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Of course, he wanted the focus on him, and only him.
He may have used Honey to lure me to him, but somehow, he'd wanted me to forget her as soon as I'd gotten here.
He was just about to find out how wrong he was. "I want to see her," I demanded, my fists tight in my lap, as if I was using them to hold myself together. To hold in all the pain and anger I wanted to belt out.
I wanted to jump across the table and stab him in the eye with this stupid, shiny fork!
"You're not happy to see me?" He finally responded.
"Should I be?"
"I would think you would be a little more grateful, after everything I've done for you over the years."
"You?" I replied, scoffing. His back straightened, his eyes glinting with expectation. He wanted me to ask him what he'd done for me. No doubt he'd turned some small and insignificant thing into something bigger in his mind.
I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Instead, I yawned, faking boredom. "Is this all you had planned."
In answer to my question, Manuel barked out. "Bring him here."
The cold sound sent a chill down my spine, but I held my head high, not wanting him to see how it affected me, despite what had happened only moments earlier.
Doors slammed against the back wall as two guards dragged in someone else--he could barely walk.
It was onion man.
Manuel gestured with two fingers and the guards released their hold on him and he crumpled to the floor, moaning in pain.
"On your knees," Manuel demanded, his cold blue eyes not looking at the man, but at me, instead.
Still groaning in pain, the man struggled to his hands, then, finally, managed to pull his knees upward so that he was bowing before Manuel.
"Not at me," Manuel scoffed derisively, taking a sip of a brown amber drink. Probably whiskey.
I wasn't sure what he meant until the man struggled, once more, until he was facing me, his head still bowed in supplication.
"Now." Manuel stood, towering over the man, his face impassive. "Apologize to her."
"I apologize, ma'am," onion man mumbled to the floor.
"Look her in the eyes," Manuel hissed, his voice going dangerously low.
Onion man's face tilted upward, revealing two swollen eyes, so swollen, he couldn't see from them. His shirt was torn, and he had cuts and bruises all over his face and chest.
"I apologize, ma'am. Please forgive me," there seemed to be genuine remorse in his words.
"I warned you, didn't I?" Manuel ran the back of his hand across his mouth and I recognized the telltale signs I'd come to learn so long ago. A quickened breath, subtle, but the unmistakable shake to his chest, and the brightening of his eyes.
He was growing excited.
And now I understood. He'd put onion man in charge of me on purpose. He'd known the man's weakness, that I would be a temptation to him, and had wanted to test him.
And, of course, the man had failed. Just like Manuel knew he would.
"Please," the man's broken tone softened my heart. "Forgive me?"
I stared at him in both horror and dread. Within seconds, Manuel had his gun out, aimed for the man's head. "Looks like the missus doesn't forgive you."
I suddenly realized, too late, that I was the only one who could save him.
