A blog? I was trying to report a crime to the police. Morales couldn’t be taking me seriously.
“We’ve made a few arrests in recent weeks based on the reporting,” he hurried on. “The information is credible. If you post your account about… What was her name?”
“Marisol Cortes,” I breathed, my mind churning. This seemed laughable, but Morales looked deadly serious. His eyes glowed with excitement as he anticipated taking the information to his superiors. His naked ambition captured my confidence, and I listened closely as he gave me instructions on how to submit my story anonymously to the blogger who ran the site.
“Get the story posted,” he urged. “I need all the details you can give me. Then, I’ll take it to the chief, and I can arrest Guerrero.” His voice softened with awe as he spoke the words, as though he was envisioning the biggest win of his young career. If he was successful in taking down the brutal cartel enforcer, he would surely be promoted.
“I’ll do it,” I promised. I would set Marisol free, and my name wouldn’t be so much as whispered in association with Guerrero’s arrest. I’d risked my life approaching Morales, but it’d been worth it. I was going to save an innocent woman from captivity. The task filled me with purpose, giving my life meaning for the first time since the awful night when my world had imploded. Even before that day, my life had mostly been dictated by the will of my father and my brother. For the first time ever, I was doing something bold and independent. Something for me.
I might be liberating Marisol from captivity, but I felt free too.
Sebastián filled my doorway, his face a thundercloud. “Let’s go, Isabel.” His voice was frigid, completely lacking the comforting warmth that’d colored his rumbling tone the last time we were together: the night he had saved me.
My stomach dropped, and I took a step back, retreating into my house. “Go where?” I asked breathlessly.
His brows drew into harsh slashes, casting forbidding shadows over his eyes. They were pitiless and flat, as dark as coal. “I’m taking you to Stefano.”
My mouth was desert dry, but I managed to croak, “Why?”
A low growl slipped through his bared teeth. “You know why.”
They knew. How did they know? I’d only submitted the anonymous post yesterday. It could’ve come from anyone who had some knowledge about the inner workings of the cartel. I was a nobody on the fringes of the organization. Why would they suspect me, of all people?
“Don’t make this difficult for yourself,” he warned, hard as ice.
My eyes burned, but I swallowed hard and tried to lie. “I don’t know what you’re talking—”
“I won’t warn you again,” he barked, his eyes flashing with fury. This time, that defensive rage was focused on me. Before, he’d defended me. Now, he was defending his organization, his brotherhood.
A shudder wracked my body, and my knees shook.
Sebastián didn’t offer a supporting hand. He was livid, the full brunt of his terrible anger bearing down on me. I’d betrayed his cartel, and he had come for me.
A searing tear scoured my cheek. “Are you going to kill me?”
“No one is going to kill you,” he snarled, his meaty fists clenching at his sides. For a brief moment, my fierce protector was back. But he was gone in the blink of an eye. Sebastián’s expression shuttered, and he crossed his corded arms over his chest. “Stefano will decide how to punish you.”
Another hot tear streaked down my face. “P-punish me?”
“Don’t blink those big eyes at me and think I’ll save you,” he snapped. “I saved you once. I believed you were innocent. You won’t fool me again.”
“I was innocent. I am.”
He shook his head sharply. “Not again, Isabel. Now, come with me. Don’t force me to do something neither of us wants.”
My heart leapt into my throat, and in a moment of primal panic, my body chose flight. I slammed the door in his face and bolted it shut. He roared my name, the harsh bellow of an enraged beast.
“A simple lock won’t keep me out!” he thundered, and the door shuddered beneath the impact of his boot. “Open this door, or you’ll regret it.” A spine-jarring bang as he delivered another vicious kick. The door rattled on its hinges.
I turned on my heel and fled. I had to get to the panic room. The first repair I’d ordered after the siege was to replace the heavy steel door with a new model that was thick enough to keep even Sebastián Castillo out.
My mind couldn’t process what I’d do once I barricaded myself inside. I wasn’t capable of considering anything other than locking the rabid beast out.
My feet pounded on the intricate floral rug, which I’d ordered for the specific purpose of covering the slick, polished floorboards. I wouldn’t lose precious time skidding and sliding in the halls during my flight to the panic room ever again.