The Isle Of Sin And Shadows - Keri Lake Page 0,133

making me jealous, you’ve grossly overestimated your worth.”

Ouch.

I push off of him, awkwardly getting to my feet. What’s sickening to me, is the fact that, even during the moments when I’ve convinced myself I hate this man, I still find him utterly, painfully alluring. “It’s not my worth I’ve overestimated, Mr. Bergeron.” A quick glance down to his groin shows the massive bulge I felt pressed against my thighs just moments ago. “It’s your balls.”

Double blinking back the tears in my eyes, I head back toward the boat.

“Céleste.” The tone of his voice carries a disgusting air of remorse, and I’ll be goddamned if I’ll give him the satisfaction of turning around to see the pity in his eyes.

33

Thierry

Daubing an alcohol-soaked cloth against my cheek, I let out a grunt at the sizzling burn of my wound, breathing through my nose until it’s passed. The slice isn’t deep enough to warrant stitches, but I suspect it’ll surely leave a scar. A beautiful reminder of the moment I lost my head. Hurting Céleste wasn’t what I intended, but hearing her ask about my sister set off an alarm. One I didn’t realize was so primed to flip on the most innocent of inquiries. For years, I’ve waited for the cartel to find out about Frannie, and, in doing so, unknowingly created a ticking bomb inside of me. That, along with the picture she had tucked inside her backpack, sent me leaping over the edge of a cliff without a rope.

Once I regained my senses, I was already face deep between the girl’s thighs.

I still don’t know how she found out about her, but I’ll make a point to employ less tortuous methods for extracting that information next time. And by that, I mean less tortuous to me.

Having her laid out and restrained felt like Christmas and my fucking birthday all wrapped into one big fantasy. I should’ve known I’d break first. My head is so wound up in her, I can’t think straight. Can’t even muster a proper threat when I’m around her.

I couldn’t harm this girl if my life depended on it, which will be a problem when Julio learns I’ve been keeping her stashed away on my boat.

I sit at my desk, laptop flipped open on the list of names on the chip. I managed to link one to some politician in Arizona who was indicted two years ago, on charges of violent child pornography found stashed on a computer in his home office. Another was a youth minister, arrested in California and facing felony charges for kidnapping a girl he arranged to meet up with in a motel room.

The glaring common thread between them is one that continues to stoke my curiosity. A cult, of some sort. The cop I handed over must’ve been closing in on something, otherwise why would Julio have me retrieve him? What role does my employer play?

Or Céleste, for that matter?

In the time that I’ve worked with the cartel, I’ve seen some pretty nasty shit go down, but not this. While I’m not stupid enough to think Matamoros isn’t somehow involved in human trafficking, I’ve never personally played a hand in it. Drugs, money laundering, running hits, sure. But not this. Perhaps what my father was trying to protect Céleste from, but why? The only thing Russ James ever went out of his way to protect was his personal stash of liquor.

My whole life, I always considered him weak and pathetic, only to find out that he fled to protect some stranger’s daughter. Brings to mind the question of whether I would’ve forgiven him for that. Were the men who raped my mother the same ones who broke into Céleste’s home? Were they looking for her?

If nothing changed, and the events all remained the same, would I have kept my mouth shut, had I been privy to the fact that my father left to protect her?

It’s a question I have to ask myself now.

Would I protect her, too?

A soft moan pulls me out of those thoughts, and I abandon my research, following after the source of it to the bedroom door, beyond which I hear the rustle of sheets and more moaning. Cracking open the door sends a sliver of light crawling over the room and illuminates the bed, where I catch movement. I checked on her hours ago and found her sleeping, so it must be after two in the morning now.

Stalking through the room, I approach where she lies on her