Chapter 19 #3
Angelo had been happy…until he’d seen the other two men. He knew they were enforcers but didn’t know their names. When they’d shoved Reese into the backseat of her car, he was even more confused.
“Take her purse and phone and throw them away,” Pablo ordered after he’d gotten into Reese’s car. “Then smash yours to pieces and toss it as well. We don’t want anyone to track us.”
Angelo had done as ordered almost robotically, still trying to figure out what was happening. Why Pablo and the other men had come. Did they not trust him? He decided that must be it. They didn’t want to give him money because they didn’t trust him.
When he got back in the car, he’d asked Pablo, “Why do we need her?”
“Why not?” Pablo said with a grin. “It’s a long trip, we could use some fun before we get home.”
In that moment, his blood ran cold.
Angelo didn’t mind selling drugs. That was business.
He didn’t even mind using violence to make sure the money they earned wasn’t stolen from them.
But hurting women? He wasn’t cool with that.
And Reese had been nice to him. She wasn’t his friend, but she was always smiling, and she made his sister happy.
When Pablo left the parking lot and headed out of town, it was too late to change anything about the situation.
Angelo didn’t dare look into the backseat. He could practically feel Reese’s eyes on him. Pleading. Asking why. The truth was, he had no answer. He hadn’t planned this.
He also hadn’t wanted anyone to know where he was going, and why.
He’d written Isabella a long letter and had given it to the clerk at the Western Union place to mail later, expecting to be across the Mexican border by the time she received it.
He didn’t want his sister to worry about him.
He would be fine. He belonged back in Colombia and not in the US.
Throughout the drive, his mood darkened more and more.
He and Reese were related now by marriage.
He didn’t want to see her hurt, but he also didn’t want the responsibility of looking after her.
He needed to be a man now, tough. And he couldn’t do that, couldn’t prove to Pablo that he was willing to do anything for the cartel, if he looked weak in regard to Reese.
So he sat in his seat and stared straight ahead, pretending she wasn’t there. That everything was fine.
When they’d arrived in El Paso, Angelo had thought they’d stop and spend the night in a hotel before meeting up with whoever was going to help them get across the border.
But instead, Pablo kept driving. He wanted to ask where they were going and how they were going to get home to Colombia, but he kept his mouth shut.
Eventually, Pablo began to explain the plan.
How they couldn’t cross the border from New Mexico because of the wall that had been built there.
The area was too open, too risky, and monitored too heavily.
But the land in Texas, around the Big Bend National Park, wasn’t monitored at all.
They’d have to cross the Rio Grande, but after that, they were home free.
They’d be met by cartel members, mules who regularly ferried their people and drugs illegally across the border.
From there, they’d travel through Mexico to South America and back to Colombia.
“What about the girl?” Andres asked. He was the man who’d grabbed Reese and forced her into the backseat.
“She comes with us across the river. Once we’re in Mexico, we’ll stop and rest for the night…” Pablo grinned. “And we can all have some fun with her. We’ll leave her body for the desert to claim and head home.”
“I want first dibs,” Diego declared.
Angelo swallowed hard. He didn’t know the two men Pablo had brought with him, but they were big. And mean. And he’d seen the lust in their eyes. He supposed their heartless demeanor made them good enforcers, but he didn’t want to think about what they’d do to Reese.
“I think Angelo should get that privilege,” Pablo said with a smirk. “You’ve had pussy before, right, boy?”
He didn’t like being called a boy. And he definitely didn’t like Pablo insinuating he was a virgin. Yeah, he’d only been with one girl before, but he wasn’t an idiot.
“Yes,” he said simply.
“Right, then it’s decided. Angelo will have first go at the American pussy. Then me. Then you can go, Diego. And, Andres, you can finish her off.”
“Sounds good to me,” Andres said, pleasure in his voice.
“I want her ass then,” Diego demanded. “I don’t want sloppy seconds.”
“Whatever.”
Angelo swallowed hard. They were talking about raping Reese as if she wasn’t a living, breathing person.
As if she didn’t have a brother who loved her.
The thought of Isabella being in Reese’s position right now made him want to throw up.
He’d known getting involved with the cartel would change him, that he’d have to do things he might not like…
but not this. Not hurting a woman he knew.
“You have a problem with the plan?” Pablo asked sharply, any pretend friendliness gone from his tone.
“No.”
“Because I didn’t want to come pick up your stupid ass.
But there was no way we were sending you money, not after you fucked up.
The cartel owns you, and we’ll make an example of you.
” When Angelo glanced at him, Pablo smirked.
“Don’t worry, we aren’t going to kill you.
But we’ll make damn sure others know that when they’re given a task to perform, we expect them to do it. Understand?”
Angelo took a deep breath and nodded. He couldn’t protest. He had fucked up. If he’d delivered the drugs like he was supposed to, he wouldn’t be here right now.
Then again, Isabella wouldn’t be married and safe in the US either. Whatever he had to go through would be worth it if his sister was free and happy.
As they continued through the darkness toward the border, Angelo made a vow to do what he could to help Reese. She didn’t deserve to be here. It was his fault that she’d been kidnapped…and if the chance came for him to help her get away, he’d take it.