DELIVER(74)

Killing herself would free them for good. It would also free Mom and Mattie. Mr. E would have no reason to harm them if she weren’t around to experience the horror of it.

She should’ve ended her life years ago, but Josh had been the push she needed. Releasing him back to his parents was the right thing to do. Perhaps it was his integrity that had given her the strength to be honorable.

She hugged Camila’s slim shoulders and dropped her face in the black silk of hair. “Don’t be sorry. You still managed to fire a kill shot. Thank you.”

Camila pulled back, shaking her beautiful round face, her eyebrows drawn in confusion. “We didn’t shoot anyone. We just got here.”

Her blood ran cold. “What do you mean?”

“Liv?” The deep accented voice behind her belonged to her second captive.

She pulled to her feet and came face to face with Ricky, who aimed a gun at a pair of pale green eyes. Eyes she never thought she’d see again. In his hand, dangled a Taurus PT-22 with a pink wood-grain grip.





Chapter 35




Six guns aimed at Josh’s head. Five men, one woman, all of them young, irrationally attractive, and glaring at him with fight in their eyes. He should’ve been scared shitless, but the cold blood settling around his heart suspended him in a state of shock.

He’d just killed a man. Even as he feared God and shunned evil, he knew without a doubt he’d do it again. For her.

Liv watched him, her eyebrows in a stark V, her complexion pale and splattered with blood. “Lower your guns.”

The weapons lowered, disappearing in waistbands and pockets. Her friends, whoever they were, shifted closer, forming a bulwark at her back.

The Latino woman opened her mouth, and Liv held up a finger, silencing her and glaring at him. “How did you find me?”

“You might call it a lucky break. I call it divine intervention.” He flicked the safety on the gun. “Why’d you leave this in the Honda?”

“So you could return it to your mom.” Her eyes flashed. “I did not expect you to use it in a reckless gunslinging rescue.” She spoke low, repeating her question. “How did you find me?”

He tucked the gun into his waistband at the base of his spine. “I left as soon as I woke. Got to the front of the neighborhood, and there you were, in the van, only a few blocks ahead of me.” God hadn’t abandoned him after all. “I followed you.”

Her lips pinched in a line. “I freed you.”

The woman at her side covered her mouth, eyes wide. “Oh my God. He’s that missing football player from Baylor.” Her head snapped to Liv. “He’s one of us?”

They were three hours from Baylor in the middle of nowhere. It was surreal that news of his disappearance had traveled that far. And what did she mean, one of us? His vision prodded through the nighttime shadows, searching the faces of her gun-toting, backup team. “Who are you?”

Liv pulled out her phone and squinted at the screen. “I have about twenty minutes before Mr. E wonders why my phone isn’t moving.” She blinked up. “Josh, this is Camila.”

Camila gave him a chin lift. “I was her first delivery.”

The hand of darkness seemed to lift from the trees, the stars singing together and the world crashing into place in a duh-faced moment. He took in their handsome features, their muscular builds, and their youth. Some were of Spanish descent, and they all fit the same desirable mold, including Kate. All seven of her captives. Here. Free.

All the signs had been there. She had never shown remorse over the fate of her captives, refused to talk about rescuing them, never veered from her plan to deliver Kate. And Van’s inability to attend the transactions made it all possible.

Camila gave Liv’s hand a squeeze. “Liv gutted my buyer the minute he sent the transaction. I screamed like a maniac, covered head to toe in his blood.” She half-laughed, half-groaned. “When she calmed me down, she told me her story. Her history with Van. Her Mom. Her daughter.” A sad smile touched her lips. “I refused to abandon her, so she let me dispose of the body and gave me an anonymous e-mail address. I sent a phone number there, one that couldn’t be traced to me. A year later, she called. That’s when I met Ricky.”

The man closest to him held out a hand. “Ricky. Slave number two.”

Josh accepted the handshake, awe-struck, his tongue not functioning.

Another guy flicked up three fingers. “Tomas. Number three. Her favorite.”

Someone coughed, “Bullshit.” Then each of the remaining men stepped forward, their names threading around him, pulling him into their huddle. Luke, the only redhead, number four. Martin, who had to drag his eyes from Liv, number five. Tate, huge smile, number six.

A familiar blond head emerged through the wall of men, her hands twisting in the front of her dress. She peered up at the strangers with a shell-shocked expression. “I’m…my name is Kate.” She stared at Liv, her lips parted and eyes wide. “Does this make me number seven?”

Liv moved to her and cupped her face, bending to meet her eyes. “You okay?”

With a jerky swallow, Kate raised her chin and nodded. “I’m still trying to catch up. I…I had no idea. I thought I was going with that man.” Another swallow. “I didn’t expect you to kill him. Have you ever lost a slave?”