by Apryl Baker
“I believe you would try.” Tomás nodded and looked at Mateo. “You see? Your mama loves you. She will protect you with a fierceness unlike any you will ever know. No one will love you like your mother.”
Angel glanced down at the little boy who was staring at her with something akin to wonder and awe. It broke her heart that no one had shown him this kind of love. He might love Tomás, but it was a guarded love that came with conditions.
“No one will ever hurt you again. I promise.”
The little boy nodded and gave her a small smile, his eyes still wary.
“Now, my beauty. You will need to rest after such a long journey and prepare for tonight. I have had a costume taken to your room. Lie down and rest for bit. The alarm is set to go off with enough time to allow you a bath before tonight’s festivities. Mateo will be waiting for you in the morning. Now, Mateo, I want you to go to your room and stay there the rest of the night. You and your mother can get acquainted in the morning.”
“Sí, Tío.”
“Give your mother a hug and kiss, and then go on.”
The child did as he was bid and wrapped his little arms around Angel. She choked back a sob and dropped to her knees to hold him close. Her baby boy. Her tears wouldn’t stop when his wet, sloppy kiss hit her cheek.
“No llores, Mama.” His eyes were so sad, like he knew something bad was going to happen to her.
Don’t cry, Mama. That was what he’d said to her, and she made up her mind to show no weakness in front of him. He needed her to be strong and withstand what was coming. He needed his mother.
“They’re happy tears.” She hugged him to her. “I’m just so happy to have found you, baby boy. I love you so much.”
He gave her a small smile then disentangled himself from her and collected his lemon cakes before doing as he was told.
“You see? He is perfectly safe. And he will remain that way as long as you don’t fight us tonight. Agreed?”
“Agreed.” She hated him more than she’d ever hated anyone in her life. Not for what he was going to make her do tonight, but for what he’d done to her son. He’d made that child love him, but Matthew understood and accepted that Tomás could and would hurt him. A child should never think being harmed by the person they loved most was okay.
“Here is Maria. She will show you to your room, my beauty. Get some rest. You will need it.”
Angel stood and followed the housekeeper out of the office and upstairs to her room to await the night’s festivities.
All she could do was pray for the strength to get through it and hope it caused no harm to the baby.
She’d do whatever it took to keep Matthew safe.
No matter the cost.
Chapter Eighteen
Kade waited patiently while final plans were put into place. He was alert and calm. Conner had already disappeared with his bag of weapons. His job was to get in and get Matthew. It was a one-man job. Police breaking down the doors and storming the complex wouldn’t help his son. They might kill him just to spite Kade.
Dusk had fallen across the Keys, the sound of the ocean a distant echo. The salt from the air coated his tongue as he waited. He was still in his cold place, the place that would let him do horrible things with no regrets. It was the best place to be. Or he’d be losing his mind.
“Warrants have been signed.” Jeremy rolled to a stop beside him. “We are clear to go.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
“SWAT.” Jeremy kicked at the dirt road. “The walls are concrete, and the gate is reinforced steel. We have to get up and over the wall to open the gate for everyone else. SWAT will do that.”
“I’ll do that.” Kade pulled on his Kevlar vest. “We are not waiting. SWAT is a good hour out. You and I both know it.”
“Where’s your crazy-ass brother?” Jeremy looked over the waiting crowd.
“Already inside. His only job is to get Matthew out.”
Jeremy sighed. “Your idea or his?”
“His.”
“Of course, it would be. Crazy-ass Marine.” Jeremy shook his head.
“It’s what he’s trained to do.” Kade checked his gun and made sure he had several extra clips.
“This feels like déjà vu.” Jeremy started checking his own weapons. “It was just a few months ago we were getting ready to storm the castle and save the girl.”
“And we’ll save the girl again today.” Kade holstered his gun. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Instead of waiting for agreement, he started walking. They’d planned on sending the main force to the gate to serve the warrant, while a second, smaller group used ropes to scale the wall on the east side. It was just barely dark, so they could still see without flashlights to alert the occupants of the small army getting ready to scale the walls.
Dylan and Cole fell into step beside him. The happy-go-lucky demeanor had vanished in Cole. He was dressed in dark jeans and black long-sleeved t-shirt. He wore no Kevlar, but a vest with ammo strapped to it. He came prepared for war. He also came with the gang unit of MPD. They were used to raids. None of them had raided this property before, but they were better equipped than the state police force.
Max was nowhere to be seen. Kade didn’t waste another thought on him. He kept his focus on the task in front of him. They quickly arrived at the north wall, and the metal hooks made loud clanging sounds as they gripped the top of the concrete wall. He didn’t wait to see if anyone came to check. He pulled his gun and started climbing.
His family needed him.
***
Angel stood looking at herself in the mirror. She wore the outfit that had been left for her. It wasn’t something she’d ever have chosen for herself. There was a difference between classy sexy and whorish. This outfit was whorish. Red leather and sheer red lace barely covered her. There was nowhere to hide her gun in this outfit, but then again, why would she take it? She’d promised to not fight them to keep Matthew from being butchered.
She’d honor her vow, no matter what it cost her.
Instead of focusing on what was coming, she pulled her hair up and did it in a French braid. She had no desire to have her hair pulled out when the men got overzealous. Angel held no misconceptions about the gang rape that would ensue. She was mentally preparing for it. But could anyone ever really prepare for that?
The knock at her door jerked a small, soundless scream from her. It was time to dance and then get fucked.
It was for Matthew, she reminded herself. She was doing this for him.
Closing her eyes, she went and opened the door. Maria, the housekeeper stood there, her eyes averted. The household staff knew what was going to happen and no one tried to help her. She didn’t blame them. Tomás would only punish them in ways she couldn’t even begin to imagine.
“Come, señora. They are waiting.” The older woman led her down the stairs to a large room at the back of the house. The room had been cleared of furniture, save one lone couch shoved against the wall. A stripper’s pole had been installed in the middle of the floor. Angel had no way of knowing if it had been there previously or if it had been installed for her benefit. This could have been Tomás’s plan all along. Emilio had tried to get her to go with him last night, after all.
It was the cameras that bothered her. They were set up on tripods in all four corners. Several smaller ones sat alongside the tripod closest to the door. The thought of Kade having to watch this nearly made her run from the room. She never wanted that in his head.
Matthew’s face was the only thing that stopped her. His safety rested on her shoulders tonight. She could do this.
Men started to file in, at least a dozen or more. They laughed, several slapping her ass as they passed by. One reached out and fondled her breast, the nipple bare through the small hole in the fabric. He twisted it until she winced.
“Puta.” He grinned and pinched harder. “We are going to have so much fun tonight.”
She resisted the
urge to spit in his face. That would get a finger detached from her son’s hand.
Tomás came in last. She should have known he would want to join in on her humiliation so Kade would always know he’d been inside her. Hate grew into rage, and she knew if she got the chance, she’d kill him.
He walked over to the stereo she hadn’t seen behind the cameras and turned on some song in Spanish she didn’t know. The beat was low and sultry. She could dance to it.
Angel walked over to the pole and relaxed her mind, imagining the room empty save for Kade. She would dance for her husband. It was something she hadn’t done since they’d gotten back together. She would dance tonight for him and not the men who were throwing rude, dirty comments at her.
She picked up the beat of the music and began to move, her body fitting itself to the pole like a long-lost lover. It was a lover she knew intimately. The pole guided her, helped her work her curves, and the jeering fell away, replaced by a pair of burning onyx eyes flooded with desire.
The pole became an extension of her as she moved her hips up and down, swirled her ass around to show it off, and then twirled around the pole, inciting those gorgeous eyes to want to rip her from her lover.
It wasn’t Kade whose hands pulled her from the pole, but Tomás. His dark brown eyes were on fire, and the open lust on his face made her want to vomit. It killed every bit of the fantasy she’d built about her husband watching her dance for him.
Tomás’s fingers bit into her skin where he held her. “No fighting, my beauty.” He leaned in and kissed her. She kept herself still as his lips moved over hers. His tongue darted into her mouth, the sour taste of old tobacco invading along with it.
He pulled her close, his hands sliding down to grip her ass. She felt his erection pressing into her. Please God, she prayed, please keep my little nugget safe. Don’t let this harm him.
Tomás guided her over to the couch. “Strip, my beauty. Show us all those beautiful curves of yours.”
Angel swallowed down the bile and started to unlace the ties that held the outfit together. This is for Matthew. She repeated that over and over as she slowly removed the first layer of the outfit, leaving only the lace behind. The lace wrapped around her like a glove, leaving all the pertinent areas free for hands to grope or their cocks to penetrate.
“Beautiful.” Tomás reached for her from where he sat on the couch, pulling her between his legs. His fingers found her folds, stroking gently before sliding two fingers into her inner walls. “So tight. I may hurt you when I take you, my beauty, but you will take all of me, no matter the pain.”
Angel quivered, not from desire, but from rage. She wanted to gouge out his eyes, but she stayed still, letting his hands stroke her.
Someone came up behind her, his very naked chest pressing into her. Hands came up and cupped her breasts, plumping them and offering them up to Tomás, who wasted no time in tasting her cinnamon colored nipples. He didn’t suckle. He bit down hard, and it made her whimper. She barely stopped herself from screaming when he bit down even harder around the soft skin surrounding the nipple. There would be bite marks there for days.
“Pain, my beauty, is something you are going to be well acquainted with tonight.” Tomás rubbed his nose along the inside of the swell of her right breast the same moment his fingers pinched her clit so hard she couldn’t stop the scream that bled from her.
A guard interrupted Tomás’s exploration of her. His face contorted into rage. “Take her to her room, and no one is to touch her before I do. Is that clear?”
A quick nod, and Angel was thrust out of the room and pushed back up the stairs by the same burly guard who had collected her at the hotel. His eyes roamed over her naked flesh, but he didn’t so much as touch her. The lock on the door clicked seconds after she was shoved into her room.
Angel barely made it to the bathroom before she threw up. The feel of Tomás’s hands on her brought back memories of nearly being raped in Boston. The panic rose, and she fought to breathe through it. The therapist said she still suffered PTSD to a degree from her ordeal, even now, months later. She believed it in this moment. Fear kept her glued in a huddle on the bathroom floor, reeking of vomit.
She wasn’t sure how long she lay there before her mind reconciled the fact that she had not been raped, and that it could finally function. She sat up, gagging, and emptied her stomach into the toilet. She stayed there a moment to make sure her stomach didn’t have any more surprises for her.
Getting up, she rinsed out her mouth and ripped the hooker attire from her body. She was not going to be a victim. She was going to go down fighting. Kade would be here. He’d find their son and raise him to be a good man. Her son would know she went out fighting for him. She would never let Tomás touch her again. The word “victim” would never be a part of her vocabulary.
Never again.
She changed back into the clothes she’d been wearing and picked up the small pistol. There would be no hiding it. The first person who came through the door was going down.
The minutes ticked by. She heard people running outside her door, shouting. She went to the window and looked out. Small groups of men armed to the teeth were gathered in the yard below. Something was going on. She opened the window and listened, trying to figure out what was happening.
Her Spanish wasn’t that great, but she did pick up a few words, including policia. The police were here and demanding entry. That much she guessed. They had to have a warrant, or they wouldn’t be here now. Was it Kade? Had he found her already? No, he couldn’t have. It could have been minutes or hours before he discovered she was missing. Even so, there was no way to track her. They’d stayed off the main highways that had traffic cams. He couldn’t know where she was.
No, this was a run of the mill raid. She’d guarantee it. Which meant they would come in, guns blazing, and that could potentially put Matthew in danger. They’d have no idea a child was on the premises. She had to get to her son.
Shoving the gun in the waistband of her pants, now hidden thanks to Kade’s old shirt, she pounded on the door, demanding someone open it. No one answered her. Dammit. She didn’t know how to pick a lock. Max offered to show her once, and she’d refused. Once she got out of this mess, he was going to be teaching her that particular skill and whatever illegal thing he wanted to teach her. Angel hated feeling helpless.
The click of the lock startled her so much she almost dropped the gun. Almost. She stepped to the side and got ready. When it swung inward, she pressed the gun against the man’s side, preparing to shoot. He caught her wrist and twisted until she dropped the gun. Anger fueled adrenaline, and she rushed him, pounding anywhere her fists could find purchase.
“Dammit, Angel, I don’t want to hurt you.” Conner’s irritation cut through her anger, and she paused, looking up into eyes so cold they chilled her more than anything Tomás could have done to her.
“How…” She took a deep breath. If Conner was here, so was Kade.
“We had people watching you and Matthew. We were never more than a minute or two away from you. It’s okay now, sestra. No one is going to hurt you.”
“They didn’t hurt me.” They didn’t have time to, but she didn’t say that out loud, though.
“They put their filthy hands on you.” Conner’s eyes burned with an unholy light. “If the police hadn’t arrived, I would have killed them all for touching you.”
“You…you saw that?”
“Yes, little sister. It will never happen again, not as long as I’m here. No one will touch you. I will kill anyone who does.”
She believed him. Kade would kill for her, she knew it, but the difference was Conner would enjoy the act while Kade wouldn’t. That made Conner the deadliest of all the brothers. “Insane” was the word that came to mind as she looked into the black abyss of his soul. God save anyone who got in his way.
“Matthew…have you found him?”
“Yes. That is why I wasn’t downstairs sooner. I had
to find the boy’s room. Once I located it, I was on my way to slaughter them all.”
Angel shook off the nausea Conner’s statement brought. Not that she’d mind seeing them all slaughtered, but at the same time, Conner disturbed her. Gone was the flirty, charming man of earlier, and here stood a serial killer in the making.
“We need to get to him before Tomás decides to use him as leverage against Kade.” She picked up her small gun. “Let’s go.”
Conner stepped out into the hallway, cautiously listening. Three men lay on the hallway floor, dead or dying. Angel didn’t let herself focus on them. She had to get to her son. Conner led her down the hall that turned the corner and continued. Matthew’s room was at the end, “Mateo” spelled out on the door in bright red letters.
The door wasn’t even locked. She found Mateo watching a cartoon, sitting quietly on his bed. He looked up when she came in, surprised.
“Shh.” She put a finger to her lips until Conner followed her in and closed the door. “This is your Uncle Conner, your father’s brother. He’s here to rescue us.”
The little boy cocked his head. “Rescue?”
“Rescate.” The word came after a long second of searching. She was going to have to brush up on her Spanish, not that she’d been very good at it in the first place, but it was her son’s first language.
Matthew’s confusion grew. “No, Mama. No rescate. Estamos en casa.”
“No, Matthew, no estás en casa.” Conner’s brusque manner softened. He clearly understood Spanish. “Esto no está en casa. Nos lo robaron y estamos aquí para llevarlo a su verdadero hogar.”
“Matthew?” The little boy grew upset, clearly not understanding what was happening. “Mi nombre es Mateo.”
Even Angel understood that. She sat on the bed beside her son. “Of course your name is Mateo. We named you Matthew before you were born. It is your name, but if you want us to call you Mateo, we will.”
“Mateo.” His little shoulders puffed up, angry. She’d worried he wouldn’t want to be called Matthew, not after being Mateo since he was born.
