“Why are we discussing him when there’s something else weighing heavier on your mind? You’re not one to hold back, Gina. Let’s hear it.”
“All right. Why am I here when you were all over her tonight?”
“If I wanted Vera in my bed, she would be here right now.” He studied her carefully, his arms draped over the back of the tub, his presence overbearing, unnervingly still. After a long, watchful moment, he released a breath. “I need something from her.”
“The location of the compound.” Her pulse increased. “You think you can fuck it out of her.”
“I know I can.”
Irrational pain swelled behind her breastbone and seeped into her voice. “If she gives it to you, what happens next?”
“You’re jealous.” He lunged forward and touched a finger to her mouth, silencing her objection. “I’m giving you the truth, even when it hurts.” His hand trailed along her jaw, flaming her skin. “I’m jealous, too. I feel this constant, unreasonable impulse to piss a circle around you, to throat punch anyone who looks at you, including Tomas…” He laughed and dragged a hand down his face. “That’s definitely a first for me.”
She liked the sound of that. Too much. Sucking in a tight breath, she turned her head away. “Answer my question.”
“I’ve answered enough for now. Trust goes both ways. I give a little. You give a little. Eventually, we meet in the middle.” He glanced at the closed door and leaned in, bracing his elbows on bent knees. “I know that confiding in me means risking not just your life but your mother’s life, as well. I’ll help you the best that I can, but you have to help me.”
He extended a hand to her, and she stared at it with a lump in her throat.
From what she’d surmised, his role as a slave buyer was a cover-up for something far more insidious. She knew crucial things about the organization and the compound that could help him, whether he was gathering intel or planning a hit.
But if he killed Marco and started a war, what would happen to her and the only person she cared about?
What would happen if he left and she never saw him again?
She could die either way. But if she helped him… If she could bring herself to trust him, he might be her only way out.
Reaching out a hand, she clasped his strong fingers. Their gazes held as he pulled her toward his chest. She slid over his hard physique, setting a palm on his flat hipbone, corrugated abs, sculpted pecs, until she found a gripping spot in the warm juncture between his neck and shoulder.
With her lower body floating in the cradle of his thighs, she rested on his chest and pressed her cheek against the whiskered hardness of his.
“Three years ago,” she whispered, “I made the worst decision of my life.”
She reached back through time, aching so brutally with loss she couldn’t breathe. With her mouth against John’s cheek and his heat beneath her body, she welcomed his stillness, the intensity in which he waited and listened. His attentiveness bolstered her.
“There are things I don’t recall, like how I arrived here or the first few days I spent in the basement.” Her whisper went as taut as the coils knotting in her belly. “But I remember the day Miguel La Rocha walked into the taqueria where I worked and offered me the world.”
He tensed beneath her. “Did you know who he was?”
“No idea. He gave me a fake name and a warm, irresistible smile. He’s the most charming of the brothers. The best looking. He wears expensive suits and has this captivating, alluring demeanor about him, you know? Yeah, of course, you know. You’re very much like him in that way.”
“I’ve never met him, but I assure you, I’m nothing like him.”
“Well, he knows how to charm the pants off a woman.” With a sigh, she set her chin on his shoulder and closed her eyes. “By the time he asked me to dinner, I was ready to run off with him.”
His jaw hardened against her face. When she sensed the judgment forming on his lips, she cut him off.
“Imagine living in a country ridden with cartel wars and poverty. Jobs are hard to come by. There’s never enough food or medicine. Education is a pipe dream. As a woman, my value is insignificant at best. I was beaten by boyfriends. Abused by employers. My father fled before I was even born. I only had to look at my mother and her mother before her to understand that the life I was born into was the only one I would get. No matter how hard I worked. No matter how many beatings I endured. My existence would continue another forty years with no improvement. And that would be it.”
“Then one day,” he said, running a gentle hand along her back, “a dashing, wealthy man with a silver tongue walked into your life.”
“Yeah. He singled me out from all the other girls, made me feel special, and treated me to the most expensive dinner I’ve ever had. He dated me for weeks. The lying, cold-blooded son of a bitch made me believe he was falling in love with me. Little did I know, his father had sent him after me. I didn’t even suspect that he had cartel affiliations. That’s why Miguel is so good at his job. Ever elusive and sophisticated, he lures girls in and wins their trust.”
“Why were you targeted by his father?”
Her gaze darted through the bathroom as a crawling sensation prickled her scalp. Could she trust his word that there were no devices in here? What if the cartel was listening right now? She hadn’t over-shared yet, but answering his question would end as gruesomely as the girl on the meat hook.
Sensing her tension, he glided his fingers through her hair. “Give me what you can for now.”
She breathed in slowly, relishing the clean, masculine scent of his neck. “Miguel offered to help me escape to the United States, promising I would become a free, legal citizen and make more than enough money to pay off my debts. That was the pivotal, most important thing he could’ve offered me. I have years of debt, accrued through desperate means.” Her chest squeezed. “I owe a lot of money to some shady collectors for reasons I’m not ready to talk about.”
“Don’t be embarrassed.”
“I’m not.” Sudden anger spiked through her, and she leaned back, causing water to lap around their chests. “I have regrets, but not about that. My debts were necessary. I did what I had to do and will never ever feel ashamed about it.”
“Good girl.” His touch on her cheek wasn’t pitying or shaming. It was supportive. “The water’s cooling.”
He opened the drain and stood, taking her with him. Out of the tub, he led her to the settee, where he dried them both off and snagged two robes. Once they were wrapped in terrycloth, he lowered onto the seat beside her.
She hadn’t finished her story, but he didn’t press. He simply sat beside her, quiet and patient.
How much could she tell him? Not all of it. But if she gave him some insight into how the cartel trafficked girls, it might help him stop the operation. If that was his aim. She hoped.
It was more hope than she’d had in years, and that scared the shit out of her.
“Miguel offered me an installment plan.” She hugged her waist, hating how naive she’d been. “All I had to do was sign a contract that promised to pay back the money I borrowed by working for his connections at a restaurant or factory. The going rate was thirty-thousand dollars. It sounded too good to be true. But hey, everyone gets rich in America, right? So I signed, ignoring the clause that said my family would be responsible for my debt if I couldn’t pay.”