Mia threw the tracker across the bed as if it was burning her hands. She grabbed the pillow and clutched it tight against her stomach. “I-I didn’t know it was there.”

Luke sauntered toward her, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Where the hell did it come from?”

“M-my purse.” Tears welled in her eyes. If she told him, what would he do to her? “I thought it had information—ways to call him—he told me to open it if I was ever in trouble.”

Luke picked up the device and removed the battery. “Jesus Christ. Why would you bring a packet from Morales?”

“I thought it might have something we need…and…”

“What?”

“If something went wrong…I-I don’t know.” She clutched her hands over her head like she was afraid of being hit. “I don’t! He intimidated me so much—I’m terrified what he will do next. He swore he’d killed me if I ever tried to run.”

“He’s not going to kill you.” Luke snatched the packet and looked inside, the tossed it at her. “All my promises to keep you safe and you still don’t trust me?”

“It’s not like that. I-I said I didn’t know he’d put a tracking device in there.” She gulped, hating herself. “I’m sorry.”

Luke sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his forehead. “Jeez, you’re making it pretty damn difficult for me to protect you.”

“We shouldn’t be here.” She faced him—he’d made mistakes, too. “We shouldn’t have left Hacienda Paraiso. We shouldn’t have left everyone.”

“Huh?” He looked at her like she was crazy—maybe she was. “What did you expect me to do, pick up an AK-47 and go on the assault? Take out a hundred enemy combatants while you cowered behind me?”

“You could have taken the others with us. The all might be dead by now.”

Groaning, Luke raked his fingers through his hair. “Answer me this, aren’t most of Morales’ employees from families around Guadalupe y Calvo?”

She nodded.

“Do you think they hung around once they heard the jet engines?”

“They would have stayed and fought for El Padrino.”

He shook his head, his jaw twitching. “Not on your life. Once we were in the air, they would have slipped over the fence and run for home.”

“What if they didn’t?”

“Then they’re stupider than I thought.”

“You don’t understand the power El Padrino has over everyone.”

“I think I’ve been there long enough to understand it very well. But I can tell you this: as long as everyone allows Vincent Morales to lord his power over them, he will succeed. But he can’t fight alone.”

“He’ll never be alone. In Mexico, there’s always the next person standing in line waiting to take up a gun for pay.”

“That’s because Morales has money—but we can cut off his supply of cash.”

“You think so? He can get more any time.”

“By selling drugs?”

She nodded.

“Not happening.” Luke shook his finger in her face. “We’re shutting down his warehouses, his plantations, arresting the long line of people in his distribution operations.”

Mia didn’t believe it. “He’ll find another way. He always does.”

“Not if he’s in prison—extradited to the U.S. and held in maximum security.”

She couldn’t breathe. Could she trust Luke? “Is he in custody?”

“Not yet.”

At least he hadn’t lied about that. “As long as El Padrino is out there somewhere, I am not safe.”

“I can keep you safe. If you trust me.”

“How can I be sure?”

“You have my word. You were so helpful before. Why the cold feet now?”

“Before, everything appeared normal. As long as I was helping you and acted innocent—like nothing had changed, I could help you. The Godfather trusted you—that gave me the freedom to trust you, too. But when you left everyone behind, it terrified me. Not only that, you brought me to the United States. If El Padrino thinks for one second I went with you of my own free will, he will put me in the crown of pain, and turn up the electricity until I am cooked. Dead! Do you hear me? He will roast me alive!”

“Not unless you go back to Mexico.”

“If you think I’m protected because I’ve crossed the border, then you’re the one who’s stupid.”

“We can guarantee your protection.”

“How?”

“For starters, you have to be honest with me. It has to work both ways. I can’t tell you how disappointed I felt. You completely ripped my heart out when I saw that tracking device in your hands—you mightn’t have known it was there, but you know the Godfather and you know his tactics. Expect the unexpected. I need you to swear to me you will do everything we ask in helping bring Morales down, then I’ll take you to a place no one will ever find you.”

He thinks he was the one betrayed? He left all those people to fight while he escaped in a plane. Why would he do something like that just to save me? Leaning her head against her palms, Mia let out a long breath. “I’ll never be able to sleep until El Padrino’s behind bars.”

“But won’t it be worth the suffering to see him arrested?”

Could she allow herself to believe him? How many nights had she cried herself to sleep, praying for her parents to find her? Praying the nightmare would end?

Luke pulled the pillow away and slipped his arms around her, pressing his lips against her temple. “What do you say?”

“I trust you. I swear. I want to end his reign of terror.”

Luke let out a long breath. “That’s a start. A good start.”

Tingles spread up her arms while a tear spilled from her eye and ran down her cheek. God, she’d let her fear control her. It was time to grow up, damn it. Did she want to live with El Padrino for the rest of her life? God, no. “My real name is Michelle Bradford.” She gulped, but didn’t look away. Oh no, she wanted to look Luke directly in his pale blue eyes so he believed her without question. “Those two words seem foreign on my tongue because I haven’t uttered them in fifteen years.”

“Fifteen? I thought you’d been with Morales for nine years.”

“That is correct. I was kidnapped when I was only six. One of my kidnappers owed El Padrino money. He couldn’t pay, so he used me as collateral. I don’t even think the Godfather wanted me. At least not then.”

Luke’s jaw dropped, his eyes filling with shock. “Jesus. What happened to you between six and twelve?”

“Hard labor—at least for a child. If we wanted to eat, we did whatever we were told. They used us in the fields. They used us to clean floors and toilets and pick up rocks. Most of all, we begged on the streets.” She shrugged.

“Us? We?”

“Kids came and went. We didn’t talk much—talking wasn’t allowed and keeping your mouth shut was the only way to avoid the whip.”

Luke slowly ran his fingers through his hair, his jaw hard. “How were you kidnapped?”

“My family took a vacation to Mexico. I don’t remember where, exactly. There was a beach and a market.”

“That could be about anywhere.”

“Unfortunately, I know. Every time I leave the hacienda, I look for the fountain. It didn’t have any water, but it was up on a platform and painted white—chipped paint. That’s where they grabbed me.”

“Your parents left you alone?”

She shook her head. “Dad and my brother were on the beach—not too far away. I went to the market with Mom. When I got bored, I climbed up on the fountain and walked around the edge, pretending I was on a tightrope. I could see the stall where Mom was shopping. I can still see the vibrant colors—turquoise, orange, yellow.” Mia’s voice trailed off with her memory.

“Could you see your mom?”

“She’d moved deeper inside the shop when the man put his hand around my mouth and pulled me into a white van.” Mia clutched at her throat. “I tried to scream, but another man held up a big knife and told me he would cut my throat if I made any noise.”

“You must have been scared out of your mind.”

“Terrified.” She shuddered. “It scares me to think about it even now.”

“I’ll bet your family was devastated.”

Shaking her head, Mia’s stomach sank. “I don’t know if they were or not. No one ever came to rescue me, no matter how much I prayed. And six years later I became El Padrino’s pet.”

“Pet? That sick, twisted, monster.”

“Yeah. After what I’d been through, at first I thought I was in heaven.”

“But paradise didn’t last.”

“No.” A shiver snaked up her spine. “The first time he used the crown of pain. You know he studied how to inflict excruciating with electricity. The victim feels the pain, yet there is no latent effect. It’s sadistic.”

“Christ. I can’t imagine what your life has been like, but you have my word I will do everything in my power to find your family, Michelle.”

At the sound of her real name, a cry caught in the back of her throat. Tears welled in her eyes as she covered her mouth.

Luke gently brushed the hair away from her face. “Michelle is a beautiful name—it reminds me of the angel you are. But we are on a secret mission, and we use aliases to keep our identities hidden. So, until I get you out of here, I’ll still call you Mia. Okay?”

“Yes.” It was the only name she’d used in fifteen years. If someone called her Michelle, she might not even realize they were referring to her. But she had another question. “Lucas Lewis isn’t your real name?”

“My parents named me Lucas, but everyone calls me Luke. Lewis, well, you’ve figured it out.”

She waited, but he didn’t tell her his real last name. After he’d found the tracking device, it didn’t surprise her. His silence served as an unspoken warning. It told her she’d lost his trust, at least some of it. Scraping her teeth along her bottom lip, she vowed to earn it back.

How could I have been so stupid?