She slowly took the phone. She didn’t have to look at it to know what she was going to see.

Maria.

Half naked, her hands bound above her head. Her upper body was crisscrossed with whip marks. The only mark of brutality Lara hadn’t seen before was a gaping red mark that had been drawn across Maria’s throat. One word had been scrawled in Russian beneath the photo. COME.

She vaguely heard Tanner cursing as she blindly thrust the phone back at him. “He did that to her a long time ago.” Her voice was shaking. “I could usually keep it from happening. But he always kept the photos. Sometimes he’d show them to me when he needed to threaten me.” She was talking fast, and her voice was getting hoarser. She could feel the tears sting her eyes. “It usually didn’t take much. It was better than having him touch her. She’d never cry out because she knew how much it hurt me. No matter what—”

“Shut up.” He’d pulled her into his arms and was rocking her. “You’re killing me. I didn’t want to show the damn thing to you, but I’d promised.” He took out his handkerchief and was dabbing at her wet cheeks. “It won’t happen to her. I won’t let it.”

She nodded. “No, it won’t. I’m sorry, I let it all come back to me just as he intended it to.” She took a step back. “It was clever of him. The threat and then the demand that I do what he wants. It’s been ingrained for years. I can’t let him do that to me this time.” She had to stop shaking. She wrapped her arms tightly over her chest. “But I have to be sure that what you’ve told me about her being safe here is the truth. There’s no way they can track us here? I’ll have a little chance to think what’s best for me to do?”

“No way will they find you. I told you, this was Sandrino’s safe house. No one knows about it, and I have you secure. Nothing can happen to you while you’re here.” He was pouring another shot of whiskey into a glass. He took her elbow and half nudged, half pushed her across the library toward the couch. “Now sit down and drink this whiskey.” He pulled her down beside him and put the glass in her hand. “You look like you’re going to shatter any minute. It’s driving me crazy.”

“I don’t drink.”

“You do now.” He watched her take a swallow and then make a face. “Though it doesn’t surprise me. You’re probably afraid to let your guard down.”