Page 74 of Embedded
I just couldn’t hold back any longer. Waiting for him to show the side he was trying to hide was wearing thin. “I was thinking how you just ruined lobster for me.” I reached for the wine glass and took a long sip while I studied his sour expression.
He speared a shrimp. “As I said, you will learn to love this place. You will enjoy it here as much as I do.”
“I doubt that.”
He rested his arm on the table, and I knew I was getting under his skin. Why did I continue to hasten my demise? “This is your home, Nicole, our home.” Wow, the man was insane. “These will be our evenings. Yours and mine. You can fight it all you want, but you’re not going anywhere. I enjoy having you by my side.”
“Time will tell.” I set my glass down. “I have escaped you before.”
He licked his lips, and I saw his effort to restrain himself. “This property spans many miles. We have horses, goats, chickens, and donkeys. We grow avocados, peaches, lemons, and nuts.” He smiled like I should be impressed.
“Yes, and all by using enslaved workers. The life of the Cartel getting rich off the backs of your own people.”
“The poor, you mean. Who do you think gives them work so they can feed their families? They would have nothing if it wasn’t for people like me.” He waved a hand to dismiss the topic. “This is where I spent much of my childhood. It holds a special place in my heart, and I know in time it will for you too.”
That was laughable. “Bruno, I shot you in the foot, helped get that child you wanted out of Mexico, and yet I’m sitting here at dinner with you. You’ve never gone back on your word. You said you were going to kill me, so why aren’t I dead?” That certainly addressed the elephant in the room.
“You continue to push me Nicole,” he hissed but raised a hand when Armondo stepped toward me.
“Down, boy.” I smirked at him, and Armondo shot me a warning look. Suddenly, it came to me. I remembered the conversation Bruno had with Eric Noah and how he said something about Armondo that had made them both look at him. There was something there. I sensed Eric wasn’t a fan of Armondo either. Huh. Archie wasn’t the only one I was going to go after.
Anger flashed over Bruno’s face, then it was replaced by a sinister look. “I thought about killing you,” he cut into his lobster meat, “but what I have in store for the northern soldiers will be much more enjoyable to watch along with you.”
I thought about how I should react and what he wanted from me, so of course I did the opposite. I held up my wine glass in a toast. “To the epic downfall,” I stopped talking until he picked up his own glass to tap mine, “of the Perez family.” His face fell at that, and I knew I was testing how important it was to him to keep me alive for whatever he had planned.
He glanced at one of the soldiers, who had cleared his throat at my comment. The man instantly looked down at his boots. “Your life is now mine now, Nicole. There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide where I can’t find you.”
“Because of this?” I slid my leg out and showed off my tracking bracelet.
“Because of that, and the cameras, security, electric fences, etcetera.”
I chuckled darkly. “If you have all of that, then why the ankle bracelet?”
“Think of it as a collar around my precious bitch’s neck.” He grinned behind his wine glass, and I felt sickened by that.
I moved my attention beyond the torches to the open stretch of land I’d hoped would, in time, hold some sort of escape, but the flames reminded me of an invisible wall, a fence of heat like a cage without bars.
The snap of his lobster shell brought my gaze back to the table. He’d gone back to concentrating on his food. I pushed mine around the plate, feeling nauseated. My mind went to the mission. I was here to gain information, and I couldn’t lose sight of that.
Blackstone were smart enough to track me down. I just needed to give them a direction to look somehow. I knew the Perez territory expanded over hundreds of acres of Mexico. It would be highly unlikely that Blackstone could narrow down where I was within six days without something to go on. I needed to focus.
I pushed that problem aside for the moment and decided to do what I could with the rest of the evening. I needed to do what I did best. I needed to trip him up. Bruno was reckless with his temper. He wasn’t quick in the head. I decided to ask him a few questions to try to change direction.
“You said you spent a lot of time here as a boy. Was that with both of your parents or just with your mom?”
He looked out at the property beyond the torches. A clap of thunder boomed above us, and he answered as he studied the sky. “Just my mama.”
“Why can’t I go to the west wing of the house?” I threw that in quickly.
He paused. “Because its off limits.”
“Is there anywhere else I can’t go?”
“No, but you’ll never be on your own, so don’t worry about boundaries.” He pointed to his men. “They’ll set you straight.”
“You mentioned horses. Do you ride?”
He glanced up at my change of topic and went back to eating.
