Chapter Fourteen #2
He remembered Mollie telling him about a stalker. It was her sister. “Why didn’t you just tell her?”
“If I came too close, she’d be threatened.”
“You paid off the marshals to do what you wanted,” he guessed. “Started working with Youngblood.”
“And that flat-footed cowboy double-crossed me. He’s playing on Julio’s team.” Her lips twisted in a ferocious sneer. “He’s here. In the barn.”
Spence communicated the information to Rossi and Jamison. “Check in the barn. Approach with extreme care. Julio’s men are armed.”
“I’ll be leaving now,” Madison said. “Your fight is with Julio. Not with me.”
He figured that she hadn’t come here alone, and he didn’t want to start a battle with her hired men. They probably had weapons trained on him right now. “How can I reach you?”
“Through Dad,” she said. “He has my number.”
Mollie’s father? The threads of these relationships were twisting into a Gordian knot. Impossible to untangle. Prioritizing Mollie’s safety, he realized the only safe course was to let Madison go free. He released her. “I’m glad we met.”
“Aren’t you the trusting one. You and Mollie make a good match.” She flashed a brilliant smile. “By the way, you didn’t mean what you said about my kiss, did you?”
“Yeah, I meant it.” He turned toward the horse barn. “Mollie’s better.”
* * *
Mollie gripped the vial of pepper spray.
The strength and flexibility had returned to her hand.
She tried wiggling her toes and felt the muscles and tendons waking up.
Though not sure she could successfully run from her captors, she was regaining her ability to function.
If she could get close enough to use her pepper spray, she could blind them with the oleoresin capsicum and run.
In the backyard, she could lose herself in the crowd.
She tilted her head and saw an incredibly handsome man with bedroom eyes, full lips and sleek black hair.
Where had he come from? She’d never met him, but she’d seen photos and that damn video before the yacht exploded.
He sauntered toward her with the natural confidence of a man who ruled the world and merely deigned to allow others to occupy space.
A born leader, he reeked of charisma and musky cologne.
Not Mollie’s taste, but she understood her sister’s attraction to this bad boy.
He leaned down and gave her a warm smile, designed to melt her resistance. “You are the very image of my beloved Princesa.”
Remembering the sadness he’d inflicted upon her family by abducting Madison and then faking her death, she was repulsed by this lying, selfish, evil slimeball.
Still, she forced herself to smile back.
“Julio Flores. Are you really here? After your men drugged me, I can’t trust my vision. I’ve been hallucinating.”
“I regret that such methods had to be used.” His light accent made every word sound sexy. “It was necessary to subdue you. So you would listen to me.”
“I could listen to a phone call. Or read an email.”
“My proposal needed to be in person. It is unusual.”
Hoping to give herself a better chance to escape, she clumsily pointed to the others in the barn. “They should leave. We should be alone.”
“Giving orders. Just like your sister.”
In a cajoling tone, she said, “Humor me.”
Julio turned toward his men. “You heard the lady. Wait for us near the front. And you, cowboy, prepare the car. I must be alone with Mollie.”
After the others had shuffled into the wide center aisle, she braced herself for an attack on Julio. When he came closer and sat on the hay bale beside her, she stifled the urge to cringe.
Stroking her cheek, he tucked her hair behind her ear and whispered, “You look so much like Princesa, I cannot help but wonder if you make love with the same passion.”
Her fingers itched to use the pepper spray and strike. But not yet. She wanted to hear his proposal, to find out why he’d been after her. She turned her head away from him and shuddered.
“You tremble with excitement,” Julio said, mistaking her disgust for desire. “Be patient, corazón. You may yet have your chance.”
“Tell me your proposal.”
“I wish to offer you a life of luxury, living with me and Princesa in Mexico. You wouldn’t have to work. Whatever your heart desires, it would be yours.”
Mollie couldn’t imagine her twin going along with this. “Why didn’t Madison talk to me about this plan?”
He rose from the hay bale and took a step away from her. “Princesa and I, we have had an argument. I asked her to marry me. She refuses. Why? Why, I ask. She wants her family nearby. She wants you.”
And Madison always gets what she wants. “You’ve been together for five years. Why is it important to be married right now?”
She saw the answer in the proud lift of his chin and the puffing out of his chest. “Princesa is with child. She carries my son. My legacy.”
Pregnant? Really? Madison was pregnant. This should have been good news, but Mollie felt nothing but dread. She wished she could talk to Dad. “You want me to live with you and be the baby’s auntie or nanny.”
“You will be well-paid.”
What about the Cartel? The inherent danger of dealing drugs? Did he want his child growing up with snipers and mercenaries? No one would choose a life like that for their child. Certainly not her sister.
And what about Mollie’s inheritance? After five frustrating years in WITSEC, she’d been offered a way out. Great-Aunt Irma had provided her with the answer to her dreams in an art gallery. Could she throw that away?
From the front of the barn, she heard shouts.
Julio drew a gun from his belt holster—a very fancy SIG Sauer with an engraved handle. He might be a scumbag, but Julio certainly knew his weapons. The sniper had a state-of-the-art rifle with silencer. This SIG was a collector’s piece.
Julio moved to the center aisle to see what was happening. He motioned for her to join him. “We must go. Come. I will not hurt you.”
When she stood, it took a few tense seconds for the room to stop spinning, and then she was in control. “I’m not going with you.”
“Do not be stupid.”
He thrust out his arm and tried to grab her. But Mollie was faster. She held the canister of pepper spray at arm’s length and blasted it into his face.