Destroy For Her - R.B. Hilliard Page 0,15

liquid. After two more sips, she returned the cup to the cool, retro-looking coaster on the corner of Steele’s desk. Leveling her eyes on Alex, she said, “Carlos had a heavy hand. He didn’t like the word no and loved it when I fought back.”

Alex’s eyes flared, his jaw tensing in a palpable, scary-as-hell-rage.

“I know this is hard, sweetheart, but we need details,” Steele urged.

Her eyes swung to Steele, her brow creasing in confusion. “Why?”

“Because information is power. The more we know, the better.”

Humiliation ate at her. She wanted to tell them about Carlos and the cartel, not the beatings. She considered asking Alex to leave, but then thought, screw it. He wants to know, I’ll tell him.

“About a month after we arrived in Mexico, Petal and I were playing in the pool.” She paused to add, “There wasn’t a lot to do there, and Petal loved to swim. The activity exhausted her, which made her sleep better at night. Anyway, that day Carlos had learned that the head of the cartel was coming for a surprise visit. He wanted me to help entertain and got angry when I wasn’t in the house. I didn’t know any of this, so when he stormed out to the pool and demanded that I get out, I argued with him. He got so angry that he yanked me from the pool by my hair. When I screamed, he slapped me. Petal started crying, and instead of comforting her, he had one of his guards take her to her room. I yelled at him for mistreating my daughter, and he hit me again.” She grimaced at the memory. “It was awful and ugly. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to dinner that night.”

While reaching for another sip of coffee, her gaze drifted to Alex, who was quietly staring at his lap.

“Keep going,” Steele urged.

“Okay, well, the next time was the morning after I called Lucy.” Her fingers drifted to the scar above her eye. “I was homesick. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Carlos, evidently, disagreed. That one landed me five stitches and some bruised ribs. Do you want me to go on?” She prayed Steele would say no.

Alex’s head shot up, his blue gaze searing through her. “No,” he growled.

“Yes,” Steele replied at the same time.

After an angry-man stare off, Alex muttered, “Go ahead.”

Damn. “Let’s see; he hit me one time because I laughed at Luca’s joke. It wasn’t funny, which was mostly why I laughed. At least that time, he waited until we were back in the room before giving it to me.”

Alex shot from his chair with a curse and began pacing the office like a caged animal while Steele seemingly remained cool as a cucumber. She knew better. She could see the anger boiling beneath his calm exterior.

Moving on. She decided to skip over the next one because the nightmare incident was too awful to talk about. “The next time he beat me because I wanted to go to the market with Rosa. He said no, and I argued. As I said before, he liked it when I argued with him. Luca warned me after that one. He wanted me to know how big and bad the wolf really was before I provoked him one too many times and he gobbled me up. This,” she pointed to her face,” happened the night before last.” She shook her head. “It was stupid.”

A harsh, guttural laugh shot from Alex’s mouth. “What’s stupid is that you’re sitting here acting like it’s no big deal that some fucker used your face as a punching bag. Why didn’t you fight back? Even better, why didn’t you call us? We would have come for you!”

Her mouth dropped open in shock. “I did fight back, and look what it got me?” She pointed to her face. “Not only that, but he was holding my daughter hostage! One wrong move and he would have killed her. Don’t you think I wanted to leave? Every time I defied him, I was risking my child’s life!”

Steele glared at Alex. “Christ, brother, sit your ass down and let her finish.” Sage could tell from his growly tone that he was nearing the end of his rope. Thankfully, Alex heard it, too, because he dropped to the chair with a huff. “Go ahead,” Steele urged.

Alex was wrong; it was a big deal—an awful, horrible, very big deal—but he was also right. She did blame herself. Her gut