"Who? Ricardo?" Anger fills me at just the mention of his name. I want to rip every fingernail off and break every single bone in his body, slowly, one by one, until there's nothing left of him.I want to fucking gut him and shove his entrails down his throat. But I can't, at least not yet.
"Yeah." Cora brings her hand up to cover her mouth, and then lingers it around her throat, a tell-tale sign that she's holding back from saying something.
"What's the whole story?" I ask her.
"What do you mean?" She keeps her hand near her face.
"I can't help you if you don't talk to me."
"I didn't ask for your help."
I close my eyes, exhale, and remember that I'm talking to a woman here, not some insolent man. Normally, I'd torture whatever information I needed out of the person without a care in the world, but I can't do that to her, nor would I even have the desire to. With her, gentleness is key, and when the time is right, assertive dominance.
"I'm not going to fight with you," I tell her. "I know you didn't ask for my help. That's not you, it's not what you do. You go through life doing for everyone else and put yourself last. That's how you got into this situation, isn't it?"
Her eyes well with tears and her nose twitches like she's doing everything in her power to hold them back.
It fucking rips my heart in two to watch her battle with herself like this.
"I couldn't let him kill my dad," she whispers.
"I understand." I gently squeeze her hand.
"I hate him."
"I know."
"I don't mean Ricardo," she says while folding into herself.
"Your dad?" I ask the question despite already knowing. Of course, she hates him. How could she not after he allowed her to take the fall for him? A father is supposed to protect their child, not throw them under the bus when things get hard. He should have never involved her. He should have done anything other than seal her fate to one of the worst men in existence.
I would have gripped the barrel of the gun and shoved it into my mouth if it meant sparing her from this life. Never in a million years would I have put her in danger. Clearly, he has to see the magnitude of what he's done?
I want to ask about her mother, I want to learn more about her condition and what type of treatment she's receiving from Ricardo's black-market doctor. But there's a strong possibility that Cora has been left in the dark for a reason, and that reason might be that her mother is already dead.
Ricardo is a sick and cruel man, and I wouldn't put it past him to have lost his leverage and manipulated Cora into giving herself over for no reason.
I'm going to have to do research myself, without betraying her, and figure out the truth of what's really going on. I can't help her if I don't have all the information, and if she doesn't want to give it to me, I'll go out and find it.
At least I have an ally in Alec. He's not good for much, but he's loyal to Cora, and that alone is a huge asset. It would be great if I could involve Miller, because his pull is significant since he's a prominent member of the community and has endless resources at his disposal.
Maybe losing Cora's trust is worth keeping her alive. I'd rather her live to hate me than die because I was afraid of losing her. It's a sacrifice I'll have to be okay making in order to keep her safe.
"I can't believe he went behind my back," Cora starts. "Not only did he lie about my mom being sick, but he kept it from me, and made some stupid deal with Ricardo. He barely spoke up when Ricardo offered to take me instead."
"He was probably in shock."
Her blue eyes stare into mine. "Are you justifying what he did?"
I shake my head. "No. But it's not an uncommon reaction to having a gun pointed at your head. People do unspeakable things when they're faced with death."
"I guess." Her shoulders relax.
"That doesn't make it right, though." I shouldn't have tried to rationalize it for her. That only made her retreat into her shell just as she was starting to open up about the situation. I need to tread lightly and understand that she and I are not the same person. We're very different and might not cope with things the same way.
I've been around death and violence and impossible scenarios my entire life—she's new to this, I have to remember that.
"What are the terms?" I attempt to get the conversation back on track.
