Merciless Love: A Dark Romance(64)

A cold shower would help me keep my fucking promises. I let the icy drops beat down my neck and shoulders and face for a good long while, wishing they'd clear my head the way they hosed my lust.

Cassie, Ty, and the whole goddamned world sat on my thick shoulders now. Damned if I had a clue how to carry them all.

“Your update's overdue, Cole. Where is she?” Borzia's lip moved in a nasty curl. “I need to see her again.”

Nowhere in your reach, you fuck. She never will be.

Hot fury churned in my guts. I'd never stop hating the way I had to muzzle myself to keep my son alive. One day, I'd tell him to fuck off to his face. Preferably while I squeezed his life out of his throat with my bare hands and no chance to talk back.

“Where is she?” He repeated.

“You'll have your pictures,” I growled. “I'll send new ones your way and anything else you need.”

Another lie. One more thing to navigate in the dark seas of my endless nightmare.

“Not good enough, Cole.” He showed his teeth, half-snarl and half-smile. “I want our schedule moved up. Send the pictures tonight, and the puta in the next week. My men will meet you to retrieve her.”

I stared. Blank and dull and dumb, sick with fury.

Bastard.

The heat was on, and it was a goddamned flamethrower braising my neck. I had a bad feeling I wasn't gonna figure out jack shit in a week, let alone how to kill his ass dead and keep Cassie well away from him.

“Cole!” Hearing my name on his filthy lips broke me out of my trance. “Have you forgotten what's at stake? Do you need another reminder?”

He moved the camera. Honest to God tears sharp as glass pricked my eyes when I saw my son.

“Daddy!” Ty smiled, innocent as the day I last saw him.

“Hang in there, son.” Why the fuck was it harder to speak to my own kid than the animal holding him hostage? “Daddy's coming. Just a little bit longer...”

“No more delays. You need to deliver now,” Borzia's voice boomed from above. Resting his large wiry hand on Ty's shoulder, he squeezed, pinching tender flesh between the neck and the collarbone.

Ty screamed. I dropped the fucking phone and dove for the ground, catching it just before the screen smashed to bits.

“Let him go, asshole! This wasn't part of the fucking deal!”

“Not so fast.” The killer's cruel fingers eased, but they held on hard enough to hurt, burning my son with the pain that should've been mine.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

“Let. Him. Go.” Snorting the words out hid the weakness in my plea.

I begged, yeah, but I wasn't beaten.

He wouldn't kill Ty. Not while he needed a companion.

The bastard wouldn't forfeit the last precious thing he had over me, and it was all I had. Little consolation. This fucker could do a lot of terrible things in the meantime without snuffing out my son's life.

If there was one thing the cartel had mastered, it was torture. The savagery these fucks leveled on their enemies would've turned medieval inquisitors green with envy.

“You'll get this urchin back when you give me my girl. It seems you've grown lax, Cole. I hate making the boy squirm – really – but business is business.” Ty gasped and fell to the ground as Borzia released him, filling the camera with his wicked face again. “Don't make me do worse than plucking at his nerves. Pictures tonight. Delivery when Rafael gives the word. Get her to me, and we're square. You can bring this little shit home with all his fingers and toes intact.”

I was on my knees, clutching the phone so hard my thumb was a pinch away from going through the fucking screen. He saw everything. Lying to this fuck wasn't possible when he read me like a card.

Ty sniffled one last time. The screen went black. My son was gone, and so was the demon.

I couldn't take a second more of this shit. My brain was on auto-pilot, gripping the phone in my hand. In one burst, I turned, hurling the fucking thing at the brick wall. It exploded into a cloud of plastic and glass.

Hold tight, son. Daddy's coming, just like I said. I'll crawl on my hands and fucking knees before Satan himself if it keeps you safe.

I stood. Sweaty from my earlier workout, I hadn't realized just how wet I was until I was on two feet again. Water steamed out my pores, bubbling on my skin. Wasn't hard to smell the stink of loathing and frustration in it.

I grabbed a towel off the chair and began to wipe myself down. Wrinkled my nose in disgust, staring at the shattered phone. I'd clean that shit up later. Also had a backup with a direct line to the hell.

I was still toweling off when I forced open the door and nearly crashed into Cassie head on.

“What does he want?” She asked.

I looked at her and tensed up, blood blazing. “You heard the whole fucking thing, didn't you?”