Page 65 of Velvet Deception

“I just wanted some time…”

“Cool. Cool. I get it, man.”

“But I’m done.” I licked my lips and heaved out a deep breath. “Can you take me to the compound?”

“On this?” He raised both brows as he gestured at his bike. “I was just going to move it to more shelter.”

“Yeah, on that,” I said.

“Now?” He screwed up his face with a grimace. “After the rain passes, yeah.”

I stepped forward and lifted my arm to punch him. Anger was taking precedent. I had no idea what the Cartel viewed me as, ifManny saw me as someone to listen to, fear, respect, or dismiss, but I wasn’t in the mood to stall and fuck around.

“Whoa. All right. Fuck, you’re a dark ray of evil. You always get what you want, huh?” He smirked, though, and it took some of the sting out of his comment that I wasn’t sure how to interpret. Was he mocking me? Praising me? It didn’t matter. He sighed and wheeled the bike out into the rain.

“Well, come on, then,” he muttered, already sliding his sunglasses over to cover his eyes. It wasn’t sunny, but I bet he would use them as protection from the water.

He got onto the seat and scooted up. I didn’t waste a second to follow up on it after him.

Without asking me if I was ready, he started the engine then revved it. I lowered my hands to my sides. I swayed, rolling and tilting with him.

I just knew.

More muscle memory came through for me, making me understand that I’d done this before.

I’d been on bikes before. I’d driven them. Seated on the vibrating growl of the engine beneath me, hearing the roar in the wind, I found another missing piece of myself that had been out of reach.

The further Manny drove into the outskirts of this poor area, I saw more and more. And I recognized the terrain. I fell into the ease of familiarity, and I understood that this was land I’d been in before.

It came back to me faster and faster. With every turn and bend Manny took, cutting us through the rainfall, I saw more evidenceof land and stretches of places I’d visited before. Seeing it all was the link to unlock the memories in my mind, and my mental map was filled in, not blurred or hazy, but sharpening with detail.

I’ve driven on this road.

I’ve been in this area many times…

Once he reached the gate, he lifted his arm in a gesture to someone—or a camera—to be granted access into the area walled off and separated from the rest of the world with tall, wired structures.

The compound.

I was stunned, speechless and in awe. Not of the sight of the large area with many buildings. But in awe of the process of finding more missing and locked-up pieces about myself.

This is the compound.

I’d been here many times, yet I didn’t know why. I couldn’t be an enemy, not if I was granted passage through the gate with Manny. I couldn’t be a friend, not if I harbored a resentment toward that other man, Antonio.

Too many things didn’t add up, but the more I passed and the more I saw, I felt stronger and more confident that I was being triggered to recognize all these details.

The tall warehouse. The smaller housing units. The palatial mansion.

Manny circled the front drive that spanned around the mansion’s front. When he turned toward a parking shelter, I knew exactly where I wanted to go.

If Ramon was taken by the Cartel, if he had been brought here, he’d be in the…

Dungeons.

They weren’t dungeons in the sense that no castle was standing here. They weren’t dungeons like dug-out holes in the earth. But I was aware that holding cells and enclosures waited here in that low building toward the back.

Manny stopped the bike and shook his head. Water flung everywhere, but I wasn’t sitting around and waiting for a tour or explanation. I had to understand my connection to the Cartel, but that would only matterafterI found Ramon and got him out of here. I ducked out of the spray of water from Manny’s shake and stepped to the side. I ran my hands back through my hair, shoving the water away so it wouldn’t drip in my eyes.

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