Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

February 6 th

3:22 P.M.

This was the craziest thing she’d ever done.

Hands down.

There wasn’t even a runner-up.

Ella had always been a good girl. She was the kind of kid who went with the flow and never made waves. She loved her music and worked hard at it because she wanted to be good like her parents, grandparents, and siblings. With schoolwork she had the same attitude, she liked to do well at everything she put her mind to. While she hadn't had a huge circle of friends, she’d had a couple of close ones in school, and they were all good girls too. It was rare for her to get into trouble about anything.

Until now anyway.

It was still surreal.

Just a month ago her life was perfect. Well close enough. There were still things she wanted and didn't have, mainly finding someone, falling in love, and having a family of her own. The desire for that had grown over the last few weeks as she saw each member of her team find their other half.

She wanted that.

Had always wanted that.

But now that dream had shimmered so far out of her reach that she knew it would never happen for her.

When she’d gotten on that plane, Ella knew there was a good chance that she would never leave Mexico alive. Not only did she not trust Raul Castillo as far as she could throw him, but she didn't trust the mole either. If her plan worked and she’d been able to alert Prey to Raul’s location, and he was arrested, she’d hoped that her Prey family would know that she would never have betrayed them and that life would just go back to the way it had been before, only without a threat hovering over the heads of Athena Team.

Now she realized how na?ve she’d been.

Of course, she couldn’t walk out of this unscathed.

Miguel had been there to take her into custody. Even though he’d been nice about it, it had been obvious that he believed she was a lowlife criminal who had betrayed her country and that she deserved to spend the rest of her life locked up.

When she told the truth, would people believe her?

Her Prey family had to. Didn't they?

They knew her better than her own family since she spent more time with them, they had to know she would never do anything to betray them.

That was what she was clinging to at least.

But it did little to ease her anxiety as she sat in a nice, open, airy lounge room, waiting for Raul Castillo to make an appearance.

After the second group of men had found her and she’d been walked another quarter mile or so through the jungle to a mansion hidden deep amongst the trees, she’d been offered a quick visit to the bathroom before being brought to this room and left here. Not alone. There were guards at both doors, and one at the doors that led outside to a pretty little patio.

There was no way she was getting out of this room.

Not that she would even if she could.

Her family’s lives were worth more to her than anything else.

Because of that, she would see this through. Sit there and wait for a man who terrified her to show up. Pretend that she had the vial of the drug Raul so desperately wanted. Get the threat against her family eliminated.

Pray it all worked.

Pray she hadn't made a mistake in not going to Prey.

Ella had wanted to. She had a much better chance of making this ploy work with them looped in on her plans, but how could she risk it when it was the mole who had set the bomb under her parents’ house and the mole worked at Prey? If she tried to alert someone, there was a chance she would have tipped off the mole who she knew wouldn't have hesitated to set off the bomb.

No.

This was the only way.

And it was too late to second-guess herself now anyway. She was in Mexico sitting there in Raul’s house waiting for him. Already she was too far down the path she had chosen to turn back.

Regardless of how this ended up, she had to play it out.

Still, that was easier said than done when the sound of approaching footsteps told her she was about to meet the man who had caused her friends so much pain and suffering.

When Raul stepped into the room, looking all cool and crisp in his white shirt and black suit pants, a surge of anger wiped away some of her fear. Just because she wasn’t cut out for this kind of high adrenalin, life-threatening stuff didn't mean she wasn’t protective of the people she cared about. Scarlett, Lucy, and Cassie were like sisters to her, she loved them, and this man had hurt them.

How could that not make her angry?

“Ms. Whitlock, would you like something to drink?” Raul asked like she was a willing guest in his home instead of being there only because she was being blackmailed and threatened.

“I don’t want anything to drink. I'm not here for fun, Mr. Castillo,” she returned, pleased with herself when her voice came out frosty, the thread of anger she felt evident.

Apparently, that amused Raul because he was grinning as he took a seat on the white leather couch opposite the one she was sitting on. His gaze was greedy, though, when it landed on the bag she held clutched on her lap.

As anxious as she was to get this wrapped up and get the threat to her family eliminated, it looked like the weapons trafficker was every bit as anxious.

“Is it in there?” Raul asked, obviously happy to drop the caring host act and get down to business.

Tightening her hold on the bag, Ella nodded. “I have it in here. But once I give it to you, you have to tell your partner to remove that bomb. I won't give you the formula until I know that my family isn't going to get hurt.” This was a gamble, but it was the only leverage she had, and she had no choice but to play it.

Of course, Raul had his own scientists, the ones who he had intended would follow the formula and make him the drug. Given a bit of time, they would realize that this drug was nothing more than a random combination of whatever she could put together at short notice so she had something to bring with her.

All she needed was a short window, though.

As soon as Raul got the mole to disarm and remove the bomb from underneath the house, she could alert Prey to her location and this would all be over.

There was the chance that Raul would refuse until she wrote down the formula, but she had to play this confidently if she wanted any chance at getting what she wanted.

Clearly he was amused again because laughter danced in his dark eyes as he reclined back on the couch, crossing an ankle over his knee and watching her. She couldn’t figure out what he was thinking or if he was going to go along with her demands. He had her trapped out there, he could torture the information out of her if he wanted to. She already knew he was impatient to get the intel he’d bought from the mole, so the chances of torture in her near future were high.

“I’ll make the call,” he finally announced.

“You will?” she asked, totally surprised. She’d expected a little more resistance.

“The bomb will be gone by tonight. You will start writing out the formula for my scientists after dinner. Dinner is, of course, my treat. I will have my chef prepare us a feast and you will dine with me. After that, you will get to work.”

Better than she had been hoping for.

The thought of sharing a meal with this man made her feel nauseous, but at least as soon as he showed her proof that the bomb was gone, she could call in Prey. While she waited for them, she could start writing up something that would pass for the formula while she waited. It would take the scientists too long to figure out she was playing them. By the time they did, Prey would be there, and everyone would be taken into custody.

Possibly herself included.

But at least her family would be safe, and she would make Prey see she never intended to betray them.

“I’ll need proof your little mole removed the bomb,” she warned.

Raul chuckled like he thought she was the funniest thing he’d ever met, but he nodded. “I’ll pass along your instructions.” Then he pushed to his feet and stalked toward her, all traces of amusement gone, his gaze now dark, betraying the evil inside him. “But you even think about trying anything, and I can guarantee you won't like the consequences. I've had it with you and your team. I will get that formula, nothing is going to stand in my way. And my men have been waiting a long time to enjoy some fun.”

With that warning resting heavily against her, Ella watched Raul walk away and wondered if she’d gotten so deep in this mess that there was no way out.

February 6 th

6:05 P.M.

He’d been biding his time.

Waiting for the perfect opportunity to make contact with Ella, and this was it.

If Miguel had accosted her while she was sitting in the lounge room waiting for Raul to show up, he would have tipped his hand. It was pure luck that he hadn't been discovered yet.

After changing into the clothes of the guard whose neck he’d snapped, he’d joined the back of the line of guards escorting Ella to the house. No one had given him a second glance, and the fact that he could converse in Spanish made things much easier. When they’d all arrived at the hidden jungle retreat, he’d merely accepted the orders tossed his way and kept his head down so nobody noticed that he wasn’t the dead guard.

From a distance, he’d watched as Ella wasn’t taken down to a cell or holding room of some sort, but instead was afforded the luxury of being treated as a guest.

As much as Miguel hated to admit it, it seemed only further evidence that she was there of her own free will. If she was a prisoner like the other members of her team had been, she would be tortured for information, not invited to share a meal with the notorious weapons trafficker.

Torn between anger that the woman would turn on her friends, and a niggling in his gut that he didn't know the whole story, Miguel knew he needed to get some time alone with her where they wouldn't be interrupted so they could talk.

That option had been handed to him practically gift-wrapped when he’d been ordered to take a dress to Ella’s room that Raul wanted her to wear when they had dinner. As he headed up the stairs to the room he’d been directed to, he wondered if Ella had done this because she was somehow romantically involved with the weapons dealer. If she wasn’t willing to betray her friends for money maybe she was for love.

Or at least what she thought was love, because there was no way that a man like Raul Castillo was capable of an emotion such as love. The man was a psychopath, he just didn't have that in him. Maybe Ella didn't realize that yet, but sooner or later, she would. Whatever she thought was going to happen there, was going to develop between her and Raul, was never going to be a reality.

Things wouldn't go well for her when Raul grew tired of her.

When he reached the third floor and turned down the hall to the right, he was a little surprised to find a guard standing outside Ella’s room. When she’d been escorted up there it had looked from where he was that she was just being shown to a room where she could freshen up and get a little rest before dinner. Was the guard there now to keep her safe from any of Raul’s men who might try to assault her? Or was the guard there to stop her from getting out?

Miguel wished he knew because it would clue him in as to what side Ella was currently on.

“Bringing her the dress the boss wants her to wear to dinner,” he told the guard in Spanish as he approached, holding up the slinky white silk dress.

“Can you watch her room for a while?” the guard asked, pressing a hand to his stomach, and he didn't need to say what he wanted to step away from his post to do.

Fate was practically handing him this opportunity on a silver platter. Without the guard out there, he could take his time to interrogate his pretty little blonde prisoner.

“Sure thing,” he agreed, then waited until the guard handed him a key and hurried off down the hall.

So, at least he knew Ella was locked in, he just didn't know whose idea it was.

He was about to find out though.

Opening the door to find the room dark, he noticed the bulge in the middle of the bed and assumed that was Ella. If she was relaxed enough in this house to take a nap, then she couldn’t be all that concerned about Raul.

Too late he realized his mistake.

He had underestimated his opponent.

Allowed himself to write her off as not a risk.

A split second before something came swinging toward his head, he noticed the presence that had been behind the door and managed to dodge out of the way.

Apparently, she wasn’t going down without a fight.

Ella came at him, swinging what looked like the base of a lamp, aiming for his head. Miguel had to give it to her, she was giving this everything she had, and she was aiming to eliminate him from the equation, to seriously hurt him, not just give him a little bump.

Did she know it was him?

Would she have attacked any guard who had come in there or did she somehow know he’d followed her there?

No.

There was no way she could know that. She thought he’d fallen for her climbing the tree trick, she would have no reason to suspect that he’d met up with some of Raul’s soldiers and come to his house.

Dodging another hit aimed directly at his head, Miguel managed to snag a hold of her wrist and used it to spin her around. Dragging her up against his body, he used his superior size and strength to pin her in place. One arm wrapped across her chest, and his other kept its hold on her wrist so she couldn’t try to hit him again with the vase. He had to hand it to her, she’d picked a good weapon. If she’d managed to get in a hit, she could have incapacitated him with a well-placed strike to the head. If she had the stomach for it, she even could have killed him with it, it was a heavy wood, comparable to a baseball bat in weight.

“Stop fighting me, Ella,” he whispered in her ear, there was no need to shout it and alert everyone that something was going on.

He could tell the exact second his words penetrated because she stopped fighting.

Still, her breathing was heavy, and she didn't release her grip on her weapon until he exerted just enough pressure on her wrist to make her gasp in pain and drop the lamp.

“Miguel?”

“Thought you got rid of me, honey?” he drawled.

A shudder rippled through her slim body. “I'm so glad you're here.”

In his career as a SEAL, he’d rescued plenty of victims. Every single one of them had the same thread of relief and gratefulness, along with a little awe and disbelief in their tone that Ella just had in hers.

“Tell me the truth, Ella. All of it. Now,” he added as he pressed on a pressure point on her wrist that he knew would indicate he wasn’t messing around. The last thing he wanted was to hurt an innocent woman, but right now, he didn't know for sure that she was innocent.

She whimpered in his hold but didn't try to pull her arm away even though he knew he was causing her pain.

“I want to know everything, Ella. Why you stole the drug, why you're here in Raul’s house, and why I brought you a revealing dress he expects you to wear for dinner. I want to know how involved you are. Are you the mole? Did you sell the Reactivator? Were you the one responsible for what happened to Scarlett, Lucy, and Cassie?”

Just like he’d seen a lot of victims, he’d also seen a lot of evil men and women. He knew that they didn't always appear evil until you looked closer. Just because Ella looked all sweet and innocent with her long blonde locks, wide green eyes, and the kind of smile that made you feel like you were being bathed in warm sunlight, didn't mean that she was either sweet or innocent.

So far, her behavior said she was selfish and reckless, determined to get what she wanted without caring about who she hurt in the process. And since one of those people who had gotten hurt was the woman he was sure would one day soon become his sister-in-law, this was personal to him.

Spinning Ella around, he shoved her up against the wall. Using one hand, he pinned both her wrists above her head and caged her in with his body. Towering over her, he didn't try to look less menacing, allowing his height and size to further intimidate his captive little blonde, because he needed to know the truth once and for all.

Leaning in close, he let his lips hover millimeters above hers. Despite everything he knew and all the uncertainties between them, he’d love nothing more than to crush his mouth to hers and kiss her like he’d wanted to ever since he first laid eyes on her. Instead, he whispered a threat he wasn’t sure he’d be able to follow through on. “Don’t lie to me, Ella. Trust me, you won't like the consequences if you do.”