The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(111)

“Don’t bother,” I spat as I passed Rever in the corridor next to the elevator. I slapped the palm of my hand against the elevator call button.

“What do you mean?” he asked, following me into the elevator.

The doors slid closed, and my wavy reflection in the satin metal taunted me. “You were right,” I barked as I stared at floor numbers, a symbolic countdown until I could walk out of the hospital and Ignacio’s life forever.

A wide Cheshire grin crept across Rever’s face, swallowing his features. “I’m glad you finally realized it, but what are you talking about?”

“Ignacio.”

Rever chuckled. “Ah. He gave you an ultimatum. He never lets a crisis go to waste.” The elevator doors opened, and I stepped into the lobby without answering.

“See you later.” With my back turned to his, I lifted my hand in dismissal and started walking.

“Wait. I came to find you, not to see Ignacio. I don’t have any intention of visiting him. I already told you that.”

I pushed open the door to freedom. I squinted and slipped on my dark aviator sunglasses. The morning light was intense and harsh after the yellowed light in the hospital.

Ignacio thought he gave me an ultimatum, but he didn’t. He gave me freedom. Freedom to be with Hattie. Freedom to walk away from him forever. Freedom to never look back.

“Why?”

“We need to talk.”

I wheeled around to face him. He looked better than he had in weeks. Good for him. He wore a white collared shirt and tan linen pants. He had shaved his face and the circles under his eyes had faded.

“Start talking. I don’t have much time.”

His dark eyebrows slanted downward into a thick line. “Why not?”

“I’m done here. I’m flying home.”

He looked down and tapped the tips of his fingers together. “You can’t leave until you help me with Anna. We agreed.”

I shrugged. “I changed my mind.”

“Just give me one more day. Everything is set for tomorrow. I have the money. Anna will be at church. Emilio will fly us from the Vargas compound to Isla Mujeres and back. I booked a flight to Panama for Anna and me.”

I stuffed my hands into my pockets. “What’s in it for me? You’re paying Emilio, but what are you going to do for me? Why should I risk anything for you?”

He raised his hands in supplication. “We’re brothers. That’s what brothers do for each other.”

I stormed forward. My eyes stung with memories best left in the past. “You’ve never lifted a finger for me or said one word in my defense. Try again.”

Shadows flashed through his dark eyes. We both knew what I meant. Before his mom decided she was done with Ignacio and moved to a different home, she made my summers in Mexico a living hell. She humiliated me and degraded me, never missing an opportunity to remind me I didn’t belong. But no matter how Ignacio’s wife may have schemed to hurt me mentally and physically, it hurt worse that my flesh and blood had allowed it to happen. Ignacio never offered a single word in protest. The selfish bastard was content to let me pay for his sins.

“If I intervened, it would’ve made it worse. She felt betrayed and dishonored by Ignacio. He had a son with another woman and he shoved you in her face, flaunting his affair.”

My head pounded, and I squeezed the bridge of my nose between my fingertips. “I don’t care anymore.” I didn’t. I had stopped caring years ago.

Rever sighed. “I’m sorry. I wish things were different then and now. As a kid, we were pitted against each other, but it shouldn’t have been that way. We were on the same side. My mom didn’t love Ignacio. She never did, but she hated the whispers behind her back about his unfaithfulness. Ignacio only cared about his legacy and the Vargas Cartel. We should’ve fought back.”

I nodded. “Probably. Good luck tomorrow.”

He grabbed my wrist. “Don’t leave me hanging. I’ll pay you whatever you want.”

“I don’t want your money.”

“What do you want?”

I stared in the distance for a moment without answering. “A debt for a debt. A favor for a favor,” I answered, ripping my wrist out of his grasp.

“What’s that mean?”

“You’ll repay the favor when the time comes, no questions asked.”

He studied my face for a few beats. “Fine.” He held out his hand, and I shook it, sealing the deal. I’d help him with Anna, and he’d help me when the time came. It never hurt to have a person indebted to you.





Chapter Twenty-Five




Hattie



Dressed in a short ivory-colored robe, I paced back and forth in the darkened hotel room, eyeing the door as if my life depended on it. The romantic dinner I had planned sat mostly untouched on the balcony. I should’ve eaten more than a few bites of salad and bread. I was hungry, tired, and pregnant, but at the moment I didn’t care about any of those things. My head throbbed. My eyes watered. I wanted to go home, even though I didn’t know what that meant anymore.

My parents and Vera had blown up my phone all day. Nobody knew where I was. For all intents and purposes, I had disappeared without a trace again. I couldn’t answer their calls. I couldn’t send them pictures. Nothing about being back in Mexico, only steps from where I was abducted a few months ago, would reassure them. They’d think I’d lost my mind and have me involuntarily committed the minute I stepped foot on U.S. soil. As the minutes turned into hours, I started to agree with that sentiment.