Forever Loved (Forever Lost Book 2) Read online

  His cousin came into the office, took one look at Leo, and headed straight for the coffee machine. Brian handed him a double espresso, and Leo took it with a grateful half-smile. He couldn’t focus on anything, but knew they needed to make a plan, and fast. He had to get her away from that vile man as soon as possible, no matter what it took.

  Leo then told his cousin about the call he’d just taken.

  “She’s terrified, Bri. I could hear him slapping her around.” His voice faltered, and Leo shook away the tears. He focused on the coffee cup, and took a long sip while he steadied his nerves. “She said they’re in a motel or hospital, but it seems either empty or abandoned. And she said there’s a plane on a private airfield waiting to take them to Mexico. We cannot let him drag her back to that godforsaken place.”

  “No way.” Brian grabbed one of the laptops from Leo’s desk. “I’ll find it. One way or another, I’ll track him down, Leo.”

  He believed him, but still grabbed the mouse on his desk and started searching for clues alongside his trusty sidekick. Two hands were definitely better than one in this scenario, and it felt good to finally have a lead to go off.

  ***

  Cassie stirred, forcing herself to wake up. She knew she hadn’t been asleep long, and had drifted off out of exhaustion rather than comfort, but she didn’t want to waste any time sleeping that she could be using to try and get away.

  It took her a minute to realize her hands were no longer tied, and that the rag had been removed from her mouth. However, it was the sound and feeling of soft breath brushing against at her ear and a thunderous heart beating beneath her that pulled her from her slumber. They weren’t Leo’s breaths, and she started, staring at the man who had his thickly muscled arms wrapped around her tiny body. Grayson peered back at her, and for a reason she couldn’t fathom, his expression was warm and soft. Her Gentle Giant had seemingly returned, but for how long, she couldn’t be sure. Cassie looked into his eyes, and sobbed when she saw the pain in them.

  “I’m sorry I hurt you,” he whispered, pulling her back into him, and Cassie let him. She laid her head down to rest back on Grayson’s chest, staring across at the battered bathroom door. She wanted to relax, to trust and hope that the old him would come through for her in the end, but she couldn’t be sure. She’d seen a side to him that terrified her, and could tell one more wrong word might bring that side of him out in a heartbeat.

  “Please, GG. I can’t go back there. I barely survived last time.” She could feel herself trembling. Grayson turned onto his side and held her closer, wrapping both arms around Cassie’s back while pressing her head against his chest.

  “Ssshh. I just want to enjoy this without you ruining it,” he said, and she nodded. Cassie finally understood how broken and damaged her old friend had become after everything he’d been through as well. She’d underestimated how badly Leo had been affected when Victor had taken her, and knew now that she’d done the same with Grayson. She waited a long while, but it eventually became too hard to stay quiet. Cassie needed answers.

  “Tell me about it, GG. Make me understand,” she said against him, and he flinched. Grayson took a few deep breaths, as though steadying himself, and when he finally spoke, his voice was hardly more than a quiet rumble against her ear.

  “Our crew didn’t even get a proper trial, we were just processed and thrown in prison. Even with Eduardo’s sway with some of the gangs, we were still picked off by the strongest or most dangerous inmates in the place. There were some with allegiances to the cartel, and they were offered incentives to keep us safe. I was given to a predator called Neo—a fucking gift-wrapped bribe from my gracious new leader.” Grayson tensed up, and Cassie instinctively raised a hand to comfort him, deciding on giving him just a gentle stroke on his arm. “After I was broken in, it was simply a case of enduring it until I got out. I was Neo’s bitch for almost two years, but in some ways I got off easy. A couple of the guys were beaten and gang raped repeatedly, and another was murdered in his bed.”

  Cassie shuddered. She tried to force the imagery away, but her imagination kept conjuring up all kinds of awful visions, and she wanted to cry for him—for all of them. “The entire experience left me hating everything and everyone. I lashed out, the desire in me to make people pay for my pain was too strong to deny. The voices inside my head screamed for blood, and I spilled it from whomever Eduardo told me to.” His voice had turned wistful, as if he were no longer there with her but lost in his memories, and Cassie knew he had to be fighting no end of demons within if that was the life he’d been forced to live after she’d left him behind.

  “I don’t know what to say, GG. I’m sorry you ended up there, and that you were treated so badly. Leo won’t talk about his time in prison, but I know it had to have been awful too,” she replied, and her heart was aching just thinking about him and of how broken her man must be right now.

  “Oh, don’t worry about Leo,” Grayson replied with a snide edge to his tone. “He set himself up pretty good.”

  “Yeah, he said he used his money to buy himself an easy time,” she agreed, but Grayson laughed gruffly, and Cassie tensed. The story had seemed hard to believe, but his reaction said it all. Leo had clearly lied to stop her from worrying.

  “No, Cassie. He used his fists—or anything else he had to hand—to beat or murder the other guys so he could reach the top. The guards were in his pocket out of fear, and probably the odd bribe, but he most certainly wasn’t anyone’s bitch during his time inside. Your precious Leonardo Solomon undoubtedly has his demons after the things he did in there, but not because he was the victim. He was the predator.”

  She didn’t reply. She couldn’t. As much as she hated the idea of him acting out like that, she’d seen Leo crumble under the weight of his burdens, and knew he’d never chosen to become that guy. He’d been as forced as Grayson had, so she refused to let him portray Leo as a monster. “A couple of my guys got transferred to his prison, and they didn’t even last a day. You’re man had them strung up and butchered like cattle.” She wanted to reply with a vicious comment about how they’d probably deserved it, but bit her tongue. Cassie needed to keep the softer and gentler Grayson around for as long as possible, so stayed quiet.

  “Can I please use the bathroom?” she asked, pulling away slightly, and was glad when he let go. He didn’t say a word, but she saw him sit up and watch her as she pushed open the splintered door. Cassie knew without him having to say so that she had to leave it open, and so she did her business without commenting or even bothering about how Grayson was watching. It was their old routine all over again, and she found it strange how quickly she could settle into those ways.

  If she made it back to Mexico, she knew things would be vastly different with Eduardo as her captor, though. He wouldn’t bother to keep her protected the way Victor had. He wouldn’t care for or love her the way her former husband had, and he certainly wouldn’t stop the others from having a piece of his predecessor’s pie.

  “Do you still draw?” Grayson asked when she climbed back onto the bed and into his arms. She should hate him, but their embrace brought her comfort, and Cassie had to admit, she could use all of the affection she could get.

  “Yeah. I make most of my sets and costumes now. I employed an apprentice to help as well, but it’s what I love. Well…loved.” Grayson ignored her comment, and she jumped when she felt his hand press down gently on her stomach.

  “How far gone are you?”

  “Eleven weeks, or there about. I have my first scan booked for next week—had,” she told him, correcting herself again, and she pushed his hand away in a huff. He didn’t get to touch her there and pretend as if he cared, not when he was the one dragging her away to endure certain misery and agony at Eduardo’s vile hands.

  Cassie pulled out of his hold and sat up, crossing her legs beneath her and resting her elbows on her knees. She stared at the door, knowing she was closer to it than Grayson was, but that it’d still
be foolish to try and run. She wasn’t strong enough to beat him, or take another heavy-handed tackle, so she just sat there and stared, thinking how near and yet so far her freedom was. “How long do we have?”

  “I haven’t made the call yet, but when I do, it’ll be three hours, give or take.”

  “Why haven’t you called them?” Hope fluttered in her chest. “Why can’t you just say you never found me? Leo and I can take off and we’ll disappear properly this time. Can’t you do one last thing to keep me safe, GG? Can you be the friend I know you are?” She looked over her shoulder at him, pleading with him to show her some mercy. “You were like a brother to me. You didn’t let them rape or hurt me before, why can’t you be that man now? Be my Gentle Giant…”

  Grayson said nothing, but he didn’t get angry either, and Cassie hoped her heartfelt words had sunk in. He climbed up off the bed, grabbed his duffel bag, and then threw her a cereal bar to eat, which Cassie devoured in three bites. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but all she could do was stare as he rifled through the huge bag with a thoughtful look. Part of her wondered if he was even searching for an item in particular or if he simply needed to do something to keep his hands busy, but she didn’t want to ask and bring him out of his thoughts.

  When he stilled and pulled his hand free, Cassie watched in horror as he took out a small firearm and checked that it was fully loaded. She paled as Grayson then screwed a suppressor onto the end of the weapon, and pulled out a cell phone.

  She cried out and lunged forward, desperate to stop him from making the call. Cassie fell off the end of the bed onto her knees, and when she looked up, Grayson had the gun pointed right at her head. She crumbled before him, trembling and sobbing, while the lethal end of the weapon pressed harder into her temple.

  “Package ready for extraction,” he said to whomever was on the other end of the line. “What’s your ETA? Very well,” he added before ending the call and crushing the cell beneath his boot like he had Roger’s handset.

  Cassie howled in her misery, clutching at her ribs to try and ease the ache in her chest as the realization dawned on her that this was really happening. No matter how hard she’d tried to get through to him, Grayson was taking her back to Mexico. There, she knew she’d pay dearly for what she’d done to Victor and to the cartel. Her life was over, and there seemed nothing she could do about it. “Look at me, Cassie,” she heard him demand, but she shook her head.

  “How could you?” she sobbed into her hands. “How could you do this to me, to my baby?”

  “LOOK AT ME!” Grayson bellowed, and the sound reverberated around her so hard Cassie was sure she felt the floorboards shake beneath her knees. She finally did as he’d ordered, and looked up into the face of the most broken man she’d ever seen in her life. He lifted the gun away from her temple and spun it in his hand, offering her the handle without a word. She took it, but didn’t understand what on earth he was doing.

  Grayson then fell to his knees and took her face in his hands. He stroked her cheeks gently and kissed her in such a tender way tears sprung from her eyes again. “I love you, Cassie, and I’m sorry. Go and live your life, but you promise me you’ll run away and never look back. Promise me now,” he said, and the conviction in his tone made her believe he was telling the truth.

  “Come with us, GG. We’ll all go together, keep each other safe?” she tried, and her offer made him smile broadly at her. Grayson shook his head and kissed her again.

  “It means the world to me that you’d even suggest it after everything I’ve done, but it has to be this way. They’ll think you managed to somehow get the gun from me and ran, and this’ll be a clear message to let them know you won’t let yourself be found again. Eduardo will have to give up looking for you, and you and Leo will be safe with that precious little baby of yours.” Grayson grabbed her hand with the weapon in and yanked it toward him, pressing the gun to his own head. “Do it,” he told her.

  “No, I can’t!” she cried, shaking her head.

  “You have to, there’s no other choice. They’ll be here in two hours, but the trail to you ends with me, so do this now. Let me go from this terrible place. Let me be free, and then you go and do the same.” She couldn’t believe what he was saying, but the desperation in his eyes let her know he was being deadly serious. He was willing to die to keep her safe, but she had to be the one to do it.

  “I love you, Joaquin Grayson. You’ll always be my Gentle Giant,” she told him with tears streaming down her face.

  “I love you too. My sweet, sweet, Cassie. You’re strong and beautiful, and far kinder than I deserve after how I’ve treated you. Now, do it, be free…”

  When she pulled the trigger and watched as his lifeless body fell to the ground, Cassie screamed in pain. Every inch of her body yelled for her to run, but she couldn’t take her eyes off him. She shouted curses at his lifeless body, yelling at him for daring to make her choose her life over his, but knew it was pointless. Grayson was gone, and she only had a couple hours before his cartel buddies would arrive. Cassie had to be long gone by then.

  After calling on the numbness she once had been forced to maintain every day to return, Cassie stood, stashed the gun in the back of her jeans, and grabbed Grayson’s car keys from his jacket. All the while, she couldn’t look at the corpse she was leaving behind.

  She closed the door behind her and calmly walked down the corridor to the nearest stairwell. It turned out the place was a derelict old house. Cassie had no idea where, but all she knew was that she had to get away. She felt like a zombie as she forced her feet forward, something living and breathing, but not alive. Her body was numb, along with her heart. On auto-pilot, she checked as she rounded every corner using methods she’d watched the cops do on television. Cassie pointed the gun around in search of any moving target, and breathed a huge sigh of relief when she spotted the solitary black sedan parked outside by the base of the stairs.

  She slowed a couple steps short of the bottom when she saw someone leaning casually against it, clearly expecting her. Cassie crept forward, unsure how to proceed, when a soft, yet terrifying sound reached her ears. It was only a small, satisfied snigger, but it halted her descent in a heartbeat. It was a sound that turned her blood to ice, and her steely resolve to mush. Eduardo had evidently come along for the ride, and was openly amused to have discovered her fleeing Grayson’s captivity.

  “I knew he wouldn’t be able to do it,” he said, and laughed again. “That’s why the mission took so long, isn’t it? Not that he couldn’t find you, but that he couldn’t quite bring himself to decide your fate, Señora Sanchez,” Eduardo added, stepping into the doorway so she could see him fully. He too had aged incredibly since she’d last seen him, but that intense dark stare of his still gave her the creeps. Eduardo was a true monster; she’d seen it right from the start. This time, though, she had no one there to protect her from him. Cassie took a step back. She didn’t know where she might go, but hiding or running in the opposite direction seemed like a good place to start.

  “Don’t even think about it,” muttered another voice from the shadows by the base of the stairs. She heard a gun cock. Figuring it had to be trained on her, Cassie turned to find the voice’s owner, but couldn’t see through the darkness.

  “Drop the gun, puta. If you do as you’re told, I won’t hurt you. I promise,” Eduardo told her, and she realized she was still holding the gun in her hand. She lifted it higher, her hand shaking as she trained it on her oppressor. She didn’t believe his lies for even a second.

  With a sneer, Eduardo reached to his hip where he pulled a knife from its sheathe on his belt. Cassie recognized the blade instantly, and saliva flooded her mouth when a wave of nausea struck. It was Victor’s knife. The same one his brother Luis had given him as a teenager, and the one she’d later used to stab him and take his life.

  “You’ve three seconds to drop it, otherwise I’ll shoot you in the stomach,” the voice in the shadows warned her,
and Cassie gasped. Whoever was there somehow knew she was pregnant, and she had to wonder how.

  “No, José. I’ll use this to cut the bastardo out.” Eduardo stepped closer, calling her bluff with the gun. “It’s the justice you deserve, but I won’t make it fatal to you, no. I need you alive so I can get my money’s worth,” he told her, and Cassie retched.

  In her moment of disgust, he lunged and grabbed the gun. She fired, but Eduardo had already pushed her hand skyward and the bullet hit the wall behind him. He flung the weapon away, and then tackled her.

  As he pushed Cassie down onto the stairs beneath them, Eduardo slid the blade between two of her ribs in a calm and calculated move. He didn’t go deep, but it was enough to leave her writhing beneath him, gasping for agonizing breath.

  He watched her with a smile, and brushed her hair away from her face in a move she might’ve considered gentle if he hadn’t just stabbed her.

  “José? Please, is it really you?” she whimpered, closing her eyes so she didn’t have to stare up into Eduardo’s piercing gaze any longer. He was mere inches away, his body crushing hers against the hard stairs beneath them.

  “Sí, Inglés aumentó, it’s me.” She heard him take a step toward them. “I lied when I told you I meant no harm. You were right not to trust me.”

  Cassie nodded. Being proven correct wasn’t remotely as sweet as it ought to have been. She finally opened her eyes. Eduardo had her exactly where he wanted her, and there was nothing she could do to fight it. Cassie gave in to the pain radiating from her side, letting the calm numbness trickle out from her heart to the rest of her tense, aching body. It was better to be an emotionless shell for what she knew was coming, and the pain actually helped her focus her energy on retreating into herself.

  Eduardo watched Cassie give up, and he smiled. Clearly delighted by her lack of fight, he ran his thumb over her lip before sliding it down to her breasts and then waist.