10. Liana
TEN
LIANA
M y mouth was as dry as cotton. A strand of hair tickled my cheek and I reached up to move it but found myself unable to. Confusion clouded my mind as I tried to make sense of my surroundings.
Perhaps I was dreaming, but something felt off. I peeled my eyes open, blinking against the bright light.
My heartbeat trembled when I saw my wrists secured to the bedposts.
“No, no, no,” I breathed, panic steady but swiftly rising inside me. Memories of waking up in a different bed, of the nightmares I’d survived, slowly started to swallow me whole when a voice brought it all to a halt.
“I’m glad to see you’re finally awake.”
Panicking, I looked over to find Giovanni Agosti—the man who signed his death warrant by kidnapping me—leaning in the chair, his legs crossed while he typed on his cell phone. The fucker wouldn’t even dignify me with a look. I wanted him to see my fury, see my promise of his death in my eyes… and he was fucking texting.
“You’re a dead man,” I rasped, my voice hoarse. “Unless you untie me.”
“That’s too bad.” He continued typing on his phone. “I was kind of looking forward to getting to know each other.” I stiffened. “With words. Get your mind out of the gutter.”
My mind was never in the gutter. The man must be an idiot to think I’d ever want anything to do with him. Or any man for that matter.
“Where is my daughter?” He didn’t answer and the panic bubbled inside me, clawing at my insides, but I resisted the urge to scream. It’d never done me any good, and it certainly wouldn’t now. So I changed tactics. For now.
“Tell me what you want,” I snapped, yanking at the ropes on my wrists. “And getting to know each other is off the table.”
I couldn’t believe my fucked-up misfortune. To be at the mercy of the Tijuana Cartel. Again . I knew who this guy was the minute he uttered his name. The tattoo on his hand confirmed it. My chest couldn’t handle it, every instinct in me fighting the urge to retreat into my own mind or fight until my dying breath.
“What do you think I want?” he answered, still not bothering to look up. But there was something about his flat, uninterested tone that pulled me from the ledge. “Aside from your safety.”
I glared at him, my pulse racing as hatred burned through my veins.
“Just fucking tell me, you… you…” I searched for the word and finally settled on the one I considered all men on this planet to be, “sick psychopath.”
“If I’m a psychopath, we’ll get along just great.” He finally raised his eyes, the flash in his green gaze penetrating me. “I have a proposition for you.”
I scoffed. “No.”
“You haven’t even heard what it is yet.”
“Unless it involves returning me back to my property and never seeing you again, I’m not interested.”
“She’s no longer there, you know. Killian came for his wife and child.” His voice was low and soft, but those words sent terror through me. “But not to worry. Her parents are ensuring her well-being and safety.”
It was for me to ensure Amara’s safety. She was my child. Yet, it would seem biology would prevail and I’d be forgotten once again.
All my years of captivity, fury, and bitterness rose to the surface, and my eyes flashed.
“I’m going to kill you,” I stated coldly.
He flashed me a smile. “Hence the binding.”
“The longer you leave me tied, the longer your torture,” I hissed.
Unfortunately, my threat didn’t have the desired effect.
“You’ll be tied up until I know you’ll behave. I can’t afford to lose more men on this ship.”
This. Motherfucker.
Images of various methods of torture flashed through my mind.
“You started this, but trust me, Giovanni, I will finish it.”
This man touched me. Ripped me out of my home and away from my child. Tied me up. Oh, the ways I would make him pay.
I gazed at the ceiling, knowing the key was to keep a cool head.
“I should have expected nothing less from a Tijuana man. Your mother cooked up some shit there, huh?”
I must have struck a nerve because the temperature in the room took a dive, and he was out of the chair and in my face before I could blink. If a look could kill, I’d be dead.
“Shut your fucking mouth.”
I laughed, pouring all my menace into it. “Or what? I’m only stating the facts, Giovanni Agosti.” I paused, feigning remorse. “My bad, I should say Giovanni Tijuana , even though you’re the bastard product of your mother’s?—”
My airways closed as he slammed his palm against my mouth.
Revulsion at being touched shot through me as I stared at him, refusing to show him any weakness and fully intent on exploiting his.
Just not at this moment.
So, inhaling a deep, calming breath, I ignored the thudding of the pulse in my eardrums and shifted, feeling the silky sheets cooling my exposed skin and my temper. Somewhat.
I changed tactics.
“How did you know where to find me?” I questioned.
A heartbeat passed.
“Kian Cortes.”
My stomach sank and lead spread outward throughout my body.
The only man I owed allegiance to after his infamous brother had me wishing—begging—for death for the longest six months of my entire life.
Against my will, the memories surged.
“Please,” I cried, reaching for my daughter as Perez restrained me, almost ripping my right arm out of the socket as he jerked me back. “Please, please… leave her alone.”
He laughed, his dark eyes gleaming with malice. “Your weakness. Foolish to let me see it.”
I opened my mouth to say something else, but I was slammed against the rough wall. The air whooshed out of my lungs and unshed tears burned in my eyes as I prayed for someone—anyone—to save us.
My reason told me nobody would.
Not my sister. Not my mother. Nobody.
When I let these evil men believe I was Louisa, taking her place in the sick arrangement my mother’s lover had made with Santiago, I held out hope that my sister would come for me.
Instead, I was left to suffer alone.
Until they broke me. Until Amara came along.
“We can use her organs,” Perez spat, his eyes locked on Amara’s frail body. “She’s not good for anything else.”
Letting the adrenaline into my system, I let out a battle cry and threw myself at Perez with fisted hands, ignoring my aching joints.
“You evil son of a bitch,” I screamed, slamming my fists into his face over and over again. As long as his guards’ attention was focused on me, they would leave Amara alone, so I unleashed my fury on him.
Blood pooled from my nose. Tears blurred my vision.
But I refused to stop.
I wouldn’t stop until I took my final breath, which might be sooner rather than later at this point.
“Hold this wildcat still,” Perez said acidly, a sinister grin on his face. “Apparently she hasn’t learned her lesson yet.”
One of the guards pulled me back, slamming me against the wall, when he suddenly fell to the ground. Dead.
“What—”
Another body fell. And another. Perez was the last one to fall to the ground, unconscious.
My knees buckled and hit the filthy floor, shudders tearing through my body like a hurricane. I blinked over and over again, my blurry vision refusing to clear up.
“Amara,” I rasped, but there was no answer.
“She’s knocked out.” I stiffened at hearing an unfamiliar voice. Was it another guard? What did he want from us? “I won’t hurt you. I’m getting you out.”
His words trailed off as he brushed my hair off my forehead.
I reeled from his touch, blinking profusely as he slowly came into focus. An older man with eyes that were almost… kind. Too kind? I’d learned to be skeptical, and he was no different, no matter what he claimed.
“Don’t touch me,” I rasped. “If you’re going to help us, do so. But don’t ever fucking touch me.”
He blew out a breath.
“At least your spirit is still there,” he said. “Can you walk?”
I grunted, shifting and straightening up in answer. Every inch of me hurt, but I ignored the pain. I would crawl if that’s what it took to get us out of here.
On unsteady feet, I made my way to my daughter. Her clothes were filthy and her complexion was deathly pale. My heart trembled in fear as I reached out to touch her pulse point. I held my breath for one, two, three seconds… There it was. Faint, but steady.
I bent over to lift her into my arms when the stranger stopped me midway.
“We’ll be faster if I carry her and you follow along.” Mistrust shot through me as I narrowed my eyes. He must have seen it on my face because he sighed. “There will be more guards coming, Liana. We don’t have time to move at a snail’s pace.”
Shock vibrated through me. “I’m Louisa,” I spat.
He shook his head.
“We both know you’re not.”
My head spun, dizziness overwhelming me from fatigue and days of no food. But I wasn’t ready to put Amara’s safety into another man’s hands.
“Tell me something nobody knows about you,” I finally said, tasting blood in my mouth. “Or I’ll kill you.”
A heartbeat passed as he watched me somberly.
With a cold determination on his face, he said, “If you share this with anyone and betray me, I will punish you.” I swallowed, nodding my agreement. “Two decades ago, Emory’s mother and I were going to disappear together.” Something I couldn’t quite distinguish flashed across his expression. “Anyhow, I promised her that I’d watch over her daughter. I failed eight years ago; I won’t today. I’m getting you and this kid out of here.”
“That’s not much of a secret.” I frowned. “Besides, Gio DiLustro, her husband, would have come after you.”
“Gio would have failed, because nobody can come after The Syndicator.” My mouth fell open at the revelation. “Now you know my secret, Liana Volkov. Betray me and ? —”
He didn’t have to finish his sentence.
Kian did as he promised that day. I couldn’t even fault him for it because he did warn me. It turned out he wasn’t joking.
He’d known I betrayed him to Atticus, so he sold me out to my late husband’s nephew.
But Kian didn’t know I had an ace up my sleeve too.
When I was searching for a donor for Amara’s liver, desperate to find a familiar match aside from her birth mother to use for her transplant, I traced her lineage. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon one of Kian’s secrets.
Giovanni headed toward the door and I followed him with my gaze, planning his demise when he said, “I’ll bring you some food.”
“Go to hell.”
He stopped in his tracks and smiled coldly. “Too late. I believe we’re both already there.”
Then he left me with my shadows and terrors.