Page 101 of Ruthless Vengeance
“Are you okay with this? The timing, I mean.”
Marco shifts beside me, and I look up to see him staring down at me with a look of disbelief on his face. “Are you kidding? This is the best news I’ve ever gotten.”
“But my course?—”
“You can still do your course. We’ll figure it out, Clara. We always do.”
I nod, though there’s still a little knot in my stomach.
It’s not just balancing school with a newborn and a toddler that I’m worried about. It’s everything else.
While this life that Marco has given me and Zoe has been a gift, I can’t help but see it as a curse.
I love him more than anything, yet the constant fear that I could lose him at any moment is almost too much to bear.
A buzz sounds nearby, and Marco reaches over the side of the bed for his pants.
I watch him closely as he pulls out his phone, noticing the way his brow furrows as he reads the message on the screen.
He might think I don’t notice, but I do. Something has clearly been bothering him, and I have a right to know what it is.
I press my hand against his back. “Marco. Talk to me.”
He glances over his shoulder at me, the muscles in his back shifting as he exhales.
“Whatever it is, I want to know. You promised that we wouldn’t keep things from each other.”
His dark eyes search my face, as if he’s mentally deciding whether or not to tell me the truth.
I refuse to look away. Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean he needs to shield me from the realities of his world.
Marco moves to lie back against the pillows, his eyes fixed on the ceiling as he exhales through his nose. “It’s Cillian. He called in the favor.”
I sit up slowly at the mention of Cillian’s name. “What kind of favor?”
Marco looks at me, and the flash of anger in his eyes makes me shiver. “He wants me and Andre to collect a group of women that were smuggled into the country and drive them to a secret location.”
“That’s it?”
“Supposedly.”
“Supposedly… So, you don’t believe that.”
Marco’s jaw clenches. “He said the women will be working off their debt.”
My stomach churns, and this time it’s not from pregnancy sickness. “You mean like sex work?”
He nods, his expression dark. “They have no choice, and Cillian said it could be anywhere between weeks or years until they’re free. But I don’t believe that for a second. I think once they’ve served their purpose, their freedom is not their reward. More likely, they’ll be disposed of in order to keep them quiet for good.”
“Oh, my God…” My hand flies to my mouth.
Marco’s fists are clenched tight. “Cillian sees them as currency. Nothing more.”
For a moment, I’m too stunned to speak.
Those poor women, scared and alone in a foreign country, forever indebted to someone like Cillian…
“Let me be there.”
