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Garrett rolled his eyes and sighed "Yeah, he’s a real peach"

Margarita nodded in understanding "I was young Itroubles We had been trying to have a baby, and it just wasn’t working out for us We got into a fight right before I left for the Dory, then suddenly this urehead of the country who could have any woman he wanted, but he chose ifts We had an affair I flew ho ashamed of what I’d done I never told nant He kneasn’t his Aside from the fact that the dates corresponded to my time out of the country, he found out he was sterile while I was gone"

Garrett listened to Margarita’s story quietly, processing everything she was telling hie her or ju hied, understandably The abuse started not long after that, verbal and physical I didn’t knohat to do I was so lost and alone I did the only thing I could think of I called E in her seat nervously, her eyes never leaving the gun "He felt awful for what I was going through, but he was in the n, and it wouldn’t have looked right to bring a ave h the worst of it He promised he would send for edfor hi ain," she continued to explain, wiping her sweaty palularly and he sent me money that I kept in a secret account to use on the day I finally got away from my husband And then one day the call caer and the abuse behind, and ere going to be a family My son would be able to have a real father ouldn’t ignore him or push him around He would have a man in his life he could respect and look up to"

Garrett’s blood went cold at Margarita’s mention of the word son

"But that wasn’t to be Emilio explained I couldn’t take him with me He told me I needed to come alone, just until he could come up with a plausible story for why he suddenly had a wife and child He promised me I would only be apart froarita explained as a tear rolled down her cheek "I was iiven a new identity and told that I could never speak English unless I was alone with him He said it was the only way for the cover he’d crafted to work"

Garrett’swith inforether in a neat, orderly fashion, leaving his hands shaking in fear

"A feeeks turned into years, though, didn’t it?" Garrett asked

Margarita nodded her head, the tears falling faster now

"After ry He had a plan for our son, one that didn’t involve hi coddled by a woman He wanted him to be raised in an environ How to be a ain I found out about how he ht I also found out how i with twelve young girls were auctioned off to the highest bidders a I spent twenty-four hours being used and degraded by theaway at irls who stood in the roo bet on like cattle at an auction"

Her voice quivered and she took a tremulous breath as she told Garrett about her horrific ordeal He couldn’t stand to hear the pain in her voice He ai his elbows on his thighs and gently patting one of her knees with his hand in comfort "At least I was older, had experience so to speak Soirls couldn’t have been more than thirteen," she said with a sob "When I was returned to Fernandez, he tolda dutiful wife, a woman that he rescued from poverty and devastation I would stick by his side and support hi wife should so the people of this country kneas a man to be trusted If I didn’t do exactly as he instructed, I would continue to attend the ’auctions’, and I would never see ain"

Garrett held head in his hands All this tiht in front of the hi out of the room to make sure Parker was safe was the fact that he knew Brady wouldn’t let anything happen to her

After severalto the sounds of stifled sobs fill the rooe, as your naarita Fernandez?" Garrett asked

The woman across from him wiped the tears from her cheeks and tilted her head to the side as she looked at him

"My name was Michelle Roberts"

Garrett closed his eyes and let his head drop down between his shoulders

"Milo iswater and the dank, s Parker noticed upon regaining consciousness The next was the fact that she had no idea why the entire left side of her neck stung like a bitch, and lastly and probably ainst what felt like a wooden post with her arether above her head

Parker blinked rapidly to clear the blurriness fros in an atteet herself into this ht-hundred square feet with standard cement walls The wetness in the air seeped into her bones and the boxes of clutter all around the room made her feel claustrophobic A door in the corner of the rooht Parker’s eye, but it was closed and she had no idea if it led to another roo as a fresh wave of pain shot behind her eyes and squeezed her head like it was in a vice She squinted through the blinding pain that felt like the worst hangover ever and slowly looked above her head again She was handcuffed with standard issue police hardware and then chained to a ave the chain a good pull and was rewarded with absolutely nothing There was no give to theto slip out of the cuffs They were alh to cut off circulation And Parker knew that sitting there too long with her arers were already starting to tingle with nu in the aard position for so long She closed her eyes and let her head drop back down slowly, careful not to agitate the headache that was causing pinpricks of pain behind her eyes

Parker took inventory of everything she could remember She and Garrett had just co her father at the hospital Milo had been waiting for them Milo was alive

Milo was alive, Parker re clarity

Parker’s heart rate picked up at thethere by the front door Milo told theent She rery she’d been and how she’d punched him in the nose Garrett had been pissed and walked away from her Tears pooled in her eyes when she remembered the look on his face when he told her she was on her own

He had been upset with her, thinking she was choosing Milo over him She could see it written all over his face He left and she didn’t even get a chance to explain anything Garrett jumped to conclusions, just like always He told her he trusted her, but that wasn’t really true She’d learned a lot about herself these past feeeks She knew given the chance to go back in ti differently She would have chosen Garrett fro and made the decision to be happy no ive hi to do with choosing hi an end to Fernandez, no matter the cost She just wanted this to be over She had just wanted to go back home and start her life and her future with the ht she was a complete idiot He had honestly believed she would ju Milo said as the truth If Garrett knew her at all, he would have known she was just placating Milo, telling him what he wanted to hear so she would have ti the truth If Garrett would have stuck by her side and supported her, she would have told him all of this He would have seen the text she sent while Milo was busy explaining things and understood what she was trying to do