Page 9 of Love Above Law

"Mi hermano?" she starts to lower the lamp.

Fuck she is breathtaking. Short, curvy, long dark hair, but it's her green eyes that render me speechless for a second.

Get it together.

I stride across the room toward her. Her eyes never leaving mine as I remove her weapon of choice from her grasp and toss it to the bed behind her. "Are you hurt?" I want to peel my eyes from hers to look her over, but an invisible force keeps me from looking away.

"No."

Taking her hand, I lead her toward the door, and she follows without hesitation. I look over my shoulder at her. "Stay behind me up against the wall." She nods, and we make our way out of the bedroom and down the hall. Her grip on my hand tightens as soon as we hit the stairs and she takes in the house full of officers with their guns. Kurt spots me.

"The house is secure, but we have a problem." He looks from me then to Leyna before settling his attention back on me. "Santino is dead."

"Shit. How?"

His eyes drop to my hand that still holds Leyna's and his brow rises. "It wasn't by the hand of any of our men. We found him lying in a pool of his own blood in the middle of his bed. Someone slit the bastard's throat while he slept." Leyna gasps beside me. My eyes shift in the direction she is looking. Her stare is fixated on the open front door and the dead man's body lying just outside

"Goddammit." My blood starts to boil. "And the rest of his men?"

"Officers found another dead body—a young male, on the floor in Santino's bedroom, and Kai has one in custody. The other guy we haven't been able to locate."

One of the local officers comes up and hands me a red folder. "You might want to look at this." His eyes shift to Leyna then walks away. Reluctantly, I let go of her hand, but she stays by my side. I flip open the file and read its contents—medical exam papers. My eyes roam further down the page. The words virginity still intact written in bold red ink. I flip to the next page. He was selling her—had sold her to the highest bidder. An overwhelming rage builds, and I feel myself wanting to kill the motherfucker all over again purely for my own satisfaction. I hand over the folder to Kurt who thumbs through it as well. I grab Leyna by the hand once more, then Kurt and I lead her out of the house.

"You know how this needs to go from here. We have to go back to the precinct. Several people are going to want to take her statement before she can be turned over to her family," Kurt tells me what I already know as he follows us outside. He looks down at Leyna. "You understand what I've just told Agent Taylor?"

Standing taller, Leyna addresses Kurt. "Si, I understand."

"Take her in." Kurt walks away and leaves me standing alone with Leyna. I turn to face her. "I won't leave your side."

6

Leyna

Cold and sterile with lousy lighting. That's how I would describe the room I'm currently sitting in. Imagine what an interrogation room looks like in one of those cop tv shows, and that's what this room reminds me of. Shaking my head, I cut my eyes over my shoulder to the two-way mirror behind me. I shouldn't even be here. I'm the damn victim for Christ sake. I was the one taken from my country; from my home. I was the one who was locked in a room staring at the same four walls for weeks with only my thoughts to keep me company. Those thoughts were of no comfort to me—especially the day after I saw my brother. That was the day my nightmare started. When Gabriel asked me if anyone had hurt me, I told him the truth, because at the time it had been. Did I believe Santino would get what he wanted from my brother and then hand me over? No. But I did believe Gabriel would get me out of that house.

It was the not knowing when, that was a tough pill to swallow. Then I figured as long as things kept on as they were, I'd be okay. For the most part, I was left alone. I mean dogs are given more attention than I was. I was more of an afterthought to those men until I received a cold dose of reality the next morning. Three men barging into my room, waking me from sleep. Santino, Hugo and the third was a man I had never seen in all my time being held at that house. The third man strode in behind Santino carrying a small black leather bag.

Closing my eyes, I rub the palms of my hands over my tired face and will myself to forget the humiliating ordeal. An incident I never mentioned to my brother in the few times I was able to speak with him. It was kind of hard seeing as my calls were monitored and lasted only a minute each time. I don't know how long I'm left sitting here in this room alone before a woman dressed in a button-down blouse and dress slacks walks through the door. She is taller than me standing at about 5ft 7in, has long wavy brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail and kind blue eyes. I also notice the badge clipped to the front of her belt. "Hello, Ms. Martinez. I'm Agent Stamos, but you can call me Zoe," she introduces herself taking a seat across the table from me. "Do you mind if I call you Leyna?" she asks in a friendly tone, and I nod. "First, Leyna I'd like to start by saying you are not in any trouble. You were brought here simply for us to question you, so we can hopefully put some of the puzzle pieces together." When I give Agent Stamos another nod, she continues. "Good. How about we start from the beginning."

"There's not a whole lot to tell. I came home from one of my tutoring lessons one day to find Santino and two other men in my house. He threatened my brother and me. I did what he asked. We got on a plane in Cuba, and he brought to Montana where he kept me in a room at the house you all raided earlier. I never had any contact with anyone unless it was Santino or one of his men. I was never allowed to leave the room," I tell the agent. I purposely leave out the part about Gabriel showing up with his friends. I don't know if that is something that will get my brother in trouble. Either way, I'm not willing to risk it.

"Did you at any time overhear Miguel Santino or any of his friends talk about their business? Anything about a shipment or woman?"

Fidgeting in my seat, I nod. "Once. I heard him talking to Hugo."

"Who's Hugo?" Agent Stamos cuts in.

"Hugo was one of the men who was with Santino the most. I guess he was his top guy. I'm not sure. I do know he was usually always wherever his boss was."

"Okay. This is good, Leyna. You're doing great. Now, what is it you overheard?"

Swallowing past the lump in my throat I continue. "I heard Santino order Hugo to—uh, keep his distance from me."

"Do you know why Santino would have given those orders?"

I shift uncomfortably in my seat because this conversation is heading down a path I don't want to revisit. Sucking in a deep breath, I decide to get it over with. Then once we finish, I can put it all behind me. "Hugo was a creep. His boss told him to keep his hands to himself. Santino mentioned something about me being pure and being worth a lot more than he thought. I had my suspicions as to what he meant by his words, but it wasn't until a week later when I was proven right."

"What do you mean? What happened, Leyna."