Page 51 of Rectify

Never.

8

“What do we do now?” Natalya asked anxiously as she walked into the living room the following morning. Diego had sent her a text the night before with the name of the man her cousin was seen with—Luis Perez. He was a captain in the ELO.

The thought of Mateo in the ELO’s hands felt like acid in her stomach.

“No sign of your cousin anywhere. She hasn’t touched her bank account. She’s probably already over the border,” Tanner told her. “We’re probably going to need Diego’s help to find her.”

“I don’t know if we can rely on him to help,” she whispered, terrified. Diego had made it perfectly clear that this was all on her.

They started discussing ways they could track María down. How could she do this to Natalya?

Her phone rang, startling her.

With a shaking hand, she grabbed the phone from where it sat on the coffee table.

“Hello?” she answered.

Diego’s cold voice blasted into her ear. “I just received a ransom demand.”

“What? How much?” Hope surged through her. If they wanted money, then it would be in their best interests to keep Mateo alive.

“Put him on speaker,” Tanner urged, grabbing a notepad.

“Can I put you on speaker?” she asked Diego.

“Who’s there?” he asked suspiciously.

“Umm, Aedan, Rogan, and three members of the investigation team.”

There was a moment of silence.

Mierda! Come on, Diego, time’s ticking.

Just as she was about to snap, he spoke. “Fine. Put me on speakerphone.”

She shakily turned on the speaker, then placed it on the coffee table. “How much is the ransom?”

“Someone sent a letter to my home address, along with a burner phone.Idiotas de mierda!Who sends shit in the post?”

“Someone who doesn’t want to be traced,” Samantha suggested.

“Who is that?” Diego asked sharply.

Natalya shot Samantha a warning look, and Tanner waved at her to be quiet.

“One of the investigative team,” Natalya told him.

“I’m trusting you, Natalya,” he said, his voice harsh. “Don’t betray me.” She’d always been a bit afraid of Diego. Anyone with half a brain would be. But that fear had faded over the past year. She’d do well to remember just how dangerous he could be. Crossing him could be fatal.

“Diego,” Rogan spoke up. “This is Rogan MacGuire. I can vouch for everyone in the room.”

Diego was silent for a long moment. Natalya turned to give Rogan a grateful look.

“They want ten million in exchange for Mateo,” Diego finally said. “Like I’m going to just hand that over to them. We ousted them because they betrayed us. Now they think we’re just going to roll over for them?”

Ten million?

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