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It was another world inside the gate. Where jungle reigned outside, manicured lawns and fountains dominated the space behind the brick walls. It was an oasis within a wild rainforest.
We came to a stop in front of a fortress entirely made of stone. The house had at least two wings, one stretching out on each side, and it was three stories high.
The circular driveway was paved with marble. There were more guards on the grounds, their machine guns held loosely in front of them. But I wouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating their seemingly relaxed stance.
I was unceremoniously hauled out of the car and landed on my knees again. Pain shot through my legs, but I refused to cry. They very much seemed to enjoy hurting me. The shaking had returned, and I was so tired I could hardly stand up.
A guy I didn’t know had the honor of dragging me along this time, following the one with the lion eyes who seemed to have been in charge. He didn’t so much as glance back at me, certain we would follow. I stared at the back of his close-cropped dark hair and wide shoulders. If I’d met him under different circumstances, I’d have called him beautiful. But now his size and permanent scowl were intimidating, and I would be happy to never see him again.
Cold air hit me when we walked through the door, and I shivered. The opulence that greeted me was unexpected. Crystal chandeliers. Marble as far as the eye could see. Two huge hallways leading off to the right and left.
A staircase spanned the whole three floors and was big enough to fit an elephant. I glimpsed doors and hallways along the hall that they ushered me through, and our group came to a standstill in front of a polished mahogany door.
“Let’s go.” The deep voice startled me, and I froze in place. “Boss wants to see you,” Santino explained when I didn’t make a move to follow the other guy. Even if they were leading me to my execution, I had no choice but to go with them.
“This the girl?” asked a guy who sat behind an enormous desk, wearing a black suit without a tie, his dark hair slicked back. His smile was wide, his white teeth glowing against his tanned skin. He resembled a shark about to attack his prey.
“It is,” another voice replied from the side of the room. A glance confirmed the guy with the lion eyes standing next to the desk, arms crossed, stance wide.
When I refused to look away, he continued talking to the guy behind the desk, but his eyes never left me. “Everleigh Bennet, twenty-eight, US citizen, occupation: accountant. She lives in San Diego in an apartment she rents. One brother, Archer Bennet. Both parents live in Florida. No other relatives.”
My jaw dropped at how much he’d been able to find out about me already. If he dug deeper, I was sure he’d come back with my social security number and medical files.
The guy behind the desk sat up straighter. “Well, isn’t that lucky.” His beady eyes ran the length of my body, making me feel violated without even touching me. The only way to describe his gaze was lecherous. “I was hoping you’d brought her for entertainment, but an accountant is almost as good. You’ve done well, Lucius.”
Lucius. The name suited him. But knowing his name didn’t mean I was any closer to getting out of here.
Lucius nodded, like he’d expected the guy’s answer. “She can do our books until we find someone else.”
The guy looked back down at the papers on his desk. “Show her to her office, then come back here. We’re not finished talking about this shipment.”
As soon as I stepped out of the office with Santino and Lucius, I released all the air trapped in my lungs. The room had been stifling.
The men led me to another door, this one secured with a keypad. “You don’t leave until someone gets you. There’s a small bathroom in there and a fridge with snacks. The windows are armed and have bars on them, so don’t try to get out. It’s a pain to reset the system.” Lucius typed in a code, and the red light turned green. “Don’t talk to anyone about the work you’ll be doing in there. Your occupation is what’s keeping you alive. Don’t meet our last accountant’s fate.”
I gulped at his warning and nodded. Lucius opened the door, then turned to leave.
“Wait. What am I supposed to do?” I asked, confused.
“I thought that was obvious. You’re our new accountant. You have a day to familiarize yourself with the system. The password for the computer changes every day. The little device on the desk will tell you today’s password. You can only view it once, so I hope you have a good memory.”
And with that, he was gone, leaving me with a task that would decide if I lived or died.
Or maybe the end was already a foregone conclusion, and this only delayed the inevitable.
I pored over the spreadsheet for hours. The numbers didn’t add up. The last accountant had been siphoning money from the cartel. And he’d been smart about it.
Lucky for me, it appeared I was smarter. Thank you, photographic memory.
After seven hours of adding and rearranging numbers, I found a pattern.
Another thing that became crystal clear: they would never let me go. I now had information on every single income and exit stream and every asset they owned. And it was an entirely illegal and extremely lucrative business. And since numbers were my thing, I’d never forget so much as a decimal number that I’d seen.
I was so screwed. I didn’t see this ending any other way than with my body buried in a shallow grave in the middle of the jungle.
Santino had left after an hour of watching me work, replaced with a beefy guard with no neck.
I let the man left to guard me know I wanted to speak to his boss. I was pretty sure this was the reason the last accountant was no longer here, but I needed to make sure he wanted me to follow the money, that this wasn’t some kind of test.
