“Give me a command,” she taunts.
“I’m not going to tell you what to do on any level, but your actions out there have the potential to compromise my mission. You can fuck Angel into next week, but the middle of the hallway isn’t the place for it.”
She rolls her eyes like a sullen teen rather than the grown federal agent that she is.
I head back to my desk, busying myself while we wait for Angel to come back into the room. Thankfully, he doesn’t make us wait long, returning in a different pair of jeans than the ones he just dirtied.
Lauren is smirking as he studiously avoids her gaze.
“Lola, you have a buyer coming tomorrow night.”
She perks up with my words. “Costa Rica?”
“As close as I think we’re going to get,” I answer. “We need to get the other women out of the house or hidden somehow. He wants more than one girl, and I don’t want to risk him finding the others.”
“What about that shed at the back of the property?” Angel asks, all business now that his balls are empty.
“They’ll have to be locked in. Cara has been asking a ton of questions. She’s suspicious, and I wouldn’t put it past her to try and bolt.”
“It has a hinged lock on the outside, so I think it will work,” Angel supplies.
“Okay, let’s iron out the details,” I tell them.
Chapter 17
Cara
It’s surreal that someone can get used to the hand they’ve been dealt regardless of their situation. I was abducted days and days ago, but already I know that the first time the door opens after a long period, it means breakfast and a bathroom break. Before lunch, we shower. Not long after we shower, Angel comes down and gets me, taking me to Javier’s office. After I leave his office, it’s dinner, and then one more bathroom break before “bed.” We know it’s bedtime when the overhead lights are cut off.
It’s a routine I think all of us have grown accustomed to.
But today is different.
Today, Angel didn’t come get me. He pulled Lola out, and even though I was too late to catch a look at their faces through the front grate of my cage, I didn’t miss the way his hand settled softly on her back as they walked away. I don’t know what to believe. Is Lola capable of turning these men into people she can manipulate? Is being what they want her to be enough to finally be able to gain her freedom?
Would it work for me?
I stay with my face planted against the grate of my cage for so long waiting for Lola to return that I’m certain I’m going to have the grid lines pressed into my skin.
“What the fuck?” I hear Penny hiss when the basement door is opened and Angel and Lola return.
My eyes fly open, still unfocused a little as I watch Lola come back inside dressed in lingerie with her hair done and face covered in makeup.
We don’t say anything until Lola is back in her cage and Angel disappears back upstairs.
“What the hell is going on?” Amanda asks the second we hear the lock on the basement door click back into place.
Lola doesn’t answer.
“Lola!” Penny whisper-yells. “What the fuck?”
Lola still doesn’t answer. She doesn’t say a word, or offer a single sentence of explanation, and since she’s always the one to try and keep us motivated, telling us not to give up, attempting to give us hope that we aren’t going to die down here, her silence speaks louder than the blast of a shotgun.
I’m rubbing my hands over the goosebumps that have formed on my upper arms in fear when Angel returns to pull Lola from her cage. This time when they walk away, his hands are fisted at his sides rather than one being softly pressed to her back. The contrast from earlier in the day redoubles the chills racing all over my body. This isn’t good. The dynamic has changed, and it makes me wonder if she pushed things too far.
“I’m scared,” Amanda confesses after they’re gone.
“Me too,” Penny whispers. “Cara, what happens when they come get you?”
I shake my head because I’ve never been dolled up in heavy makeup and lingerie. What is happening with Lola right now is not something I’ve experienced.
“I just sit in Javier’s office.”
“Just sit?” Amanda asks.
“That’s it. I have no idea what’s going on right now.”
“Whatever it is, isn’t good,” Penny mutters.
The lights go out in the basement, indicating like every other day that it’s bedtime. I don’t know if they’re on a timer or something, but they aren’t out for long before they flicker back on. I curse myself for letting my anxiety drop before things started changing today by getting used to the routine.
Penny whimpers beside me when heavy boots can be heard on the stairs. God, if it’s Miguel, we’re all in trouble.