“You’re going into a Mexican prison? Undercover? As inmates?” Her pulse sprinted. “What the fuck, Martin? You can’t—”
“Ricky and I have been training for this for months. We know what we’re doing.”
She closed her eyes, released a breath, and met his gaze. “Please, be careful.”
“Same to you, when you capture your captor.” He winked.
They talked for a little while longer before she walked him out. Then she took a shower, put on pajamas she’d borrowed from Camila, and slipped her arms into the sleeves of Tiago’s dinner jacket.
Maybe sleeping in it every night had taken her desperation too far, but she missed him terribly. It had only been four days, and the pain had become more than she could bear.
To think, he’d been such a dick to her. He’d hurt her, brought her to tears, made her vulnerable, and took away all her defenses.
He’d also kept every promise, showed genuine regret, protected her, and loved her unconditionally. Through his cruelty and his tenderness, she realized she could trust him at the deepest level. And those defenses and freedoms he’d taken from her? She didn’t need any of it. Not with him.
She just needed his love.
As she crawled into bed, his absence hit her in a torrent of tears. She pulled the tuxedo coat around her, breathed him in, and silently wept.
“Where are you, Tiago?”
A knock sounded on the door.
After living with five roommates, she’d grown used to late-night visitors in her room. Someone always needed something, even if it was just conversation.
Since Martin had just left, she suspected Ricky would be waiting on the other side. But when she opened the door, Lucia’s brown gaze collided with hers.
“Hi.” Kate wiped her cheeks, certain all the crying had made her eyes red and swollen.
“Hey, um… I know we don’t know each other, but I thought since we have a mutual…acquaintance…”
“You mean Tiago?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s more than an acquaintance to me.”
“Poor choice of words. Look, I just…” Lucia rested her hands on her hips and stared at the floor. “I can’t sleep. Tate hogs all your time, and I just really wanted to talk to you alone.”
“You want me to tell you about Tiago.”
“Yes.” Her expression softened, her gaze pleading. “I spent eleven years with him, and I… Shit, I know it’s late, so if you want to talk another time—”
“I can’t sleep, either.” She opened the door wider and motioned for Lucia to enter.
“Is that his?” Lucia nodded at the dinner jacket that engulfed her shoulders.
“Yeah.” She ran a hand along the black sleeve.
“I never saw him wear a tux, but I can picture it.” Lucia perched on the loveseat. “He’s very easy on the eyes.”
“He looked devastating that night, especially when he danced with me.” Her chin trembled.
“Tiago danced with you?”
“Yeah.” She took a seat in the armchair. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
She started at the beginning and walked through every interaction, every fight, every tender moment, the good and ugly, the brutality and rape, the kindness and beautiful acts of devotion.
By the time she finished, she hadn’t left out a single detail from the past four months. Tears streaked her cheeks. A smile rested on her mouth, and she felt wonderfully copacetic.
“Damn.” Lucia slumped into the loveseat with her jaw hanging open. “I can’t even comprehend him being like that. He wasn’t like that with me. I mean, the cruelty? Of course. The threats and the control? He ruled my damn life. But I never saw that devoted side of him. No one did. And what the hell? He was married?”
“Yeah, that took me by surprise, too.”
“I’m really fucking in awe of you. That man scares the shit out of me. I spent eleven years in fear of my life. But you? You walk in, and within four months, he’s kneeling at your feet. You changed him.”
“He hasn’t changed, and he certainly doesn’t fucking kneel. Believe me, he’s just as vicious as ever. Don’t forget about the scars on my body, the golden showers, the handcuffs in the jungle. If it hadn’t been for those bombs, I would still be his captive.”
“True. But he gave up Caracas and the protection it gave him.”
“I don’t know why. I didn’t do anything to make him—”
“He loves you. That’s huge, Kate. It’s everything.”
“Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with him, too. I guess that’s why this hurts so badly. Not knowing where he is or if he’s okay… I can’t even let myself consider the possibility he was injured in that explosion. Or worse…”
“What are you going to do?”
She had over six-hundred-thousand dollars sitting in her bank account. The money Van had distributed among his ex-slaves.
It would take her some time to put all the clues together and pinpoint the location of Boones’ village. She would need travel documents, a passport, and maybe a hired security guard. But once she had all that in place…