Defending Raven (Mountain Mercenaries #7)(24)

“Talk to me,” Dave begged. “Tell me why you’ve been avoiding me. Why don’t you want to leave here? What is it? What’s keeping you in Peru?”

This wasn’t the time or place to have this conversation, but Mags didn’t know what to do to stop it. The other women were watching her and Dave carefully, their heads going back and forth as each of them spoke. Even though they couldn’t understand what was being said, the emotion behind their words was clear.

Mags shook her head. She couldn’t tell him. Couldn’t bear to see the love in his eyes turn to disgust.

“Damn it, Raven, I’ve spent the last decade turning over every rock I could to find you! I’ve learned more about the sex trade than I ever wanted to know. I’ve rescued hundreds of women and children and reunited them with their families. I’ve seen some flourish after coming back home, and others who couldn’t seem to acclimate. Some women went back into prostitution when they returned simply because they couldn’t cope.”

Mags flinched.

Dave’s voice gentled. “I know what happened to you, sweetheart. And I wish to God it hadn’t. I want to kill every single motherfucker who put his hands on you. But none of that changes how I feel. You’re my wife. The woman I promised to love through good times and bad. And if you think I’m just going to turn around and leave, you’re deluding yourself.”

“You have no idea what I’ve been through,” she said bitterly.

“Unfortunately, I do,” Dave said sadly. “Right after you were taken . . . they probably threatened both me and your parents. You thought if you did what they said, you’d be okay. I’d pay whatever ransom they demanded, and you’d be home within a few days. But then they probably drugged you. When you finally came back to yourself, you were here. Although you had no idea where ‘here’ was.

“You were raped repeatedly the first month or two, and you probably fought like hell every time. Eventually, you realized that I wasn’t coming for you. That the situation you were in was permanent. After a while, it became easier to just do as you were told. That you would get beaten less and maybe even get more food if you complied. Except, complying ate away at your soul . . . but you still did it anyway.

“As the years went by, you probably thought less and less about your old life, only about getting through each day. You might have earned better treatment through your compliance, and you settled into your life as a slave and prisoner. Then one day, you were either too old or too boring to be a draw to the customers anymore. They’d had their fill and wanted younger and more exciting partners. You were kicked to the curb with nowhere to go and no way to contact me or anyone else from your old life. So you made do with what you had. Made friends, settled in.

“But, Raven, this is not your life anymore. I’m here. I’m going to take you home, and we’ll figure out how to help you live your life again.”

Mags got more and more pissed as Dave spoke. Yes, he was mostly correct. Scarily spot-on, in fact, about how most of her life had gone after she’d been taken.

But he was way off base about why and how she’d gotten out of the business. Del Rio had in no way kicked her to the curb, as she wished he had. She was as tied to him now as she’d been the first night she’d been locked in a room in his compound.

But it was her husband’s casual recital of the nightmare she’d lived through that infuriated her the most. To have her own personal hell reduced to two minutes of narrative was depressing.

She supposed she should be glad he wasn’t going on and on about her personal hell.

“You might’ve learned a lot about trafficking over the years, but I’m not one of your charity cases. I’m no victim,” she hissed.

“Then talk to me,” Dave retorted.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Don’t do that,” Dave said, sounding pissed.

It was the first time he’d spoken to her in any way that illustrated his frustration, and for some reason, Mags preferred it. Almost liked the idea that he was losing his control.

“Don’t do what?” she asked.

“Don’t shut me out. I prayed every night that tomorrow would be the day that I’d find you, and when Zara recognized you in that photo, I finally had a shred of hope that this time, I actually would.”

“Dave, what if I didn’t want to be found? Did you ever think about that?”

“No.” His answer was immediate. “You wanted to be found as much as I wanted to find you. But I don’t know what you’re keeping from me. I even asked Zara, and she said she didn’t know.”

“You interrogated my friends?” Mags asked, wanting to scream at him to drop it, to leave it alone.

“That’s a pretty harsh word. Yes, I talked to them. Asked them what they knew about you and where you disappear to during the day,” her husband said without any trace of guilt in his tone. “But you have to know, I’ll do whatever it takes to figure out what’s going on and to keep you safe.”

Dave had gotten a lot more stubborn over the years. Mags didn’t remember him ever being this insistent when they’d been married. He’d been loving and hadn’t pushed her when she was grumpy or simply tired and didn’t want to talk. She found his persistence frustrating, and she didn’t know how to get him off her back. How to get him to leave.