Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
I trailed off on a shudder, not wanting to think about the awful ordeal. The phantom taint of the man’s hands pawing at my breasts made my stomach twist, and nausea rolled through me.
George’s long fingers finally gripped mine with equal force. “I need you to tell me what happened,” he said, voice still tight with barely leashed, volatile emotion. “You were late coming home to make dinner, and the next thing I knew, I was getting a phone call saying you’re in the hospital.” He raked a hand through his sandy blond hair. “They told me they found you in a basement with two dead men. Someone put in an anonymous emergency call to get an ambulance to your location. What the hell happened?”
My heart pounded with remembered terror, but I forced my mind to focus on the fear-drenched memories in order to puzzle out my situation. George needed the information so that he could go after the men who’d taken me. He just wanted to protect me.
I reached out and traced the line of his granite jaw, trying to soothe away his tension. “I’m okay,” I promised. “I’m with you now.”
He blew out a long breath and turned his face into my touch, so he could brush a kiss over my palm. “I didn’t know where you were,” he admitted, his voice shaking slightly. “You scared me, baby.”
“I’m okay,” I repeated, drawn to comfort him. I hated the thorny mood that’d created a painful gulf between us. I needed him now more than ever. “Hold me?” I asked, my voice small and embarrassingly weak.
He sighed again and wrapped his arms around me, drawing me into a careful embrace. I shuddered as the residual horror of my ordeal washed through me, and my tears wet his shirt. I buried my face in his chest and clutched at him, weaving my fingers through his thick, wavy hair to hold him close.
His heartbeat was strong and steady beneath my ear, the beat reassuring me.
Alive. George was alive, and so was I.
“What happened, Evie?” he asked, more gently this time.
“I…” I swallowed the acid tang on my tongue and forced myself to remember. “I was on my way home from the university after I finished my classes for the day.”
George’s hand tightened around mine. “I told you not to walk on your own,” he reprimanded.
“I was only going to the bus stop,” I said, a bit defensive. I hadn’t defied George’s warnings and wandered through the unfamiliar streets by myself. I knew the route to work using the bus, but I wasn’t confident navigating Mexico City on foot; George was too busy with work to show me around, and it would be stupid of me to risk getting lost on my own. The cartels might know my fiancé’s job with the DEA and target me.
A shudder wracked my body. That was exactly what had happened.
“Who took you?” he demanded. “Which cartel was responsible?”
“I…” I searched my dark memories for any clues about the identities of the men who’d taken me. “I don’t know.”
His lips thinned. “You’re fluent in Spanish, Evie. You teach English at the university for god’s sake. You must have been able to understand what they were saying around you.”
“They drugged me somehow. And when I woke up, I was blindfolded and gagged. They didn’t talk to me,” I blurted in an awful rush of remembered terror. “All they talked about was how they were going to use me as bait to get to you. They wanted to kill you, George.”
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, clinging to him so that I could continue to feel his heartbeat against me. It quickened with anxiety for my distress, but his hold on me remained firm and reassuring.
“But who were they?” he insisted. “I have to know, baby. It’s the only way I can protect us. I can arrest the men responsible, and we’ll be safe.”
I shook my head against his chest. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know.”
His strong arms flexed around me. “How did those men end up dead in that basement with you? Who called for the ambulance?”
Guilt twisted my gut. “I don’t know,” I said again, useless. “I couldn’t see any of them. They said…”
“What did they say?” he prompted when I hesitated.
I forced myself to sort through the jumbled memories of agony and fear. “There were two men with me in the basement, and then a third man spoke. He asked if I was innocent. He seemed angry.”
A shudder raced through me as the feral roar of rage echoed through my mind. Despite my residual terror, I knew deep in my bones that the third man had saved me. He’d killed his associates and set me free.
“Then one of them…hurt me,” I forced myself to say, skipping over the part where they’d tried to violate me. George didn’t need to know about that. It would only upset him more.