The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(20)

“Hattie,” Ryker said, resting the palm of his hand on my back. “You’ve met Caesar, and Javier.”

So, Javier was the man who had brought me food and escorted me to the bathroom the past week. “Not officially,” I mumbled folding my arms across my chest, glaring daggers at Caesar.

If Ryker heard me, he didn’t bother acknowledging the comment. “And this,” Ryker pointed to the man sitting behind the desk with graying hair, “is Ignacio Vargas.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end when my eyes met his. His eyes were black, blank, and devoid of any emotion except maybe hate, but maybe not even that. Looking at him was like staring into the abyss. Ignacio was Ryker’s dad and the head of the Vargas Cartel. As much as I would’ve liked to ignore their connection, meeting him deprived me of the option. Ice crystals formed in my blood. This is what it’s like to look into the eyes of a killer, my mind whispered.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Ignacio said in perfect but heavily accented English. “I’m sorry we couldn’t chat earlier, but I had other business monopolizing my attention.” Standing up, he turned his attention to Ryker. “We should get started. Senator Deveron is waiting for our call.”

“We need to discuss how this is going to work,” Ryker declared.

Ignacio cut him off with an abrupt wave of his hand. “Miss Covington is going to answer a few questions. That’s it, and I’m short on time today. We need to expedite this.”

“Of course,” Ryker replied as he slipped into the chair at the desk. His hands flew over the computer keyboard for a few minutes. Then, he stood up again and motioned to the chair. “Hattie, take a seat.”

I didn’t want to see Evan or his dad. I was afraid they would know what I did with Ryker…what I still wanted to do with him. It took all of my self-control not to flee from the room and run as fast and hard as my legs could carry me out of the villa and on the road to freedom. I retreated, taking a few anemic steps back, and one of Ignacio’s guards lifted his gun. Shit. I wouldn’t even make it out the door, much less out of the villa. I buried my shaking hands in the folds of my dress and settled into the chair.

Ryker squeezed my shoulder, then relocated to a chair across the room. Ignacio quickly took his place behind me.

“Senator Deveron,” Ignacio said as his image filled the computer screen in front of us. “Miss Covington is alive and well as you can see.” He rested his hands on my shoulders and my breath accelerated to an uncomfortable level. I didn’t want his hands on me. My skin crawled under his fingers, repulsion radiating from every pore.

“We’d like to ask her a few questions to ascertain her well-being.” Senator Deveron adjusted his monitor, allowing me to see Evan and him. Evan looked pale and exhausted. Dark circles shadowed the skin around his eyes, and heavy stubble coated his normally clean-shaven face.

“Go ahead,” Ignacio’s hands dropped from my shoulders, and I took a deep breath trying to erase his touch from my mind and remain calm.

“Hattie,” Evan breathed, inclining forward until his elbows rested on the table in front of him. “Are you okay?”

Seriously. How did he expect me to answer his question? Of course I’m not okay. I’m as far from okay as I could conceivably get. I’m being held captive by a ruthless cartel. “I’m alive,” I said instead, dropping my eyes to my hands as they twisted the fabric of my dress. I was pretty sure my fingers would poke holes in the gauzy material by the end of the conversation.

“Are you hurt?” Evan persisted.

“Physically? No.” I hedged, unable to answer that question either.

Evan stretched forward even further, his face only inches from the screen, bringing the different colors in his eyes into sharp focus…black, gold, chocolate mixed with green flecks. “Nobody has touched you, right?”

My eyes flickered to Ryker. His face didn’t give anything away. I thought I’d see a hint of what he wanted me to say, but his face didn’t offer a single breadcrumb of information. Just before I returned my attention back to the computer monitor, his lips turned up at the corners, and his eyes flashed with a storm of lust, or maybe it was a trick of the light. Either way, that suggestive, fleeting glimpse of his thoughts transported my mind to an illicit daydream. It felt as though I had viewed a movie of us having sex against the wall on fast-forward. My heart stumbled inside my chest. What the hell was happening to me?

Volcanic heat rushed up my neck, and I tucked my head against my chest. “I want to go home,” I whispered, ignoring the question entirely. “I really need to go home, Evan.”

“As you can see, Hattie is alive and in good condition. When can I expect the exchange to happen?” Ignacio barked. Obviously his patience with Evan’s questions had expired. I didn’t care. Mine had too. As much as I wished otherwise, I didn’t have any information to help them rescue me. I suspected I was still in Mexico, but I wasn’t 100 percent certain, and Mexico was a huge country.

“We’re working on it. Things like this don’t happen overnight. Hattie’s father is pursuing it from his angle, and I’m doing everything in my power to facilitate the prisoner exchange.” Senator Deveron cleared his throat and reclined in his chair.

“I’m running out of patience. This needs to happen within the next week,” Ignacio persisted, shifting impatiently from foot to foot.