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She spun around in the middle of the room and suddenly slapped Javier clear across his face I couldn’t help but suck in ht do But he merely took it as she started to rant at hi what must have been a million obscenities

Violetta really was a very beautiful woht, 5&prihted hair, dark olive skin and full lips, slightly slanted yellow-green eyes She earing a summery dress that was cut short and had applied her makeup with a heavy hand

When she was finally done, Javier retorted with a sentence or two, still succinct in his own language, and it wasn’t until I picked up on the words Eden White, that Violetta looked towardaskance at Javier "Eden?"

"Ellie," he corrected her with a grim smile "Her real name is Ellie And she doesn’t speak Spanish, not that much, anyway"

She stepped slowly toward h I was very conscious of the gun in her hands, I stood round and looked her in the eye

She smiled, playful and deceptive all at once "So you are the famous Eden You’re the one who broke o"

It took everything I had to keep fro my eyes Of course I had been painted the villain Of course Javier never bothered to fill his sister in on the fact that he was cheating on uess it depends on what side you hear," I answered

She sht a whiff of her perfu-filled super city

"You know, for the longest time I swore I’d kill you if I ever saw you," she said slowly, her accent barely audible "I wanted to make you suffer for the pain you caused my brother But, now I’ I want to do is shake your hand"

She put hers out for rip She smiled and jerked it up and down "I’m Violetta Bernal"

"Ellie Watt," I said, returning her smile I nodded over my shoulder at Camden as still by the door "That’s Camden McQueen"

Violetta looked at hi appreciatively "Hello, Camden McQueen" Then they went over to his shoulder "What happened to your arrin and I felt a weird prickle surge throughwith her I couldn’t help but look over at Javier to see what he felt about all of this He atching the three of us carefully; his broas furrowed and he was slowly running the back of his hand underneath the scruff of his jaw, calculating sohtly and took off to her roo tossed across the rooe plain black tee-shirt She placed it in his hands

"Here," she said "Soain anyway, so it’s yours"

"Thank you," he said genuinely, flashing her his drop-dead gorgeous diht those were reserved especially for e in? Banos?"

She smiled and pointed down the hall to a door Once he disappeared, she put her gun down on mantle and placed her hands on her hips "Is he your boyfriend? Or are you still with this guy?" She jerked her head at Javier

I sed hard and said, "Neither"

"Good, I guess," she said "Do you knohat this asshole has done? Nothing Nothing at all! He’s been proot frolanced at Javier in shock He was red in the face, sweating a bit at the te with her

She looked at him too "Well, so as your excuse, hey brother?"

He rubbed his lips together, eying the both of us, before saying, "I was busy I tried"

She snorted and walked over to the kitchen, her little ass sashaying "Puta coño," she swore She opened up her fridge "Do you want a glass of water? A beer?"

It was just before noon and I definitely needed ht but I still said, "Cervesa, por favor"

"Make that two," Ca ing fro on him That, combined with his black dress shoes and tuxedo pants, made him look like a dapper lasses

"We don’t have tiht me and Camden a Modelo each He fastened his eyes on otten about Gus, have you?"

I felt the sting frolared back at him while Violetta asked "Who is Gus?"

"A family friend of mine," I answered, eyes still on Javier "Actually, more family than my own family Travis has him He kidnapped him in front of Javier"

She looked at hih his hair and turned to look out the"So it was Travis sincemen turned on me just seconds before"

"So is that why you’re here?" she asked, cocking her head to the side "To warnout the , at the rows and rows of houses, the layer ofthat blocked us from blue sky "There is no ‘this’ Travis, Violetta He’s not afor you"

Her s her then it was full of false bravado "I know all about Travis I’ve been watching the news"