Page 81 of Frost and Venom

Harlow had seen many types of trap and funnel-web spiderwebs. This looked a little different from what she remembered. She wasn’t certain exactly why. The funnel-web spiders she had encountered in her travels across California had different webs according to the type of spider it was. Some appeared to look like orbs. Others gave the appearance of cotton candy.

The spiders themselves often took on different looks. She’d seen one that looked like a bug to entice its prey. Another actually appeared to look like a tree. She had taken several pictures of that one. She had photos of various spiders taking on the appearance of a snake, a bird, a wasp, even a butterfly. They had always fascinated her.

She went back to study the spider she had inadvertently captured in a photograph of the rocks near the barn. It didn’t look like any of the funnel-web spiders she was familiar with. It was shiny and black, much larger than the ones she had run across in her adventures. She bent closer to the magnifying glass, once more turning up the power in order to better see the spider. It was definitely larger and shinier, more like a widow than the funnel-web spiders she had come across.

She straightened and paced away to walk the length of the room to help herself think. She had always had a fascination with spiders and their webs. Somewhere, in the past, she had seen that particular spider before. She had definitely read about the various types of webs the funnel-web spiders across the United States made. She’d photographed many in her travels. She’d seen that spider and possibly the web in the rocks. That was unusual. The same web was attached to the small tree limbs, the silk leading down to a burrow where the spider waited for its prey. She just had to recall the exact spider.

Many funnel-web spiders were venomous, but few killed in the United States. It was different in Australia. The Sydney funnel-web spider was considered one of the deadliest spiders in the world, if not the deadliest, but it was found only in Australia.

Misha suddenly began barking, rushing toward the studio door. Someone knocked loudly on the door, and then the knob turned and the door began to swing inward.

She hadn’t locked it. She usually did, but she’d forgotten in her haste to give Misha her treat and get to the photographs. Then she’d become so immersed in her search that she didn’t think about safety again. Wilder was going to give her the lecture of all lectures.

She stepped back toward the drawer where she kept a gun. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a magazine in it. She kept them separate. It was in the drawer, but she didn’t have time to whip it out. To her absolute and utter relief, Guadalupe burst into the room.

“Harlow, I’m so sorry for the interruption, but I need to talk to you alone. Right now. It’s so important.”

She was visibly upset and very anxious, looking around the room. She turned back and locked the studio door. For some reason, that didn’t make Harlow feel safe.

“Sit down, Guadalupe. What’s wrong?”

“I’ve been doing some things I’ll regret for the rest of my life and I’ve put you in terrible danger. I’m the girl your father got pregnant. When I first met you, I realized who you were. I swear, I wanted to not blame you for what he did to me. I didn’t feel any animosity toward you because I believed you were most likely a victim, as I was. I never saw any evidence of you associating with your parents.”

She took a deep breath and once again looked around the room and then at the windows. “There are too many lights in here. Can you dim them? Or turn them off?”

“Slow down. Take a deep breath. Did someone follow you here?”

“He knows where you live. I did that. I told him about you. He despises the senator, your mother and you. He sent the death threats, and he’s coming here.” There were genuine tears in Guadalupe’s eyes.

“Who?” Harlow asked, reaching for her phone.

“My son. Your half brother. He’s coming, and he can be…” She hesitated as if searching for the right word. She finally settled. “Dangerous. He can be dangerous. Like Rainier or Wilder kind of dangerous.”

Harlow’s hand wrapped around her phone, and she brought it to her chest, right over her heart. Her brother. He was alive, and Guadalupe believed he was coming to harm her. After all the dreams and fantasies she’d built over her entire life, this was the final result.

If she texted the security detail Wilder set up for her, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if he made one wrong move. She wanted to at least have the opportunity to talk to him. Let him know she’d searched for him. That she had nothing to do with her parents.

“Tell me what happened to you, Guadalupe. And him. Tell me about him.” While she spoke, she wrote a text to Larado and Falcon but didn’t hit the send button. She knew she was stalling, but there was no evidence of her brother, the studio was locked, and the lights were dim. She leaned against the cabinet where her gun was kept. She intended, as casually as possible, to load it.

“They dumped me across the border right into the Delgotto Cartel territory. I was terrified they would kill my baby or sell him and I’d never see him again. I wanted him the moment I knew I was pregnant. I happened to be distantly related to the Delgottos. I came up with a plan to save my son. Unfortunately, it sold us both into servitude. Once you’re in with the cartel, the only way out is death.”

“Having the senator as your son’s father had to be a huge bargaining chip. They could blackmail him.”

“I wanted to save that particular asset for my son. I was certain he would need it someday, particularly if I didn’t survive. The only way for me to serve the cartel was to be trafficked. That isn’t a life one can live for too many years. I planned everything out very carefully, and then I went to the head of the cartel, Enrique Delgotto, and offered to swear allegiance and the future allegiance of my son. I convinced him that my son would be a tremendous asset, as would I.”

Harlow’s heart ached for her. That must have been so terrifying for a sixteen-year-old girl to do. She realized that not only was Guadalupe resilient, incredibly strong, but she was also extremely intelligent to plan out years ahead and make the commitment, knowing exactly what would happen to her.

“Guadalupe,” she murmured, wishing she could somehow take all the years of pain away.

“They allowed me to carry my baby and take care of him for the first few months. I worked out and made certain I looked good. They had a school where we supposedly taught Spanish to the local ranchers. Of course, it was all about serving their needs. I met Benedict Brown there. He was much older and almost immediately became enamored with me. I will admit I encouraged it. My goal was to become a United States citizen. I needed a sponsor. Benedict was a very powerful man with a lot of influence. He was thoroughly entrenched with law enforcement and politicians in that region. Again, I convinced the cartel that the match would be a good thing, and in the end, they allowed the marriage.”

“This was the man who abused you so severely.”

Guadalupe nodded slowly. “He used me to blackmail businessmen and politicians by having me seduce them, but then he would fly into a rage and beat me after I gave him the videos. That went on for some years. Through it all, my son was very aware, and as he grew it was under the influence of Enrique. Enrique treated him like a son. He had no heirs, and as Salvadore grew up, Enrique taught him more and more of the business. Naturally, Salvadore wanted me away from Benedict and out of the trafficking business.”

“I can’t imagine how painful that must have been for a young boy, or growing teen, to see the way his mother was treated.”

“It has scarred him,” Guadalupe admitted. “I didn’t know how else to save him. We’re very close. Enrique discouraged our relationship at first, but Salvadore refused to allow him to drive a wedge between us.”