Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“Give him a second chance. We all deserve one.”
“I’m trying.”
Camila pulled away from Van and returned to Lucia, encircling possessive arms around Lucia’s waist.
“Let’s go home,” she said to Matias.
He stared at her for a suspended moment, sharing a private smile that lit up his face.
He was even more handsome than Lucia remembered, with his thick black hair, powerful frame, and hazel eyes glinting in the sunlight from the windows. Thank God, he and Camila had found each other again.
“The helicopter’s ready.” He gestured at the ceiling. “Head up to the roof. I need to talk to Cole for a—”
“I’m not going.” Lucia stood taller, bracing for an argument.
“Oh.” Camila stepped back, her expression etched with hurt and disappointment. “Okay… I… Well, we can get you back to Texas. I just thought—”
“I’m not leaving Venezuela without Tate.” She wouldn’t apologize for her feelings. They were real and honest, and Camila of all people would understand. “I love him.”
A smile wobbled across Camila’s lips. “I bet on my life he loves you, too.” She gripped Lucia’s hands. “But you need to see a doctor. You’ve been so sick.”
Tate must’ve told Matias about her illness, but that would’ve been a week ago.
“I’m doing okay now.” She rested a hand over her stomach. “I don’t know why, but I haven’t felt any of the symptoms.”
Camila and Matias turned toward Cole Hartman, who leaned against the wall on the far side of the room. He straightened, shoved a hand through his hair, and approached.
“I intercepted the blood results Tate was waiting on,” he said. “I had them reviewed by a doctor I trust.”
She stopped breathing, and everything inside her went still. “What is it?”
Camila clutched her hand and squeezed. Clearly, everyone knew but her.
“There were traces of something like hemlock in your system.” He held a fist against his brow, as if trying to think. “I don’t have the report in front of me, but it was a poison that behaved like hemlock, derived from a plant the doctor couldn’t identify. He found compounds or alkaloids or whatever that causes ascending muscular paralysis. I guess it starts at the legs and works its way to the respiratory muscles. Did you experience that?”
“Yes. Exactly that.” A sudden coldness hit her core. “What are you saying?”
“Tiago Badell was poisoning you with an unknown venomous plant. You had dinner with him every night, so I assume he put it in your food. Every morning, he injected you with an antivenom.”
She swayed as the past few years came crashing down upon her. The mandatory dinners, the nighttime cramps and nausea, the instant relief after the medicine—it all fit. And she hadn’t been sick since the last time she ate at his table.
“I don’t have a terminal disease.” She clutched her throat as she tried to absorb the impact. “I’m not going to die.”
“Not today.” Cole smiled. “As far as the doctor can tell, repeat exposure to the poison didn’t cause lasting damage. Your overall blood work is healthy. But you need to have tests ran, a full examination. Not to mention your injury in Peru…”
His voice faded beneath the heavy thud of her heart. Tiago poisoned her. For years. That sick, disgusting, depraved son of a bitch. How could he do that? And now…
“He has Tate.” Her pulse raced, and pain stabbed through her chest as she turned to Camila. “I need a loan. I’m sorry to ask this, but I just need some money for…” Lodging, transportation, food, clothes, weapons—the list is endless. “I have to find him, and I promise to pay you back.”
“Lucia, calm down.” Matias slid into her line of sight. “Cole will find him. He knows what he’s doing and—”
“What would you do?” She moved around Matias and confronted her sister. “If Matias was taken by a man like Tiago, what would you do?”
“I’d put everything I had and everything I was into finding him.” Camila’s eyes dampened, and her voice broke. “I’ll give you whatever you need.”
“Stop.” Cole pinched the bridge of his nose and cursed under his breath. “Here’s the deal. I’m not babysitting you, and I’m not fucking kidnapping anyone.”
“Okay.” Lucia held her breath.
“Say your goodbyes.” He rubbed the back of his neck and lowered his hand. “We leave in ten minutes.”
CHAPTER 31
Standing on sturdy legs, Tate lifted a soaked sponge over his head and squeezed. Cool water sluiced down his nude body. It was neither refreshing nor painful. It was just…water. He plunged the sponge into the bucket and repeated the task with robotic movements.
Lift. Squeeze. Plunge. And don’t forget to scrub beneath the ankle cuff.
They’d taken his clothes away when the doctor had stopped bathing him. It must’ve been weeks ago.
Was it weeks? Or months?
Time didn’t exist within these walls. It didn’t speed up or slow down. It didn’t move at all. Because it was dead.