The light that had shone in her eyes was gone. Now they were haunted and bitter. Her womanly curves were still prominent, more so since it looked as if she had lost some weight. But she was also leaner, more muscular.
She’d be even more dangerous now. Harder to kill. There was no doubt in his heart, he was going after her. And as Godfather had said, he was a whole lot better at killing now.
Nikko dragged his eyes from the screen and looked up at Godfather. “Where is she?”
“Miami.” He tapped the touch pad and another round of photos flashed up on the screens. They were of Miami’s Gold Coast. “She owns a club in South Beach called Lost Souls. High-end, frequented by high-end-criminal types.”
“What the hell is she doing in Florida? Is she so arrogant to think she can walk around and no one would notice that I was sentenced to death for killing her?” Nikko shook his head, not understanding anything. Why had she saved him?
“She keeps a very low profile and goes by de la Roja now. There isn’t much intel on her. What I have I got from running a photo-comparison search of her autopsy photo. The feds have been surveilling several Cuban cartel members in Miami. She’s popped up in a few of the surveillance photos. I couldn’t find anything on her connection to Balderama. But that doesn’t mean I won’t. What concerns me is the fact that a man like Balderama went to such lengths to make it look like she was dead, and then she shows up in our hunting grounds halfway across the world. Why was she there? Does she work for Balderama, or is she working for a cartel? But more important, was she there for the same reasons we were?” Godfather looked at Nikko, who had still not digested that his ex-lover was alive. “I find the fact that she was on-site at the same time as you more than coincidental.”
Nikko jerked his head back and looked at his commander. “Are you insinuating I had something to do with her presence there?”
“Calm the Hell down, Cruz. Of course not. We were compromised in Kyrgyzstan. Then in an elaborate sleight of hand, we lost our target, and now this connection between you and de la Roja. It just doesn’t add up. I want to know why she saved your sorry ass after your attempt to kill her. I want to know her intentions and just how much she knows about you and L.O.S.T. I want to know why she was after the cask of enriched uranium, and if she has it—and for whom.”
“I want to know what she injected you with,” Cassidy said.
“I want the same answers,” Nikko said. L.O.S.T. being compromised aside, it didn’t matter to him that Selena had saved his life. She had ripped out his heart and soul when she killed their daughter. He had died as much that day as his daughter had.
He sat back in his chair, his mind racing with conflicting thoughts and emotions. All these years he’d hated himself for what he had done to Selena. He had loved her completely. That she’d ripped his heart out did not change that he
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