...Ludo shook his head. “I was kept in captivity for…months.” He frowned suddenly. “Sometimes they’d feed me. Sometimes they beat me. They got their kicks that way.”

I knew there was a lot he wasn’t telling me…or them. For the months we’d been together, he had gotten better slowly, his daily routine a pleasure to him. He took delight in the details. Making coffee, getting deals on chicken and meat at different grocery stores. Buying cherry blossoms by the stem and selecting the perfect organic apricots at the farmer’s market on the weekends. Making love with me. Ludo counted minutes. He could tell me at any given time how long we’d been together—or apart—that day.

“Did I hear the doctor saying that Jackson’s heart was punctured?” he asked Fulton now. My mother lifted her hand to cover his. She knew this was hard for him.

“Well…that’s what he said, then he changed his story. Jackson’s body’s pretty much a mess. They didn’t know where to begin with the stitches. Most of the wounds are to his extremities…his hands and legs.”

“I know what extremities are,” Ludo said. “Tell me, did they find anything in his…anus?”

Fulton gaped at him.

“How did you know?”

Ludo glanced at me, then back at the detective. “I’m curious if they found anything…a foreign object, large, in his rectum?”

Fulton nodded slowly. “They did.”

“Was it a light bulb?”

“Holy crap, how did you know that?” Tripp asked.

“Then I know who is behind this because he did it to me.”

“Masterson?” Fulton looked confused.

“No. I’m talking about the baited fights. I was sold to Masterson because I lost my first fight. I’m a lover, not a fighter. The man who stages these…battles…likes to use very strong men. I may not look it but I’m strong. I guarantee you Jackson would have seemed a desirable…warm up. The man behind all this is called Cornelius Teru and these fights are called Fuerte, which is Spanish and it means strong.”

All of us stared at him. Fuerte. Strong.

Holy shit. I didn’t know about any of this. How had Ludo lived all these months knowing these assholes were out there?

He let out a sigh. “None of this is admissible evidence in the Masterson trial since he wasn’t involved. I told the DA’s office all of this…” His elaborate shrug finished the sentence. They hadn’t been interested.

As the cops turned and went back inside to check on my brother, Ludo’s gaze fell on my face.

“This just got personal,” he said. “I have to fight back.”

“No, you can’t.”

He gave me a smile that had little sincerity behind it. “The man I’m talking about, Cornelius Teru, he was the friend I crossed the lake with. I trusted him and he betrayed me. He knows where we are. He chose to infiltrate our privacy by torturing your brother.”

“Are you sure it’s him?”

“Oh…it’s him.” A bitterness I’d never seen before crossed his features. “He did it to me, Cavan. What he did to Jackson he did to me.” He frowned. “He must think you’re close. He must have the idea it would really affect you if he hurt your brother.”

“Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe he doesn’t know.”

He gave a sharp bark of laughter. “Oh, trust me, he knows.”

My mom and sister were talking now, my sister angry about the money Mom had given Jackson.

“I just bet he blew through it all,” Dina sneered. “Do you have any idea what Garrett and I could have done with forty k?”

“Please don’t.” My mother began to cry, her hands coming up to her face.