All Chapters of TO HATE, TO TOUCH, TO RUIN: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

59 Chapters

Women Like Me

In the foyer, two of Papa’s men were already standing there like they had come out of the walls.Not the overly obvious kind. They wore dark jackets, ordinary faces, extraordinary bodies. One of them, Diego, a man in his forties with a small scar near his chin, looked at my sandals with an expression that was both deeply professional and deeply pained.“Señorita.”“Don’t.”He shut his mouth.I took a car key from the marble bowl by the door. Not the most expensive car in the garage, and not the fastest either. A low black SUV normal enough not to make everyone on the road immediately think cartel princess, though the plates probably still screamed I have family problems.The Medellín night air touched my skin as soon as I stepped outside.Warm. A little damp. Smelling of earth, exhaust, night-blooming flowers, and a city that never really slept.I got into the car, started the engine, then looked in the rearview mirror.One black car came to life a few meters behind me.At the far end

Bad Music, Worse Men

At a table near the wall, a woman was dancing on top of a plastic chair. Two of her friends cheered. In another corner, a couple was arguing while still holding their drinks, an admirable level of emotional efficiency. Someone dropped a glass. The shards were immediately kicked under a table by a server who didn’t even look back.I set my empty glass on the bar.Nicolás held out his hand. “Dance?”I looked at his hand.Clean. No ring. No bloodstains. No expensive watch that could buy a small apartment. No murderous aura.Refreshing.I took it.The dance floor was hot and too crowded. Bodies moved close, but no one really touched me until I allowed it. Nicolás danced well enough not to be embarrassing. His hand drifted near my waist once, then stopped when I looked at him.I moved with the music, letting the bass take over my mind little by little. My T-shirt slipped on my shoulder. My hair started coming loose from the clip. A thin sheen of sweat gathered at the nape of my neck. I clo

Lola & the Don

Shit.Shit shit shit.I turned slowly, very slowly, because some things were easier to face if you didn’t look at them directly. War and taxes... or an ex-kidnapper too handsome for national security.And here he was....Zachary Romano.All sharp eyes, black hair, and expensive danger. The kind of beautiful that made smart women forget they were supposed to know better.He stood too close behind me, wearing a black T-shirt and dark jeans, looking unfairly good for a man who had no business being in this club. His short black hair was messy, his bangs falling slightly over his forehead. His eyes were sharp and calm. Too Zach.How long had it been since I last saw that face?I didn’t know.I forgot.But ...lie.I remembered.The last time I saw him, I was still in his bed, breathless, furious, and far too aware of every place he’d touched me. Then he walked away like he hadn’t just ruined me for sport.Longing rose in my chest.Slight. Warm.Ew....I immediately threw it far away, to wh

A Kiss, a Lie, a Gunshot

He kissed me back.And it should have satisfied me.It should have.But Zach Romano had a way of turning defeat into something that still felt like a win, especially when I was the idiot standing there breathless because of him.His hand cradled the back of my head, his fingers sliding into my hair, already half-loose from the claw clip, pulling me close enough that my breath snagged in my throat. His mouth pushed deeper against mine, and my knees, traitorous little idiots, gave up immediately.Damn it.I kissed him back. I wasn’t a saint, and he wasn’t some moral test I could pass with one quick prayer.Both my hands rose to his neck and locked him, my fingers brushing the warm skin just beneath his hairline. He tensed beneath my fingers, just enough to give himself away. I liked knowing I could do that to him. I liked it too much. So I pulled him closer.A low sound rumbled out of his throat.Music slammed in from every direction. Someone near the bar shrieked with laughter. Shoes c

Blood & Neon

The glass blew inward, rough and brutal.A mess.Shards hit the floor, the tables, the shoulders of people ducking for cover. They bounced off my shoes and caught in my hair like confetti from hell.Zach shoved me down with one hand at the back of my neck.My chest hit his waist. My knees slammed into the floor, sticky with tequila and something I very much hoped wasn’t blood.Cheap alcohol, cigarette smoke, sweat, sweet perfume, and gunpowder all tangled in my nose. Five minutes ago, this club had been ugly in a fun way. Now it looked like someone had taken a bad decision, handed it an automatic weapon, and told it to run.“Zach…”“Shut up.”Naturally, a shootout was when his control issues decided to make a full comeback.I resisted the urge to bite his calf.Another shot hit the bar behind us. Bottles shattered. Brown and clear liquor sprayed everywhere like expensive rain with no class. People screamed.A woman crawled under a table with one shoe missing. Nicolás, the guy in the d

Too Pretty to Die Quietly

Zach didn’t answer fast enough.I looked at Diego. “Papa know?”Diego fired toward the bar. “We only found out when they breached the perimeter.”“The perimeter?” I let out a short laugh. “I went out for a drink. I wasn’t attending a NATO summit.”“Señorita…”“Don’t Señorita me right now, Diego.”Zach turned his head slightly. “Focus.”I stared at his back. “Don’t give me orders like I’m your wife.”“If you were my wife, I would’ve tied you to a chair fifteen minutes ago.”I smiled thinly. “Very healthy fantasy.”He fired to the side without taking his eyes off me. The man trying to move in from the left jerked back, his weapon dropping, his body hitting the floor.Zach kept looking at me.Kept.Looking at me.“This is not the time to fight me,” he said.“I’m not fighting you.”“Krystal.”“I’m considering my options.”“Your option is staying alive.”I didn’t answer.“For once, use that brain of yours to survive instead of stabbing at me.” He moved half an inch closer, close enough tha

Not the Worst Thing I’ve Tasted

Zach’s voice was still here.Or what was left of Zach’s voice.It was hard to tell, because everything was starting to sound like someone had sunk the entire club to the bottom of an expensive hotel pool. Gunshots became dull thuds. People’s screams turned into bubbles. The music that had been pounding through the floor now felt like the bass was pulsing underneath my own skin.I’m still in his arms.I knew because something hard and warm was keeping my body from hitting the ground. One arm beneath my back. One hand against the side of my jaw. His thumb rested on my cheekbone, far too steady for a world that had already begun breaking into pieces.I tried to open my mouth and say something, but my tongue wouldn’t move.A pinpoint of heat flared at my neck where the needle had pierced me. At first, it was just a quick sting—like a pissed-off bee taking a cheap shot—sharp and annoying as hell, but nothing that screamed danger.Then it spread, like someone was pouring boiling tequila dir

The Blue Beneath the Black

My stomach wrung itself out until my ribs felt ready to come loose. Every heave made my neck flare again, right where the needle had gone in. Like someone kept striking a tiny match beneath my skin.I tried to lift a hand over my mouth, but my fingers only clawed at the air before finding Zach’s chest again. My nails might have gone through the fabric and into his skin.The next wave brought up less. Acid and bitterness burned the back of my tongue until my whole mouth tasted like a leaking battery. I choked, coughed, my jaw still locked tight, every breath splitting into a rough sound that hurt my own ears.“Medico.”“Adesso.”“Move.”“No one touches her unless I say.”Zach’s voice echoed above my head.Another hand came close. I felt it more like a shadow than an actual touch.My shoulder jerked. My fingers tightened again.Zach growled. “Back off.”He pulled me closer against his familiar chest.His warmth pressed into my cheek, and some small part of me recognized the rhythm of hi

The Last Warm Thing

The darkness came like water.It slipped into my ears first, filling up the voices until everything sounded distant and muffled, with no beginning or end. Then it rose into my mouth and covered my tongue. Seeped behind my eyes. Worked its way between my bones until I couldn’t tell which parts of me still belonged to me.Something held my back.One arm beneath my shoulders, the other locked around my body like if his grip loosened even slightly, I would fall through the floor, through the earth, and keep going until hell sent me back for being too loud.His scent was still there.Cold tobacco. Expensive soap. Blood.Zach.I tried to grab his shirt again, but I didn’t even know if I still had fingers.“Kry...stal.”The voice reached me like something thrown from very far away.It broke in the middle of my name.“Krystal, listen to me.”Jevan.I recognized the way he said it. Too loud, too angry, like I had done this on purpose just to ruin his night. Like when I was eleven and fell off

A Body Waiting Below

“Tell me,” Zach said again, sharp this time.Another voice answered, firm and professional, giving instructions.Then my body lifted for barely a second, though it felt like the entire world had been rolled onto its side.Nausea rose from somewhere very far away. There was bitter liquid at the back of my tongue and the heat that had turned cold.The cold spread from my stomach.Up into my chest.Down my legs.And now.. I couldn’t feel Zach’s arms clearly.No.I tried to move closer.Turn my face. Press my cheek against him. Anything.My body refused every order.“What’s happening?” Mama’s voice sharpened.“Why is she cold?”“Mama, step back.”“Do not tell me to step away from my daughter!”“Señora—”“Don’t touch me!”Pressure wrapped around my arm. Something pierced my skin again.I wanted to fight it.I wanted to claw at someone’s hand.My body didn’t care what I wanted.“Krystal.” Javier was close again. “I’m here.”“She knows,” Zach said at last.“She doesn’t know anything right no

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