Page 47 of The Quiet Witness

Lucien’s lips moved and she dropped her hands in her lap to listen. “—hear about it you know. Women going missing. You wouldn’t happen to be tied to those things hmm?” He grasped onto the man’s other arm. “What were you going to do with her?” There was no rise in his voice, utterly composed. “Remember you’ve got an arm left. For about ten seconds still.”

“Alright, alright.” Tears, those were tears running down the face of Lucien’s victim. “Traficantes, somos traficantes.”

Traficantes. That sounded an awful lot like… “Traffickers.” Lucien answered it for her. He whipped out his phone. It rang but once before someone picked up.

“Hombreee. Que tal?” A male’s high-pitched voice. So at odds with Lucien’s deep rumble. The joy in it didn’t fit… Not when her mind was reeling from the attack.

Lucien answered in Spanish? “Bien, hermano! Tengo un pequeño… problema.” He glanced at Kate. “Are you in the area?”

The words… they rolled off his tongue like a true native.

“Yes, of course! What you got for me?” The man on the other end of the phone asked.

Lucien regarded the ‘men’ in front of him. “Three problems, traffickers.”

“Say no more! I’ll be there. Care to join in on the fun?” The man’s tone only grew in enthusiasm.

Lucien laughed. “I wish hombre. I’ve other matters to attend to. I’ll leave them in a red shack. Send you the location in five.” The man still clutching his nose got up on his haunches, his able hand reaching for the knife by his side.

With a sigh, Lucien strode over, kicking the legs out from under him. “Sit down.”

“Other matters.” The Spanish man scoffed. “A woman you mean.”

“None of your business hermano.” Lucien rolled his eyes at Kate.

The voice laughed hoarsely before Lucien disconnected the line with a click.

She couldn’t drag her focus away from the men. All incapacitated. Why am I even fooling myself?

Slow footsteps crunched over snow. Noise. He made noise on purpose. The men disappeared from her view behind Lucien’s broad back. Kate felt snow dig into her as she backed away slightly. Lucien’s eyes narrowed on her, taking in her feeble state of mind. “I’ll take care of these three.” He pointed with a thumb behind him. “Then we’ll get out of here. Head home.” Home.

She shivered uncontrollably and nodded her head fiercely. Anything to feel a hint of warmth again, to have Ghost by her side. Lucien shrugged off his jacket before carefully arranging it around her shoulders.

Her eyes closed and she groaned as the heavy warmth surrounded her. It smelled faintly of sandalwood, just like the man in front of her. She tugged it closer around her, huddling in the snugness. She felt how her senses slowly trickled back into her limbs.

“Thank you.”

Her captor merely nodded before standing up to take care of business.

She had cussed him out, made a fool out of him. And still… he saved her life. Again. He’d been right on one thing.

There was worse out here. Way worse.

But she knew now. In every one of their altercations he’d held back. Lucien could have so easily hurt her.

And he still might, at some point. She would keep her eyes open, keep fighting. But at least she wasn’t in a car heading for wherever to be abused by men who couldn’t control the twisted, sick darkness within them.

A psychopath with morals indeed.

Chapter 20

An Unwelcome Visitor

It was back.

Kate’s eyes fluttered open, trying and failing to blink away the faint blur over her sight. The aching deep in her bones. She’d been through a roller coaster. Within several days she’d been injured more times than she could count. But this sensation, it was unlike any other.

Her breath hitched. Not now.