“I did not. He came to me, desperate to find you.”

  Laila hadn’t expected that. “And you told him where to find me? I trusted you.”

  “He loves you.”

  “Did he say that?”

  Valeria frowned. “Has he not told you?”

  He had…before circumstance had forced her to break his heart. “It does not matter.”

  “It does,” Valeria insisted. “You have the one thing I never will, a man willing to give you his whole heart. Trees stood here less than twenty-four hours ago and promised to bring you back safely if I told him where to find you. So when he admitted that he loves you, I spilled everything.”

  “That was yesterday?” After she had sent him the video? Apparently, and she shouldn’t really be surprised. Hadn’t she wondered on their way here if it was possible Trees still loved her?

  “You can be angry if you want, but I would do it again. For you, hermana.”

  “What if I did not love him in return?”

  Valeria’s gaze was softly chiding. “Why ask when you do? I had only to see the way you looked at him just now to know how you feel. But you are afraid. Is that why you fight him?”

  Laila considered her sister’s question. The truth smacked her in the face. “Except for you and Jorge, everyone I love has been taken from me. It is easier not to love anymore.”

  “Easier but empty. What sort of life will you have with no one in it? I can tell you. Meaningless. Jorge gives me purpose and a child’s love, but what I would not give for a man’s strong, protective arms around me. For him to give me more children and stand beside me as we raise them. I threw myself at Mr. Preston.” Valeria looked embarrassed. “He would not have me.”

  Empathy softened Laila. Valeria had never expressed any of these feelings, and she was stunned by her sister’s loneliness. “I am sorry.”

  “If I upset you, I am sorry, too. But I meant well.”

  Valeria had. She always had. And Laila now had a lot to think about.

  “Trees means to take me back to his house for ‘corrective discipline’ until I learn to stop playing cartel games. Do you not worry what that means?”

  Her sister cocked her head. “No. Anything he does to you would be far less than the cartel. He is not a bully, Laila. He is not Victor Ramos. And if he teaches you to value your own safety, why should I balk at his method?”

  “So you condone whatever he means to do to me?”

  “I suspect he will do it with a loving hand.” She sighed. “Has he given you pleasure? When he took you to his bed, did he not show you the good parts of being a woman?”

  “Yes.” Laila couldn’t lie about that.

  “Then you have nothing to fear…except your heart surrendering itself to him.”

  Laila was afraid her sister was right.

  Laila visited with Valeria and Jorge for far longer than an hour. Trees hadn’t minded. She’d needed the opportunity to connect with her sister and cuddle her nephew. And he’d used the time to ask Kane questions about Valeria’s habits, actions, and communications. His fellow operative didn’t think Valeria was up to anything, much less no good. That told Trees Laila had likely hatched her schemes alone.

  Now he intended to find out what she had up her sleeve next and put a stop to it—before it killed her.

  They left the apartment as twilight was falling. With his palm lingering on the small of her back, he reviewed his plans. While he’d waited, he’d sorted through possibilities, discarded ideas, and settled on a strategy. He knew exactly what to do when he hit his door.

  The forty-five minutes between now and the minute he had her naked and tied down for his punishment were going to chafe.

  He drove fast, heading straight toward the setting sun. Silence prevailed.

  Laila surprised him by breaking it. “Thank you for taking me to see my family. I have missed them.”

  She seemed quieter, more thoughtful than earlier. Softer. He liked it. But he didn’t expect it to last. As soon as she understood his intent, she would fight back. There would be fireworks.

  “Of course. They’re important to you. I would never keep you from them.” Unlike Victor Ramos.

  Trees didn’t say that aloud. The dig served no purpose now. He had to stay focused on his objectives. Still, he couldn’t stop wondering… When she’d left his place with Ramos, had she really become the thug’s whore again, eager to take his cock hard and raw? Did she miss Ramos after selling him out to Montilla for her family’s safety?

  Laila sent him a faint curl of her lips. “Where are we going?”

  “My house.”

  “How long do you intend to keep me there? I know I cannot stay with my sister; it is too dangerous for her and Jorge. But Victor is still alive, and he knows where you live.”

  Was she saying in a roundabout way that she was worried about him? Or just her own hide? “Oh, I hope he steps foot on my property again. I will blow his fucking head off.” Ghost and Matt had offered to watch his six tonight to ensure Ramos couldn’t creep up on him. “Does the possibility that I might kill him upset you, Laila? Or did you stop caring about him and the rough sex he gives you once you sold him out?”

  She dodged his question. “You cannot keep me against my will.”

  “With me is where Valeria wants you. Right now, it’s the safest place to be. So you’ll stay with me until you learn to stop running headlong into danger and the people hunting you are either dead or behind bars.”

  She hesitated a long moment, and Trees wished like fuck he knew what she was thinking. “What will you do to me once we reach your house?”

  “Take you to my dungeon.”

  “But—”

  “No.” He stopped at a red light and turned to her. “You can’t be surprised. I told you in Mexico to make a choice, easy or hard. You didn’t. The same way you wouldn’t admit you were wet. You were stubbornly mute again when you refused to tell me if your pussy is sore. You’ve run from me. You’ve lied to me. You’ve stabbed me in the back. You’ve put yourself in danger again and again. I gave you every chance to trust me. To open up to me. You didn’t. So I’m going to peel you back, layer by layer, until you fucking get honest.”

  Once he’d stripped away her emotional defenses, she would have nothing and no one to rely on but him. Then he’d find out what she actually felt for him…if anything.

  What if she doesn’t love you in return?

  It would suck, but that wasn’t the point of this exercise. He couldn’t force her love any more than he could force her trust. What he could compel? Obedience. Honesty. Communication.

  He hoped that, somehow, it would be enough.

  Beside him, Laila pressed her lips together and said nothing.

  Trees swore under his breath. Why did she insist on keeping so many fucking secrets? Why was she trying so hard to hide from him?

  The drive passed. Tension vibrated between them. He could have cut it with small talk, but he wanted her to feel it. So he let her drown in the silence. Once he’d stripped away her defenses and had her emotionally naked, then he’d get her talking. At the very least, he would show her that he could both rebuild her and be worthy of her trust.

  What she did with that knowledge was up to her.

  As they ambled down the road to his place, darkness fell. He disabled his exterior security gate and rumbled down the dirt driveway, then reinstated the perimeter fencing behind him with the press of a button. Barney barked out his greeting, chasing his truck up the side of the fence.

  Laila smiled. “He is always so happy to see you.”

  “I’ve taught him to trust me.”

  Her smile fell. “He is lucky. Trust is not a luxury everyone can afford.”

  She didn’t think she could afford to trust him? What the fuck had he done to earn her doubt?

  Nothing. He was fighting her past.

  Finally, he parked in the garage out back, then repeated the command he’d given her before she’d visited her sister. “Sit there. I’ll come around for you.” He turned to pin her with a glare. “Do you understand?”

  For once, she looked chastened. “Yes.”

  “Good.” He climbed out, gave Barney a scratch between the ears and a few treats from the bin on the nearby shelf. Once the dog trotted away, munching happily, Trees rounded the vehicle.

  He opened the door and held out his hand to Laila. As if she finally understood there was hell to pay, she looked from his outstretched palm up to his face. Their gazes connected. She shivered. He felt the answering ping, just like the first time he’d laid eyes on her.

  Her fingers shook as she settled them across his own. Then she edged off the seat, sliding toward the ground.

  As her body skimmed his, he sucked back a sharp breath at the heady sensations. Fuck, he was supposed to undo her, not the other way around. “Let’s go. I’ll get your things out of the back seat later.”

  She nodded. Once he shut the passenger door and closed his detached garage, he led her across the backyard and toward the door, his hand hovering over her delicate spine.

  When they stopped, he reached around her to unlock the back door. She stayed him with a hand on his wrist. “Will you hurt me?”

  Trees swiveled a stare her way. If she was afraid, it didn’t show. “In my dungeon? That’s up to you.”

  “How?”

  Her expression softened him. She was worried, and the knowledge in her hazel eyes was far too old for her young face. Laila was so full of fire and resistance and irrepressible purpose, he often forgot that she was a dozen years younger.

  “I’ll explain everything soon.” He opened the door, guided her inside, then locked up behind her and enabled the alarm. Against his better judgment, he turned and cupped her face. “And I promise I’ll never intentionally leave you confused. Do you need anything before we head down? Food? Water? And don’t think of refusing either just because you don’t want to owe me.”

  Laila nibbled at her bottom lip, then shook her head. “I am fine.”

  “You’ve barely eaten all day, and we’ll fix that soon. I’ll insist you eat something.”

  “I will be all right until morning.”

  “You think that, but you’ll need to keep up your strength and stamina for what I have in mind.”

  She swallowed nervously. “Trees—”

  “No. I gave you chances. You flung them back in my face, so we’re moving on to punishment. How’s your headache?”

  “Gone.”

  “Good. Do you need the bathroom?”

  She shook her head.

  He lifted her chin in his grip. “When we’re in my dungeon, nonverbal answers aren’t allowed. Yes or no?”

  “No.” Her voice quivered.

  “Anything else you need?”

  She hesitated, and Trees suspected she was thinking through her options and deciding how best to combat him. “An explanation.”

  “You’ll get one as soon as we’re downstairs. What’s your safe word?”

  “It’s red. Trees—”

  “Come with me.” He wasn’t arguing with her anymore.

  He was getting the truth.

  Taking ahold of her elbow, he led her forward. She seemed to gather her courage, like a prisoner facing a firing squad, and headed for his closet. As he swept his clothes aside on their hangers, he motioned her to turn around. “Face the wall.”

  Trees made sure she couldn’t see his security code. He’d learned from his past mistakes.

  As soon as she obeyed, he tapped in the digits and the door to the dungeon popped open. It wasn’t lost on him that Laila would be the first person he played with in the kink paradise he’d built for himself and his eventual missus.

  Trees gathered her by the elbow, led her to the opening, then leaned in to flip on the light. “Inside. Watch your step.”

  She descended with quiet grace. Trees shut the door behind them. It clicked closed with a satisfying thud.

  Let the games begin…

  “Strip.”

  Laila choked. “Excuse me?”

  “Anytime you’re in my dungeon, you’re naked. I want you completely bare to me, body and soul.”

  She blinked up at him, trembling. Trees knew she wasn’t as afraid of a beating or torture as she was of him getting under her skin and seeing the real her.

  “Tick tock, Laila. You’re only making things harder on yourself by procrastinating.”

  “Why do you demean me?”

  The loaded question would only lead to a mind game he wouldn’t play. “I’ll make everything clear once you comply. But I’m seeing a pattern here. You argue. You refuse to answer. You twist my words. You try my patience and do your best to wear me down in the hopes that I’ll get frustrated or tired of dealing with you and give in. That won’t happen. I’m single-mindedly focused on you, Laila. I will get the answers I want. Last time I’m going to tell you. Strip.”

  She bit that lush lower lip that drove him insane in obvious indecision, then she swallowed, lifted her chin, and kicked off her shoes. “If you wish to beat me into some sort of submission, you will not be the first. You will not be the last.”

  Nice try. “You can’t guilt me into backing down. I’m not going to beat you.”

  But I’m going to use your body against you.

  She slid the little white sweater that clung to her breasts off her narrow shoulders and set it on a nearby table. Her stretchy dress followed as she whipped it overhead and tossed it haphazardly beside her cardigan. Her indifferent stare was meant to goad him, but no matter what her face said, he didn’t believe that getting naked for him meant nothing to her. He also didn’t buy that it did nothing for her. Her pebbled nipples poked her bra like twin nubs begging for his attention. She couldn’t blame the cold for that. As he’d waited for Laila to wrap up her conversation with Valeria, he’d used the controls on his phone to pump up the heater in the dungeon to a comfortable seventy-four degrees.

  “Shall I keep going?” she asked as if she didn’t care how he answered.

  He raised a brow at her. “Are you naked yet?”

  Laila gritted her teeth, then quickly smoothed her expression, as if she refused to show even the tiniest vulnerability. Instead, she slid her bra straps down her shoulders and reached behind her to unclasp the garment before tossing it away. Then she shot him a challenging glare, as if to say, I hope you’re enjoying gawking at my tits, asshole.

  Trees merely smiled—and felt the blood rush to his cock. “Beautiful. Now the panties.”

  A part of him hated to lose the transparent lace perched on her lushly curved hips. The silky fabric clung temptingly to what sure looked like her swollen pussy, delineating the engorged curves of her labia and the crease in between. But for what he had in mind, the lacy scrap needed to go.

  With a huff, she worked the undergarment down her hips, then bent and stepped out of them, rising in all her naked glory to stand before him, seemingly detached and unafraid.

  He knew better.

  Her pussy was definitely puffy and rosy from his earlier spankings. Even at a distance, he could see that. He’d bet she was aroused, too. But he’d get to that.

  With a nod, Trees acknowledged her. “Next time, I’ll reward you if you comply faster and give me less attitude, but some effort is better than none. I’ve got something for you. Come here.”

  Laila stiffened, unmoving, as if it had finally occurred to her that he couldn’t hurt her simply by looking. But now he intended to touch her. She was afraid of what he might do. That fact was all over her face.

  His expression became a warning even as he lowered his voice into a coaxing rumble. “Laila, if I have to ask you twice, your reward is off the table. You won’t like what happens then.”

  Her jaw tightened. Yeah, she hated being coerced. Trees understood.

  He softened his tone. “But it’s your choice. Everything that happens between us is.”

  Cajoling seemed to do the trick, because she finally shuffled forward, stopping in front of him. To his shock, she laid her palm over his chest. “What is happening? I do not understand this game.”

  “I think you do.” He covered her hand with his own. “But I promised to explain, so I will.”

  He led her to a nearby chair and sat, then drew her onto his thighs. She settled stiffly against him…but curled her legs onto his lap, unconsciously giving him more of herself.

  She blindsided him by tracing a fingertip across his chest and skimming her pouty lips up his neck as she wriggled on his hard dick. “Can you not simply ask me what you wish to know, then take me to bed?”

  Her touch induced tingles that threatened to scramble his brain, despite the fact he knew she’d switched tactics purely to usurp him. That wasn’t happening. He grabbed her wrist and stilled her hip to stop the distraction. “Not when you’ve proven you can’t be trusted to tell the truth. Besides, this isn’t about sex.”

  “I am naked.”

  Too many people confused nudity with sex, so he wasn’t surprised. “This is about control. It’s about power. You cede it to me, along with your trust, and we grow together.”

  Trees didn’t tell her that he would give things she needed back to her. Attention, affection, praise, reassurance, caring, boundaries. A safety net she’d never had. Those were bonuses she had to figure out for herself, because if he explained, she’d either dismiss him or laugh in his face. Or both.

  She scowled. “Why would I cede anything?”

  “I’ll reward you when you do.”

  “And you will punish me when I refuse?”

  “Yes. But your punishment won’t be a beating, Laila. Hurting you against your will is something I’ll never do.” She still looked as if she didn’t quite believe him. No shock there. Too often, words were just BS in syllable form. But he’d get through to her…eventually. “There are rules while you’re in this room with me. One is that you’re honest to the best of your ability. If you don’t know something, tell me you don’t know. But if you lie…I’ll take that as a sign that you’re seeking punishment and act accordingly. Two, you have to try to trust me. I’m not expecting miracles, but this will go a lot easier if you just believe that, when I tell you something, I mean it. And three, you have to let me know if I’m hurting you beyond what you can bear. My goal isn’t agony or humiliation. If you need your safe word, use it—with the understanding it isn’t for minor pain or mental unease.”