“Are there people out there, Carlotta?” Penny murmured, keeping her voice low as she took another step toward the woman.
“No. No.” She shook her head frantically as she spoke to an unseen entity. “No. I can’t. I can’t do it. I-I have to st-stop, or I can’t help them.”
“Help who, Carlotta? Is someone in danger? Where are they?”
“No!” Carlotta’s shout startled the birds in the trees, sending them into flight. “I can’t! Leave me alone!”
Carlotta’s scream created an eruption of chaos. Loud shouts came from the mansion, and seconds later, the running pound of footsteps echoed up the trail. The closer Fuentes’s men got, the more agitated the young woman became. Three guards barreled around the corner, lethal-looking guns pointed in Penny’s direction, while a fourth physically dragged away a now hysterical Carlotta.
“Leave her alone!” Penny shouted. She stepped forward to intervene and got the muzzle of a gun jammed into her side. “You’re going to hurt her!”
After another jab between the ribs, the guard nearest Penny started spewing an elaborate list of orders, none of which she intended to follow. His fingers bit into her arm hard enough that she didn’t have to fake a wince.
“Ow! Hey! Get your mitts off me! Please, no hablo…your language,” she said, pretending not to understand. “I didn’t do anything wrong. She looked really upset. I just wanted to make sure she was okay. Do you understand me?”
Either they didn’t, or they didn’t care. Gun still aimed in her direction, one of the other guards lifted a radio from his hip. “Get Fuentes. We have a problem…with one of our guests.”
Penny’s throat went dry. Hell, dry would’ve been preferable. Rafe was definitely going to do his fair share of growling now, and this time, she would deserve it.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Your Se?orita Hanlan…she is a wild spirit, is she not?” Diego offered Rafe a freshly cut cigar and then took a seat, the leather creaking as he leaned back. “I sense a fire in her that one doesn’t often see.”
“She’s headstrong,” Rafe stated simply. “But then again, I’m a man who likes to be kept on my toes.”
“Carlotta also used to be very…willful, but there are times when such traits can become a detriment to businessmen such as ourselves. It can be distracting, cause an undesirable shift in focus. I say this only out of a desire to see our partnership flourish.”
“So far, we haven’t spoken much about a partnership.” Rafe didn’t bother hiding the bite behind his words as he pictured dragging Fuentes across his desk and in direct line of his fist. His simmering violence had little to do with business and everything to do with concern for Penny’s safety. Ever since she’d left the room, Fuentes had spoken of little else.
“I’m wealthy in my own right, Diego,” Rafe reminded him. “I can leave your home and return to any of my own. As I said before, I won’t risk my comfort, my company, or my name for a product that isn’t worth it. Likewise if I’m being sent in as a cleanup crew for misguided procedures.”
“I assure you that Freedom is worth it. It is cheaper to manufacture than cocaine and more addictive than heroin and meth combined.” Diego’s dark eyes narrowed in thought as he took the first long puff on his Cuban. “I don’t pretend to understand all of the chemical components and the bindings of molecules. I’m the visionary, not the scientist. But my doctors have proven that the effects of Freedom are plentiful and, most importantly, long lasting. The second it hits the bloodstream, a person’s body needs it to function. I have seen even the most willful individuals become obedient simply so they are gifted another taste.”
Rafe’s internal warning bell started to chime as Diego’s oil-slicked smile slid onto his face. “Obedient to whom?”
“To whoever is in control of distributing the drug. In our case, we sell to men and women looking to put their stamp on the world for whichever reason they choose. If they wish to lure a government official into their power, so be it. If they choose a more personal avenue to keep that ex-lover by their side, well wishes go with them. The opportunities for which Freedom can be used are quite endless…if they have the monetary funds, of course.”
Rafe swallowed his own bile. Only the sickest of bastards would name a drug the exact opposite of its intended side effect. “That’s a pretty big claim, my friend. I’m assuming that you have the testing to back up all of your ideas.”
Diego’s eyes widened with insult. “Of course. Any laboratory tests that are performed by the much American-loved FDA are performed by my scientists. We follow the same testing measures—with a bit more flexibility and expedition, of course. We have recently completed trials on our male volunteers with great success and have been undergoing a second round of female trials for the last two months. Everything looks very, very promising.”