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If it’s possible, Sunday’s body tenses further. At this rate, she’s going to pull a vital muscle or curl up into the fetal position, which won’t help. If Felton thinks she’s unable to keep me pleased, he’ll fast forward the timeline and kill her himself.
“I don’t actually like swimming—” she whispers.
“I don’t believe I asked,” Darcy says sweetly. “Go. You’re already annoying me.”
Fuck. This is not going to end well.
Chapter 9
Sunday
My mind is foggy as we make our way back to the bedroom. Cole is in front of me, but he’s a blur, and the distant conversation from the dining room feels closer to an echo than intelligible sounds.
When we reach the bedroom, I hurry to the ensuite, falling to my knees just in time to vomit into the toilet. Bile surges up my throat and out of my nose, and I squeeze my eyes closed as the few pieces of fruit I’ve eaten make a reappearance. Sweat clings to my back, but it cools as Cole kneels beside me and holds back my hair.
A head. A human fucking head. There was part of a person on the breakfast table and they all kept eating. I knew the Maddox’s were trouble, but this is a thing of nightmares.
“I can’t do this, Cole,” I sob. “What is wrong with these people? How can they act like that?”
He brushes my hair back. “This is why they need to be taken down, Sun. This is nothing compared to the things I’ve seen.”
I rest my forearm on the edge of the toilet and look up at him through tear-filled eyes. “And the things you’ve done?” He doesn’t respond but at least has the decency to hold my eye. Felton said I’d be afraid if I saw Cole’s true colors and I’m starting to think he’s right. When that head was dropped in front of us, he didn’t flinch, either.
“What have they turned you into, Cole?”
This time, he looks away, but only to lean closer. He blows gently on the back of my neck, the air cooling the sweat.
“You always got so hot here when you were hungover,” he says quietly. The memory has more tears surfacing, and they threaten to fall when he kisses the side of my head. “I’d bring you ice packs, remember?”
My laugh is half of a sob. “I don’t think frozen peas wrapped in a clean pair of your boxers counts as an ice pack.”
“It helped, though. Didn’t it?” He sounds so unsure, vulnerable almost, like the kid I knew. This is his attempt at a distraction, but I don’t know if that comforts me or pisses me off. I want to wake up from this nightmare, but we also can’t avoid facing how drastically we’ve both changed.
“It did.” I sniff and sit up, and he hands me toilet paper so I can blow my nose.
He sits against the tub. “I know where Felton is keeping the cell phones. They’re in his office desk. I just need to get mine, call for backup, and have them trace the call. They’ll bust in, make some arrests, and you can go home.”
I finish wiping my mouth, ignoring the burning in my throat. “I thought we were waiting out the weekend?”
“I’m not putting you at risk any longer than I have to.”
“But you said you needed Michael Maddox.”
“Your safety is more important, Sun.”
Is it? This man is a human trafficker. A drug smuggler. Thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people will die if he continues to trade in human lives.
“I could just run. Pretend to knock you out and escape,” I suggest. “They won’t suspect you, and—”
“There’s no telling how far from civilization we are. I have no clue. They brought me here blindfolded.” My poorly thought-out plan quickly dissipates, and I nod slowly. They brought me here the same way. I’m not even entirely sure how long the journey was. “Besides, you have no shoes, clothes, supplies. If my team do this right, I can keep my cover and get out of this unscathed. I just need to get that phone and get you out of here by tonight.”
“And what about my dad? They’ll kill him if his debt isn’t paid.”
“I’ll pay it.”
I blink. “What?”
“I’ll clear it. All of it. I can wire you the money anonymously, you pay what you owe and then some, and you never go near the Maddox’s again.”
