“Montez survived,” Natalia said with tears of frustration and rage burning her eyes. “The son of a bitch is still alive.”

“Fuck,” Anson said, rage washing over his face. “He must have been wearing a bullet-proof vest. Like a god damn cockroach, you stomp on him but he’s impossible to kill.”

“There’s also a bounty on your head, and mine. A high one.”

Anson nodded. “That’s expected. I did just try to kill him and stole his woman.” Grimacing when he moved his body too much, he added, “We have to get out of here now. We aren’t safe.” He shoved the plate of food away.

She placed her hand gently on his chest to prevent him from moving too fast. “We aren’t safe anywhere in Argentina. Montez’s reach is wide, and with the amount of money he is offering, there isn’t a soul we can trust.” She stood up and went for a pile of fresh clothing of Anson’s that she pulled out of his suitcase that wasn’t covered in blood. “Let’s get you dressed so we can leave.”

Anson raised an eyebrow and smirked. “You say that as if you have a plan.”

“I do,” she said as she dropped the t-shirt over Anson’s head, once again finding her eyes going to the thick black lines and swirls that were inked onto his right bicep. She hesitated for a moment, wanting to know the meaning of the tattoo, but shook away her curiosity and gently lifted his right arm to guide it through the shirt’s armhole. Evidently, she’d taken too long as she felt Anson swiping her hand away lightly.

“I can dress myself.” Groaning as he lowered the shirt, he asked, “Care to fill me in on this plan of yours?”

“There’s this old, abandoned house about fifty miles outside of Rosario. It’s heavily buried in the jungle. My family once used it for a hideout, and my father met with people there in secret. Very few people knew of its location, and after my family’s death… well, let’s just say I don’t expect it to be very kept up, if it’s standing at all. But I do hope it will give us shelter, keep us hidden, and allow you time to heal and get your strength back.”

“We need to get out of Argentina and, babe, Rosario is south while freedom is north.”

She nodded, rolling her eyes as she tossed him his pants. “I know the geography of my country, and while we do need to get out of Argentina, that’s easier said than done. And right now, you have a bullet wound so you’re not exactly up to staging an escape.” She started toward the bathroom to steal the towels and toilet paper since she knew their hidden bungalow in the jungle would offer sparse comforts, if any at all. “If you need help getting dressed, just holler,” she said over her shoulder, knowing he would be in a lot less pain if he allowed her to offer a hand. The sounds of his groans and the creak of the bed let her know he was getting dressed, no doubt stubborn pride getting in the way of asking for help.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she called from the bathroom, “that I took the cash out of your wallet and loaded the Jeep with as much food and supplies as I could.”

“That was risky of you but smart.”

Natalia could hear the grimace in his words as he struggled with his pants. She walked back into the room as he was finishing getting dressed. “Will you at least allow me to help you with your boots so you don’t reopen the wound I just stitched up?”

Without waiting for a response, she reached for his boots and knelt at his feet. Lifting his foot and wiggling the boot on, she looked up into Anson’s eyes. “I owe you an apology.”

He remained silent, but his face softened.

“We wouldn’t be here, with you shot, if it weren’t for my stupid willfulness. You were trying to rescue me, and I foolishly turned you away. I was just so focused on revenge. I am truly and deeply sorry.”

“Revenge can be very powerful. More consuming than any drug.”

She nodded as she put on his second boot. “Yes, well everything I worked for is all for nothing. I failed.”

“You did not fail.”

She stood as she struggled to fight back the tears threatening to fall, refusing to be weak at a time when she needed to be strong. “Yes, I failed. I didn’t kill Montez. He didn’t suffer and will be able to go on living life as the monster he is.” Grabbing hold of the duffel, and flinging it over her shoulder, she said, “But we don’t have time to sit here and discuss how I fucked everything up. The Jeep is ready to go. Are you?”

He groaned loudly when he attempted to use his hands to push up from the bed, and Natalia ran to his side to offer her assistance. “Wait, just sit for a moment.”

“I’m fine—”

“I know, but I still want to immobilize your arm. The less you jar it around, the quicker it will heal.” Reaching for his belt buckle, she ignored his quirked eyebrow and pulled the leather from around his waist. Within a few minutes, she had his arm against his chest, the additional hole she’d added to the belt the day before allowing her to secure it tightly. “How does that feel?”

“Better,” Anson admitted as she helped him to stand. “I don’t even know what time it is,” he mumbled as he took a moment to catch his breath. “Are we safe walking out this door?”

“It’s still a couple of hours before sunrise. I think if we can get off the main roads by then, we will be okay.”

As they reached the Jeep, Anson stopped and studied the bullet holes in the back. “Fuck, I didn’t realize the Jeep took such a beating. Is it running all right?”

“Yes, I wasn’t going to tell you until later, but…” she looked at him as his worried expression took in the condition of the vehicle, “your bag that had your satellite phone—”

“Shit! Don’t tell me,” he interrupted.

“Didn’t survive. The bag looked like Swiss cheese.”

“Fuck.” He swung the back door open and shuffled some of the boxes of supplies around until he found his bag. Unzipping the duffel, he pulled out the phone and examined it. “Fuck!” he swore again, having to hold the phone close to his chest in order to use the fingers of his right hand to turn the dials, just to be sure that the bullet holes in the metal had truly destroyed his only form of communication back home. “Fuck,” he said again, tossing it into the Jeep and slamming the door shut.

Without saying another word, she guided him toward the passenger side, happy he didn’t object. Clearly even his pride knew its limits. Once she had helped him in, she ran over to the driver’s side, glancing around to make sure no one was watching them. As far as she could see, they were the only people awake this early in the morning.

As she drove down a side street—trying hard to avoid the main thoroughfares—she noticed Anson hadn’t said a word. He appeared pensive, but very alert. He examined everything around him with a furrowed brow.

Two hours of silence had gone by and still not a single word from Anson.

“You all right?” Natalia asked, leaning forward a bit in order to look over and scan his arm for any signs of blood. The sun had risen, and the bright light helped her in scanning his body for any signs of distress.

“Fine. Just thinking.” His words were short, and he never even glanced her way.

“About?”

“Nothing.”

His sudden change in demeanor from the man in the hotel room surprised her. “Are you mad at me?”

“Why would I be mad at you?” His question almost dripped with venom.

“I don’t know. But ever since we got into the Jeep, you haven’t said a word to me.”

“What would you like me to say?” he snapped. “That we are fucked? That we are trapped in a country with no way out? That we are driving down a fucking road and could get shot any minute? Or that our only means of communication to reach people who could actually help us out of this fucked up situation has been filled with bullet holes? Or shall we discuss that I saw you have a couple of days’ worth of food tops, and then after that we can starve to death in the jungle unless you know how to hunt panther or boa. Or maybe you know how to trap and cook up spider all while I nurse my fucking wound that could easily get infected and kill me in the god damn jungle you are driving us to?” He turned and glared at Natalia. “What is it you are wanting to hear?” He slammed his left fist on the dash and shouted, “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

His harsh words and temper were like a punch to the gut. This was all her fault and she knew it. “Listen, I’m sorry. I know you are in this awful situation because of me. But we are in this mess whether we like it or not. We have to communicate and work together.” She made a right turn onto a dirt road, instantly relaxing a bit knowing that at least they were leaving the most populated area. “And if you keep hitting that dash board, you are going to bust a stitch, and I don’t have enough bandages to keep wrapping you every time you throw a temper tantrum.”

Anson froze and slowly turned his head to look at Natalia. “Temper tantrum? Is that what you just said?”

She shrugged, not taking her eyes off the road. “I call it like I see it. I thought you were above childish antics.”

“Childish? Me?” he asked with his voice rising in disbelief. “You are the one acting like a child. Hell, I should have treated you like the misbehaving child you were acting like the first time I tried to save your ass and put you right over my knee to teach you a lesson. Maybe spanking a little sense into you is just what you needed.”

“Ha! Like that could have happened.”

“Maybe it still needs to happen!”

She huffed. “Oh, bless your little heart,” she said mockingly. “You just go on believing that you have the upper hand here. And, speaking of hands, you seem to forget the location of your injury.”

“Don’t worry, I assure you I can take care of what needs to be done.”

Rolling her eyes, she added, “Tough talk, but that bullet hole pretty much guarantees you’ll be unable to spank me, as you are right handed. So, ha!”

“A bullet hole I got because of you!”

“Me? I didn’t ask for you to get shot!” She paused for a minute to put the Jeep in four-wheel drive now that the terrain of the road had gotten rockier. “You don’t see any bullet holes on me now, do you?”

Anson shook his head and obviously couldn’t help but chuckle. “You really are infuriating sometimes, you know.”

She smiled and glanced his way, liking that he did have a smirk on his face rather than the fury only moments before. “I’ve been told that a time or two in my life.”

“You’re just lucky I am shot.”

“Or?” she asked with a teasing smile.

“Or you wouldn’t be sitting comfortably for a day or two by the time I’m done paddling your ass.”

She giggled. “Aren’t you going to bang your chest and grunt like a caveman while you say those words?”

“I’m serious, darlin’. Where I come from, there are consequences for taunting a cowboy.”

“A spanking?” She laughed loudly as they both bounced up and down and all around from the road—or lack of a road.

“Nothin’ wrong with a good old-fashioned spanking,” Anson said with a large smile. He leaned back and appeared relaxed for the first time since the trip began. “You’ll soon see when I get your stubborn ass to Texas.”

Natalia had to admit that she was enjoying the playful banter with Anson. They both needed it. Whatever it took to get them both to smile so they didn’t get swallowed up in the fear of the unknown, was what she would strive to do.

“Can I wear my gingham dress and bloomers too?” she asked with a giggle. She batted her eyelashes with the utmost exaggeration and then turned on some southern twang to her accent. “You wouldn’t make me bare my poor little bottom before you give me my whoopin’, would ya?”

“Oh, you keep joking,” Anson said with his own chuckle. “Now I’m going to make a point of spanking your ass.”

Still using her fake southern accent, she continued, “Are you going to tan my hide with a wooden spoon while I’m bent over the kitchen table all before I have to churn the butter for the evening’s supper?”

“Mark my words, Natalia…”

“Ha! Please!” She laughed loudly again, but looked over at him and felt a small stirring inside. He was such a fucking alpha, but in a charming and entertaining way. She liked it. She even liked him.

The road had ended and what she drove on now was nothing but rocks, holes, and roots jutting from the ground. A vehicle hadn’t been down this path in ages, and judging by how much the Jeep bounced around, she could safely guess no one had been down this way since her family was in power. When she didn’t see a large hole in front of them, the tire made contact, causing the Jeep to jolt and jerk so badly that her teeth rattled.

“Jesus! Slow it down a bit,” Anson said, grimacing. “Injured man on board, remember?”

She took her foot off the gas a bit, realizing she had been driving as fast as the Jeep could possibly go until now. Never once seeing a car following behind them, it was fair to say that Anson and she had escaped the city and the bounty… for now.

“Sorry.” She glanced over. “Are you okay?”

He nodded. “It just hurts like a son of a bitch is all.”

Not thinking, she reached out and laid her palm over his left hand in comfort. Fingers that had been clenched against his thigh instantly relaxed and turned to wrap around hers. The warmth of his palm engulfed hers and he tightened his grip, not allowing her to pull away—not that she wanted to.

Hand in hand, Anson asked, “Why? Tell me why you want revenge so bad on Montez.”

She saw no reason to keep him in the dark—not when he’d put his own life in danger to rescue her—not once, not twice, but three times. If anyone deserved the truth, it was this man. Gathering her thoughts, she said, “He and his cartel killed my family. I lost almost all to his deadly attack. I vowed on that day that he would pay and made it my life mission to do so. I trained so fucking hard…” She paused for a long moment. “I trained so hard, only to fail.”

“Like I said before, you did not fail.” Anson softly squeezed her hand. “Your mission is not over, and we will make Montez pay for all he has done.”

Sighing deeply, she said, “I don’t know. I have to be honest and tell you that I am tired. Really, really tired.”

“You mentioned training. What kind of training?”

She had never told anyone this before. It was her secret and yet, again she found no reason to hide it from Anson. “When I was sixteen, I joined a private organization called OSA. They were anti-government… a resistance of sorts. Anyway, I learned how to shoot, how to fight, how to outsmart, how to do field surgery. Hell, I even learned how to make bombs.”

“So OSA sent you to Moscow? How does an Argentinian resistance group get involved with a sex trafficking ring?” Anson asked, obviously not making sense of what she was saying.

“No,” she said as she shook her head. “I never agreed with OSA’s beliefs and politics and was only using them as a means to grow more powerful both physically and mentally. After a few years with OSA, I had found a way to reach Montez. I joined another private company located out of Chile that was trying to crack down on sex trafficking. Montez was known for buying and even selling sex slaves. That was my in. Anyway, long story short, I saw this organization as a way to reach Montez and not have him suspect a thing. It was risky, but I knew if I could become one of his slaves—”

“You would be able to get close to him,” Anson said.

“Exactly.”

“So you purposefully placed yourself in Moscow hoping Montez would buy you?”

She couldn’t blame him for sounding a bit incredulous. “I know; it was a risk as well. But I was counting on the fact that Montez liked his Latin women. I knew that I’d likely be the only Latin slave in the group, so was counting on him purchasing me.” She took a deep breath. “And well… the rest you know.”

“And your family was the Alvarez Cartel?”

“Yes,” she said, glad that he’d changed the subject as she veered left down another jagged and overgrown road. “I was once the daughter of a very powerful drug czar. Until the day that Montez slaughtered him and the rest of my family.” She paused and studied him. “But you know all this. I’m sure you’ve done all your research on me.”

Anson nodded. “I have and I know most of it. But I appreciate you trusting me enough to confide the details.”

“I don’t trust people. At least, not normally.”

“Well, you can trust in me. I know that’s hard to believe, but you can.”

Not wanting to admit that she actually did trust Anson, she decided to turn the tables. “So now it’s your turn.” She looked down and noticed her hand still held in his, resting on his broad thigh. “Why did you come here to rescue me?” Lifting her gaze, she saw his eyes on hers and something in their depths had her turning her head back to the windshield. It was another moment before he answered.

“When we went to rescue Zoya, we knew then that each one of the women deserved to be rescued. No one should have to live out their days as a sex slave. And we made a promise to Zoya.”

“I’m going to call bullshit,” she said simply. “There’s something more. I can see it in your persistence. I can feel it. Why are you down here rescuing me? Truth.”

Anson took a deep breath. “The minute I saw you on stage, I was pulled to you. Your eyes. Your fucking eyes have literally haunted my dreams since that awful night I had to let you go with Montez.” She turned to look at him again to see his expression growing dark. “I couldn’t sleep. I could barely eat. I hated every single day, hour, and minute that I knew you were trapped with that fucking asshole. I was terrified that I made a huge mistake by letting you go that night in Moscow and you would die because of it. You want the truth, Natalia? You have consumed me. I feel like I knew you even though we had never met. I felt a connection more powerful than I have ever felt before. I needed to rescue you as much as I needed to breathe. I felt like I fucking loved you even though I had never even heard what your voice sounded like.”

His words surprised her, yet she knew he was telling the truth. He had just revealed his heart and soul. Anson Steele was a good man and wanted nothing more than her safety. No hidden agenda. He simply wanted her… safe.

“I’m so sorry, Anson. You are here, hurt, because of me. And you are right. We are driving to a jungle with only a few days’ worth of supplies and could very well die. I did this to you.”

“Shh,” he said with a squeeze of her hand that she wondered if he would ever let go of. “No more apologies. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I came here to save you, and that’s what I plan to do. We will get out of this place. We will get back to Texas, to Zoya, and to my family. I promise you.”

“And then what?”

“Then we work on helping you find light in the thick darkness your life has been.”

“I’m not sure that’s possible.”

“I promise you that as well, Natalia. We will help you find the good in life again. I promise.” His last word was said with a big yawn. Anson rested his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. He suddenly looked very tired and very pale. With the pressure of his hand squeezing hers, the strength in his voice, the clarity and passion showing in his eyes, she’d momentarily forgotten that he was injured.

“We don’t have much further,” she said, hiding her worry. “You rest, because when we get to home sweet home, you have a panther to hunt, or a boa to gut. I don’t care for the taste of spiders.”

“Very funny. You joke, but that very well could become our reality.” He yawned again as he settled his body into the seat, still never letting go of her hand. “Take us home, Natalia.”