“It’s Gomes,” Regan says in a gasp.

Mendoza nods at one of his soldiers who holds a whip-like object in his hand. “Positive ID confirmed.” At the nod, the whip sails out and lands with a snap right between Gomes’ legs. Petrovich and I grimace while everyone else stands there like this is any other Saturday. Gomes’ screams ring out in the courtyard, scaring up birds and other small animals in the foliage. With a backward glance, I note that the five or so kids left on the soccer field are still motionless, as if they are in class learning exactly how to run a mercenary empire.

“Ask your questions,” Mendoza orders. Regan and Petrovich look to me. Scratching my head, I lean over—not too close because I don’t want the whip to accidentally strike me in the balls.

“Gomes, you look really uncomfortable.”

He’s sniveling; tears and snot are running down his face. It’s an ugly look for him. “Let me go,” he pleads. “I know nothing.”

“The thing is, we kind of know that’s a lie.” I give a nod to Mendoza, who relays the silent order to his whip man. The leather sails out, and now that I’m closer I see there is a granite ball at the end. It makes another thud as granite strikes granite, the small column of flesh doing little to cushion the impact. Even though I’m expecting the blow, I still cringe—but maybe that’s due to the high-pitched scream coming out of Gomes’ mouth.

As sadistic as this is, though, it’s the right punishment if you believe in the eye for an eye concept which Mendoza clearly ascribes to. Gomes is slobbering now. “Why Regan?” I ask.

He turns slightly, his eyes unfocused with pain. “Hudson likes blondes. They remind him of his wife. But this one, so mouthy. Hudson sends her to me for training.”

“Then what?”

He opens his mouth and then closes it.

“Bad choice,” I counsel and look up to Mendoza. The ball falls again and this time I’m prepared. I don’t think Gomes is though. We wait until the pain and screams subside, and I ask him again. “What happens when the girls are trained?”

“They go back into his compound. They serve as his companion until . . .” Gomes trails off, but we can all finish his sentence for him.

Mendoza waves his hand and the men disappear and the kids go back to kicking their soccer ball.

“There’s your way in,” he says with a pointed look toward Regan.

“No,” I shake my head. “Not happening. We’ll think of something else.”

“There is no other way,” Petrovich argues.

I look at Regan because right now she’s the only one who matters. I don’t want to leave my sister in the hands of Hudson, but I can’t send Regan back to be raped again. I won’t. There’s another way. I have to figure it out.

Regan

DANIEL ’S GOT AN AWFUL LOOK on his face. It’s the look of despair, of a man who’s backed into a corner and has no way out.

He can either send me in to Hudson’s hell in the hopes of getting his sister or he can forget about her. Either way, he’s miserable. He shakes his head again at Mendoza. “Fucking forget it, man. I just got Regan out of there. No way in hell am I sending her back to that sadist.”

The big Russian, Vasily, only looks over at me, as if waiting for me to interject. To him, I’m another playing piece, one that is obviously only useful on my back. He’s not wrong, though. I’m the one mucking up all the works, here. I’m the one who slowed Daniel down. If it wasn’t for me, would he already have his sister back?

“How long?” I ask.

“Regan, no,” Daniel’s voice is furious. “I’m not sending you back in to be raped—”

I move to his side and pat his arm, trying to soothe him. He’s practically bristling at my suggestion, and I know he hates it. “We didn’t come this far to turn around, Daniel. I can do this.”

After all, what’s one more rape in my logbook? I don’t say that out loud because I know if I do, Daniel will shut down entirely. I want to do this for him. For him and for his faceless sister who’s stuck in the same hell I was in for so long. I can’t let her stay there, just like I can’t let Daniel give up.

“Fighter, no,” Daniel’s telling me in a soft voice. He touches my cheek, oblivious to the eye roll Vasily is sending our way. “You don’t have to—”

“I know,” I say softly and bite the tip of the thumb he strokes across my lip. “But you’re going to come get me, right?”

“I’d fucking die before I left you in there,” Daniel says, and the intensity in his eyes tells me it’s the truth.

“Then we do this,” I say. I turn back to Mendoza. I’m still surprised to see that the man running this weird military compound full of families and children is young and handsome, but he could be on the cover of GQ. Well, maybe more like Guns and Ammo, but he’s still pretty. He’s thick with muscles and deeply tanned, his hair a dark buzz against his scalp. His eyes are this fascinating shade of amber I’ve only seen on models.

My friend Becca would eat him up.

Then again, fuck Becca.

Mendoza regards me for a long moment, waiting to see if I’m going to lose my shit. When I return his gaze, calm and easy, he nods. “A day at the most.”

“A day?” Daniel explodes. “A full day? No. Absolutely not—”

“What is plan?” Petrovich interrupts, his accent thick and calm. “Send her in with poison?”

I swallow hard. I’m supposed to kill someone? “I don’t know that I could do that.”

Mendoza cuts him off with a wave of his hand. “We can put a GPS on her. Send her in. Even if she’s immobilized, she’ll be placed in a location that hasn’t been discovered through my sweeps. I’ve sent in caterers, repair techs, pool people, but we can’t locate the safe rooms. I’m guessing they’re downstairs, but we haven’t been able to get down there. We’ve got the technology to make a map based off Regan’s movements.” Mendoza grins at me, and I return a weak smile. “I’ve wanted to shut it down for a while but have been waiting for the right moment. We will go in, fetch the women and the man you want to retrieve, come out, and destroy everything in our wake.”

I nod. “So I go in and try to get to as many places as I’m allowed, look for an American blonde named Naomi, look for a hacker, and sit pretty. I can do this.” I glance over at Daniel, but his face is like ice. He’s not happy, but he knows we’re stuck. “But if you send me in with Gomes, how do we know he’s not going to warn the others that it’s a trap?”

“He has a car, does he not?” Mendoza says. “We send you in his car with a note. Gomes said it’s Hudson’s birthday tomorrow. We send you in as a present.”

I shudder at the thought. “All right.”

“When do we do this?” Vasily asks. “Every hour we waste is another hour he can find out what we’re up to and slip away.”

“We start in the morning,” Daniel says. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner I get Regan out of there.”

I nod, concealing the trembling in my hands. I’m terrified, but it’s a risk we have to take. “Let’s do this.”

Daniel

THE PLAN IS SIMPLE BUT so flawed. There are so many things that can go wrong, but if we don’t let her go . . . There has to be another way, but if Mendoza’s men have been in more than once and can’t find the hideaway then sending Regan in with a GPS tracker might be our only chance.

I try not to make love to her that night like it’s our last time together. As I move my hand over the curve of her waist, down over the hill of her ass, to the hidden crease between her legs, I’m memorizing the path only because it’s beautiful and erotic and every man should have a physical memory like this. When I dip my head to her chest and suckle and bite the tender flesh as she grips my hair and breathes out my name like a benediction, I close my eyes and try to imprint this moment in my mind only because the soundtrack of my life should only be the soft cries of arousal followed by screams of completion.