Spiders in the Grove (In the Company of Killers #7)(51)

“Then why are you still alive?” he asks.

“Because I’m worth more than Victor Faust, from what I’ve been told. And you plan to turn me in to the one man I came here to find. So, I guess everything works out, after all.”

Javier shakes his head with a small smile; then he leans forward, his arms propped on the top of his legs. “I know how much you’re worth, Sarai,” he says, “because I’m the one who hired The Order to find you.”

I swallow hard—and I feel like an idiot. How could I ever have thought I was worth more to The Order than Victor Faust? The embarrassment I feel for that moment, a moment when I felt important because I thought The Order wanted me; well, I hope Javier doesn’t see the red in my face. It was him all along, and I should’ve known—I should’ve known!

“Why, Javier, would you pay that much to find me, after all I’ve done? That’s a lot of money for one girl”—I sneer—“and I know it’s not because you love me.”

“Revenge,” he says, and a chill moves up my back. “It is so much more satisfying than any amount of money.”

Javier gets up from the chair and paces the floor in front of me.

“I have plans for you, mi amor,” he says, not looking at me. “And you’ll either fulfill them, or I’ll kill you.”

“What kind of plans?”

He stops, turns, and his eyes meet mine.

“You’re going to finish what you started a long time ago, what you agreed to. What happened, anyway? Did you fall in love with him? Did you love him more than me?”

I look at the floor.

“Yes,” I answer with honesty. “Victor saved me. From you, Javier. I could’ve loved you the way I love him, but you’re a very different kind of man. I wasn’t someone you loved—I was something you possessed. Victor’s hands were rough, just as yours were, but his never hurt me. He cared for me—you cared only for yourself. So yes, I betrayed you because I fell in love with him. And I won’t betray him now for you, because I still love him.”

He can’t look at me; I get the sense he wants to, but he’s too angry; there’s a tiny twitch on one side of his face.

“No more lies, Javier. No more pretending with you, not even to save myself. I refuse to spend my last moments pretending that I love you. The truth is, I fucking hate you. And if you don’t kill me while you have me bound to this chair, then I’ll be the one killing you when I eventually get myself out of it.”

He chuckles.

“Is that right?” he mocks. “While I don’t doubt you can free yourself, I know you won’t kill me.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Alejandra,” he says. “I’m the only one who knows where our daughter is.”

A daughter? I gasp quietly, and lose my train of thought as I try to envision her face. Alejandra. My daughter’s name is Alejandra…

Javier stands tall in front of me, and I look up at his looming form. His expression has changed. And it puts fear in my heart that I feel deep down in my stomach.

He smiles. “And if you don’t cooperate with me this time, I’ll have her killed before I kill you.”

No…

My unblinking gaze floats around the room drunkenly; I stop breathing for a moment; my hands sweat profusely; my stomach churns with bile. I look up at him again, deep into his eyes, and I see it, the seriousness of his threat: he will do it; he’s not bluffing—he will kill my daughter.

“You should be grateful I didn’t kill her when you betrayed me the first time, Sarai. I thought about it. I almost did it.” He sits back down on the chair in front of me, seizes my full attention. “But I thought I’d wait just a little longer”—he moves his hands, palms up, outward—“for precisely this moment. I just had to be patient. And patience paid off because here you are. And because I didn’t kill her, I still have the only leverage I could’ve used against you. Tell me, Sarai,” he says, “other than love, why did you betray me when you knew that I knew where our daughter was? Do you love a man more than your own child?”

“No,” I answer right away, glaring at him. “I just knew that no matter what I did for you, you’d never tell me where she was. You’re a cruel, heartless animal, Javier, and I knew I would’ve betrayed the man I love for nothing in the end. So, I gave up hope; I stopped dreaming about something I’d never have. And I made the decision to come back to Mexico the first time to kill you. To be rid of you.” I sigh and pause before continuing. “But you weren’t here, and so I killed most of your family. And I don’t regret it. And before I leave here, I’ll finish the job.”

He smiles. And then he stands.

“Maybe so,” he says, “maybe I’ve underestimated you, and you truly are the badass everyone says you became. But if anything happens to me, you’ll never find her. And you’ll never know the truth, Sarai. About how you really ended up here all those years ago. And you’ll never find the man you’re looking for. I have so much to offer, I doubt you’ll let vengeance get in the way of all that.”

“What do you mean, how I really ended up here?” I can’t lie, he’s got my attention.

Javier reaches up and taps the side of his head with his fingertip, grinning. “It’s all up here,” he says. “All you have to do is finish what you started, and I’ll tell you everything I know.”