Page 6 of Wrathful King

Fucking five days!

“Do we know for sure that the Brazilian cartel has her?”

Dante cleared his throat. “Surveillance at the docks show her being loaded onto a boat. I traced ownership to Perez Cortes through a shell company.”

When I was done with Cortes, he would wish he was never born.

4

REINA

Low voices became louder. Terrified whimpers grew more frequent. I strained to hear the words over the wild beating of my own heart, praying to stay awake. Over the last week, I’d been in and out, unsure of my surroundings and my reality. I vaguely remembered trying to attack a man for running his hands down my inner thighs, screaming and clawing, then someone locking me up.

“To shield the men from temptation,” he’d said. Was it the man with bottomless eyes and the accent? Or was it someone else? I couldn’t remember, and frankly, I was starting to question what my mind conjured versus what was reality.

I tested my limbs and, to my delight, I could move them. I was no longer bound. I peered from under my lashes, not ready to reveal that I was awake and scared of what I might see. It looked like I was still separated from the other women. Except—heck yeah—the door to my cage was wide open.

Before I could celebrate, a voice halted my breathing and my movements.

“Romero and Amon will be looking for her,” one man said quietly.

Someone let out a throaty cackle. “Amon’s dead, so he won’t be looking foranyone.”

A sharp pain lanced across my chest.No. I refused to believe it. I hoped… for what? I hoped that, despite the odds, he’d survive two bullets to the chest.

“We have to get these women to Rio de Janeiro.” I’d been fucking kidnapped, and if those instructions were any indication, it was by the Brazilians. “From there, the women will go to Porto Alegre, and we can wash our hands of them.”

“You actually think we’ll be able to hide her from Romero and the Omertà?” another man responded with a heavy Hispanic accent. “Any of us?”

“We will, but they won’t be looking for us. They’ll go after the head guy. That’s Cortes’s problem, not ours. We did our part. Once we get to the port, Perez goes his way and we’ll go ours.”

“I can’t wait until we hit the fucking coast,” one of them muttered.

“Why didn’t we take a cargo plane instead of this fucking ship? We could have been in Brazil in a day. It’ll take three weeksminimumon a fucking boat.”

“Easier to smuggle flesh this way.”

“Fuck, it’s been a week and I still haven’t gotten my sea legs,” he complained. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to take it any longer.”

Oh my God! Hearing that I was part of flesh smuggling sent a fresh jolt of fear and adrenaline into my system. And these idiots were discussing seasickness like it was the most important thing in the world.

The sound of a hand coming down to slap a shoulder reached me. “This girl is worthmillions, and she’s the ticket to Romero’s seat in the Omertà. She’s the jackpot.”

The other guy chuckled darkly. “It makes sense that we’re keeping her separate from the rest of the herd.”

I gritted my teeth at their demeaning reference.

“So he won’t be putting her up for the Marabella auction at Porto Alegre?” I had no idea what that was, but I suspected if I wanted to stay alive, I’d need to stay far away.

“He will, but nobody’s getting her but Perez Cortes. He wants to make this girl his little toy.” He let out a menacing, hyena-like laugh while a shot of anger pumped into me at the man’s callous words. “It’s better this way since we’ll get top dollar for her. I can buy my own goddamn private island after I get paid.”

“We’re going to need it to survive while Romero and the Omertà are still around,” the other muttered.

“Don’t worry, Romero’s on his last leg. And the rest—”

A derisive snort completed the statement. It didn’t sound good—for anyone in the Omertà. Jesus Christ, I was in really deep trouble. My nose tingled as I fought the urge to weep. I barely managed to swallow down the sob clawing its way up the inside of my throat.

Deep breaths, Reina.