“Did he injure your leg?” he asked.
“He was whipping Julian,” Keira whispered. “One of the guards was holding me back. Somehow, I caught him by surprise. I elbowed him in the gut and raced towards Vincento. The guard tackled me before I could get to them. There was this popping noise in my knee. It was agonizing. I could barely breathe through the pain.”
“He killed the guard. Right in front of us,” Julian told him. “Point blank. Shot to the head.”
Christ, he couldn’t even imagine them going through that. “Did he get a doctor to look at your leg?”
“No,” she whispered.
“Keira was in such pain. I was bleeding. He was escalating. I knew I had to get us out. No one was searching for us. No one was coming.”
Fuck. Shit. Guilt made him want to hurl. The thought of them in pain, with no hope . . .
“How did you escape?”
“One of the servants helped us,” Keira explained. “Vincento kept us on the bare minimum of rations. Basically, bread, water and the occasional piece of fruit. There were two different servants who brought down the food. One of them would sneak us treats like chocolate.”
“Vincento left us alone after Keira’s knee gave out. By some miracle, there was an earthquake. In the chaos of the quake, the servant who’d been kind to us managed to get down and unlock the door.”
“Julian carried me out of there, somehow,” Keira looked up at her husband in wonder. “Injured and weak, he got me out.”
“Everything was in disarray and the guy, Luis, got us out through the kitchens and into one of Vincento’s vehicles. The guards seemed to realize something was going on as we raced out the gates and they fired on us, but Vincento was a paranoid bastard and his vehicles were all bullet-proof.”
Fuck. If it wasn’t for that man helping them, they could still be there. Or dead.
“Luis drove us to his abuela’s place,” Julian told him. “She was a force of nature. I’m not even sure how she managed it, but she quickly made arrangements to get us closer to the border. From there we called Joel and he came and got us.”
They’d called Joel. Not him.
“Why Joel?”
They both gave him guilty looks.
“It’s okay,” he said softly. “I’m not upset.”
“We . . . I guess we both felt safe with Joel,” Keira said quietly. “We didn’t have any family who would help and no close friends. Certainly, none who had the power and money to help us like Joel does. Julian kept in touch with a mutual friend from the club who helped us contact him.”
He nodded. Joel was smart and protective. He’d been a good choice to contact.
“And Vincento? Do you know any more about him? Does anyone know where he is?” He’d love to get his hands on the bastard.
“Turns out Vincento is the leader of one of the biggest cartels in South America,” Julian told him. “Drugs, human trafficking, guns. He has his finger in all of it. And most of the local police are in his pocket. Joel sent someone to try and find him, but he hasn’t been back to that house since and if anyone knows where he is, they’re not saying. It’s dangerous to ask too many questions.”
He rubbed his hand over his face. He couldn’t believe what they’d been through.
“We should have done our homework better,” Julian admitted. “But he gave us a false last name and we believed his lies about who he was.”
“He was a very good liar,” Keira whispered.
“Is there a reason he fixated on the two of you?” he asked.
“Luis had a theory,” Keira said quietly. “Apparently, his wife died years ago. She was kidnapped by a rival cartel, tortured and executed then dumped back on his doorstep.”
“Jesus.” Cole felt ill at the thought.
“Luis said she looked like me.” Keira looked to Julian.
“We don’t know why he kept me alive. Maybe to keep Keira in line. Maybe to use me to break her.”