Take (Deliver 5)

Kate stared at him as if he just told her he ate the hearts of human babies.

She wasn’t far off the mark.

He was a self-made felon, feared and abhorred by all walks of life. “I could’ve killed her. Maybe I should have. Had she fallen into the hands of another drug lord, that’s exactly what they would’ve done. Let’s not forget, she was found in a truck full of slaves, destined for a life much worse than the one I gave her.”

“She was taken from her home by those slave traders. How did you keep her from running back to her family?” She absently rubbed the red marks on her wrists. “Did you tie her up for eleven years?”

“I poisoned her.”

He unraveled the details of his deception—how he’d secretly tainted Lucia’s food and made her chronically ill, how he counteracted it with daily injections of the antidote, and how it led her to believe she had a disease that only he could cure.

“My medical team monitored the poison, ensuring the doses weren’t fatal,” he said.

“That’s sick.” Kate shook her head, her face scrunched in revulsion. “And unacceptable.”

“It was more humane than keeping her in shackles.”

“You could’ve let her go.”

He didn’t expect this naive girl to understand. Her ordeal with Van Quiso was nothing compared to what existed in the bowels of the criminal underworld.

“I assume she figured out you were poisoning her,” she said. “Is that why she attacked you?”

“No. Matias Restrepo was the catalyst for the recent chain of events.”

“Matias? How?”

“A week before I took you, Tate initiated contact with Lucia. He approached her in a sex club and fucked her. Or maybe it was the other way around.” He smirked. “I knew about their hookup but didn’t consider him a threat until her routine changed. She started acting cagey. That’s when I dug deeper and discovered his connection with the Restrepo cartel.”

“You didn’t know Matias was Lucia’s brother-in-law?”

“No, and neither did she. It changed the stakes. I was no longer dealing with some clueless American sneaking around my turf. Tate’s presence was attached to a cartel, a notoriously ambitious one. I didn’t know if they meant to wage war against me, try to seize control of my smuggling routes, or something else. So I took you.”

“As payment.”

“And to send them a warning.”

Kidnapping and murder, business as usual.

“Matias isn’t interested in taking your business.” Her breathing accelerated. “Lucia is his family. He just wanted her back.”

“To that end, he would’ve gone to war.” He cocked his head. “He sent men to the states to gather everyone close to Tate and bring them to Colombia. But when they arrived at your diner to collect you, they were an hour too late. You were already in my possession.”

A whimper left her before she cut it off.

“The night you disappeared,” he said, “was the same night I captured Tate and Van.”

While she was being transported from Texas to Venezuela, he was putting Tate through eight brutal hours of trials and torture.

He gave her a graphic account of the evening—the icepick through Tate’s arm, the carving on his back, and the forced sodomy between him and his former captor.

“What?” She gasped, her cheeks damp and bloodless. “You made Tate fuck Van? Why?”

“Justice is rarely pleasant, and Van had it coming.”

“How is that justice? Tate wouldn’t have wanted that. He’d already forgiven Van.”

“Are you sure? Have you made peace with Van?”

She glanced away. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t like him.”

Van was a reflection of himself. Scarred. Splintered. Heartless. There was a reason he never looked in a mirror.

“Is Van still alive?” she asked quietly.

“Yes.”

He detailed the events of Lucia’s incursion with the dumbbell, her escape with Tate and Van, the gunfight, and car chase. “After they fled, Arturo found me on the floor in my room. By the time I woke, your friends were already recaptured.”

“How could you orchestrate that with your head smashed in?”

“Boones arranged things on my behalf, leveraging the police on my payroll. Lucia and Van went to prison, and Tate was taken to the shack as part of the original plan.”

“You didn’t let her go.” She ground her teeth.

“She’s free, right now, because I allowed it. While she sat in prison for a week, I could’ve had her executed or returned to me at any time.” He tapped a finger on his thigh, questioning this compulsion to explain himself. “She escaped prison, and I allowed that to happen. I let her go. Her and Van both.”

“Why? I mean, I’m happy they’re safe, but I don’t understand the change of heart.”

“I want her to find Tate.”

“Then release him! It makes no sense.” She tucked her limbs close to her torso, keeping her legs covered by the thin dress. “You poisoned her, tortured him, and separated them when all they want is to be together. Do you hurt people just for the hell of it?” A swallow bobbed her throat. “Because you get off on their pain?”