“Lucy, you keep moving, you stay where there is a crowd.” Cash cuts Argos off.
“Please hurry.” I put the phone down and make my way to the front of the store, “Thank you so much.” I tell the woman, although she’s not spoken, she did let me, a complete stranger, use her phone.
Exiting the store I start to walk around, making sure that I can still see the time. This is my only chance to get safe, and I need to make it work.
Seeing a man walk towards me, I pray this works and that I can do it without him noticing. Bumping into him my hand slip into his pocket, within seconds I have his phone. “I’m so sorry.” I graze his arm as I apologize.
“It’s okay.” He gives me a gentle smile before walking off, none the wiser that he’s without a cell phone. I glance behind me to make sure he hasn’t realized that I’ve got his phone I dial Argos.
“Argos, they are here. If I’m not here, come to the large car park opposite the store. I can hide between the cars. They don’t care if they get me in front of anyone.” I end the call and run into the crowd, trying to mix between them. But that’s not easy when I am so wet and you can pick me out within everyone.
I move between the cars, as I see two of the men walking over to me. I knew there was no point hiding; the tracker was going to send them straight to me. I’ve made sure to run for an hour giving Cash enough time to get to me, but I’m tired now and I don’t know how much more I can run. My body hurts.
I look at the time through a car window, and I take in deep breath knowing that Cash is here. I just have to go for another few minutes, and I’ll be safe in his arms.
“You hurt me, my Queen. I thought that we were becoming friends.” Raphael grabs me by the throat and squeezes, slowly getting tighter. “I don’t want to hurt you but I can see that you’re scared. You know you will have to be punished for this.” he says, as his lips brush against mine. I would fight back, but I can’t. I’m tired and he’s taking away any air coming into my body. He’s not letting go of my throat.
“Get your fucking hands off her!” I hear Cash shout behind me, followed with a gunshot then another.
“Take her.” Raphael throws me on the floor and I cough trying to get my breath back. The man who I was thrown to, falls onto the ground. He’s been shot and I can see the blood escaping his body.
“Argos get her!” My eyes slowly closing on me. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.
Chapter 6
Cash
“Hades, Tanner called. He knows Lucy’s alive.” Argos tells me and I look at him in question. How the hell does that fucker know? “He said that the precinct received an anonymous tip that Lucy Mayers is alive and kicking. His words, not mine.”
Fuck, that’s just what we need right now. “Does he have any idea where the hell she is?”
“No, I asked him and he told me that he needs to question her as soon as he can. He has a new case that he believes she may be able to help him with.”
“What case?” I still don’t trust Tanner. There’s something about him that screams dirty cop and it will stay that way until we find out who the hell the mole is inside the police force.
“Dunno, he wouldn’t tell me.” Argos replies and I give him the look that tells him to dig and find what the case is. No one is getting near Lucy, especially someone I don’t trust.
“Where’s Thomas?” I haven’t seen Lucy’s dad in a few hours and I have a feeling that he’s not in the house.
“He went to get some food a while ago. I haven’t seen him since.” Fuck, he had better not have been the anonymous tip! “I’m tracking his cell as we speak.”
Where the hell is he? I don’t need him running off and getting captured too. “Any updates on where that fucker took Lucy and how the hell we didn’t know he even existed?”
“No, not yet. The guy’s practically a fucking ghost. No mention of the father on either birth certificate and there’s no evidence that the mother got married. Sorry Hades, I’ve got nothing.”
Great, just fucking great. We don’t know any more than we did this morning. “Where the hell is Thomas?” I hate that he’s gone and I can’t keep an eye on him. Right now I’m on edge and I don’t and can’t trust anyone.
“He’s at the hospital with Lucy’s mom. You need to relax Hades, not everyone is out to get you or has a hidden agenda.”
“That’s funny coming from you. You were the one who kept the secret of Lucy being alive from me. Don’t sit there and fucking judge me! How does it feel knowing you’re the biggest asshole in this room?” Every time I think of Lucy all I want to do is plant my fist in Argos’ face.
“Cash…”
“Don’t Cash me anything! Fucking find Lucy!” I need to get out of this room before I kill him. Killing him won’t help me find Lucy and right now that is the main priority.
***
I watch as she gingerly moves between the parked cars and my feet are moving towards her. She’s alive. Beautiful and alive, and that’s all that’s running through my head at the moment. I clock the two men who are also walking towards her and I know that they’re not here to have a fucking stroll.
St. Clair reaches Lucy before Argos and I do. He grabs her by the throat and not only that but the fucker puts his lips on hers! Argos and I are being closed in on as Raphael’s people start to swarm the area. I take out my gun ready to kill anyone who stands between Lucy and me.
I yell at the fucker to get the hell off her just as all hell breaks loose. I instantly shoot at the bastard who goes for his gun. He falls to the ground with a loud thud and I know that there are six more of Raphael’s men to get through. I turn to the one closest to Lucy and shoot him. Dead as soon as the bullet hit his heart. There are too many of them that are willing to die for the asshole, I need to make an opening between the men so Argos can get to Lucy.
Raphael shouts at one of his men to get Lucy as he throws her to the floor. I take aim at the fucker who’s about to grab her and shoot him as I beg Argos to get her. If we’re going to get out of this mess, I need Argos to get Lucy and protect her as I take care of everyone else. Argos lunges through the opening I made and gets to her. I can’t worry about her right now; I have to focus on getting rid of the others so she can come home.
I shoot the heaviest of Raphael’s men. The one who seems to be his right-hand man by the way he’s standing close to him, almost as if he’s protecting the bastard. The man stumbles but doesn’t fall and I take aim again. This time I hit him right between the eyes. Raphael doesn’t take to kindly to the fact that I’m killing his men. He takes out his gun and starts aiming for me. Fuck! The asshole has a better aim than his men do. I throw myself to the ground as more gunshots sound. I look up at where the sound came from and a smile forms on my lips as both Lucy and Argos are shooting at Raphael’s men. There’s only one of his men still standing.
That means while Argos takes care of him, I can take care of Raphael! I need to do it quickly because the cops will be on scene soon enough. You can’t shoot in a public area and think that no one will notice. “My Queen, I’m deeply offended. You kill my men yet your beauty will never mask your Puta ways! For that you will die.” Raphael shouts at Lucy as I get up off the ground and walk toward him; my gun drawn if he makes one move toward Lucy and Argos, I’ll kill him. “You Puta! You’re just like Minha Mãe, uma prostituta.” Raphael says changing languages. I know enough Portuguese to know that the asshole called Lucy a slut and said that she’s like his mother, a whore. He starts walking backwards, trying to escape like the coward he truly is.
I’m torn between running after him or shooting his man who’s advancing on Lucy and Argos. I know that the fucker edging toward them is the most imminent threat so I raise my gun and shoot the fucker. I turn my head to see if I can see Raphael but I can’t, he’s gone. No doubt he’ll turn up again. The sound of sirens in the distance has me moving.
“It’s time to go.” I shout as I run toward Argos and Lucy. Once I get there I se
e blood on her abdomen and images of her lying lifeless on the ground outside of that run-down hotel run through my mind. Fuck, there’s a lot of blood and it looks bad. I pick her up and jog back to the car with her in my arms. She’s lost weight in the past three months. I can feel her hip bone sticking out as she lies in my arms. “Argos, get in the back with Lucy. She’s bleeding and I need you to look over her.” I can drive us back to the safe house and once we’re there Argos can get rid of this fucking car.
***
“We have to move and we have to move now.” Argos tells me as he comes out of the room that has Lucy in it.
“Why what’s going on?” The tone of his voice has me on edge.
“Lucy was bleeding because they implanted a tracker into her scar which opened due to their carelessness. The tracker is still working. So, if anyone is keeping an eye on her, they’ll know where we are.”
“Shit, pack up your shit. It’s time to go. Don’t forget to make sure you have something set up just in case someone is on their way. Is that the only tracker she had on her?” Why can’t things be easy?
“Yes, I double and triple checked, she’s clean. I also stitched her up and her wound looks better already.” He’s already packing up his computers and hard drives as I gather all the medical supplies we’ll need. I don’t know how the hell we all managed to escape without a fucking bullet wound.
It takes us less than fifteen minutes to gather up everything we need and have the car packed up. “Where are we going?” A drowsy Lucy asks as she clings to my hand, she’s frightened and I don’t blame her. She was awoken by me carrying her to the car.
Argos drives toward a new safe house as I’m in the back with Lucy. It’s a safe house that no one knows about as it was only purchased recently and it’s a brand-new building. “To a new location. Argos removed your tracker so no one can find you.” I tell her. She’s still clinging to my hand and there’s nothing I can do except squeeze her hand letting her know that I’m here and nothing will happen to her again. I’ll fucking die first!
“Where’s my dad?” Fucking Thomas, we haven’t seen him since he snuck out of the house. “Is he okay?” She’s worried about him and that’s pure Lucy, always thinking about others.
“Yeah he’s with your mom right now.” Argos tells her and he technically isn’t lying as that’s the last place we tracked him too. Lucy doesn’t say anything, she just settles back into her seat and closes her eyes. “We’ll be at the safe house in about ten minutes. How are you feeling?” The worry in his voice gets me agitated, I hate that they have a connection now. That they bonded over lying to me. The thought has my temper rising yet again. As it does every time I think about what they’ve done.
“Ouch, Cash you’re squeezing to hard. Are you okay?” Lucy asks. I loosen my grip on her, pulling my hand away altogether. It’s good to see that she’s alive but knowing that she deceived me too, fuck. I thought Alexa lying to me was bad. This is a hundred times worse. “Cash?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just tired.” It’s not a lie. Over the past three months I’ve hardly slept. Revenge has been at the forefront of my mind, there was nothing else I wanted and sleep was irrelevant. Anytime I did sleep, I would be woken up by nightmares of Lucy dying.
“We’re here.” The announcement from Argos has me awake and alert. I must have fallen asleep, not that it was much of a sleep.
I let Argos and Lucy go ahead and enter the house. I need time to try and regain my head because at the moment I’m no good to anyone. I’ll be sarcastic and jump down both of their throats. I decide to empty the car and take the stuff into the house. We still need to get rid of this fucking car. I walk into the house and find Argos setting up his laptops and stuff. “I’ve emptied the car. Will you get rid of it?” I’m proud that I managed to keep the bite out of the request.
“Yeah I’ll do that now. It will give Lucy time to rest a bit and let you have a shower before we start to ask her about Raphael.” He replies as he takes the keys out of my hand with a smile and leaves the house; leaving me alone with Lucy. Right now, I don’t want to talk to her. In fact a shower sounds great.
The cool air hits my body instantly as I strip my clothes off. I turn on the shower and quickly brush my teeth. God, Lucy looks so good. I’d love nothing more than to run my hands over her body and fuck her so hard that we both see stars. But I know that if I fuck her anytime soon I could hurt her. I need to get some of this pent-up anger I have toward her out first.
I enter the shower. The scalding hot water cascades down onto my head and then onto the rest of my body. I place my hands on the cold tiles and let the water fall down onto me. I don’t know how long I stand like this, just letting the water beat down on my back, but I can’t move. It’s as though I’m stuck.
“Cash?” I hear Lucy’s voice through the fog I’m in and it pulls me out of my stupor.
I turn and face her glad that I’m able to move again. “I thought you were resting?” That came out a lot gruffer than I hoped. It seems the shower hasn’t helped my temper in the slightest.
“I was but I was worried about you. You’ve been in here for almost an hour now.”
Is that how long I’ve been in here for? Damn, I didn’t realize it was that long. “I’m okay. I’ll be out soon.”
She shifts her weight from foot to foot. “Umm, do you want some company?” She seems so shy right now and it reminds me of when we first kissed and how innocent she was.
“No Lucy, I just want to shower in peace.” She nods her head looking defeated and I don’t have it in me to care right now. She leaves me alone letting me finish having my shower. I’m such an asshole. I’m hurting her; I saw the defeated look she had when I told her I didn’t want her.
When I finally do come out of the shower I can hear muffled voices. Argos must be back. I leave the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my waist. “Why is he angry at me?” I hear the heartbroken voice of Lucy.
“He’s finding it difficult knowing that we both kept that you were alive a secret from him.” Argos tells her and I hear her muffled cry. I edge closer to the sitting room and see them hugging.
“Why is he so angry?” Lucy asks and seeing them together brings their betrayal to the forefront. “I don’t understand it.”
I’ve had enough of seeing them together. “Well aren’t we cozy!” I snap as I walk further into the sitting room.
They jump apart as if they’ve been caught doing something they shouldn’t. I can tell Argos realizes that he has overstepped the mark yet a-fucking-gain. “Lucy, Cash and I want to ask you some questions about Raphael.”
She goes a deathly pale color at the mention of Raphael’s name. “Wh…” She shakes her head and takes a deep breath; composing herself. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you know why nobody knows who he is?” I ask her as Argos rushes to his laptop. Probably checking out any information Lucy gives us.
“Yes, he told me that his mother was told that Raphael had died at birth. She was also the mole in the Gonzalez Cartel. Luis came to the US with their mother and Raphael stayed with his father.” She tells me but it leads to so much more questions.
“Who is their father? Why did he stay and not follow the family to the US?” So many thoughts swirling around inside my head.
“I may be able to help with that. I have found someone in Brazil who knows Raphael. He’s a hacker and is desperate to escape the clutches of the Gonzalez Cartel. I’ve finally managed to convince him to tell me what he knows and I’ve agreed to help him escape.” Argos informs me but I don’t even get into the fact that he’s playing with fire. Going head to head with the Cartel is a fool’s mission, one that’s going to get us all killed.
I wait for him to tell me what he knows. “The father’s name is Gabriel Sousa and he is the one who is in charge of trafficking the women between America and Brazil. Hence why he didn’t leave Brazil, he’s too important. A business in which both Raphael and Luis took over.” Fucking
hell. They have a family business in trafficking young girls, the sick fucks.
“Why did they take the mother’s name and not the fathers?” That comes from Lucy, but it was the same question I was about to ask.
Argos types away, seemingly talking to his new friend that’s going to get us all killed. “Okay, so although Gabriel is in with the Cartel, largely due to him bringing the Cartel girls to sell. He is generally hated as is the Sousa name due to Gabriel’s father Luiz. Spelt a bit differently than the asshole you killed but none the less the same name.”
Great, they’re all fucking psychopaths. “So, what did Grandpa asshole do to piss of the Brazilian people?” What could be so bad that the name Sousa is hated so much?
“The grandfather was known as O Assassino Estuprador. He used to rape and kill teenage girls in the city of Alagoas.”
Fucking hell, no wonder nobody wants to be associated with the Sousa name. “So being a rapist asshole runs in the family! Great and that fucker hasn’t finished with Lucy yet. The fucker calls her his queen!” I’m so sick of this fucking family; it would be a disservice to the world if I don’t end the bastard.
“Yeah and thankfully papa Sousa is dying, the man has stage 4 pancreatic cancer and it won’t be long until he’s dead. So, that will leave Raphael as the only living asshole. Until you get your hands on him that is and then it’s bye, bye raping bastards.” Argos actually waves as he says bye, bye.
“It won’t take me long to kill the fucker.” Just thinking about what he could have done to Lucy has my temper rising. “Find out where his hideout is, also what his plans are for when he’s in the US. I don’t want any more surprises from him!”
“I’m on it, as soon as I find out I’ll let you know.” Argos tells me and it’s his subtle way of telling me that Lucy and I need to talk. Something I don’t want to do right now as I know I won’t be able to be gentle with her.
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