The Boss Assignment (Rogue Protectors Book 3) by Victoria Paige (red scrolls of magic txt) 📗

“Nico?”

“Nico Castillo is Ida’s son. Antonio and Nico have been working closely ever since this problem started.” Renata’s smile was brittle. “Talk about nepotism, huh? With two products about to be unveiled and with plans of taking the corporation public, Antonio is being ruthless.” The woman shrugged. “But that’s who he is. He’ll do everything to protect the company he worked so hard to build.”

“Including abducting research scientists to do his bidding, I believe.”

Renata laughed lightly. “So you see, the sooner you help us fix this, the sooner things can get back to normal. And then you can go home.”

“You think Antonio will let me go?”

“Like I said, we’re not monsters, and it breaks my heart to see Antonio being accused of something he did not do. Anyway, you will meet Nico at dinner. I don’t like that he will cost Pierre his job, but I think you will like working with him.” Renata handed her the other shopping bags. “Here are your real things. They’re not designer … I don’t want our finance department to question the expense account even when Antonio says I have carte blanche on his credit card to spend on you. It’s always me who has to explain to accounting.”

“Oh, gotcha…”

Renata’s face softened. “I’ll try to get Antonio to transfer you to a better room. Please consider helping us. Nico will show you the data we have on this virus supposedly created in our lab.”

Charly shrugged. “I’ll take a look at it.”

“That means you’ll help us?”

Oh, no you don’t, Renata.

Charly smiled. “That means I’ll think about it.”

She was escorted back to her room by Oscar. Surprisingly, she did not hear the lock from the outside. From what she’d learned from Renata, the family had been heavily embroiled in organized crime twenty-five years back and this wing was where they kept their high-value prisoners.

“Just be thankful he didn’t stick you in the dungeon.”

Renata didn’t elaborate, and this wasn’t Charly’s first rodeo. This was a cakewalk compared to what she’d gone through with Carillo, under constant guard, and leering from his foot soldiers. The threat of being raped and dismembered was ever present. For nine months she lived in constant fear. A queasiness roiled her stomach and her lungs constricted as she remembered her time in captivity. Charly knew then the one thing keeping her from being torn apart by Carillo’s men was in her head.

She should’ve never sent Dr. Leigh that email about the mutated virus.

There was much confusion with what happened that night she was kidnapped, especially since Charly was unconscious for most of it. She and her boss ended up with the Carillo cartel. A few weeks later, Dr. Leigh disappeared. Charly found out from one of the cartel soldiers that the doctor and Carillo got into a heated argument. The two men left, but only Carillo returned. Apparently Charly appeared to be more useful than Dr. Leigh who became a liability. She never knew what happened to him.

It was her first lesson in learning how to survive the cartel—reminding them always that they needed her to work on the vaccine and the antiviral. Because like Antonio said on the plane, depending on who had the cure, the bioweapon could be powerful or rendered utterly useless. Did that prevent Carillo from smacking her around? No. He was careful enough not to give her concussion or damage her mind by torturing her.

“Oh, God.”

She pressed an arm across her stomach as it got more unsettled. Her feet backed up against the bed and she sank onto the mattress, overwhelmed by everything that had happened to her. A sob started at the base of her throat and her eyes burned.

Charly started to cry.

Kidnapped again.

Would her life ever go back to normal?

She didn’t know what “normal” meant anymore.

Dropping sideways, she buried her face in the pillow, letting it absorb the fear and terror she endured over the past months. She realized that Antonio and his cohorts were a different breed. Civilized on the outside, but carrying the same ruthlessness on the inside. She shouldn’t get complacent. Antonio appeared to want the same thing she did, but Charly needed to hold out long enough for them to know she couldn’t be pushed around. They were excellent negotiators … or manipulators, depending upon how one looked at it. She would need to be on her guard more than ever.

Her sobbing subsided, and she kicked off her clogs so she could lie down on the bed.

She stared at the ceiling and contemplated her predicament.

It was almost seven in the evening and she didn’t know if she had to wait for Oscar to take her to dinner. It was dark outside and the only light in her room was from the desk lamp, so she was in the bathroom freshening up. There was a lip balm in her toiletries and no makeup at all … she really could use some bronzer. Far from being vain, all she needed to feel was like her old self. Today was the first day she’d tried a curling iron again in the last nine months.

Her stomach was still in knots and she wasn’t sure what to expect. The tiny rebel in her decided to ignore what Renata picked for her even if it was a cute outfit. She decided to go with jeans and a grayish tee with a dark abstract print. She wasn’t sure how formal their dinner was, but she decided to wear her beloved clogs.

A rap on the door made her jump.

She was halfway across the room when the knock came again and there was an impatient rhythm to it.

Throwing open the door, she had hands on her hips and said, “Seriously, can’t a girl …”

Her voice died, expecting to see Oscar, but instead, there stood Antonio.

There was a disdainful look on his face as he took in her appearance and Charly stiffened her spine along with her conviction that no one dictated how