My eyes widened and his hand moved down between my legs, fingers going over my clit.

“Not very wet,” he remarked in a low, careful voice. “You must have missed me. Missed my touch.”

And he knew all the right places to touch, the right places to tease. Still, I felt nothing in my heart. And my body, my body only wanted to run and flee. I wanted to tear off my skin and burn it. He felt like a monster, a wicked reptile of cold leathery scales, a creature from my darkest dreams. He would not win me over here.

Perhaps if I let him think he did …

I relaxed into his touch, hoping I could feed his delusion. Not too much that he’d catch on. But just enough. I willed my breathing and my heart to slow and leaned slightly into him.

“That’s my angel,” he said, and I could feel his erection growing against my ass. His hand loosened on my mouth and I took the opportunity. I bit down hard on his hand and he yelped, letting go of me. I went for the door but he was at my side knocking me hard to the ground, my head banging against the cold concrete. Everything began to spin, stars and streams went around my head, and I lost precious seconds trying to get up.

By the time I struggled to get to my feet, my bad leg collapsing under me, I heard the shake of metal, the rip of duct tape. I screamed for Camden before Javier grabbed me by the hair at the top of my head and yanked me toward him, spinning me around and slamming my head against the door, his fingers finding my mouth. He stuck the duct tape across my lips.

“Camden can’t hear you now,” he whispered in the dark.

My heart sank at that. Had I been a fool to think that Javier was the only one in the house?

The light in the garage went on. Javier had one hand against it, the other gripped around my elbow. I eyed the shelves in the garage, spying a hammer and went for it but he dived into me and I went flying into them. Just before they toppled onto me he yanked me backward and out of the way and stuck a handcuff around one wrist.

What are you going to do with me? I tried to say through the tape but it came out all garbled.

Javier smiled. He understood perfectly. And I was able to get my first good look at him. He looked almost the same, maybe in a more expensive suit, all black, his hair shorter and neatly trimmed, showing off the streaks of grey that were threaded through it, and he had a shiny new gold watch on his wrist. He reeked of power and deceit. Of confidence.

I could only guess as to what that meant.

“Oh, you poor thing?” he said with mock sympathy. “You really think I came here for you?”

Quick as a whip he spun me around and stuck the other cuff around the passenger door handle of the Mini Cooper. I collapsed against the door, slumping to the ground.

He walked over to a camping cooler in the corner and pulled it out to me, scraping loudly on the cement. He took a seat on it like we were about to have a little chat and brought out a gun from his inner jacket pocket, looking it over in his hands. My eyes watched it fearfully. I was dumbstruck with complete and utter terror.

He looked up and frowned at me. “I told you angel, I’m not going to hurt you. I only came here to do a little business transaction.”

I stiffened and he grinned at me.

“Oh don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not after your money. I’ve never cared much for that. No, what I’m after are men. Manpower. Power. Freedom. The chance to win.” He sighed and looked around him with distaste. “You could have been living with me. You could have had it all. Instead you’re in a shithole in America. Do you know where I am now? I have the most beautiful house you could ever imagine, with views as far as the eye can see. I have privilege now. More than that, I have … prestige. What Violetta said about me having a cartel nobody cares about? Oh, I wish she could see me now. I took over for Travis. And more than that, I took over from the Morales. I am at the top. Where I always should have been.” He leaned forward, elbows on knees and looked me dead in the eye, face completely serious. “Where you should have been. Angel. Where the fuck did we go wrong?”

Where do I begin? But what was the point. You could tell Javier something a million times but unless he saw the reason, unless he believed it, it didn’t matter. If he thought the sky was red instead of blue, it would be red. Everything I could throw in his face he would justify in some psychopathic way.

“I really did love you,” he said softly. Then he straightened up and his eyes were unreadable. Blank. “But there are some things in this world more important than love. Some things that last longer. Empires. You build something great, something large, something that gets people’s attention and you’re remembered forever. You love a girl, give her your heart, and you won’t be remembered six years later. Love doesn’t last. But empires do. They go on. And on. And on. Even if just in history books.”

He got up and started deliberately pacing back and forth, toying with the gun. I had to wonder if Camden was okay. Because if he wasn’t … God help me.

“Let me tell you a thing about cartels,” he said with an air of superiority. “It’s all about expansion. And you get to expand by thinking ahead. Mexico is bloody. Mexico is war. But I love it. So what do I do? I go across the border and find the itty-bitty American bloods and gangs and their pussy-whipped drug trades and grow-ops and I take over. I get here first, before the Baja Cartel. Before the Gulf. I expand. I get more drugs, more people, more money. I just had the tiny asshole opening of Mississippi before. Now I have Southern California. Or, at least I’m trying. There’s a rather large operation that needs, um, how do you say, lubrication? Though you never needed that with me, did you angel?” He stopped right in front of me, his dark, greasy shoes spotless against the dirty concrete floor. “Look at me when I’m talking to you.”

I slowly raised my head, not because he told me to but because if he was going to do anything I wanted to see it.

His lips twisted into a sick smile. “So, I need the grease to get this deal going. Let’s call it a peace offering. You see, the Madano brothers were really upset when Camden got away on them, so I figure if I brought him back and handed him over, well they’d be more likely to do business with me.”

My eyes widened, heart hammering with fear until the room started getting fuzzy.

“I know you don’t like that,” he went on, “and I’m sorry. But I did tell you to never get close too close to anything. To anyone. I was just trying to spare your heart from the inevitable. I had my sights on Camden from the moment I saw him in Mexico. Once I found out the lengths you’d go to save your Gus, it all … fell into place. And I wouldn’t be where I am right now if I didn’t act on opportunity. I know you knew that once. How important opportunity was to life.”

He watched me for a few moments but I gave him nothing but the horror that was surely on my face. He sighed and threw his arms up. “All right then. I guess we’re done here.”

He walked to me and put his hand on the side of my cheek and stared me right in the eye. “Take care of yourself, Ellie.” He kissed my forehead and started walking toward the door. Then he stopped and brought his fingers to his nose, sniffing them. “Smells like you.” He licked his tongue along his index finger. “Still tastes like you, too.” He smiled at me, pleased with himself. “I’ll make sure to show Camden, see if he agrees with me.”

Fucking hell.

Fucking hell!

I started screaming, my cries muffled by the duct tape and tried to get my hand out of the handcuff. Javier walked to the door, tossing me one last look over his shoulder before he stepped out into the kitchen and disappeared. I stopped struggling and listened, heard Javier going up the stairs and then heard Camden yelling, just once, a swear, like “You fuck”, something raw and primal, pure rage, and I could only imagine what Javier was telling him, that he did stuff to me.

Tears started flowing down my face, my heart being swallowed by my chest. I heard someone being dragged down the stairs, the low voices of Javier and someone else. Then the front door slammed. A car started down the street and then was gone.

My man was gone.

And I was alone.

I hadn’t kept him safe.

I allowed myself to cry for Camden for one full minute, counting down from sixty through the tears, trying to keep breathing properly through my nose. When I hit zero, I got to my feet. I looked around the garage and began to think.

There was the hammer and tools that had been knocked over earlier, only a few feet from the farthest reach of my feet. Maybe I could either hammer off the door handle on the Cooper or hammer my handcuff. But getting to the hammer was a problem.

I took in a deep breath and a tried to wrap both hands around the door handle. I tried to pull the Mini Cooper toward the hammer and struggled stupidly. Of course I couldn’t drag it on my own, it weighed like 2,000 lbs.

But if it were placed in neutral …

I took off the robe and wrapped part of it around my free elbow. Then I took a step back as far as I could go, steadied my aim and brought my elbow down into the passenger window with one sharp jab. Glass shattered everywhere and I knew my arm was bleeding even with the thick robe’s protection but at least the window was broken. I quickly used the robe to wipe away the rest of the glass fragments, then draped it over the edge of the door to protect myself when I reached over and popped the car into neutral. Then I wrapped my shoulder in the extra fabric and began to push the car forward, the pressure of my whole body on the door frame.

The Cooper slowly inched forward until the fender was pushing aside the fallen shelves. I was finally close enough. I stretched my bad leg out since it could reach the furthest and pulled the hammer toward me. I let out a giddy little cry once I was able to pick it up in my hands. I had a few jabs at the handcuff but kept missing and nearly getting my hand, so I went for the door handle instead. Turns out, BMW does not construct door handles to withstand blows from a hammer and after the tenth blow, the metal clanged loose to the ground and I was free.

Free.

With no fucking idea of what to do next.

Javier had Camden and was going to do an exchange with the Madano brothers. I had no idea what would happen to Camden after that. But I had a feeling I knew someone who would.

I quickly raced upstairs as fast as I could with my leg, threw on a pair of jeans, my special boots and a tight tee-shirt then pulled all the guns we had out of the closet. I stuck a revolver in my boots with my knife, then grabbed a pistol with a silencer and stuck that down the back of my jeans. I went downstairs and grabbed the note pad I’d been writing in, ripping off the top sheet, the one with Sophia’s address on it, then ripped out another and scribbled in giant letters a note for Gus, leaving it right on the kitchen table.

Go Get Ben! It said.

I didn’t want Gus coming after us or involving himself. But with what I was about to do, Ben needed to be kept safe and I didn’t have time to do it. I had to go after Camden. He may have been Javier’s priority but he was also mine.

I only hoped it wasn’t too late.

I scampered back into the garage, opened the garage door, and revved the battered Mini Cooper. I peeled backward out of the building and ripped down the street.