He’d come so damned close last night! The thought that he might find out terrified her, but she seemed to be the only naïve idiot her father had raised. Billy, no matter how deluded he might be, wouldn’t leave a trail of bread crumbs behind for Ryder to follow. If Ryder decided she was covering up for a member of her family, there was still no way that he could prove which one it was, because all of them had been raised as world champion paranoids. “Leave no trace” didn’t just refer to wilderness camping.
It was still early morning, but Jenny didn’t feel like lingering around the kitchen until Ryder made an appearance. She couldn’t even look at the counter where he’d placed her without feeling heat rise in her face, and she intended to do everything she could to make sure she wasn’t caught alone with him again. Soledad would simply have to stir herself and keep her company.
Her progress on the stairs was slow and silent—she still had no shoes or clothing other than what she’d raided from the closet of mismatched clothes, and if she could have worn anything else she would have. It was unnerving to have his oversized flannel shirt around her—it was as if she were imprisoned in his arms. Or simply being held.
The landing was empty, and Jenny went straight to Soledad’s room. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” she called softly, opening the door a crack. “We’re getting out of here.” If the Committee declined to help Soledad, then she’d simply find someone who would. At this point she wasn’t even against asking her father to pull a few strings.
There was no answering sound, and Jenny pushed the door open further, taking a step inside. The bed was empty, and Soledad was standing across the room, looking at her with an unreadable expression. “Soledad?” she said again, when she felt someone behind her. She was about to turn when pain and light exploded inside her head, and everything went black.
Soledad looked down at the woman lying sprawled on the carpet, then up at Manolo. “Don’t worry, you didn’t kill her. Nothing can kill that bitch.” She gave Jenny’s body a vicious kick, but she didn’t move. “I should have known she would come back for me too quickly.”
“Maybe you played the part of the helpless victim a little too well,” Manolo suggested.
Soledad shrugged. “Chances were she would have interrupted us anyway.”
“She’s not going to wake up anytime soon—I hit her hard enough to knock her out for a good long time.”
“Do not be so cocky. She has got a head of iron, this one. I say we tie her up and put her in the closet so she won’t interfere. I cannot find that fucking phone yet, and it is going to take time. I do not want to risk her waking up and causing a fuss.”
“Are you sure we’re not too late already? Maybe she turned it over to the Committee?”
Soledad gave Manolo a sour look. “She does not trust them and the feeling is mutual. She is not risking having anything happen to her baby brother, and we can use that, but it will only go so far. We have got to get the hell out of here and back to Calliveria before she can alert anyone. Chances are she will not admit to anything even after they find her, because she’ll know it will be too late, but I do not take chances. We find the phone and get out of here before anyone notices she and I are gone. Fortunately Ryder dislikes her so much he will not make any special effort to come near her, and my bodyguard thinks I have a headache and am staying in bed. But I say we have only half an hour before we run the risk of getting caught. You go ahead into her room while I tie her up.”
“Don’t kill her,” Manolo said dispassionately. “If she’s that devoted to El Jefe then he might feel the same way about her.”
Soledad laughed. “You’re as stupid as she is. El Jefe doesn’t care about anyone but himself. And, on rare occasions, me. After all, he was the one who told you to shoot at her and to set the charges at her house. There was a good chance she could have died in either incident. He knows how to take risks and accept collateral damage.”
“¿Qué?” Manolo said.
“Mov
e. I am going to enjoy doing a little damage to Miss Parker in return for her hovering over me.”
She didn’t bother to wait until Manolo had disappeared. Manolo might not be the sharpest of men, but he was thorough, and if the phone were anywhere hidden in Jenny’s room, then he would find it. In the meantime Soledad took the duct tape and began wrapping it around Jenny’s ankles and wrists, not caring how tight the bindings were. By the time she reached her head, she was swathing her eyes and mouth with the stuff, not paying much attention to whether she covered her nose or not. If Miss Jennifer Parker suffocated it would probably make everything easier, and no one would care enough to come after Soledad. No one would even guess she had done it—she’d set things up very neatly. It would look as if she’d been kidnapped, and in the long run they wouldn’t consider her an important-enough hostage to go after. If they knew her real role she’d have half the police forces in the world on her tail, but men were always so stupid. They assumed a woman, particularly a pretty one, couldn’t do such things. And Soledad knew she was very pretty indeed.
Hadn’t it been her stock-in-trade her entire life, from the age of eight onward? Hadn’t she led men around by their dicks, starting with her own father, since before she began to bleed? No, no one would guess what she’d done, and they wouldn’t care enough to “save” her again. She would be considered one more victim of human trafficking, when instead she was the triumphant provider of merchandise.
She hooked her hands under the shirt Jenny was wearing and dragged her across the floor, banging her body against the solid bed Soledad had been sleeping in. Despite the fact that Jenny was a good four inches taller and twenty pounds heavier, Soledad had worked hard all her life, and she could lift many things that were heavier than she was. She grunted and shoved Jenny into the back of the closet, pulling her boring clothes in front of her limp body. That was another thing Soledad could blame Jenny for, and she gave her another hard kick. She’d taken Soledad out and paid for the most God-awful wardrobe, perfect for a cleaning woman or a grocery store clerk, or even a low-level secretary. Boring, ugly clothes that would cover up Soledad’s beauty. She knew why too. Women were always jealous of her, and Parker wouldn’t want men to look at Soledad with lust in their eyes, ignoring the lawyer. She shut the door and locked it, closing her away.
If they found her in time, so be it, but with luck everyone would assume the two of them had left together. Or been taken. By the time they found Jennifer, Soledad would be long gone, cell phone in hand, off to meet her lover.
It was about fucking time.
Chapter Twelve
“They’re gone!” Remy broke into the room without his usual indolent grace.
Ryder sat up, moving slowly, with deliberate care as he set the newspaper back on the desk. “What are you talking about?”
Remy was looking harassed. “What do you think I mean? I went to pick up my little babysitting job and her room was empty. So is the room Jenny was staying in, and the place has been tossed.”
Ryder wasn’t a man to let fury take over, but it was coming close. He rose slowly. “Interesting. I assume they took the phone you found last night?”
“Of course. Though Parker would have known where she hid the thing, and I put it back in the exact same place after we dumped the information from it. There should be no reason for her to search the room. I’ve got Wilson and the others searching the house, but they’re gone, man.”
“Why didn’t you keep a better eye on the girl? She was your responsibility.”
“You should have let me sleep with her,” Remy drawled. “Then we wouldn’t have this problem.”