Page 66 of Rogue Voice

“Don’t lose your courage now, sweetheart. You were doing so well.”

“I’m not your sweetheart,” she spat out.

Roberts’s fingers tightened against her arm, causing her to whimper in pain. “Emiliano would prefer me not to damage you, but he will forgive me for doing so. So don’t tempt your luck.Sweetheart.”

Bea’s heart stilled. For a moment, she was sure she would throw up all over the man’s dress shoes. “You … you know my uncle,” she panted.

Roberts took advantage of her momentary confusion to shove her unceremoniously into the back of the vehicle. He buckled her in quickly, then pulled her hands up and proceeded to handcuff her to the grab handle.

Bea gasped, struggling to breathe through her panic. She struggled to believe what had happened—how just a few minutes earlier she’d been complaining of boredom. She’d ordered a burger. And now …

Room service.Room service will come and find Dark.They’ll help him. They’ll call the rest of the team.

Relief hit her, then, and suddenly she could breathe again.

“You think your friends will come save you,” Roberts said, those expressionless eyes of his staring at her as he maneuvered his way carefully out of the narrow parking spot.

“Are you working for my uncle?” she asked. They were outside the garage now. She made herself tall in her seat, in case there were cameras, knowing Rogue would come looking for her.

The man’s lips stretched into a thin smile. “Work for him? What an interesting way of putting it. No, I don’t workforhim. Imadehim.”

What?

“Years ago, you see, I saw how your father treated his brother. And I saw what nobody else saw. I saw how badly Emiliano wanted more. So when the time came, I warned Emiliano that the DEA was coming. Thanks to me, he was able to get away. He was able to rebuild.”

Understanding dawned.

“You helped him infiltrate the US market. That’s how he was able to do it so quickly.” She knew that was one of the things that had bothered Rogue and the team. How quickly Emiliano had been able not just to rebuild, but to expand.

“You catch on quickly,” Roberts said. He drove confidently along the side of a canal, one hand on the steering wheel, the other hand on the stick between the two front seats.

Smothering a cry of pain, Bea pulled hard on her wrists, but the grab handle didn’t budge.

“We would have been just fine if your uncle had stuck to the plan. But no, he got greedy and fell into Rogue’s trap.”

“Your trap.”

“Right. Well, I didn’t find out what was going on until it was too late. When I was first asked to approach Rogue, I thought it was safe to do so. I was sure nothing could drag him back to Colombia.” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “But people always do the unexpected. I got back from holiday, andthere he was, stirring the hornet’s nest. By the time I was able to warn Emiliano, it was too late.”

“Back at the hacienda. After the wedding, he was going to kill Rogue.”

Roberts nodded, unconcerned. The thought suddenly struck her that maybe he’d hurt the others as well. That maybe he’d hurt Rogue.

“Where is Rogue? Is he okay?”

Roberts barked out a laugh. “He’s fine. Probably still circling around, making sure nobody’s following him. Taking every precaution, the fool. Except I already knew where you were.”

“Why would you do this? You’re meant to be one of the good guys.” She felt like sobbing.

“For the money, of course,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. As if it were obvious. He sighed. “We were going to conquer Europe. It was going to be so beautiful. Now, it’s all about damage control. Unfortunately for you.”

The car turned a sharp corner. Bea’s head slammed against the window, hard enough to make her see stars.Don’t pass out.You can’t pass out now.

30

Rogue

Rogue looked down at the stain on the carpet, where Dark had been lying in a pool of his own vomit when they found him.

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