Deadly Games - Cate Noble [53]
A noise outside the door caught her attention. The guard snapped his fingers and motioned for her to stand. Maddy did so, tugging the robe down as best she could.
Two guards entered the room, followed by a fifty-something man wearing a suit and tie. That the man wore multiple gold bracelets on both wrists and had a thick ring on every finger ruined the effect of the Dolce & Gabbana suit.
It also tipped off the man’s identity. The drug lord Minh Tran supposedly wore a ring for each wife who bore him a son. The bracelets represented men he’d killed.
Over the course of her job, Maddy had done research on Minh Tran. The photographs she’d seen of him were few and not recent. The passage of time had not been kind. His face was rounder, the skin loose below his chin, but his eyes were unmistakable. Fierce and cruel.
Tran ignored her at first, listening as the guard spoke in a hushed tone. Then Tran nodded and began speaking to her in Thai.
Maddy looked around, uncertain how to respond. When no one translated, she realized it was a test to see if she understood the language. He’d probably just threatened her with something horrible to get a reaction.
She wished she could stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks, but she was too scared, too tired, too sick to muster the effort.
She shook her head. “I don’t understand. And I want to go home.”
Tran barked out a command and a pretty Thai woman was escorted into the room. Maddy guessed the woman was close to her own age, twenty-five or twenty-six.
“This is your nurse, Sunlee.” Minh Tran’s sudden switch to English surprised Maddy. “She speaks English, too. While you are here, you will do everything she instructs. My concern is with your child. Do you understand?”
The implication that Maddy was not of concern was clear. She nodded, but Tran had already turned away to speak with another of the guards. Sunlee watched Tran with reverent adoration. Did the young woman hope to become another ring on Tran’s fingers?
“Look at me, Madison.” Tran stepped closer.
Maddy met his gaze, unable to prevent herself from flinching when his eyes dropped and openly ogled her breasts before slowly raking back up.
“There are ways you can increase your value. If you please me, I can be reasonable,” Tran said.
It was all she could do not to show revulsion over his sexual invitation. Tran lifted his hand and two guards moved in to flank her. Maddy stiffened. Had Tran picked up on her disgust? Would these men subdue her while Tran abused her?
Bile rose in Maddy’s throat. She looked around frantically. If she vomited on Tran’s shoes what would he do?
“These men will take you to your new quarters,” Tran said. “We will speak again soon.”
Chapter Nineteen
Laredo, TX
October 5, 5:30 A.M.
Morning hard-ons were a normal part of Rocco’s life. His body’s equivalent of running a sound check. Testing. Testing. All systems go.
He reveled in it.
And if he woke up with a willing female, so much the better. A duet was a glorious way to start the day.
But this morning’s sound check went awry, disrupting his system with a squelch of disturbing feedback. He knew immediately that his equipment worked fine; he had a hard-on for the record books. He also had a female in his bed. The same female who had dominated his dreams last night.
Gena Armstrong. Former real-life love and all-time favorite fantasy. AKA The Heartbreaker. AKA Damsel in Distress.
The problem wasn’t Gena, per se. It was her hands. She had somehow managed to loosen his jeans, shoved them down enough to allow her hot little fingers to tunnel in. Just like she had in one of his dreams.
Right now she had a grip on his cock that was painful. Painful good. Did her subconscious remember that he liked a firm touch?
She made a soft noise in her sleep. Testing. Testing. Then she twitched, clutching him even tighter.
All systems go.
Holy God! He gritted his teeth, afraid to move, to breathe, for fear of shooting off. This was a mistake. Except