Page 6 of Velvet Deception

“Sofia, he always brings the meds on his way in when they call to say they’re ready for pickup.” Selena crossed her arms. “They just so happened to call too late for him to go that way.”

“What about Pamela?” I turned to look at her and found her scowling.

“Ialwaysdo the daytime pickups when they are called.” She rolled her eyes.

“Yeah. Because you like doing them. You like going there and looking like you’re one of them.”

She smirked. “Yeah, before I found Enrique. Before I got married.” She grinned at Selena. “No need to scope out the hot doctors anymore now that I got my husband.”

“But—”

Pamela shook her head. “And it’s going to be the first time I’ll spend Alborada as a newlywed, with my husband.”

Argh! Stop talking about your husband! We get it! You’re married!

“Why are you acting like this is some huge, horrible problem?” Selena asked. “You used to work at that hospital. It’s not like you don’t know your way there.”

Unbeknownst to her, yes, going to that hospital was a huge, horrible problem for me. Already, the mere suggestion that I return there was giving me too much panic to endure. When I was young and just starting as a nurse, a student at that hospital, yes, it was my workplace. It was also where the Cartel kidnapped me before forcing me to work on their compound for a while.

Going there would unleash all the trauma I’d been trying to lock up and never revisit. I didn’t want to be triggered by going back there ever again.

“Just be a team player,” Selena scolded.

Pamela nodded, waving at us as she turned. “I’m out of here. See you tomorrow.”

“But—”

Xavier groaned. “Stop making this a bigger deal than it is. You go there, get the meds, bring them here, and then take your whiny ass home.”

I glared at him, now angry, not annoyed. “I?—”

“Go, Sofia.” Selena shook her head and walked away for her office.

Gritting my teeth, I grabbed my purse and left. My fingers shook and trembled as I slotted my key into the ignition. My heart raced as I began the drive over there. Worst, though, were the utter panic and dread that sank in my stomach that was knotted and clenched.

“In and out.” I nodded after whispering to myself as I drove.

Numb in a form of PTSD, I didn’t jump or flinch at the booms of fireworks or the rat-a-tat-tat-tat of firecrackers on the streets. Short, rapid breaths puffed out of my mouth as I gripped the steering wheel and headed toward the place I planned to avoid forever.

If I told Selena, she wouldn’t have cared. None of them would. Sometimes, that was just how dog-eat-dog this world was.

“Just run in. Get the meds. And run out.” I exhaled a long, shaky breath at the memories of how I was taken.

“Just in and out.”

I recalled the screams. The panic—no, not panic. That was too mild of a term. The day the Cartel men came in and selected a handful of nurses to “recruit” was the day I learned terror. Bone-deep, soul-crushingterror.

“No. Not now.”

I couldn’t lock down into a paralysis from the memories.

“Just in and out. Then go home.” I had to shove back this fear and deal with it, do my damn job and go home. That was all thatmattered, but as I parked at the hospital and turned off my car, I shook with nerves that I would have to be here at all.

“In and out,” I whispered over and over again, like a mantra as I walked inside. I wouldn’t linger. I wouldn’t stand around and be accessible to anyone from the Cartel there. And they werealwaysthere. Surgeons were bribed. High-up doctors and department heads, especially the ones who seldom practiced medicine and stood around instead, were paid by the Cartel—allthe Cartels, because there were more than one besides the oldest one in operation here. Administrative staff were bought, too. Officials of all kinds. Corruption ran rife through the hospital, and that would never change. It couldn’t have changed since six years ago when I’d worked here and was taken.

All over the city, and further into the reaches of the outskirts. Hell, all the way to the jungle and beyond. The Cartel ruled, always. It was why I couldn’t stomach coming back here to work. It was why I had jittery nerves making me look like I was suffering from withdrawal as I walked inside.

The pharmacy was toward the west end of the building, and while it was slightly comforting that I knew where to go, I did all I could not to panic further on the way there.

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