“I have my reasons, and you’ll find them out soon enough, but not until you tell me what I need toknow.”
He could sit there all day if he needed to; she was his sole focus andmission.
Her heated gaze slid from his, and her entire demeanor shifted into that of a pouting child. At any other time this type of reaction would have just pissed him off, but not after what she’d been through. He kept quiet—he knew Tomi’s signals and she was about totalk.
“I was supposed to be in Mexico right now, sitting on the beach sipping margaritas with myfriend.”
Cole’s ears perked up at the word friend. “Goon.”
“I left my passport at home. I stumbled across something I shouldn’thave.”
“Would you care to explain further?” He felt like he was pullingteeth.
She started twirling her thumbs together in her lap and shifting in her seat. “I thought it was just a party, wild, but you know—a party. Anyway, it wasn’t. There were women there, but they didn’t want to be there and the men…the men were making them do things. I had no idea. I mean, I thought it was a play party atfirst.”
Her halting words tumbled to a jerky stop, and she tucked herchin.
“And you’d been to a play party before?” Cole asked in a quiettone.
Her gaze shot to his. “Not likethat.”
The instant rush of jealous rage took him off guard. Images of strange men with their hands on Tomi’s bare skin floated around his mind. Cole curled his fingers into a fist. He had no right to be jealous. Tomi had been free of him for years, and he of her. His reaction wasn’t logical, but there was no denying it. Still, acting like a jealous lover wouldn’t help either of them right now. “How did you know the women didn’t want to bethere?”
“Because some of them were screaming. Others were fighting to get away. They were being forced into sex acts in front of everyone.” Her voice sounded haunted and far away, and he knew talking about that night had brought her back toit.
99% of the world’s population was completely unaware of the horrors that were happening right under their noses. In their neighborhoods and their towns. Tomi had crashed headlong into that seedy 1%. If only he could have spared her that. “Wereyou?”
“I told you, no. No one touched me.” Her lips trembled, almost as if she wereashamed.
Cole wanted to reach across the table and take her into his arms. Instead, he watched every nuance of her expression. “Why?”
If the other slaves had been used before being sold at auction, there was no reason Tomi hadn’t been. Was she lying out of shame? And if that were the case, there would be no corner on this planet where Luis could run from Cole’s wrath. He wouldn’t lock that sucker up in federal prison—he’d rip his insides out with his barehands.
“I knocked out the one guard who tried to touch me. And then Luis didn’t want to damage the merchandise. He said he had someone special in mind for me, and he ordered his guards to keep me locked up in aroom.”
“The Frenchman.” Dammit, her story was falling too close toStahl’s.
“What?”
“Nothing, keep going. You say Luis like you knowhim?”
“I worked for him for almost a year. I was his son’snanny.”
“Since when are you a nanny?” They hadn’t seen each other since they were practically kids themselves, but Tomi had never struck him as the overly responsible type. Or the kind of women who had the patience forkids.
“What’s that supposed to mean? You think I’m not good enough to take care of achild?”
That stubborn tilt was back to her chin. Cole knew he’d stepped on the wrong side of her red line. “Not what I meant at all.” He held up his hands in surrender. “I just never pictured you withchildren.”
“Just because you couldn’t picture me with kids doesn’t mean I didn’t want any.” She threw the words at him like a well-aimed barrage ofbullets.
“Tomi, we’re not here to talk about kids. We’re here to talk about the auction.” He put some force behind his words to try to drag her back to the conversation they needed tohave.
“Okay Cole, let’s talk about Luis and his slaves. Why were you there?” Her entire demeanor shifted. She threaded her fingers together and planted her elbows on the table, leaning toward him. There was an earnest look in her eyes. An entreaty. But he couldn’t give her the assurance he knew she needed from him. Not after what Stahl hadthreatened.
“That’s not what we’re talking about. What do you know about Luis’soperation?”
“Exactly what I told you,” she fired rightback.
