16. Grace
16
Grace
" W hat's the reason?"
The door banged open, and my hand flew up on instinct, shielding my eyes from the light shining through. "What?"
Elias took a step into my prison. "I've been asking you about Andrés for two weeks now. It's time you enlighten me on why he's earned your silence."
Two weeks?
How has time slowed down?
"You'll need to be more specific."
He crouched in front of me, my shoulders raising to my ears as I hunkered in my corner. My once clean clothes were now mottled with grime again, and my braid was a matted mess on my scalp. "I want the reason you won't give him to me. Are you in love with him? Do you fear him? What is it?"
My brows furrowed, and a heaviness settled in my gut.
Love?
Not even God loved Andrés Ortiz.
There was a seething hatred I felt for the man that burrowed in my bones and spread like a sickness throughout my flesh. Andrés could die an excruciating death, and I'd smile while he screamed.
"Andrés, a vile man who tortured and killed so many people. How could I ever love someone like that?" A scowl pressed my lips as he moved back from me, a muscle beneath his eye twitching.
"Then why?" He sat in the chair I'd tried dismantling for a weapon to no avail. "I'm tired of this game."
I touched my throat, my tongue like sandpaper in my mouth. "Do you have any water?"
He gave a lopsided shrug. "I 'll give you whatever you need when you give me an answer." He shifted his shiny shoes in front of me.
They don't belong in a place such as this.
"So tell me." He rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands before him. "Why are you protecting him?"
Protect…
A sharp pulse punished my temple as I ground my molars together. "I'd never protect him." I stood, my chain sliding against the ground like the Ghost of Christmas Past as he sat back in the chair, his legs wide. "I'd never love him."
My chin trembled as my fingernails pressed into my palms. "How could you say that? How could you think I could ever protect him—after everything he did to me?"
I turned my back to him, swiping at the tears rushing down my cheeks, and sniffled. "All I ever wanted was to go home and find Jorge's sister—to give her this." I turned back around, the rosary in my palm. "But instead, you've kept me here, forcing me to think about Andrés every single day."
His eyes darted to the rosary swinging beneath my palm, and his lips pressed closed as he tilted his head to the side.
"All I want is to find a peace I haven't had in three years. I want to move on, Elias. Do you understand that? Or are you so blinded by whatever this chase is…" I tossed my hand into the air. "That you can't see beyond your nose?"
He stood and invaded my space, my toes touching his shoes as his brows raised. His gaze swept over my frail frame. A softness struck his features, then disappeared in a wave of hardness as he drew a slow breath through his nose.
What was that?
Elias raised his hands with hesitation, halting his touch, and then placed them on my shoulders.
A twinge of residual aches formed, causing me to flinch.
He removed his hands as though he'd touched a hot potato. "It still hurts?"
My dislocated shoulder? "It's better than before, but still sore."
He gave a slight nod and stepped away from me, pulling his spicy scent, which covered the odor, with him. "I'll have Doctor Navarro look you over."
I shook my head, my brow raised. "Why?"
He took a deep breath and scrubbed his hand down his chin as he spun away from me, his face pointed toward the ceiling. Turning back, he swept his gaze up and down as though he didn' t get a good enough look every time he stepped inside. "I have a proposition for you."
"No." I shook my hand in front of me, my head mimicking my hand. "I'm not sleeping with you or any of your men."
"That's not…" His jaw pulsed as he glanced out the door and then back to me. "I haven't sent anyone in here, have I?"
"Then why threaten me?"
He growled as he closed his eyes and exhaled. "Tell me why you refuse to help me, and I'll let you out."
I scoffed, my chain dragging against the floor as I walked back to the faux safety of my corner and leaned into it. "This could go so many ways." My head tipped to the side as I studied him, my arms folded across my chest.
"How so?"
"I tell you what you want, and you leave me here to 'entertain' your men because that's all I'm good for, right?"
His jaw pulsed again.
"Or I don't tell you what you want, and you leave me here to 'entertain' your men." I huffed, tearing my sight from him.
"Fine."
Footsteps led out of the room, but I didn't have the heart to watch him leave. I slouched, scraping my back against the wall as I slid down.
"Don't sit."
I jumped as his silhouette moved toward me with a determined step, my chain piercing the silence.
"You have no reason to trust me, Grace, but I don't wish to harm you further. I just want to find him, and you're the only living soul who's been as close to him as you were." He stooped down, unlatching the chain from my ankle. "Help me, help you. Tell me where he is."
He stood and towered over me.
"You want to know why I'd rather die than tell you where he is?"
Elias nodded, the heat of his frame chasing away the chill rushing through me. "As if I haven't been asking that very question…"
"You don't get it." I shook my head. "If Andrés catches even the faintest hint you're coming, he'll run."
"He won't get the chance."
"Why do you think there isn't a single slave, besides me, that survived him?"
He shrugged. "I always figured it was because he grew tired of them."
"No." I gave a derisive snort. "It's because when his enemies get close, he tucks tail and runs, but before that, he lines us up, executing every single slave in his compound." I swallowed, a thick lump forming in my throat. "That's why I won't tell you where he is, because they are still there because of me, and I've already gotten enough people killed."
"And you know this, how?"
"That's the privilege of being his favorite." My eyes burned as I hung my head, my feet shifting beneath me. "I got to watch him butcher my only friends."
"I'm sorry that happened to you." He blew out air from puffed cheeks, his hand brushing against my face. He wiped the tear rolling down with his thumb. "What if I told you I could help them?"
"I don't trust you as it is…" My nails dug into my forearms and crossed over my belly, the temptation dripping from his lips sweeter than the devil whispering on my shoulder. "What makes you think I'd trust you to help those people, those kids , just because I asked?"
"Because I have the means to do so."
I snickered. "I thought I'd met men with big egos, but yours takes the cake."
My nails dug in deeper as his eyes darkened, his shoulders squaring, casting me in shadows.
Had I gone too far?
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have—"
He stepped closer, his hand smacking against the hard wall next to my ear with a cold, fleshy slap.
I gulped, my stomach falling to my toes, my blood trapped behind my ears in a frantic rhythm.
Jorge would tell me stories of the men bending bodies into crude positions as they stuffed them in burlap sacks or barrels, then either tossed them into the Gulf or… a well. They'd never be seen or heard from again.
I inclined my head, my chin quivering as I uncrossed my arms. Shifting, I positioned my hands behind me, wedging them between my butt and the unforgiving, frigid wall as I'd been taught.
"Don't do that." His breath touched my cheeks, his tone low and soft. "Don't lower yourself like that."
I glanced up at him through my lashes. "How do you want me then?" I sucked my lip between my teeth.
His jaw tensed with a subtle, crooked line as his hand trailed down the wall. His hand dipped behind me, wrapped around my wrist, and pulled my arm over my chest.
He repeated the process with my other arm, crossing my arms in front of me. My stomach flipped as his left hand covered the span of my forearms, his other tipping my chin upward, his knuckle coaxing my gaze to meet his. "Like this."
I frowned, my brows bunching together. "I-I don't understand."
Our breaths intermingled, his heat swarming me like buzzing honeybees flapping their wings.
What's happening?
A softness creased his brows as he stared down at me.
"Elias…"
"Thank you."
I tipped my head to the side, my stomach fluttering. "For wha—"
"Is he in there?" a woman said from outside, her Spanish tipped with a posh undertone. "I've been searching all over for him."
Elias pulled away from me as she breached the door, her long, slender frame visible between the gap of his broad chest and muscled arms—the guard draping an arm across the threshold, stopping her from proceeding.
"There you are, I swear— dios mio, Elias." She pressed the back of her hand against her nose and mouth with twisted brows. "What is that smell?"
The softness lacing his brows and lips hardened as he stood upright, his gaze never leaving mine. "Getting things settled. I'll be out in a moment."
"But what are you doing in here?" She walked inside the building and pinched her nose. "Did something die?"
I glanced down at my dingy clothing as he cast her a sideways glare, his body shielding mine. "I said leave." Elias whistled and snapped his fingers.
The man at the door moved between her and Elias, his arms out to his sides as he wrangled her back.
She gave the shorter man a menacing glare, then pivoted on her high heel and left my cell.
Her Spanish curses flew back at Elias in rapid fire like those Mexican radio DJs Miguel would listen to, her anger latched to each one .
He turned back to me as I uncrossed my arms, dropping them to my sides, the position more comfortable, then slid them behind me once again.
"Will you release me now?"
His brows wrinkled. "Why would I do that?"
My heart sputtered to a stop, my breaths following suit in my chest. "Because you…" My belly cramped, and sweat beaded against my skin. "You said you'd let me go."
A quick frown compressed his features, highlighting the faint wrinkles on his forehead and eyes, and then a smile quirked the corner of his mouth. "I said I'd let you out, not that I'd let you go."
Elias adjusted his collar, snagging my hand from behind my back with a sideways glance, and then pulled me out of the door.
Fresh, radiant air invaded my lungs, chasing away the stale, pungent aroma that stung my nose, night and day. The sun beat down on my flesh, evaporating the perspiration.
His warm strong hand pulled me faster, my wobbling knees a hindrance to his pace.
I glanced around at the familiar setting. It was the same as before, the difference being a car in the driveway, a fancy blue, four-door BMW.
"Let's go."
My evaluation faltered as his deep voice penetrated my discoveries, forcing me to glance at him as we walked over the pristine green lawn.
"Where are we going?"
"I'll show you." His hand fell away from mine as he disappeared around the corner of the home.
What if it's a trap?
What if he took me to his men instead of them coming to me? It wasn't the most pleasant experience in the shed, and there wasn't a bed. Although, that didn't phase some of Andrés' clientèle and soldiers.
But he and his men never touched me in two weeks…
I glanced back at the soldiers following close behind.
Rushing forward, my toes skimmed over the tan-stained concrete, and then I quickened my pace, the grass giving way to a large rectangular pool with a bar attached and a grilling patio to the side, my lungs burning with exertion.
Elias waited with his hands in his pockets beside the opened French doors, the curtains billowing in the warm, slight breeze.
I walked past two single-cushioned charcoal gray chairs arranged around a wooden coffee table and a three-seater couch.
He moved through a seating area where Javier lingered, feet kicked up on the table, engrossed in typing on his laptop.
Javier glanced up as we passed through, his head shaking before returning to the computer screen.
"Where are we going?"
Elias glanced back as he ascended the stairs lining the open foyer, leading us down a hall to a bright, open bedroom on the second floor.
"This is where you'll stay."
I tilted my head and glanced around, my brows pulled down as my nails bit into my shoulders. "Where I'll stay? You don't want me in the shed?"
"A deal is a deal, and I always keep my word."
I stood in the hallway.
It's a trap.
Someone was in there, waiting for me to let my guard down, and then they'd pounce.
"I thought you meant…"
"The bathroom is down the hall." He turned his back on me and pointed to a closet door to the left. "You'll find some clothes in there. Linens are in the bathroom."
"What's the catch?" I peeked inside, my feet planted in the hall as I glanced around.
Elias fiddled with a vase on a dresser. "These are from Mamá."
Purple and white petals formed a pool around the vase, the stems sagging.
"They're beautiful."
"If you need anything, inform the staff," he squeezed past me through the threshold and paused as he walked away. "And Grace, escape is impossible, but should you try, just know that I will add to the blood on your hands and kill the men responsible." He smiled as though inviting me for tea, then strolled down the stairs, meeting Nadia in the foyer.
He planted a kiss on her cheek, her gaze shooting up to meet mine.
My stomach churned, my hand sliding down to press on my empty belly.
The devil wears a seductive smile, concealing the abyss that lies behind it.
I retreated from the banister, the guards waiting in the hallway as I slipped into the bathroom, stripped my clothes, and scrubbed my body three times over.