Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
“Beckett, wake up.”
Beckett groaned and clutched his ribs, trying to remember what happened and why he was in so much pain. “Sydney?” He reached out in search of her, eyes still locked shut. Why’d his face hurt so damn badly? “You okay? Tell me you’re okay.”
“It’s me. It’s Cora.”
The voice. The name. Beckett fought through the mental fog and opened his eyes.
He squinted against the harsh sunlight streaming through a window opposite where he sat. I’m on the ground. Where? “Cora?”
“Yes, it’s me. Did Ivy find you?”
His stomach turned as he sought to visually locate the woman who kept screwing with his life. “Cora,” he repeated.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He’d need to turn his head to see her, but every part of his face hurt after Jorge’s men had punched him repeatedly on the driveway to the point of blacking out.
And now I’m here with Cora. Or am I dead? Is this purgatory? My hell is to be stuck with her.
“Please tell me you brought help. I—I heard the explosions outside. Saw the two guard towers blow up. Tell me you have friends out there who will rescue us,” she rushed out.
“Not alone,” he mumbled, grabbing hold of his side again. Squinting through the pain, Beckett opened his eyes and took in Cora for the first time in six years. The black eye and swollen cheek were a clear indication she’d not been living in the lap of luxury, at least not lately. “I’m not dead, right?”
“No, but we will be if we’re not rescued soon. When Jorge dumped you in here, he informed me I’m being traded to the cartel tomorrow,” she explained in a shaky voice, brushing her long, dark hair away from her face, exposing more bruises on her throat.
He may have hated Cora, but no woman, regardless of circumstance, should ever be abused, and it pained him to see her bruises. “How long have you been in here?”
“A few weeks, I think. Ever since they grabbed me from my bedroom the day I called you. Hector told Jorge he knew me from LA, and I was a con artist. That I betrayed their guys, and it was why Hector went to prison.”
“You didn’t betray them,” Beckett bit out. “Just betrayed me.” When she kept quiet, he asked, “Why’d they put us together?” He coughed up blood and spat it to the side.
“Probably to torture us.”
“Yeah, putting me with you is torture,” he drawled, unable to stop himself from speaking the truth. Maybe that was still the side effects of the drug talking, or he really was just done with her bullshit.
“I meant that he’ll probably send someone in here to beat you in front of me. Make me watch.”
“Tell me they didn’t . . . hurt your son?”
“No, but I was forced to watch while they tortured and murdered his father, Daniel.” She pointed to the blood-stained wall across the room. Beckett looked up at the chains hanging from the ceiling. “Wait, Ivy told you about Miles?”
“Yeah, Ivy said something.” To Jesse, not me.
“Jorge blamed Miles’s father for allowing himself to be duped by me. Letting me in their lives for nearly six years. And as part of his security team, he believed Daniel should have vetted me more thoroughly.”
“Men have a habit of doing that around you,” he bit out, letting go of his ribs with a wince.
Beckett dragged in a deep, painful breath and slowly expelled it through his nostrils, then tried to get his brain to work. Figure out his next steps. Carter and Camila’s men had to have been outside Jorge’s estate that morning, clearly prepared for shit to go down if they took out the guard towers at the front gates.
Beckett hoped he wasn’t wrong to assume Sydney and the others escaped.
“You didn’t want me to know about Miles. You didn’t want McKenna to know she had a brother, did you?” he accused.
Cora leaned back and stretched her legs out in front of her, eyes going back to the blood-stained wall. She was wearing a khaki jumpsuit like prisoners wore, and Beckett wondered if that’d been Hector’s suggestion. A little payback since Hector incorrectly assumed she’d helped put him behind bars thirteen years ago. “You’d want Miles in McKenna’s life. I know you. And that wasn’t a possibility given my situation.”
Beckett swallowed, which hurt given someone had almost choked him to death earlier.
“Why’d you really send your sister to my house two years ago?” He wasn’t sure where that’d come from, but he’d blame the drug for his desire to know the truth too.
Cora turned to meet his eyes. “She was telling the truth. I had no new pictures of McKenna. It made me sad every time I looked at my son that he’d never meet his sister. So, I asked Ivy to check on her again. Get photos and try to learn more about her for me.”
He wasn’t sure if he bought that story, but why lie at this point?
Tears filled her eyes, and if she weren’t such a manipulative liar, he’d believe they were real. Now? How could he ever know what was fiction or reality when it came to her? “After the last time you rejected me, I learned about Jorge and his inheritance. I decided it was time to settle down. Try and start a real life somewhere. You’d said to never bother you again, and for some reason, I felt that you were serious that time. More so than the previous warnings you’d given me.”
And he had been serious. Yet, here I am. But it’s meant to be , he reminded himself. “So, was Jorge your original target?”
“No, a man like him would be too cautious. I chose someone close to him that’d been with him for years. I searched for the weakest link on his security team.”
The woman had always been spot on with her research. She’d known everything about Beckett before going after him in LA.
“Did you get pregnant on purpose?”
She nodded. “I was getting tired of moving around. I rarely stayed with a mark for more than a year. My sister was living with some guy in France, and it seemed permanent. I wanted that too.” She paused for a breath. “I thought a pregnancy might buy me more time in one place and in the lifestyle I prefer. The only drawback was not being able to see my sister during all of this. I was worried they might put two and two together somehow. We tend to get in trouble when we’re together.”
Beckett replayed her words. The sickening selfishness of her situation.
“When I was pregnant with McKenna, that wasn’t planned, and I wasn’t ready to settle down then. Plus, you found out the truth about me, and I wasn’t sure what you’d do, so I had to run. You see the difference between her and Miles, right? It’s not that I chose one child over the other.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he rasped, angry on McKenna’s behalf. “I can’t . . . it’s not worth the air in my lungs to explain to you how bad this all sounds.”
She shook her head. “Her life wouldn’t have been better with me in it, and you know it.”
“That’s the one damn thing you’ve said that’s a fact.” He growled at the sharp stabbing pain in his side before adding, “You let your son live in a house with a psychopath so you could have a nice car? Expensive purses?” He scooted himself to the side, needing to get as far away from Cora as possible in the small space. “I hate you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Your apology means absolutely nothing to me.” He was only grateful he’d opted to come after her despite his inner voice telling him she’d only use him again because otherwise, Mya and Camila would be dead, and McKenna’s brother handed over to the cartel. “I really hate you,” he tossed out again with more venom this time.
Cora remained quiet for a moment before saying, “I really did miss out on McKenna’s life. I understood that more as Miles grew up. I still don’t think I’m fit to be a mom, his nanny does most of the work. But McKenna’s my daughter, and if I survive this, I want to get to know her. Visit her, at least.”
Before Beckett had a chance to respond, the door swung open.
“My turn to question you, pendejo .” Miguel stepped inside and gestured to Hector and another man to grab Beckett, and he didn’t bother to resist as they bound his wrists with rope.
“Please don’t hurt him.” Cora’s weak protest went unnoticed.
Hector and the other guy secured Beckett’s arms over his head with the chains. “Payback time.”
“Tell us about your friends,” Miguel began, casually folding his arms over his white dress shirt. “How many people are you with, and what are you here for? This bitch? The drug? Jorge? What’s your deal?”
Beckett hadn’t answered any questions from Jorge’s men between blows on the driveway, so did they really think hanging him by the wrists before swinging at him in that room would make a difference?
Hector strode around Beckett and cocked his head. “You ruined my life.”
Beckett shook his head. “Being a bad guy. Doing bad shit. That ruined your life. Your own choices.”
“Un comico.” Comedian. Hector tsk ed as he unbuckled his belt and slid it free from the loops.
“Wait.” Miguel held up his hand. “Let’s give our new friend a go at him. See if he’s really cut out to join us.”
Beckett tugged against the binds at his wrists as he shifted his focus toward the door.
Jesse entered the room and walked up to Beckett, and when their eyes met, Beckett knew Jesse had no other choice but to follow orders.
“Go ahead.” Miguel leaned back against the wall next to Cora and motioned for the other man to stand back.
Jesse moved in fast, grabbed the back of Beckett’s head, and leaned in close as he punched him hard in the abdomen. “Please don’t make me do this,” he whispered, then struck him again. Beckett groaned loud enough to cover Jesse’s words. “For the love of God, don’t make me,” he added the moment his fist connected again, and Beckett growled in pain.
“Fuck you,” Beckett barked out, making it clear Jesse had better throw everything into this act. “That all you got?”
Jesse released Beckett’s head with a shove and stepped back, then began rolling up his sleeves.
Beckett knew what his brother-in-law was capable of, and Jesse couldn’t pull his punches without tipping off Miguel.
Beckett caught his breath before saying, “Just do it.” He shut his eyes, knowing it’d be too hard for Jesse to look at him while he punched. “Do it,” he repeated, urging Jesse not to try and play hero right now. It wasn’t the time. He felt that in his bones. “I ain’t talking, so, show me what ya got.”