Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Laila dragged in a ragged breath and forced herself to stop wallowing in self-pity. Trees was more important than heartbreak. More important than pain and humiliation. Even more important than her own existence. No matter how much this plan devastated them both, she consoled herself with the knowledge that at least he would be alive to turn his back on her.
Finally, she dried her tears. Then she forced herself to stop crying and accept what had to be done. Besides, she couldn’t go to Victor with puffy eyes and a red nose. He would be able to sniff out her scheme. As always, tears were a luxury she could not afford.
Her first priority was to ensure Victor consumed too much tequila and focused on sex. She would handle the rest.
“Buddy, you’ve got to lie down.” Matt pushed him back to the makeshift bed in the doctor’s back room.
Trees resisted, trying to vault to his feet. “Like hell. Laila is out there, under Victor’s thumb, and I—”
“Love her. And you’re worried about her. I know.” Matt shoved him back to the mattress, as if the guy knew he got dizzy and queasy every time he stood. “But you can’t help her if you don’t heal first.”
Trees cursed the limits of his body. “I also can’t help her if Victor kills her.”
“Given what I saw, he’s not going to.”
Trees hoped not, but the asshole sure could make Laila wish he had. That’s what worried him most. “How much fucking longer am I going to feel like shit?”
“I’m not a doctor and my Spanish sucks, but I’m pretty sure he said twenty-four hours. It’s been more like six. You’ll have to at least wait until morning.”
No. Fuck no. According to Matt, Victor had dragged her away from his prone form by her hair, and Trees could only imagine all the awful things that monster could do to her overnight. “It can’t. Get that quack back here and make him give me something for this fucking headache so I can go and—”
“You have a concussion. You need to rest. If I get the ‘quack’ back here, it will be to give you a sedative so your body has time to heal. Jesus…” He sighed, sliding the cowboy hat back on his head.
Trees wanted to bat the Stetson off and punch the bastard, but Matt had saved his life. And he probably wasn’t wrong. Still… “I’m losing my fucking mind worrying about her.”
“I know you think she’s a tiny thing who’s no match for Victor. But she made it six years with him. If he wanted her dead, she’d be dead.”
“Is it supposed to be better that he just wants to rape her?”
“No. There’s no good answer right now. But if you run to her rescue when you’re not up to the fight, then Victor will kill you…and she might be under his thumb forever.”
Trees tried to stifle his frustration. He heard Matt’s logic. He didn’t even disagree. Well, he wouldn’t if he wasn’t so fucking worried about Laila. Goddamn it. “Has anyone heard anything from her?”
“Let me check in.”
Matt disappeared down the hall with his phone, leaving Trees to pant against his pillow, feeling clammy and weak. He stared at the yellowing industrial ceiling, lamenting that the stitches in his ribs where the bullet had grazed him and the others at his crown where he’d fallen back on his head itched like hell. At least Matt had shot the son of a bitch coming at him with a blowtorch between the eyes, then dragged him to safety. Trees was grateful for that. He’d just be a helluva lot less agitated if he was already on the road finding Laila.
As much as he wanted to hop to his feet and track her down, he couldn’t even take a shower right now without his head throbbing and his stomach pitching.
Unfortunately, lying here for hours gave him nothing better to do than imagine all the ways she was suffering.
Matt returned a few minutes later, clutching his phone. “Good news. Laila reached out to Valeria via a gaming app.”
She must have gotten her hands on Victor’s phone. Laila might be a little thing, but she was crafty. She was a survivor. Hope buoyed him. “And?”
“She’s in one piece.”
“Does Valeria know where she is?” If it wasn’t too far, maybe he could muster the energy to jump in their rental and take off after her. After all, if he played this right, his gun would do most of the job. It wasn’t as if the world, especially Laila, would miss Victor.
“No.”
And there went his fucking hope.
“Even Laila doesn’t know where she is, except in a motel southwest of La Pesca.” Matt shrugged. “Sorry.”
At least he had a clue to start with. Trees grabbed his phone and launched his map app.