Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
C arlos.
She froze.
“Oh, I was just tidying up. Mr. Markov is leaving tonight, and I wanted to make sure everything was in order before he left.”
Carlos narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you. Mr. Markov doesn't let anyone in his office. Not even you." He spat the last words like venom.
“Honestly, he gave me the keys. Look.” She held them up as proof, but her hand was trembling.
“There’s one way to sort this out.” He gripped her arm.
“Let me go, Carlos. I want to speak to my? to Mr. Markov. Now.”
“That will be arranged.”
Without releasing her, he dragged her out of the office and into the hallway. She barely managed to keep her footing as he barked an order to one of the security guards. The guard nodded and hurried off, probably to inform Alek about what had happened.
“Where are you taking me?” she demanded, trying to pull away, but his grip only tightened.
He dragged her down a narrow corridor toward the storage and surveillance rooms. She didn’t come here often and barely knew the layout. He stopped halfway, shoved open a door, and pushed her inside a small, musty storage room. “Stay here. Mr. Markov’s on his way,” he said, locking the door behind her.
Her heart sank. This was bad. Really bad. There was no talking her way out of this one.
Alek would be furious. She never cleaned his office, and everyone knew he was paranoid about people going in there without him.
Sighing, she sank down onto a creaky wooden chair and looked around. The room smelled faintly of chlorine from the pool equipment stored nearby. A few boxes were stacked in the corner, a vacuum cleaner leaning against the wall. How the hell was she going to get out?
Dom!
He hadn’t left yet. Maybe he could still help. She fumbled for her phone, her fingers shaking, but her heart sank when she saw the single bar of reception. Barely anything. She tried sending a text, but it wouldn’t go through.
Come on!
She tried again. Still nothing.
The heavy sound of footsteps echoed in the hall. She shoved her phone into her pocket just as the door opened, and Alek stepped in. He wasn’t smiling.
“What’s this about, Becca? Carlos says he caught you snooping in my study?” The pale blue eyes were cold and suspicious.
She swallowed. “Yes, I found your key in your jacket pocket, so I went in to have a look around.” She may as well be honest—at least about that part. He’d see straight through a lie. “You’ve never told me what business you’re in. I know it’s not farming equipment.”
He frowned.
“So I decided to see for myself.” By the look on his face, she knew she’d hit a nerve. He’d never have admitted to his illegal activities because he didn’t trust her.
He couldn’t. She’d left him once before.
“You could have just asked me.”
She fixed her gaze on him, defiant now. It was her only bluff out of here. “If I had, would you have told me the truth?”
He avoided the question. “What did you find?”
“Nothing,” she lied smoothly. “Carlos came before I could really look around.”
Alek stared at her, unblinking, then turned to Carlos. “Search her.”
“Seriously? What?—?”
Carlos entered the room, his face expressionless. He patted her down, rough hands grazing places they shouldn’t, making her skin crawl.
“That’s enough!” she snapped, stepping back.
Creep. He made her skin crawl.
He took her phone and handed it to Alek.
Markov handed her the device. “Open it.”
“Why?”
“Open it, Becca.”
She turned away. “No, it’s my personal phone. It’s got nothing to do with you.”
Alek gave Carlos a subtle nod. Before she could react, Carlos backhanded her across the face. Pain exploded in her cheek, and she stumbled, gasping for breath.
“Open. It.” Alek’s voice was deadly calm.
With a sob, she held it up to her face, so it unlocked the screen. He snatched it from her hand, scrolling through the messages and photos. He grunted when there was nothing to find, then he searched through the photographs.
His expression darkened. “So, you did find something.” He held the phone up so she could see what he was looking at.
Becca paled. This was going from bad to worse. She hadn’t had time to delete the photographs, but at least she hadn’t sent them to Dom. His cover was still intact.
“What were you planning to do with these, Becca?”
“Nothing. I told you, I just wanted to see what you were up to.” She burst into tears, a mixture of fear and pent-up anger. “You never tell me anything.”
Alek’s expression didn’t waver. He was unmoved by her tears.
He didn’t care. He never had.
Dom had been right—her father wasn’t capable of love. And Carlos, that brute, watched with a sick grin, enjoying her humiliation.
“Did you sabotage the shipment?” Alek’s voice dropped to a growl.
“What shipment?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady, but she knew what was coming.
He waved the phone in front of her face. “ This one. Don’t lie to me. You’re smarter than you act. You found out about the shipment, didn’t you? And you told someone. That’s how the authorities knew.”
“I didn’t,” she pleaded. “I would never do that to you!”
Alek’s temper flared. “Then how did they know where to find us?” He kicked the leg of the chair, making it wobble. “Dominguez said there was a leak, but I didn’t realize the leak was my own daughter.”
Carlos gaped at them.
It was good to see him taken by surprise, even if it did give him even more reason to hate her. Sure enough, his leer turned into a glower of disgust.
Alek’s voice softened, but it wasn’t with kindness. “I expected more from you, Rebecca. I should’ve known better. You and Damian—you’re the same. You both deserted me.” He snorted. “So much for family loyalty, huh?”
For a moment, Becca forgot to be afraid. “You used Damian! He wanted out and you wouldn’t let him go. You manipulated me into marrying him to keep him under your control. It was a despicable thing to do.”
If he was surprised at her retaliation, he didn’t show it. “It was necessary.”
Only to his criminal enterprise. He made her sick. She couldn’t believe she’d spent all this time and energy trying to forge a bond with him. “Well, maybe you could live with that, but I couldn’t.”
They should have had this discussion months, if not years ago. If they had, she wouldn’t even be here.
“I made that man what he is today,” Alek sneered. “And how did he repay me? By disclosing all the dark web transactions to the goddamn Feds. What a rat!”
“He did what?”
She gaped at him, confused. Last she’d heard, Damian had disappeared, never to be seen again.
“Oh, didn’t you know? Your darling ex-husband betrayed me to the Feds.”
She stared at him, but Alek wasn’t done. “He’s a billionaire philanthropist, thanks to me. I funded his start-up when it was nothing more than an idea on a rebuilt laptop in my spare room. That boy had nowhere to go when I found him. He owes me everything!”
“I had no idea,” Becca whispered, still amazed at what her ex had become. He’d always been brilliant—it was just a matter of time before he hit the big time. She was glad. After everything he’d been through, he deserved it.
“Backstabbing bastard.”
“Is that why you’re hiding out here in Panama?” Becca asked. “Because the Feds are after you?”
“He’s the reason I had to leave America,” Markov snarled. “My damn home! Now I’m stuck here in this cesspool of a jungle making deals with the goddamn cartels. It would be laughable, if it wasn’t so fucking tragic.”
Carlos shifted his feet as if to remind Alek he was still there.
It worked. Alek exhaled and threw her cell phone on the ground. It cracked, along with any chance of rescue. Then he stood on it, grinding his heel into it until it was well and truly broken—along with her dream of getting out of here.
Now there was no way to tell Dom she was in trouble.
She stifled a sob. “What are you going to do with me?”
“Me? Nothing. Carlos, on the other hand?—”
He turned to his henchman, who’s eyes flickered in anticipation. “Find out if she’s told us everything.”