Defending Raven (Mountain Mercenaries #7)(33)

“Where is Papá now?”

They’d been over this many times too. She could’ve told David the truth today, that his papá was in Peru and would soon be taking them both home to the United States, but she didn’t want him to accidentally let that information slip in his excitement. The last thing she wanted was del Rio getting wind of an escape attempt. And she didn’t think Dave would change his mind about taking her and her son back to Colorado, but just in case he did, she didn’t want to disappoint David.

“He’s in the United States. See, Mamá got lost. And Papá is looking as hard as he can to find us. And when he does, we’re going to go and live happily ever after with him.”

David looked up at her. “Were you scared when you got lost?”

“Yeah, baby, I was. Sometimes I still am. But you know what keeps me going?”

“What?”

“Knowing that tomorrow is a new day. I just have to get through one day at a time. And one of these days, I’ll wake up, and Papá will be here, and he’ll take us home.”

“And we can all live together? You won’t have to leave at the end of the day?” David asked.

His question nearly broke her heart, but Mags did her best to keep her voice neutral. “Yeah, baby. We’ll all live in the same house together. We’ll have all the food we want, and you’ll have a ton of friends to play with. We’ll eat dinner together, and I’ll tuck you into bed every night.” Mags wanted to cry. She’d been telling her son the same fairy tale his entire life, but today was the first time she believed it might come true.

“Will I have to take pictures with him?”

Mags frowned. That was a new question. “What do you mean? What kind of pictures? Who takes pictures with you now?”

David shrugged, but she could feel the sudden tension in his little shoulders and in the way he pressed his head harder to her chest. “Del Rio comes here, Mamá. With another man. We play naked, and del Rio takes pictures. I don’t like it, but I have to.” His voice lowered as he admitted, “I said no once, and I didn’t get to eat for a really long time. Del Rio told me good boys do what adults say.” Then he looked up at her and whispered, “He said you won’t come see me if I’m a bad boy.”

Mags felt as if she were going to explode. She was outraged, and scared, and freaked out.

Del Rio was training her son to do whatever his sick pedophile clients wanted him to do.

She took David’s head in her hands and looked him in the eye. “Your body is your own,” she said in a shaking voice, doing her best to stay calm. “No one is allowed to touch you without your permission. I don’t care if they’re an adult or not. And no one will keep me away from you, mijo. I will always be your mamá, and I will not let anyone keep us apart. Okay?”

David nodded. “’Kay.”

“You can tell me the truth. Did that man touch you when you had your clothes off?” Mags wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

“He stood next to me in the photos, then I sat on his lap.”

Mags inhaled deeply. She’d occasionally seen little kids around the compound, but since David wasn’t being kept there, she’d hoped and prayed he might have escaped their fate. But deep down she’d always known there was a reason del Rio wasn’t letting her leave Peru with her son.

She wanted to kill him with her bare hands.

She looked David in the eyes once more and said gently, “I love you. More than anything in this world. No matter how old we get, or what happens in the future, I will always love you. Hear me?”

“Yes, Mamá. Will you tell me the story of how you and Papá met now?” David asked.

It seemed like he wasn’t visibly traumatized by what del Rio had done, but it was only a matter of time before things went further than naked pictures.

He turned on her lap and stared out into the yard, and Mags lowered her chin until it rested on her son’s little head. Then she began to tell him the same story he’d heard countless times already.

“Your papá bought a building and had called where I worked to get it insured. It was my job to go inspect it to make sure it would be safe to let people inside. When I got there, I was nervous because it wasn’t in the safest part of the city, and I was all alone. I got out of my car, and your papá came out of the building.”

“And you were scared!” David interjected.

Mags chuckled. “Yes, I was.”

“Because Papá is big. Big enough to lift cars and beat up bad guys!” David said enthusiastically.

Mags thought Dave would get a kick out of David’s imagination. “Exactly. He came outside, and I was scared to be around him. But he noticed and made sure not to get too close. That made me feel better. In fact, when I inspected the outside of the building, he stayed by the front door, watching to make sure no one else came and bothered me, but also keeping his distance. He held open the door for me when I had to go inside and asked if I wanted something cold to drink. After I was done making sure the building was safe, we talked some more. He was funny, and he made me feel comfortable. He asked if I wanted to go on a date, and I said yes.”

“And you went to a restaurant where you got a steak and he got fish!” David recited happily.