The Queens: Scarred Queen

Chapter 3

"Boss wants to see you."

Casey jumped and dropped her concealer stick. It clattered against the top of her makeup table, rolled from the smooth glass surface and onto the carpeted floor. She took a calming breath before turning slightly in her seat and bending over to pick it up. Her long, pale blond waves swished around her shoulders as she reached for the tube, snatching it up. She set it back on top of her vanity and then glanced over her shoulder at the rugged, stocky bodyguard standing in her doorway. He hadn't knocked to announce his presence. She would have heard and been able to prepare herself for the intrusion of her private sanctuary.

They never knocked. It was like they took deliberate pleasure in walking in on her any time they wanted, interrupting her private moments. So, she made damn sure those moments were few and far between. She locked the washroom door when she was in there and always changed in the closet. When Ignacio's respect for her had nosedived it was like he'd given his men free reign with their disregard of his wife as well. Perhaps it had bothered her at one time, but she didn't really remember what that felt like anymore. Now her feelings were more geared toward survival. She didn't like the way his men watched her. Like a pack of hungry dogs, awaiting the release order from their master. So far, the command hadn't come; they weren't allowed to so much as touch a single hair on her head. He still seemed to value her trophy status.

The bodyguard standing in her door wasn't her usual full-time man. This was one of the relief guys that took over from time to time. She nodded a little and said quietly, "I'll be out in five minutes."

He continued to stand, tense and looking at her as though he had no intention of leaving. She turned her head, gave the best impression of haughty she could come up with and repeated, more steel in her voice, "Five minutes. You may go now."

His eyes narrowed and his shoulders stiffened, but he left, closing the door with some force. Casey sighed in relief and slumped against her vanity for a moment. She now had five minutes to prepare for a meeting with the devil. And she'd pissed off another bodyguard.

She ran a quick brush through her hair and added a little mascara to her pale lashes, then pushed away from her makeup table. She didn't take too long in her closet choosing an outfit because she knew the bodyguard would be back right on time to collect her for the meeting with Ignacio. She was lucky she was even getting the five minutes she'd insisted on. She snatched a pair of distressed skinny jeans from the shelf and pulled them on underneath her robe. She chose a black bra with little embroidered roses on it, her favourite, and then pulled a soft black knit sweater off a hanger. She added a pair of three inch heeled black boots to complete the outfit. Ignacio hated it when she was taller than him. Not too hard, considering she was already the same height as him at 5'8."

She hurried out of the closet just as her bedroom door banged open. She lifted her chin in cool defiance and moved toward the door. The bodyguard, whose name she didn't know, took her arm in a painful hold that told her he wasn't pleased with her current attitude, and led her out the door.

"A little slower, help," she muttered as she stumbled to keep up with him, her heels sliding on the marble tiles. His hand tightened on her arm until she flinched. He was going to leave bruises. The man must have a death wish. One word to Ignacio and he'd be toast. She sighed and tried to shrug him off. Too bad she was a better person than that.

He practically flung her down a flight of stairs toward her regular bodyguard, Alonzo, who took a quick step back before he accidentally touched her. He took one look at the hold her temporary bodyguard had on her and stepped threateningly toward the pair. Casey dropped her eyes and turned her head away, not wanting to watch the display of masculine posturing in her own foyer.

Alonzo sent the man a sinister glare and snarled, "Hands off the woman!" He poked a finger in the guy's chest, then swiftly grabbed a finger from the hand that held Casey's arm in a brutal hold. Alonzo snapped it so hard that she went stumbling into the wall as soon as she was released. She heard a sharp crack and a pained gasp. She suppressed the sound that threatened to escape her throat and sent her mind to a better place. This wasn't the first time she'd seen or heard something awful happen in front of her and it wouldn't be the last. "Never f*****g touch the woman. Understand?"

"Yeah, man!" the guy panted, doing everything he could not to drop to his knees in front of the bigger, angrier bodyguard.

"Alonzo," she mumbled.

"What?" he grunted not bothering to look at her.

"I… I fell on the stairs and he helped me. That's the only reason he touched me. Please d-don't tell Ignacio," she whispered, keeping her eyes averted from the brutal tableau. She edged along the wall toward Ignacio's study. Though he was the master of these horrible men, he usually kept some semblance of calm around her. Kept the savages at bay. Sometimes, like now, they got out of hand when they were allowed off their leashes. Though if he found out one of them touched her… the consequences would be so much worse. She shuddered in memory of the last time one of them touched her.

"This true?" Alonzo demanded of the man whose hand he was ruthlessly crushing.

She could feel the guy's gaze on her, but she refused to look at him. She'd done what she could. She didn't like him, didn't really want to help him. But she also didn't think a few bruises was worth the brutality Alonzo was delivering now, or the punishment she knew he might deliver later if she didn't diffuse the situation. Her bodyguard was extremely efficient at following through on the boss' orders.

"Yeah man," the guy wheezed. "I was just helping 'er. Never touch 'er again. Promise, man."

She straightened against the wall, shook her hair back and forced herself to meet the scene head on. She met Alonzo's gaze with an icy look meant to convey her boredom and disdain. She knew her regular bodyguard understood her better than anyone in the mansion, including her own husband, but acting was all she had to fall back on. She knew it. He knew it. And there were cameras everywhere.

"Can we deal with this later, Alonzo?" she demanded, sending an annoyed glare toward Ignacio's office. "I have things to do today."

Alonzo stared back at her for a moment, their eyes clashing in a shared moment of understanding. Alonzo let the man that had dared touch the mistress of the household sweat for a further thirty seconds before releasing him with a shove that sent him sprawling across the marble foyer. Casey held her ground, continuing to watch the scene with cool indifference, though she wanted to turn away in disgust.

"If Mrs. Hernandez says you were only helping her," Alonzo drawled, "then you were only helping her." He tilted his head to the side, his dark eyes taking on the dead look she'd unfortunately seen so many times before. Casey dropped her eyes, hoping she wouldn't have to witness an execution. f**k, she already had enough trouble sleeping at night. Alonzo pointed a thick finger at the guy, his gold ring, a gift from Ignacio for his years of service, glinting in the light. "Touch her again though, and you die."