Page 58 of Velvet Deception

“No!” I lashed out at the two men who charged forward. One wrenched my arms off Ramon. The other hauled me back with one arm around my stomach.

“Mama!” Ramon was carried back, but he didn’t go easily. He reached his arms back, stretching to get hold of me again. He kicked and bucked, wiggling to get out of the thug’s grip.

Raw fury controlled me. I wasn’t able to think past the panic, but I didn’t need to. This was instinct. Fight or flight. Powered up with a shot of adrenaline, I shook and sweated as I fought to break free with all my might.

“I don’t think so,” Sebastian said with a long, slow drawl, sneering as he got in my face, stinking the air with his putrid breath. He reeked of booze, stale and stagnant. “You ain’t getting him back. You had him too long as it was.”

“Ramon!” I screamed it, resisting the men keeping me back.

They slapped me. They kicked me. One held me against his chest while I watched them carry my son toward the door. One hard lift of my knees got Sebastian right in the balls, and he reacted instantly. Smashing a baton down on my arm, he growled and cupped his crotch.

Pain radiated through my limb. I gasped, unable to breathe through the agony, but I kept my eyes open, gagging and heaving for air. I was sick, literally sick to my stomach, witnessing my son’s abduction.

“No!”

“You fucking bitch.” Sebastian winced as he walked. Drunk and too old to bounce back quickly, he staggered away. “You are not allowed to keep the Cartel’s son from us. He belongs with us.”

“No! He’s not yours!”

“He is.” Sebastian stopped at the door as Ramon cried for me outside, carried away.

My rapist looked me over, his drunk face contorted with disgust but also pride in having all the control here. “The staff at the clinic near the compound always reports to us. We saw youescape the compound, and as soon as you passed out in the jungle near that clinic, they told us. I knew. I always knew that you were carrying my child. I just never knew until now where you were hiding.”

Tears burned down my cheeks as I cried. My heart was splintered into pieces as this new reality hit me hard. Surreal, but not, I was forced to accept the truth that my worst fears had been realized.

They had my son.

All my efforts to hide him and keep him safe were in vain.

I’d lost anyway.

They were too strong, too skilled, too powerful in number to ever beat them in this battle.

“That boy is mine,” Sebastian declared, pointing at the open door where darkness filled the sky. “He is the Cartel’s. He has Cartel blood and is the bastard son of a boss.” He pounded his fist against his chest. “He belongs to the Cartel, bitch. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

They hit me again before dropping me.

I lacked the energy to get up and move.

Already, the rev of all the engines were roaring down the road.

I couldn’t run after them.

I couldn’t beat them and demand Ramon’s return.

I couldn’t do a damn thing but curl into a ball and know my life was over.

24

DIEGO

My side trip to that neighborhood turned out to be a bust. No one was hanging around there. No Cartel members were loitering in that area. At least, none of the ones I saw at that other park.

Driving around for a few more minutes, keeping a lookout for anything suspicious, I worried that I was doing nothing but wasting my time.

Sofia would be home soon, and I didn’t want her to worry when I was later than usual. Ramon should’ve been there with me already, ready to relax for the coming holiday.

No relaxation seemed to be in the works now. Instead, I had to go to the woman I loved and wanted to protect before I explained that her biggest enemy, her most-feared threat, was closing in on her.

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