Chapter 17 #2
“Sounds promising so far.”
“Si. It is. Maybe we could have Avery and Ryan over as well, if that is agreeable to you. I told Avery about it one night when we were missing some of the foods from home.”
“What did she miss?” he asked.
“She had a craving for American fast food,” Luciana admitted with a laugh. “We had cafeteria food day in and day out. It was fine but not anything like a homecooked meal.”
“I’ve eaten plenty of bad mess hall meals in my day,” Harrison told her.
“And on deployments? We scraped by with MREs many a time. They’re certainly not gourmet but provide much-needed calories.
Thanks for making the salad tonight,” he said, changing the subject.
“I wouldn’t have minded putting together the whole meal. ”
“It was no trouble,” she told him. “Don’t forget I wasn’t allowed to do a thing for the past month. Even selecting what we ate for dinner tonight was...a shock? That’s not the right word, but it seemed too good to be true, to suddenly have endless choices.”
“There are people on base you can talk to if you need that—psychologists and therapists. The team have to meet with them to ensure they’re physically and mentally sound.”
“Perhaps someday, but I tend to deal with things in my own way.”
He studied her, gauging that she was telling the truth.
Luciana didn’t really have a reason to lie.
“I didn’t get a chance to ask earlier, but do you have anyone you want to contact?
We let your employer know that you’ve been rescued, but if there are family or friends you’d like to get in touch with—”
“No. I left my old life behind long ago. I will reach out to the other nurses I worked with, but I’ll have to see if Avery has their contact information. I’m no longer in touch with my family. My father—he was not a good man.”
Harrison’s ears perked up. He paused mid-bite, giving her his full attention.
“You want more information,” she guessed.
He pressed his lips together, thinking of how he wanted to respond. “I do, but I only want to know what you’re willing to share. You were treated differently than the other women who were kidnapped—taken out in public, brought to a night club. I have to wonder if there was some connection.”
“Si. It was different for me, and I never knew why. My family did cross my mind, but Avery and I were taken together. I’m not sure they knew who I was.”
“Maybe not at first,” he agreed, “but they took your purse and wallet.”
“They did. The men could’ve made the connection after seeing my name if they were familiar with my family. I’m not certain why it would matter given we were estranged.”
“Maybe you weren’t targeted by them, but once they discovered your identity, they could’ve used it to their advantage. Your father is a wealthy man.”
“Si. And they did handle me differently from the others. The first few weeks, I was recovering from a head wound.” Her gaze briefly landed on his own bandaged arm before she continued.
“I thought perhaps that was why they left me alone in the bedroom. I’m no good to them injured or dead, no?
I heard others crying or screaming—women who were raped in the home.
They didn’t harm me in that way,” she said, clearly seeing the question in his eyes.
“I was never assaulted, even though I feared it every day. Then the very last night, after the club—”
She got choked up, and Harrison reached across the table, putting his hand over her own. His hand covered hers completely. She didn’t appear frightened though, just sucked in a deep breath and swiped a tear away. “Sorry,” she said.
“You’re allowed to feel however you want to feel. There’s no need to apologize for it.”
She shifted, clutching onto his hand. It wasn’t a romantic gesture.
He could tell she wanted support for what she was about to say.
“A man almost attacked me on my last night there—well, one of the last nights. They made me dress up for the night club in a skimpy dress and heels. After we got back to the home, one of the men came into my bedroom. I had nowhere to hide or run. He closed the bedroom door and trapped me—he stripped me of all my clothes. He was going to hurt me.”
Harrison grew tense at her words, rage coursing through him.
She noticed, and put her other hand atop his.
How ironic that Luciana was now trying to soothe him instead.
“Another man stopped it. I don’t know why,” she admitted.
“If he hadn’t come in, I’m certain I would’ve been raped.
” She pulled her hands free, clutching them together on the table, her eyes downcast.
He was silent, rage coursing through him. The helplessness he felt listening to her was surprising. She was safe here in his home, but knowing she’d been violated like that made him see red. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice gruff.
“I don’t know what became of that man. I was with two different men the night on the outskirts of Panama City. There are multiple men out scouting the area—stealing women. They are bold and brash and fear no repercussions.”
“They didn’t expect us to show up,” Harrison said.
“Not at all. The night felt like any other until I awoke. Maybe I sensed something was about to happen.”
“You heard us outside?”
“Perhaps. I had been asleep and couldn’t figure out why I was awake. Usually, I’m awoken by my nightmares. Last night was different. I woke up, and then my entire life changed.”
Her admission hit him straight in the chest. Imagine if he hadn’t gone to her, and she’d still been a hostage in that house of horrors.
All he knew was that he’d had an urgent need to get to her.
It hadn’t made sense, logically, aside from finishing the mission.
It could’ve cost him his career, but seeing her before him right now was worth everything.
“When I was growing up, I wasn’t allowed to know what was going on in my family’s home either. My home life wasn’t ever normal. Strange men would come and go at all hours. I’d hear my father yelling at them, and I’d hide in my room, too scared to leave my bed.”
“But you eventually left.”
“Si. When I was old enough to make my own way in life, I left and never looked back. I never knew exactly who the men in our home were, but I suspect now they were part of a cartel.”
“Your father’s in real estate,” Harrison said.
“Yes, publicly. Privately, I believe he’s involved in something far more sinister.”
Harrison cleared his throat. “After doing some background research, I discovered that your father owns a shadow company that’s involved in large quantities of real estate sales. It was an excessive amount. No normal investor would be having that number of yearly transactions.”
“I suppose that’s why he’d attempt to hide it,” Luciana said with a frown.
“Agreed. I’m under the impression he’s also attempting to hide other dealings he’s involved with—something other than real estate.”
“Drugs?” Luciana asked. “Women? If my father is involved with the cartels, which I have no proof of, perhaps the properties he buys involve them in some capacity.”
“That’s my suspicion.”
“I saw someone I recognized at the nightclub,” Luciana suddenly said. “It was one of my father’s men. I’m certain of it. We locked eyes for a moment, and then he disappeared into the crowd. It’s been years, but I swear I’d know his face anywhere. I have no idea what he was doing there.”
They were silent for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts.
Harrison’s mind ran over various possibilities, none of which he wanted to broach at the moment.
Luciana had been through hell, and he wanted her to get settled in tonight.
His gaze ran over her as she looked out into his backyard.
Luciana’s hair was drying in the warm air, and she absentmindedly ran her fingers through it.
The scent of shampoo drifted across the table, and Harrison was reminded yet again how she’d used his.
Maybe it made him a cave man, but he liked that she smelled like him.
In a different life, he could see himself chasing after a woman like her.
She was gorgeous, no doubt, but smart and no-nonsense, too.
She’d never take his bullshit, and if he’d ever settled down, he would’ve needed a strong woman like her.
He could tell they’d have passion both in and out of the bedroom.
They’d had a connection from the moment they met, that inexplicable chemistry you sometimes had with another person.
He felt protective of her, but that hadn’t stopped his blood from heating anytime she was near.
“Sorry about the shampoo and soap situation,” he said. “I assume you don’t usually want to smell like pine.”
To his surprise, she blushed. “I do not mind it so much. When they took me to the nightclub, they made me apply lots of makeup and perfume. I couldn’t wait to scrub it all off and just be myself. Natural.”
He resisted the urge to comment. She was damn perfect right now—beautiful and healthy. Alive.
“I will go with Avery soon to pick out some of my own things,” she continued.
“It will be weird to shop again, to be allowed to walk into a store of my own free choosing, but I need to do it to give myself some semblance of normalcy. I should be able to access my bank account, but I’ll have to get new credit cards. ”
“I’ll give you one of my cards to use,” he said.
She raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“You can get whatever you need. It’s no trouble.”
“I will pay you back, of course.”
“It’s not a problem, Luciana,” he said, intrigued by the sudden flush on her cheeks again.
A woman like her was no doubt independent, but he had no trouble seeing that all of her needs were met.
Harrison solved problems. Took care of things.
Handled matters in a rational way. While it might take time for her to come to grips with all she’d dealt with, he could take care of her physically.
Provide her food. Shelter. Clothes. Nothing more, because he knew what this was and what it wasn’t.
A brief shot of lust coursed through him anyway.
He’d have no trouble taking care of her needs in bed as well, but she was off-limits.
She took a sip of her water, and his gaze caught again on her plump lips.
Even without trying, Luciana was deliciously sensual.
Smooth skin. Silky hair. Dark brown eyes that you could get lost in.
She met his gaze, a burst of energy arcing between them.
She didn’t look away, just seemed more surprised by it than anything.
Harrison broke their eye contact first, knowing he shouldn’t do anything to make her uncomfortable.
She was forbidden. Untouchable. And he had the distinct feeling that if he did ever kiss her someday, he’d never get enough, which was all the more reason to stay away.