Page 58 of Their Virgins Secret

There was a tense atmosphere pervading the hangar, but Delgado seemed to have calmed down. Having little choice, Jessa opened her eyes. She would have preferred to play possum for a while longer, but she was freezing. And the drugs they had given her made her head ache.

She sat up, a dizzy feeling taking over. She was inside the plane, but she could see the lights in the hangar from the small windows. Delgado sat across from her, a glass of amber liquid in his hand. He seemed perfectly comfortable. Just a businessman about to go on a trip in style.

God, if she didn’t do something, this was the end. She wouldn’t see her baby again. He would grow up, and he would forget her face. She would be a ghostly vision in photographs, a simple image who wouldn’t mean anything to him. He would have another mother figure. Tears squeezed from her eyes. Her baby. She would give anything to hold him one last time, to feel his hands patting her cheeks, to rub her nose against his.

She had to trust and pray that if Cole and Burke were still alive, they’d take care of her son. Oh, she wasn’t giving up. Jessa intended to fight until the bitter end. But at the moment, the odds for an escape tonight weren’t looking good. And if Cole and Burke weren’t alive… God, that thought was too painful.

“Are they alive?” She had to ask.

The last thing she could remember was the world lighting up around her and thunder cracking through the room. Cole and Burke had tried to get to her, protect her. She’d reached for them, but her ears had been ringing and her vision had been blurred. And then she’d felt the sharp stab of the needle entering her flesh. Nothing after that.

Delgado took a long sip of his drink. “Yes. Though I doubt they’re happy about it right now. I can only imagine the terror they feel. It is horrible to know that your loved one is in danger when you know where to find them. I imagine the terror is a million times worse when you do not know where your loved one is. ”

He smiled, seemingly satisfied with the pain he was causing. Jessa breathed a sigh of relief. Burke and Cole weren’t dead. They would look for her. She might not trust them with her heart, but they wouldn’t let her down in this. They were heroes. They would never stop until they found her.

Delgado’s plan chilled her to the bone. She’d heard him talking to his guards while she’d pretended unconsciousness. She would be sold, used. Something she’d only done in a loving fashion would be forced on her by men she didn’t know. After hearing what Alea had gone through, terror filled her. But she would survive somehow. She vowed to stay alive until they found her.

Then she’d see her son again. No matter how long it took. No matter what she had to endure.

And she wasn’t taking shit from this asshole.

“You know a lot about causing pain. The women you sell into slavery have families, you know. ”

He stopped in the act of drinking, his hand freezing in midair. It tightened around the glass, and then he set it back down. “You have a very narrow view of the world, Miss Wade. This is the way it works. The strong use the weak. You can be a predator or you can become prey. My father taught me that. You are a lovely woman. Your only mistake was choosing weaker men. The Lennox brothers think they can change the world, but I’m going to show them that the world does not wish to change. The world has worked as I have explained it since man first walked upright. It will work this way long after I am gone. ”

Delgado clearly believed it. It made her sick. “I’m not interested in your lecture. I’m sure you have a hundred intellectual reasons to excuse your bad behavior, but I don’t care. I’m not buying your crap. The world isn’t always that way. There are some people who genuinely care and want to help others. Those people would be appalled and horrified by you. ”

“They are nothing to me. I don’t care. ” His perfectly coiffed head shook. “You are so naïve. No one cares. ”

“Burke and Cole do. ” They had fought against this man. The fight might have taken them away from her, but they had saved women and put families back together. They had done good. How much more could they have done if they’d had more help? A whole team and a huge pool of resources? What could a foundation do? They were soldiers. They wouldn’t think about things like that. But Jessa had grown up in a world where money made a difference.

What if her money, her connections, could help bring women out of their dark prison and back home?

“I’m going to take you down, you know. ” Tears blurred her eyes, making the world seem watery, but she found an odd strength. She was here. The worst was yet to come, and yet she felt strong, powerful. He could do what he liked to her, and she would still fight. Her cause was just, and she wasn’t some woman who lightly accepted what fate handed down. She rolled with life, made changes as necessary. She had walked away from wealth because the cost was too high. She’d given birth to a son alone. Some people in her life loved her. She was worthy, and no one could convince her otherwise. And she wasn’t going down without a fight.

Delgado threw back his head and laughed. “I love the spirited ones. You’re like beautiful horses, you know. I love to ride. My father spent many hours teaching me. He believed that the stubborn horses made for the best ride. I will teach you, too. I will break you. ”

“You will try. ” It wouldn’t work. She would close her eyes and dream of Burke and Cole. She vowed it. When someone touched her, she would divorce from her body and reach for them in her mind. She would shut out the pain and be with them. She would survive.

He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “I will win. ”

She pulled the blanket around her and glanced around the plane. It was small, with only six seats in the body. Gavin James’s plane had been larger, but the layout similar. The door at the back was open. An armed man, leaning against the wall with eyes half closed, blocked the staircase leading down. She could see the inside of the hangar by looking out of the three small windows. They made a mural of the world outside, but not a whole picture. How many men lay between her and freedom?

Delgado sat across the aisle, beside her. She could see the gun on his belt. Besides the guard at the door, she could also see two others walking outside the plane and the pilot in a folding chair, reading a magazine. The guards patrolled the area, but there was a relaxed feel to the operation. One sort of shuffled along, and the other stood just inside the hangar door, smoking a cigarette. They believed they’d already won.

She watched, wondering if they would all be on the plane when it took off or if some would stay behind. She hoped for the latter. She was studying the man smoking just inside the hangar when the door opened slightly, just a foot or so, and the smoking man disappeared into the night.

Not as if he’d walked into it, but like he’d been taken.

She sat up straight, felt her eyes going wide. What had just happened? The man had disappeared…and no one seemed to notice. The pilot appeared absorbed by the magazine in his hands. The man in the doorway of the plane stared at his feet and yawned as though the sound of the rain was making him sleepy. No one seemed to have noticed that one of the guards had just—poof!—disappeared.

“What?” Delgado asked, turning and looking out the window.

Jessa scrambled. “I was just wondering where we’re going. The pilot doesn’t seem very friendly. Does he have any experience? I don’t like to fly. ”

Anything to turn his attention away from that window.

Delgado turned back, taking another sip of his drink. “Wilcox? He’s been in my family’s employ for years. It’s the only reason he isn’t dead now. ”

---