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One thing we knew for sure was that his former comrades were unlikely to help him stay hidden. The FBI had arrested most of them in a wide-ranging sweep.
Carlos had been dumb enough to retain all kinds of useful and interesting information on an encrypted server, which Tanner took no time at all to hack into.
With so much evidence against Carlos and his criminally inclined buddies, once he reappeared, he was going down for a long time.
It was only a matter of when.
Every shifter in the area was on the lookout for him. And if one of them caught him before the FBI, he wouldn’t last long.
Not that I cared.
He’d been partly responsible for all my trauma. If it wasn’t for his help, Brent would have had fewer resources at his disposal. With Carlos’s help, he had connected with a buyer looking for a girl like me, a girl so damaged she wouldn’t fight back.
Brent’s plan had been to sell me all along. He would have made a fortune from selling my virginity, only I’d escaped before he could hand me over to the buyer. The only reason he waited until I turned 18 was because a minor disappearing would have attracted more attention.
Brent and his corrupt cop friends had been working for Carlos for years. They turned a blind eye to Carlos’s unsavory activities, and in return, they enjoyed cash rewards, access to girls, drugs, and more.
I still didn’t know why Brent targeted me in the first place, but it was most likely because I had nobody. Not that I thought about Brent much now. I was determined to forget about him. He’d stolen too many years from me already. It was time to move on and enjoy my new life.
A life where I was loved and cherished, treated like a queen.
A life I chose.
I added the vegetables to the enormous pan containing the pan-fried meat, added stock and herbs, and then put the lid back on. After simmering for a few hours, the meat would be tender enough to fall apart.
All I needed to do now was peel some potatoes and then I could relax for a bit. Cole had promised to make a dessert when he got back from his run.
He was much better at cooking than me, so I always left the more complicated stuff to him. Chopping veggies I could do, but baking anything other than cookies was not in my skill-set.
I washed my hands at the sink and folded the apron I’d been wearing, placing it on the stool by the counter. Silas had disappeared to fix something in the barn and Tanner had gone to see Rufus, so that meant I had a bit of time to myself.
There was a book I wanted to read, so I planned to make a drink and then sit by the fire for a bit. It felt kind of lazy to do nothing productive, but the guys kept reminding me I still needed extra rest after my ordeal.
They weren’t wrong. While I was feeling OK physically, nightmares woke me up most nights, which affected my sleep. An hour on the sofa, reading a swoony romance, wouldn’t hurt.
With a milky coffee in hand, I wandered through into the living room to grab my book. The sound of the back door opening made me look up. Surely Cole wasn’t back yet? He’d only left 30 minutes ago, and he was usually gone for an hour or more.
“Cole?” I called. No reply. Cole? Still no reply.
A spike of anxiety flared in my chest.
Silas? Again, no response. Since I knew Silas was only in the barn, something must have happened.
Anxiety exploded into full-blown terror when a man stalked into the kitchen, a demented look on his face.
A face I’d seen many times over the years because he’d been a frequent visitor at Brent’s house since I turned 16. I just hadn’t known who he was until Tanner showed me a photo from a file the FBI had compiled.
Carlos Carelli.
The mug of coffee in my hand slipped through my fingers, crashing to the floor. Hot liquid splashed my bare legs, burning my skin. I wanted to scream, but nothing came out.
“Hello Eva, you look well, my dear.”
Eva
Carlos didn’t look so polished. His shirt was filthy, and he stank of sweat. I wasn’t a wolf, but even I struggled not to vomit at the smell. Judging by the state of him, he’d been sleeping rough. Not that it mattered. Right now, he was the one with the gun trained on me, and unless someone came to rescue me again, I was dead.
“Silas will be here any minute now,” I told him. I sounded a lot calmer than I felt, which was surprising. Clearly, being kidnapped once already had done wonders for my nerves.
