He bends down to the tray and returns with a colorful, hand-painted bowl of strawberries. Their happy red and sweet smell are out of place in this dour room of dust and concrete. He presses the tip of one to my lips until they part. I bite down, just grazing his fingertips with my teeth, and he discards the stem at our feet. Without removing his amused eyes from my face, he feeds me another one.

After the third, he trades the bowl for a bottle, gently tipping it to my lips. Water floods and drips over my chin, but I lap it up to wash away the grime settled in my mouth.

He screws the lid back in place and picks up another strawberry. I go to bite, but he pulls it away so my teeth snap at nothing. “Now for what I need,” he says. “Tell me about Hero.”

“I don’t know anything.”

“I know he’s Calvin Parish, and I’ve seen him fight. I saw him take a bullet without flinching—out of his armor. Carter swore he didn’t know how he did it. Seeing how easily he gave you up, I believe him. So, what do you know?”

I shake my head. “Nothing. If he wouldn’t tell Carter, why would he tell me?”

“If you tried, I believe any man would give you all his secrets.” He bunches the fabric of my sweater in one hand and lifts it, letting his knuckles graze up my stomach. When his fingers slip underneath, a touch both rough and tender, my nipples harden. His other hand trails the strawberry up the same path until it’s between my breasts. “You’re very responsive,” he says when I shudder.

“Why are you doing this?”

He lowers his mouth to my ear. “Hero killed the Cartel’s leader. The mindless idiots out there,” he says, nodding backward, “want revenge. They don’t know what I saw, though. I’m the only one who knows his identity and his capabilities. Tell me the truth. You have my word it’ll remain our secret.”

“Did you send those men after me?”

“In the forest? Yes. With Carter’s help, obviously. But they didn’t know anything other than their assignment.”

“Why do you want this information?”

“I don’t need revenge. I don’t see the past. I see the future. I see opportunity. In my world, power is greater than currency.”

“What does that have to do with Hero?” I ask, nearly drunk with truth. After all the information Calvin withheld, I’m basking in Guy’s every word.

As he speaks, he runs the fruit along the curves of my breasts. “I recognize some of myself in Hero. He’s a man with mission, purpose, driven by something to the point of obsession. But now I know that physically, he’s more than that. Men put bullets in his chest, yet he didn’t fall. I want that.”

“You wouldn’t use it for good.”

“Good,” he says. “What is good? All my life I’ve struggled to survive. Nobody’s ever shown me good that I haven’t forced from them. Let me ask you, is Calvin Parish good?”

“Hero is.”

“Hero’s a killer.”

I swallow and look away. “Only to those who deserve it.”

“And who decides that? You’re defending a murderer. One who tried to break you. I can see it in your eyes. You return to me a different girl.”

“I don’t return to you at all,” I say. “And you know nothing about Calvin or Hero.”

He arches an eyebrow and raises the strawberry near my face. “Your determination is surprising. Let’s try this again. Three months ago, you were snatched from under my nose. I assume you were in that mansion the whole time. What’d you see there?”

“Nothing.”

The sick-sweet smell invades my nostrils as his other hand slides into my hair. He grips the roots and pulls hard enough that I yelp. “I admit, Cataline—my dick’s got it bad for you. You’re getting the royal treatment here. But that doesn’t mean I’m your lovesick hero. Answer my fucking question, or I’ll show you how this type of thing normally goes down.”

Banging on the door jolts my body.

“Pinchependejo,” Guy mutters. “This is Carlos. Our secret, remember?”

Guy opens the door and blocks the entrance with his body, but a man who can’t be much older than me pushes his way in. His black hair is slicked into a ponytail, and his chest inflates when he sees me. He laughs at the handcuffs. “¿Quéonda, Guy? I thought you never play with the merchandise.”

“She isn’t merchandise.”

Carlos comes so close to me I can smell rancid cigarette smoke on his breath. He looks everywhere but in my eyes. “Bueno, I don’t care what you do with her as long as she’s in one piece when he gets here.”

“She’ll be ready.”

Carlos inclines toward my wounded lip. “What’s this scrape? It’s not enough. She needs to look bad.”

“I’ll handle it.”

Carlos raises his chin. “Don’t fuck this up, Guy. I want him sorry he ever looked in Riviera’s direction.”

“What do I have to do with this?” I ask.

“Shut up,” Guy says.

Carlos looks at me and lightning fast, snatches my chin. “He hurt mi familia. My family. I want his head rolling at my feet. But first I want to hurt him back. If I could find his family, I would bring them all here and make them beg for mercy while he watches. But all I have is some fucking white girl he follows everywhere.”

I twist my face from his hand. “You’re wasting your time. He won’t care what you do to me.”

He chuckles. “I think you’re wrong. Pero, anyway, we can find other uses for you. You good at sucking dick?”

Guy crosses his arms, unblinking.

“That’s none of your business.”

Carlos looks over his shoulder at Guy, who shrugs.

“You’re going to let her talk like that? Maybe I should find someone with balls to do this.”

“I got her here, didn’t I?”

“Nah. I think I should take over now.”

“I said I’ll handle it,” Guy snaps. “Give me your belt, asshole.”

“I’m your boss now, gringo. You can’t talk to me like that.” Carlos unbuckles his belt, muttering to himself. He slides it from his pants and hands it to Guy. “I’m going to watch. If you can’t do this, we got a problem later.”

Guy comes at me and whirls my body around so my arms twist. “Stay put,” he says as my front presses up against the wall. The belt slaps across the seat of my jeans suddenly, and I cry out from shock. I’ve barely registered the sting when he lands a second blow.

“No, pinche gringo,” Carlos says. “Like this.” I turn my head over my shoulder. Carlos grabs for the belt, but Guy catches his forearm.

“Get the fuck out,” Guy says slowly. “I’m getting pissed.”

“Fuck you,” Carlos says, wrenching away. I strain to watch as Guy pulls him back by his shirt and shoves him toward the door. Carlos flips him off, but I hear the door slam a moment later.

“Why is he doing this?” I ask.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s an idiot. If not for us, he wouldn’t have made it a day without his father.”

“But—”

“Forget him,” he snaps. “We’re running out of time. You need to tell me what you know about Hero.”

“I just found out he was Hero the other day. I swear. He wouldn’t tell me anything else.”

He closes in on my back, and I wince when his pelvis presses against my ass. “Was he born that way?” he asks close to my face.

“I don’t know.”

“How did you entertain yourself there?”

My eyelashes flutter at the strange question. “I read. Took pictures.”

“Is he immortal?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “I honestly don’t.”

“Open your mouth.” When I don’t respond, his fingers come around to my jaw, squeezing until my mouth opens with a gasp. He traces a strawberry along my upper lip before setting it between my teeth. “Don’t bite.” He rips open my fly and shoves a hand in my underwear. When he finds me, he inhales deeply and moans by my ear. I want to look, to protest, but the flavored saliva pooling in my mouth distracts me. “Three months,” he says hoarsely while his fingers tease my entrance. “Did you suck him off?”

The abruptness of his question turns my cheeks hot.