Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
Was he dead?
Ally couldn’t think of another reason she wouldn't have seen Mateo since they were escorted off the plane and into separate SUVs.
Koa Rolland, the name of the man who had bought her, apparently put some stock in the fact that she apparently “belonged” to Mateo.
Being told he could replace her with someone else had been enough to keep them both alive, and on the plane journey back to the United States, the man hadn't touched her, had barely glanced at her.
She’d been kept cuffed and in a seat at the front of the plane, and Mateo, likewise cuffed, had been seated in the back. They hadn't been able to talk to one another, but she’d been able to see him, and that had been enough to keep her grounded.
Now it had been hours since he was taken away from her, and her fear for him kept growing.
Of course, it was a major gamble Mateo had taken by trying to bargain with Koa Rolland, especially since she doubted Azure was going to let him buy her for himself even if he had the money.
Prey knew where they were, at least there was that comfort, and the Delta Force team knew something had happened because they didn't make their flight.
If they'd left from the small airfield on the tiny island instead of taking a helicopter from Koa Rolland’s mansion to another island, the team probably would have broken them out before they even left Vanuatu.
Would the team go to Prey and devise a plan to rescue them?
Wouldn't that destroy the whole purpose of having men undercover inside the trafficking organization?
If Mateo had what was needed to destroy Azure, he wouldn't still be working the case.
It was selfish to think that Prey should put dozens, maybe hundreds of lives at risk just to try to save hers.
But how was she supposed to hope for anything else?
When the door to the tiny room she’d been left in, similar to the one she’d been held in after she was sold and before Koa Rolland came to collect her, swung open, Ally gasped.
“Mateo,” she murmured as she ran toward him, ignoring the two men holding him between them, and the man dressed in the suit standing behind him.
There were bruises covering more of his face than not, and one of his eyes was swollen shut.
It was clear that Azure had beaten him, but she had no idea what that meant for either of their futures.
At least he was alive, that was something.
And he’d been brought to her. That had to mean something, too.
“Don’t need to worry about me, little mouse,” he reassured her, and his one good eye scanned her body as though searching for injuries.
“They didn't do anything to me,” she assured him. “Just brought me in here and left me.”
Giving her a small nod, Mateo tugged his arms free of the two men, swayed slightly, and leaned into her when she wrapped an arm around his waist and tried to brace his much larger body against her own.
“Okay, Griffin, you had your fun. Now tell me what you want for her,” Mateo said. Despite the fact that he had to be hurting, his voice was still strong and sure, confident, even though they didn't hold the position of power right now.
“You’ve thrown quite a spanner in the works, Mateo,” the man in the suit—Griffin apparently—said as he strolled into the room and took the only chair.
“Told you already, you never should have gone after her in the first place. You wanted to play games, test loyalty, without understanding what you were touching.”
“You also told me that she meant nothing to you,” Griffin said.
“If you knew I'd already trained her just the way I wanted her, then you would have taken pleasure in making sure you rubbed it in my face that she belonged to Azure now.”
Griffin laughed, which Ally took to be confirmation that’s exactly what the man would have done.
“Wasn't going to say anything until I had the money pulled together to buy her myself, but you sold her off before I could.” Although Mateo snarled out those last few words, the big man in the suit didn't flinch.
“I don’t sell Azure’s stock to employees,” Griffin said, and Ally shivered at the totally emotionless way he talked about her, like in his eyes she was no longer human, or maybe never really had been.
“She was mine first. You only took her for some ridiculous loyalty test.”
“Which you failed.”
“How did I fail? I told Rolland that I was going to buy her myself, and it seems he agreed to swap mine for another woman since I'm still alive. What difference does it make to you if she belongs to me or someone else?” Mateo demanded.
If he wasn't leaning against her, she wouldn't have felt the fine tremors rippling through his large body. They terrified her. Because if Mateo was scared, then she was pretty sure this wasn't going to work out the way they’d hoped.
Maybe they wouldn't kill Mateo right away, maybe they’d torture him a little more first, but she was positive he wouldn't be walking away from this warehouse alive. And she’d probably be sent back down to the basement, kept in a cage, retrained by someone who wasn't using any restraint.
Then sold all over again, and this time without anyone to make sure Prey knew where she was so they could come and rescue her.
“You really have a quarter of a million dollars to buy her?” Griffin taunted, brow arched as though daring Mateo to admit he didn't have what it took to purchase her.
A quarter of a million dollars?
That was really what the men who bought the women Azure provided paid?
There had been almost a dozen women in the basement along with her, that was almost three million dollars right then and there, not including all the other women they’d already sold and all the ones they would.
She could see why, if you had no conscience and saw women as property, running a sex trafficking ring was attractive.
“I have half up front,” Mateo said, making her gaze snap up to his in shock. “Give me a month, and I can get the rest together.”
Just like that, hope flared inside her.
Surely Griffin was only in this because it was lucrative, so he really shouldn’t care if Mateo or someone else bought her. If Mateo really did have half the money already, she was sure that Prey would loan him the rest to get her out.
“No,” Griffin said, and her little bubble popped.
Against her, Mateo tensed, and she was pretty sure he was going to throw himself at his boss, ignoring the two armed men standing in the doorway, who looked more than happy with the thought of getting to shoot him.
Chuckling, Griffin smiled at Mateo, and there was something so cold and calculating about it. “Relax, you’re being petulant like a child. I said no to you buying her, but … I might have an offer for you.”
“Done,” Mateo said without hesitation.
Another chuckle from the man in the suit. “You don’t even know what the deal is.”
“Don’t care. She’s mine, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her.”
“And that’s what makes you weak. You're not thinking with the right head.”
“I'm thinking that I invested time and money into molding her just how I wanted her to be, and I'm not about to give that up because you wanted to play games that could have gotten me in trouble with the cops. Tell me the deal.”
“You box for me.”
“Box?”
“You're good, I've seen you train. I also run an underground fighting ring, and I think you'd be a wonderful addition to my team. If you win enough fights, you can pay off the debt and then own her at the end.”
“Done,” Mateo said again.
“No, Mateo, you can't,” she protested, trying to turn him around to face her. She didn't want him to get hurt for her, and she had no idea what an underground fighting ring entailed. What if they fought to the death? There was no way she could handle losing him.
“I can and I will,” he said, not even sparing her a glance, and she could feel the determination humming through his system. “When do I start?”
“Tonight,” Griffin said.
This time, she didn't take no for an answer. Ally grabbed at Mateo, forcing him to look at her. “You can't,” she pleaded. “You're already hurt. You can't go and fight tonight.”
His expression was tender as he finally met her gaze. “Don’t you know by now, little mouse, that I'd walk through fire for you? I’m doing this. I’ll win tonight. I’ll win tomorrow. I’ll win every night until you belong to me.”
August 22nd
9:26 P.M.
It didn't matter that he had one eye swollen shut, that he probably had a couple of cracked ribs, that his entire body was a patchwork of blues, purples, and blacks. Mateo had to win this fight.
There were literally no other options.
If he didn't win, he lost Ally.
And if he lost Ally, then she would be lost to the trafficking world.
He was under no illusion that Griffin wouldn't always choose what was most profitable for his business. If that was cutting his losses, ordering Mateo’s death, then selling Ally off to a no doubt very willing buyer, that’s what he’d do.
For now, his boss had accepted the hundred and twenty-five grand, and he seemed pleased with his plan to use Mateo to fight in his underground fighting ring.
Of course, he knew about it, that’s where he’d first contacted Griffin and Azure, but he hadn't been expecting to be shifted to working a different job.
In his mind, the only options had been either Griffin accepting the offer to buy Ally for himself or rejecting it and killing him. He had, however, been expecting to be stripped naked, strung up by his wrists, and beaten.
Now those bruises littering his body were going to be a hindrance to what he had to do tonight.
They wouldn't stop him from doing it, but they would make it that much harder.
Still, whoever he was going to fight tonight wasn't going to be fighting with the same motivation.
There was no greater motivation than fighting for the life and freedom of someone you loved.