So calm, in fact, that my pulse barely increases when I see Rosa walking across the lawn toward me. As she approaches, I see that she looks uneasy, her hands twisting fistfuls of her skirt at her sides.
“I heard you were in another shootout in Ukraine,” she says, studying me with worried curiosity. “And that you found her. Is it true? Are you all right?”
I nod, my good mood slipping away with every word she speaks. Before leaving the house, I skimmed Thomas’s report on Rosa and found that it contained no new information. The maid hasn’t reached out to anyone outside the compound, nor has anyone tried to contact her. If the girl is working with UUR or any of our enemies, she’s either really good at concealing it, or my original guess about jealousy was right.
It’s time to deal with this problem once and for all.
“Rosa,” I say softly, stepping closer to her. “Why did you help Yulia escape?”
The maid’s bronzed face turns pale. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“Did someone pay you?”
She takes a step back, her eyes huge. “No, of course not! I—” She makes a visible effort to compose herself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says in an almost steady voice. “Whatever she’s told you is a lie. I had nothing to do with her escape.”
I smile coldly. “Yulia didn’t say a word, but I find it interesting that you think she would have.”
Rosa pales even more, and I see her hands tighten convulsively as she continues to back away. “Please, Lucas, it’s not what you think.”
“No?” I close the distance between us and grab her upper arm before she can turn and run. “What is it then?”
“It’s—” She clamps her lips shut and shakes her head, staring up at me. “I had nothing to do with her escape,” she repeats, lifting her chin, and I see that she has no intention of admitting anything to me.
“All right,” I say, tightening my grip on her arm. “Since you’re Esguerra’s maid, let’s see what he has to say about all this.”
And ignoring her terrified expression, I resume walking toward Esguerra’s office, dragging Rosa along at my side.
* * *
Esguerra’s face is rigid with fury as I present the drone footage. The videos are low resolution and obscured by trees in a few places, but there’s no mistaking Rosa’s curvy figure in her maid’s outfit as she approaches my house. Rosa sits quietly, trembling from head to toe while Esguerra watches the videos on his computer. It’s not until he turns toward her that she begins crying.
“Why?” His voice is like ice as he rises to his feet. “What did you hope to gain by this? You know what we do to traitors.”
Rosa shakes her head, crying harder as Esguerra approaches her, and despite my own anger, I feel a flicker of pity for the girl. In the next second, however, I remember what almost happened to Yulia because of Rosa, and my pity disappears without a trace.
Whatever my boss chooses to do to the maid will be no less than she deserves.
“Please, Señor Esguerra,” she begs as he grips her elbow and drags her off the chair where she was huddling. “Please, it wasn’t like that…”
“What was it like, then?” I ask, fishing my Swiss knife out of my pocket and opening the blade. Stepping toward the maid, I twist my fist in her hair, pulling her head back as Esguerra holds her upright by her upper arms. “Why did you help my prisoner escape?”
Tears streak down Rosa’s face and her mouth quivers as I press the blade against her throat, nicking her neck just enough for her to feel the first bite. “Don’t, please…” Her terror washes over me, but this time, it leaves me cold. I’m in my interrogation mode, and so is Esguerra. I see it in the hard gleam of his eyes.
If the girl doesn’t talk in the next couple of minutes, the tiny wound I left on her neck will be the least of her worries.
“Julian, did you see—” Nora freezes as she enters the office, her eyes widening as she takes in the scene.
“Fuck,” Esguerra mutters, releasing Rosa abruptly. I barely catch her as she stumbles backward, crashing into me. Before she can get away, I secure the sobbing maid with my forearm across her throat and lower my knife. At the same time, Esguerra steps toward his wife, saying, “Nora, baby, go home. This is a security matter.”
“A security matter?” Nora’s voice is thin as her gaze swings wildly between me and her husband. “What are you talking about?”
“Rosa helped Lucas’s prisoner escape,” Esguerra explains tersely, taking Nora’s arm and putting his hand on her back to guide her out of the room. She digs in her heels, but her petite frame is no match for his strength, and he gently but firmly steers her toward the exit. “We’re interrogating her to find out more. It’s nothing you need to worry about, my pet.”
“Are you insane?” Nora’s voice rises as she begins to struggle, and Esguerra stops, wrapping his arms around her from the back as she tries to kick, then headbutt him. “She’s my friend. Don’t touch her!”
Esguerra’s only response is to lift his tiny wife against his chest and hold her tightly to restrain her flailing. Nora screams, bucking in his arms, and Rosa’s sobbing intensifies as Esguerra begins carrying Nora out. He’s almost at the door when Nora yells, “Stop, Julian! She didn’t do it. It was me—all me!”
Rosa’s sobs cut off as suddenly as if she’d been muted, and Esguerra stops, lowering Nora to her feet.
“What?” His expression is thunderous as he grips his wife’s narrow shoulders. “What the hell are you talking about?”
I very nearly ask the same question, but at the last moment, I keep my mouth shut. Given Nora’s unexpected involvement, it’s best if Esguerra handles it from here on.
He’d gut me for so much as looking at his wife the wrong way.
“I did it.” Nora raises her chin to meet her husband’s furious gaze. “I helped Yulia escape. So if you’re going to interrogate anyone, it should be me. She had nothing to do with it.”
“You’re lying.” Esguerra’s voice is lethally soft. “I saw the drone footage. She went to Lucas’s house right before our departure.”
Nora doesn’t miss a beat. “Right. Because I asked her to.”
Rosa makes a choking sound, her hands clawing at my forearm, and I realize I inadvertently tightened my arm across her throat. Cursing silently, I lower my arm and push Rosa away from me, letting her collapse on the chair she was sitting on earlier. Esguerra’s wife is lying—I’m almost certain she’s lying—but I have no idea how to prove it. There was no reason for Nora to help Yulia; she doesn’t know the Ukrainian spy, and she certainly doesn’t have any feelings for me.
“Why would you do this?” Esguerra demands. He’s clearly thinking along the same lines. “You despise this girl. You hate her for the crash, remember?” His eyes drill into Nora, but she doesn’t back down.
“So what?” She twists out of Esguerra’s hold and steps back, her small chest heaving. “You know I had a problem with Lucas torturing a woman at his house—even that woman.”
Recognition flickers across Esguerra’s face before his jaw tightens further, and I realize to my shock that Nora might’ve done it after all. Esguerra did mention that she and Rosa had been to my house the day Yulia arrived. If so, Nora might’ve seen Yulia sitting in my living room, naked and bound to a chair. It’s not inconceivable that the sight bothered the girl; for all her newfound toughness, Nora is a product of her upbringing—her soft American middle-class background.
Most people new to this way of life would’ve objected to me torturing Yulia, and it’s possible Nora did too.
Fucking hell. If Nora weren’t Esguerra’s wife…
Esguerra himself looks on the verge of murder as he catches Nora’s arm and drags her closer to him. “Walk me through this.” His blue eyes gleam with rage. “You instructed Rosa to do what, exactly?”
Rosa begins crying again, and I spare her a glance before turning my attention back to the drama playing out in front of me. I’ve never seen Esguerra so mad at his wife before. If I were Nora, I’d be backpedaling right about now; the things I’ve seen her husband do would make serial killers squirm.
Nora’s face is white as she stares up at Esguerra, but her voice barely shakes as she says, “I asked her to help Yulia escape. I didn’t tell her how to do it—she knows this place better than me, so I left the exact method up to her. Rosa didn’t want to do it, but I told her how much it bothered me, and with the baby and everything, she gave in to my request.”
Manipulative little witch. I want to wring Nora’s neck and applaud in admiration at the same time. Mentioning the baby they just lost was a low blow, but it had the desired effect. Esguerra’s grip on Nora’s arm slackens, and pain flits across his face before he composes himself. When he speaks again, some of the lethal bite is gone from his voice.
“Why didn’t you talk to me about it? If it bothered you that much, why didn’t you say something?”