Read Breaking Point for Free Online Page B

to say to a woman, McBride.
    She took it better than he’d imagined she would.
    “ Oh, God! ” The words were whispered, a private expression of despair, not meant for him to hear. When she spoke again, her voice shook. “M-my mother always told me there’d come a day when I’d regret asking so many questions.”
    If she had fallen into hysterics, it might have been easier for him to bear because that’s what he’d expected. But her attempt at humor left him feeling outraged at Cárdenas, at the Zetas, and most of all at himself for being helpless to stop them.
    “Your mother must be very proud of you.”
    Not to mention worried out of her mind.
    “My m-mother . . .” Natalie’s voice broke. Tears at last. She’d held out a long time. “She and my father are . . . gone. They died with my fiancé in a car crash on the way to get me at the hospital.”
    It took a moment for Zach to realize what she was telling him. Her parents and her fiancé had been killed in a car accident on the way to the hospital to pick her up. On the same day she’d almost been murdered.
    Behind his blindfold, he squeezed his eyes shut, the bottom dropping out of his stomach, pity for her momentarily overpowering his own suffering. She’d lost everything—everything but her life—thanks to a goddamned psychopath and Hurricane Katrina. And she’d survived all of that only to end up here.
    “I’m so very sorry, Natalie.” He didn’t know what else to say.
    In the darkness, he could hear her crying. “It’s been a long time since I’ve talked about this with anyone.”
    “I’m glad you felt you could trust me.” He knew it had nothing to do with him personally. Ordeals like the one she’d been through today had a way of stripping a person down to their core. And knowing what he now knew, Natalie’s must be pure titanium.
    She would need every bit of that strength before this was over.
    Unable to do anything else to help her, Zach gave her the only advice he could. “I know it’s hard, but you need to stay focused on what’s happening now. Do whatever it takes to survive. Do you hear me, Natalie? Just survive.”
     
    NATALIE HUGGED HER arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees, trying to calm her empty, churning stomach and pull herself back together. She hadn’t meant to fall apart like that. She hadn’t meant to dump her private pain into a stranger’s lap. But being locked up like this had brought it all back for her, and it had come spilling out before she could contain herself, her grief as overpowering as it had been six years ago.
    Oh, Mama. Daddy. Beau.
    She wiped her tears away. Zach was right. She needed to focus on what was happening now, because her life depended on it.
    I imagine he’ll rape you repeatedly over a period of days or maybe even weeks and then sell you—or kill you.
    It seemed strange to her that just this morning she’d had little more on her mind than the heat and the day’s itinerary. Now that world had been taken away from her. Soon her body would be stolen, too—and then her life. Would anyone know for sure what had happened to her? Would they find her body in a ditch one day, naked and broken?
    Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To fetch the poor dog a bone
    Natalie’s stomach growled, the sound loud enough to make her wonder if Zach had heard it. “Do they ever feed us?”
    He didn’t answer at first, and she thought he must have fallen asleep. When at last he answered, he sounded weaker, his words slower, his voice more strained. “Not so much. Don’t . . . expect much to drink, either.”
    “Oh.” Another wave of despair rolled through her. She fought to subdue it.
    Zach wasn’t whining and complaining. Neither should she.
     
    “ZACH, WAKE UP! I think they’re coming!”
    Zach jerked awake.
    Men’s voices grew nearer.
    Gritting his teeth, he dragged himself upright, more aware of Natalie’s fear than his own discomfort or dread. He fought to catch