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“What I needed to.”
“Are you sure, Ivy?”
“Yes,” I stood straighter, “I can do this.”
“All right, but do you understand what this means?”
“I do.”
Within an hour, we stood in the elevator. We barely said two words as we crossed the busy street, then just as we stepped on the curb, a phone was thrust into my face for the second time that day.
“And here I am again with Dr. Ivy Knight,” Mrs. Oliver yelled above the sounds of the city. “Dr. Knight, why won’t you share what you know?” Her voice was full of anger. “I want justice, and I deserve it!” she screamed. “Justice, justice,” she shouted, and her followers closed in until Ty stuck a hand up and shielded me from her posse of people. “What if you were me? Hey!” Her cry had me stop mid-stride. “What if it was you who lost everything?”
“I did.” I whirled around and matched her glossy eyes. “My entire life has been uprooted because of your ex-husband.” I pressed my hand against her arm, and she lowered her phone, so it pointed down away from us.
“Then help me. Just show me where.” Tears leaked over her eyelids and streamed down her cheeks, and I felt my heart break for her. I knew I needed to break my silence to finish this for her. When I didn’t answer right away, she tried again. “I don’t care about Ben. I hope he’s in the ground or at the bottom of a well somewhere, but please,” she took my hand, “please show me where they are.”
“All right, all right.” I finally nodded and stepped closer. “Meet me at the mill off Connolly Road.”
Eric
I waited for her eyes to close then peeled myself off the floor and onto the comfort of the leather chair. I’d spent the last couple of nights downstairs with Lexi. I learned a lot about her and listened to her talk about what life was like above the border. Of course, it was all general, nothing too specific. She was very careful and didn’t give me anything I could pass on to Castillo. Nothing about the location of the safehouse, how the men operated, the other wives, nothing at all.
Years ago, I’d made the decision to stay here and work for the Cartel. It was easy money when you gave in and stopped caring. Plus, the way the Cartel ran their business wasn’t at all like the United States. It was more of an anything goes to get to the top kind of life. How ruthless could you be? I was still finding that one out.
Since Lexi’s arrival, I’d allowed myself to reflect a bit, and I wondered what I’d do with my life if I wasn’t here transporting women from point A to point B. When I arrived here, I was determined to do whatever it took to get myself into a position where I could make money and gain some power. I had the option to work with Talya’s father, but he had just begun a working relationship with Grim, and I didn’t trust Grim any more than I did Talya’s father. Grim was new to the game and was pushing hard to make his own connections via his father’s request. Now, years later, I knew my gut was right. The guy was a snake.
Though some might look down at what I do, I knew that when the women were with me, they were well looked after. Well, the best they could be while in a cage. I had a solid, reliable buyer in Chili. He lived by the same code of ethics I did, and I’d never heard a single complaint about how he treated the women.
I remembered when I first met Chili in the middle of the desert. It was nearly a hundred and ten degrees that day, and I had a load of girls who needed to be moved in a hurry. At the time, Castillo played the bigshot even more than he did now, and I wanted them moved before he decided to play with them. I was tipped off that an American was looking to buy from a solid source, and I made the call and set up the meet.
He told me he’d spent most of his childhood in TJ, Mexico, in spite of being born in the USA. His dark aviator glasses and Green Bay Packers ball hat hid his face, but I had a good feeling about the guy and trusted my instincts. He didn’t say much when I handed the girls over, and the payment was made with no fuss. We both just stood there while our guys moved the girls from my truck to his. I remembered how the sweat dripped down our faces as we made the exchange, each of us worried the other might make a wrong move, but since then our relationship had grown with each shipment through the tunnel. Over years, our trust in each other proved lucrative, and we’d become close almost to the point of friendship.
I shifted in the chair and glanced over at the dark shadow on the bed and hoped Lexi slept as more memories flooded in.
“Stop,” I whispered out loud to shut down my head. I needed a distraction to stop the pull of old memories. Those memories were way too dangerous for me to pick at, and I stood up.
“Will you stay?” Her soft voice found me, and the memories shot back behind closed doors. I could barely see her in the low light of the basement. “I don’t want to be down here alone.” Her words had me settling back down into the chair.
“I thought you were asleep.”
“I wish.” Her sigh was genuine and proof this place had taken its toll on her. “Every time I close my eyes, I see my kids’ faces the last time I saw them. Hurt and confused why their mother didn’t love them the way a mother should.”
“I’m sure they don’t think that.” I knew I wasn’t convincing because, truth be told, kids felt more than we gave them credit for.
“Trust me, they did.” She sniffed, and I brightened the room just a tiny bit so I could see her better. “Why can’t I feel the way my parents did? They loved me unconditionally. When they were murdered, something just snapped inside me. Like I’m—”
“Like what?” Even though she was careful not to give me anything I could really use, it gave me insight into who she was. I rather enjoyed talking to her. She was smart and tough and had been through a lot in her life.
“Like I’m scared to let myself feel that side of me.” I heard the bed squeak as she cried into her pillow for a moment. “Look at Keith,” she started up again. “I treated him like shit when all he ever did was love me, give me two kids, and a safe place to live.” She paused like she thought about what she just said, but I didn’t push. She’d already proved she wasn’t going to give up the location.
“Sounds like Keith is a good guy.” I leaned my chair back and crossed my ankles to get more relaxed.
“I was so in love with him when we were teenagers,” she let out a shaky breath, “but I made him work for it. God, I was hard to love.”
“If you could do it all over again, would you marry Keith?” I yawned.
“No.” She paused, and I leaned my head to study her. Her confession wasn’t what I expected. “He deserves so much better than me.” She went on, “I only hope he can see that and move on.” She lowered her head sadly. I found myself intrigued. I wanted to dig deeper into her head. She interested me. She was so raw, and I could almost feel her pain.
