I chuckled. “Babe. No.”
She laughed again. “And it took twenty-eight days before I told him I loved him back.”
My brows lifted as I waited and she made me wait a good thirty seconds. “Well?”
Her smile faded and her eyes locked with mine. Then her hand reached up and cupped my cheek. “I love you, Connor O’Neill.”
“Fuckin’ right you do.” I hitched her up and she curled her legs around my waist, her arms curving around my neck. Then I strode across the yard to the building.
Two kids ran ahead of us and opened the door. I caught Jaz’s huge grin and grinned back. Then I winked at the kids as I took my girl inside.
My girl.
Alina was fuckin’ mine.THE NEXT DAY I headed out to the shed behind the main building to grab canned beans for the cook. I was helping in the kitchen for a few hours because one of the volunteers was sick. Jaz was busy writing and Connor had headed into a neighboring town with another guy to pick up a few essentials like he’d done for the last three Wednesdays.
He left me in bed this morning completely sated after he’d woken me to kisses between my legs, which soon had me moaning and arching for release. When I came, he simply crawled up beside me, lightly kissed me and said, ‘Love you, shutterbug’ then he was gone.
That was two hours ago and I’d been thinking about him sinking inside me ever since. My cell vibrated in my pocket and I frowned. No one ever called me as my cell was for emergencies only. Besides, the only people who would were the magazine or my brother. My parents couldn’t afford to call me here.
I pressed the answer button. “Hello?”
“Hello, Catalina.”
Fear didn’t creep, it slammed into me. My stomach coiled and I swallowed several times as bile rose.
No. No. No. It couldn’t be.
“Carlos.”
“How are you? Or, perhaps, the more accurate question, where are you?”
My mind sparked off like faulty wiring as I tried to think of what to tell him. Did I tell him? Did I lie? If I lied and he found out, he’d hurt my family. I knew how it worked. That was why I’d disappeared.
God, why now?
“I’ve been very patient. It’s time for you to come home now, Catalina.”
I jerked, hand tightening around the phone. “I… I can’t.”
There was a mild chuckle that caused the hairs on the back of my neck to dart to attention. “Oh, but you can. And you will.” Then he added in a grated rough order, “Right now.”
Full-blown panic set in. He was too confident for not knowing where I was and that terrified me more than anything.
I knew the power he wielded. I knew the lengths he’d go to get what he wanted. My father was scared of him and his man Diego. There was gossip in high school as to what was done to men who failed Carlos. Men who tried to leave his ‘business’. That was why my brother left when he did.
He continued, his words slow and precise, “It wouldn’t be right to have your father’s funeral without his daughter present.”
My knees gave out at the same time as I choked back a strangled cry. “No. Oh, God, no. Please.” I sat on the ground, tears streaming down my cheeks.
“Unfortunately, there was…” he paused then said, “an accident. Diego offers his condolences.”
There was no explanation needed. Carlos wasn’t stupid. He’d never admit to killing anyone, especially over the phone. According to my father, many of the authorities were in his pocket, but a few who refused to be bribed were trying to take him down.
Oh, God, why? Why would Diego kill him? My dad had worked for him for years and was loyal. He’d been loyal to him.
“Come home now, Catalina. We have much to discuss.”
Run. Run. Run. Pounded though my head. Run to Connor. Run with him. I could go to Toronto and Carlos wouldn’t know. He didn’t know where I was. I could disappear. My brother was safe in Miami, but my mother… oh, God.
“Stop your sobbing. I don’t have time to listen to your sniffling over a man who lost me a great deal of money. I don’t like losing money, Catalina. But since I’m a generous man, I’ll allow you to cover the loss.”
Me? “Carlos, I don’t have the money.”
He laughed. “Of course you don’t. I’m willing to make an exception and accept you as payment for the money your father lost.” My heart slammed into my chest. No. I wouldn’t. Never. “I know what you’re thinking, but your brother is here beside me and I think he’d prefer if you came home.”
I heard a fierce grunt in the background then, “Alina, no. Don’t you dar—” There was another grunt then nothing.
Juan. He had Juan? That was how he found me. He had Juan.