As much as she wanted to get out of the room, she understood why Cass wasn’t telling her how to do it. “If they wanted to use me, they should’ve taken me and not Isaac,” she argued.
“True, but Isaac got you to safety, and until I can get some of the guys over there to help you, it’s safer for you to remain where you are.”
“How long will that be?” She slumped down on the floor, her back against the wall near the door.
“Deal and Hound are on their way to get you. Everyone else is headed for the office where we’ll monitor everything.”
Marie noted that Cass didn’t say how long it would be before they got there, all she hoped was that it didn’t take too long. She also wanted to keep Cass on the phone, but if the other woman had to get to the office, she wouldn’t be able to talk to her and work at the same time. Marie assumed she was working from a home office, she couldn’t be at the office yet. Thenagain, Marie had no idea what time it was. She’d been jolted awake and ushered into the room she now sat in. “Okay. I’ll let you go. Thanks for picking up, Cass.”
“The guys are five minutes out, I can stay on the line with you until they get there. Or I can get one of them to call you and walk you through everything they’re doing.”
Oh how she wanted to take Cass up on the offers, and there was no reason why she shouldn’t, Isaac would want her to do that. He’d have to have known who was going to pick up and the outcome of her calling. Yet, she didn’t, she needed to let everything that happened sink in and deal with it, so that when Hound and Deal arrived, she would be able to be in control and answer any questions they had. “No, it’s fine. I’ll be okay. You go do what you need to do. It’s not like I’m going to be going anywhere,” she finished with a short, sharp laugh.
“It’s going to be okay, Marie. We’ll get you safe and we’ll get Isaac back.”
“I know you will.” Marie ended the call, and the phone slipped from her fingers to the ground in a muffled clatter.
She rested her head against the wall, closing her eyes and sending a silent prayer up that Isaac would be okay.
I’m in love with you too, I’m not going anywhere.
Isaac’s words echoed in her mind, and she grasped onto them like they were a lifeline. In all the turmoil of phoning for help, she’d forgotten about telling Isaac she loved him and him telling her the same.
She hadn’t meant to blurt out that she’d fallen for him. It had been the last thing on her mind, but the urgency of the situation had the words erupting from her. She’d even made it sound more like a joke than how deeply real the feelings she had for him.
Had he meant it when he said them back to her? Or had he said those words just to make her feel better?
No, everything about his declaration was real. If she knew Isaac at all, and she believed she did, he didn’t say things that he didn’t mean. Through this whole situation he’d been truthful with her. Whenever anything changed he told her what was happening. He’d never kept anything from her, so if said he was in love with her then it was true.
Marie pulled those words close, allowing them to fill her with joy. He loved her and she loved him. Deeper than she’d loved Joe. This love was different because it was pure. It was meant to be. As hard as going through a divorce had been, that sense of failure that had dogged her for years, it had all been worth it because it had given her Isaac.
And she wasn’t going to lose him.
She may not be with him, but she would remainstrong and believe that together they’d be able to find him. Marie knew Cass wouldn’t ignore any avenue. She would look everywhere for Isaac, and when Marie got to Alliez’s offices she would do whatever she could to assist them in bringing Isaac home. Safe and sound and whole.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The punch should’ve hurtIsaac, but he was beyond the point of feeling. His right eye was swollen shut, and he was sure he probably had a broken eye socket. His left cheek bone was more than likely, also fractured, and it wouldn’t be long before his left eye ended up as swollen as his right one. It was becoming difficult to breathe as his ribs crunched from yet another heavy blow.
His arms were trussed up above his head, and it took all his willpower and strength to keep his head up and not flop down against his chest like he wanted to. To do so would give them the satisfaction of knowing they were breaking him.
“Do you know why you’re here?” Viktor Koznovic asked. The Russian mobster had been in the human trafficking business with Gomez Ramirez, thebusiness Isaac had a hand in dismantling before it could fully take off. Although he doubted that would’ve stopped Viktor, the Russian would have numerous other associates that could fulfil his needs.
“No idea.”
Viktor walked up to him, dismissing the men who’d beaten him with a wave of his hand. He waited until they were alone before he dug a knife into the fleshy part of Isaac’s thigh. He cried out as red-hot pain coursed up and down his leg. “You’re being very stupid Javier Cortez, or should I say Samuel Rodrigo or maybe Isaac Warner.” He pulled the knife out, and Isaac bit his lip until he tasted blood to stop himself from crying out again and giving Viktor the satisfaction of acknowledging how much it hurt. “I don’t know what to call you. You seem to have so many names. So who are you? What shall I call you?” He wiped the bloody knife with a white handkerchief.
Isaac kept his mouth shut. He’d been trained to withstand torture. He’d also handed out his fair share of it as well, but he was almost at his limit and he had to hang on for a little longer.
He believed with everything in him that Marie would’ve called the emergency number and had gotten someone from Alliez, most probably Cass. The computer whiz would be doing everything in her power to find him.
However long that took he would make himself last. He would deal with every punch, kick, or knife wound Viktor wanted to inflict on him, because he had someone to fight for. Someone to hang on for, and he had no plans to let Marie down. He wanted a life with her and he was going to have it.
The fact that Viktor knew his Samuel alias, confirmed that somehow, some way, Alfredo Vargas was involved in Viktor’s organization, whether it be supplying him with drugs, or young women. Quite possibly Alfredo was doing both and had informed Viktor that he was alive. Some way Alfredo must have recognized him, even though he looked completely different from his Javier Cortez persona. Unless he cornered Alfredo, he wouldn’t know what gave him away, but when he got out of this, he would find a way to make Alfredo regret that he had.
Isaac grunted when another blow landed in the middle of his stomach. “I asked you a question!”
For a man who ran a large human trafficking ring, Viktor lost his temper quickly and easily. Maybe that was what made him so successful, people were too afraid of the consequences of making him angry, so they did what he wanted.
