Arranged for the Cold Don

Chapter 4

Chapter four

REINA

Bang.

Something warm and wet hit my face.

My ears rang as the voices around me seemed to echo from afar.

Marco’s arm fell away from me, and a dull thud sounded as he hit the ground.

For a moment, everything went silent.

Then the voices rushed back.

The words replayed in my mind, over and over again. Marco's voice echoing inside my skull.

Numbness flooded me. Sounds came rushing in, like I was being dragged out of bone-freezing water.

“Reina, sit the hell down.” Papa’s voice.“We’re going to finish this lunch!”

It took a moment for his words to register.

I blinked.

Everyone was sitting stiffly in their chairs except Javier and Andre.

My future husband’s heavy, unreadable gaze touched my skin as I stared at the gun in one of his hands.

And then I remembered.

Marco had been standing behind me.

The cold barrel had been pressed against my temple.

Andre had raised his gun.

“He was the one who killed Tiffany!” Marco's voice.

The gun had trembled against my head.

“Andre, don’t.” Papa’s voice had cut through the room.

I’d seen my papa cut off a man’s finger when I was seven. I’d watched my uncle shoot a man in the head, his face turned sideways against the bloodstained carpet, his eyes open.

But never once had I had a gun pressed to my head.

Never felt cold metal against my temple. Never felt as if my life could be gone just like that. The cold in my veins froze to ice.

“You’re a poor f*****g shot, Andre. We all know you’ll hit Rain!” Benjamin's heated voice.

“Put. It. Down.” Javier. His words carried a calmness laced with animosity.

And then—

“Reina.”

Papa's voice pulled me completely out of the memory.

I looked at him.

His expression was hard.

“Eat.”

My fingers tightened around the fork.

So I forked the pasta, twisted it around the tines, and brought it to my lips.

I looked towards Javier and he was flicking a lighter, there was no other expression in his face. Like he didn't just shoot at his people—i’m not entirely sure how they're related.

I didn't remember how lunch ended, but as soon as it did I padded down the rugged hall. As soon as I entered my room, I left a trail of clothes to the bathroom.

Bypassing the mirror, I turned the shower on hot

and climbed in.

It burned.

It has to, I need to wash off the metallic smell of blood from my body.

I wished I could stay longer in the bath tub but I needed to talk to papa before he killed Andre for defying him in public.

I hopped out of the shower and dried off as fast as I could. Leaving my hair wet and uncombed, I threw on a t-shirt and shorts before running down

the stairs.

The marble floor was cold against my feet as I took the turn toward my papà’s office, and once again, I collided with something solid.

A lungful of air escaped me. I’d been going so fast I would have fallen to my butt on the floor, but an arm wrapped around my waist as I teetered

backward and steadied me. It was an incredibly warm and heavy arm.

“Jesus,” Javier muttered with annoyance, a scowl on his face.

My stomach tightened as it pressed against his. His warmth startled me. For one strange second, I forgot what had happened at the table. Then he let go. I didn’t have time to analyze the feeling more. I was spun out of his way and left to watch Javier’s back as he continued down the hall.

I barely made it to the door when my brother's limping figure turned out the corner of the hall. I rushed to his side to help him stand, but he pushed me away. So I followed him to the bar I watched him grab a bottle of whiskey from the cupboard and struggle to open it with one

hand.

He eventually managed by holding it against his chest and twisting.

He took a long pull before sitting at the island. “Go away, Rain.”

“You need to see Tito.” He was the medical experience papa called to patch up wounds.

“I’m fine.” He took another pull on the bottle, some dripping down his chin.

He wasn’t fine. He was smearing blood across the countertop. And he appeared drunk before he even started drinking like someone had just broken his heart.

“I’ll call Tito.” I started pulling my phone out of my pockets.

“I’m fine, Reina.” I sighed and put my phone back in my pocket because my brother had said it in that voice.

Even if Tito came, Andre wouldn’t have complied with him.

Too stubborn.

I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter with my hair still dripping water to the floor. “Why do you hate Javier?”

He snorted and took another drink. “Lots of reasons.”

“Yeah that aside this hatred is deeper.”

“He's a monster and now papa wants to sell you off to him.” He took a full swig of the drink in his hand.

“I’m sorry, Reina. Didn’t know he'd agree to the treaty. Honest.”

My heart squeezed. “I forgive you.”

He laughed weakly. “You shouldn’t.”

Andre usually had a smug look on his face and if at all a small smile, but now he looked almost sad.

He took another pull, and with a frown I watched the blood drip down the side of the island and collect into a small pool.

Drinking was only going to make him bleed more. I pushed off the counter and pulled the bottle

straight from his lips. Whiskey splashed down his chin and chest.

He couldn't form an audible sentence before he slumped on the countertop.

While I was trying to raise him up Belcallis —my sister breezed in wearing extremely short shorts and a sports bra.

“Dead?” She was focused on selecting the best apple out of the ones on the tray.

“Stop. Where's mama?”

She shrugged before biting hard on the apple.

“At least help me get papa.”

She propped herself properly on the counter. I let Andre go before shouting into the hallway. “I'm calling the hospital.”

Papa and my uncle burst into the bar. Papa barely glanced at his son, only locking eyes on me and scowling.

He spoke quietly to Benjamin—he always spoke

quietly unless he was mad—and then Benjamin hauled Andre up and carried him out of the kitchen.

“ To the hospital papa.”

“Yeah, Reina. They’re taking him,” he said dismissively, his gaze wandering over the blood on the floor.

I eyed him, knowing he was lying but he walked out of the bar.

“Have you seen my headphones?” Belcallis asked, making me grimace at her before walking away.