Deceiving Lies

“Already have, and, no, I’m not okay. My future wife’s gone. And I just watched a video of her being tortured . . . a couple days ago, we received her hair covered in blood.” Bile rose in my throat, but I swallowed it back down. I was supposed to stay off the case, but her hair had been in a box made out to me. Mason and two other detectives had had to actually cuff me when I’d opened it in order to restrain me. “I’m not fucking okay. But I’m going to find her, and I’ll do whatever it takes. I think you understand how serious I am if I’m sitting here asking you for favors. I’m willing to do whatever.”

Su

“No, if I’ve lost her, I’ve already lost it all.”

He sucked in air between his teeth and shook his head hard once. “Okay, how far gone are you willing to go?”

“Back to how I was undercover.”

“All right, then tell me what you need help with.”

I explained the spray-painted message left in the bedroom, the phone calls made to the department, the torture they’d been putting her through, and what they’d sent us. I told him about the demands the kidnappers had been making, and how well they’d been covering their tracks.

“I’ve gone to visit the family of some of the guys, but most of them have no contact, they’re scared of them. I know most of the guys had some women, some had baby mommas, and some had regular whores, but I can’t find any of them. I was hoping you knew something we were missing, or you’d be able to help me find some people who could persuade some of the crew to talk.”

Su

“Yeah. I’d been afraid of that.”

“But I do know there’s a walker over on Seventh Street. RJ was hitting it for a while, and she was here getting her hits, they just called it even. What I’m getting at though, is she was a talker. So I know she was the main bitch of one of Juarez’s boys. She’d be buck-ass naked in my living room, just got done with RJ and getting ready to go walk. All the while she’d be talking about her man being in prison and how she was walking so she could support herself and their kids. Can’t remember the guy’s name though.”

“You know hers?”

“Yeah, um . . . damn it . . . uh, Serena?”

“Ah, Deon’s woman.”

Su

I should have known when Su

“No, but don’t forget she and Deon got three kids. Before RJ finally got tired of putting up with her, she made him take her to the prison every Sunday to go see Deon. I’d bet she still goes to see him, and RJ knows where she lives. I would say she’s worth a visit, if you understand what I mean. She’s not someone who can keep her mouth shut.”

“All right, I get it.”

He stood and leaned close to me. “I’m sorry about your girl, man. I really am. I’ll help you with what I can, I’ll make some calls and I’ll see what other people know about Juarez. But don’t show up at my house anymore like this, people are going to start thinking something’s up, understood?”

“Completely, I appreciate it.”

We exchanged numbers before he opened the door and yelled for RJ to join us. After finding out where Serena lived, and a few more displays of authority for his territory by Su

10

Rachel

MY EYES FLEW OPEN and I heard the sound of heavy breathing fill the small room. Trying to keep my breathing even so I wouldn’t give myself away, I barely turned my head from where it had been smashed in my arms to look over toward the door. Terrified of what I might see, and who might be there, I almost cried out in relief when I could make out Taylor’s form doing push-ups.

I stayed quiet as I watched him silently work out and wondered if he did this every night while I was sleeping. He had to be doing something, because his massive frame never seemed to change over the course of my time here in this room, and a part of me felt bad that he was resorting to this rather than using the equipment in his room.

“Go back to sleep,” he said roughly, never once stopping from the crunches he was now doing.

Instead of following his command, I let my earlier curiosity bubble out. “Do you do this every night?”

“Yep.”

“Why don’t you use the equipment in your room?” I bit my lip as I waited for his response, remembering how this conversation had gone over last time.

“I already told you.”

“But I could stay in there with you, and then when you’re done, we could come back here.” Did I sound as desperate as I felt to sleep on that bed?

He stopped suddenly and turned to look at me in the dark. “Are you trying to make something happen? Do you want to put yourself in more danger than you are already in? Unless we have to, we aren’t leaving this room,” he snapped, and I flinched.

“No,” I whispered and felt my cheeks burn at the tone in his voice.

“Shit”—he sighed and crawled toward the mattress—“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have talked to you like that, but I don’t understand why you keep pushing the issue. I know you know the danger is real. I can see the fear in your eyes every damn day, so I don’t get why you keep bringing it up.”

“I feel bad that you’re making yourself so uncomfortable to make sure I’m safe. And I know that’s stupid, I shouldn’t feel bad because of what you did. But then when I think that, I can’t figure out for the life of me why, if you would steal me from my home and my life, would you suffer so much to make sure I’m safe?”

Taylor just stared at me, and when I thought he wouldn’t answer, I turned my head back into my crossed arms and shut my eyes.

“Because you didn’t do anything to warrant this, and you deserve to have someone protecting you in this fucked-up situation.”

My head snapped back up and I turned to look at him, my mouth open to ask him—again—what I was doing here, and why I was here; but I knew those were questions he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, answer.

“Just go back to sleep,” he pleaded, cutting me off and crawling back to his spot on the floor before starting up his crunches again.

What kidnapper says something like that? What kidnapper protects his captive for that matter? Everything that had happened so far was flashing through my mind, and none of it made sense. His presence alone was terrifying, but I wasn’t sure if that made me feel safer from the others, or if I still feared him. The way he’d been so quick to apologize when he’d yelled at me just added to the confusion and mystery that was Taylor.

I didn’t understand him, and at the time, I didn’t know if I ever would. But as I had been so many times in the week since he’d shown up with new clothes and other things for me, I was thankful for him.

PAIN THREATENED TO CRIPPLE ME as I impulsively struggled against the handcuffs. I screamed against the gag when Blake moved the blade from my left arm, and slowly ran the scalpel down the inside of my right. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I watched him begin to methodically move the blade over my stomach, a smile on his deceptively handsome face the entire time.

“Not my Rachel,” he whispered. “You don’t deserve her beauty.”