Page 12 of Fighting for Scarlett

When she was rescued—if she was rescued—the wounds would leave scars. Scars that she would see every single day, a constant reminder of what she had lived through.

But as Raul strolled into the room, dressed impeccably as always, her hope died a little more. With every passing minute, her hopes for rescue seemed to disappear. Of course, she knew that Prey weren't miracle workers, and nobody had an exact location on Raul’s jungle mansion, but surely they would have found something by now.

Weren't they coming?

Didn't they care about her?

Were they going to leave her behind like everybody else always did?

“How are you today, Ms. Madden?” Raul asked, his tone polite, conversational, like she was his guest here.

With a weary sigh she met the man’s dark, soulless eyes. “We’re not friends, Mr. Castillo, and I'm not here voluntarily, there’s no need to pretend you care about anything other than the fact that I'm in pain. And yes, I can confirm that I am one whole throbbing mess of agony, and I'm sure it will be worse when you finish whatever you have planned for today. But as much as I hurt, I'm not going to give you the formula for the Reactivator.”

That much Scarlett was certain of.

If it came to it, she would find the strength to kill herself rather than give over the information the weapons dealer wanted.

“You offend me, Ms. Madden,” Raul said with a chuckle. “I am not always going to inflict pain, and any pain that has been inflicted so far was brought upon by yourself. You could have just told me what I wanted to know, and you would have been gifted a quick death once you created the drug for me.”

If that was an invitation to spill her guts, she wasn’t accepting it.

When she remained stubbornly silent, Raul continued, “Among other things, I am a collector. Yes, I deal in weapons, it is a lucrative living and one I enjoy. Besides the money, I find I enjoy the thrill and excitement of it all, the danger, knowing at any moment I could be caught or killed. But I have other interests and collecting unusual drugs is one of them. Your Reactivator is one I would relish having in my collection, but there are a few others that I find amusing. This one in particular.”

A nod at the man beside him had that man lifting a syringe filled with something clear. Scarlett didn't have to know that whatever was in that drug was something horrific. Something terrifying.

There was nowhere for her to go, though, when the man walked toward her and pierced the skin on her upper arm, pushing the plunger and administering whatever concoction the syringe contained.

“What did you do?” she asked, panic hitting her system with a massive dose of adrenalin. “What did you give me?”

Raul chuckled. “Pain isn’t the only motivator in the world, Ms. Madden. This beauty of a drug was given to me by a friend who works in a different trade. Flesh. Women. Sex. There are many men who enjoy it when a woman struggles, when she is not a willing participant. But many enjoy it when a woman begs and pleads for more, when she is insatiable, they love to feel her coming around them. Think of this drug as a large dose of arousal. I have yet to see it in action, but I have heard the reports. Women screaming and crying as they beg a man to have sex with them. I've heard they remain aroused for hours and that if their needs are not taken care of, it is extremely painful for them. How long do you think you will last, Ms. Madden, before you are pleading with my men to relieve your pain, to give you the orgasm your body craves even as your mind rejects the idea? How long until you are willing to offer anything to get some relief from the arousal coursing through your system?”

January 12th

5:48 P.M.

Where are you, little traitor?

Are we getting closer?

Tate was pumped high on adrenalin and anger as he and his SEAL team slunk through the Mexican jungle.

They’d been there for going on thirty-six hours and knew they were closing in on their target when they’d finally located a road.

Well, not so much a road as a track barely recognizable unless you were looking for it. But since he and his team were there looking for signs of a hidden mansion, they’d spotted it as soon as they’d gotten close.

Now they were following along parallel to the road while still maintaining hidden within the cover of the trees. If someone was monitoring the road, they’d be spotted, but Tate was banking on the fact that Raul Castillo thought he was safe tucked away out there.

Ego had been the downfall of many a man—or woman—who had crossed his path, and he had zero doubt that it would be the downfall of Scarlett Madden as well.

Chances were, she also believed she was safely hidden away out there.

Game’s up, sweetheart.

While he would love to be the one to personally destroy the woman who’d had him tied up in knots for almost three months, his orders were to retrieve her and deliver her back home. He was not to engage, he was not to confront her with what they knew because the plan was to try to get her talking once she was in custody. If he pushed too hard, she might be able to escape, but once she was cuffed and in an interrogation room, she would have no choice but to realize she was all out of options.

There was at least one good thing to come out of this mess, and that was Raul Castillo had officially become a big enough problem that it was time for him to be eliminated. Tate was hoping this was going to be a two-birds-with-the-one-stone kind of situation, and he’d walk away with both Scarlett and Raul, but the priority for this op was Scarlett.

They already had a read on Raul, but Scarlett was somewhat unknown. If she was willing to sell this drug, what else had she or would she be willing to sell? To work at Prey, you had to have a high security clearance, which meant she could have already, or been planning to, sell any number of secrets if the price was right.

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