“No.”He turned to her, gaze hardened with determination.“This is what I should have done from the very beginning.I should have protected you from those monsters the minute they showed up at our place.”
“Well, isn’t that sweet?”Rodrigo sighed.“I dunno, though.I got burned once, taking on a loan from your family.How do I know you won’t stiff me like your old man did?”He turned to Mayté, scooting closer.“Bet you wish now you hadn’t given up El Escudo like a fool.That little boy can’t help you now.”He grabbed her braid and twirled it around his finger.
“Don’t touch me!”She yanked away.
Rodrigo snickered.“Why not?Actually”—his voice lowered and he grabbed her chin—“you have something much more valuable than either of these two.”
Disgust and horror swirled through her, but soon anger joined in.Never ever ever.“I SAID DON’T TOUCH ME!”She snatched her drink and threw it on him, goblet and all.
It smashed into his head, soaking his face and shirt.With a roar, he released her and furiously swiped at his face.“THAT’S IT!”He smashed his fist into the table, shaking it and causing the other drinks to slosh over.
“Hey!”The shopkeeper snatched up his Lotería board before it could get wet.
“¡Ten cuidado!”Alejandro spat a warning, voice barely above a whisper.The whites of his widened eyes were stark against the black paint.
Mayté looked back.
Rodrigo tossed back his colorful serape.Time slowed.The cloth was a bright yellow like the sun, with vibrant stripes of green, rich as the leaves in summer and red like fresh blood.Something gleamed in his hand.A dagger.El Valiente.
“¡Estás muerta, maldita!”He lunged for her.
“NO!”Mayté shrieked and tumbled backward out of her seat.Pain shot up her tailbone.She couldn’t get up fast enough.Spilled liquid seeped through her gown, which was way too tight and constricting.She couldn’t move.She felt like a crab trapped in a fisherman’s net.
“DON’T HURT HER!”Lo shot up from her seat and rushed for them, but suddenly recoiled.She threw her drink.It bounced off the air, spraying liquid back at her.An invisible wall had formed around the table.No one could get through it.
And no one inside could escape.
Alejandro stood in his spot.He looked absolutely frantic, but didn’t make a move.Croupiers couldn’t interfere with the game …
Rodrigo lumbered over, wearing a sick grin.
Mayté tried to get up and run away, but he snatched her by the arm.Was she about to die?She blindly flailed and kicked, but it did no good.
Carlos rushed behind Rodrigo and threw the serape over his head before tackling him.Suddenly free, Mayté stumbled back.
“You can die too!”Rodrigo slashed Carlos’s arm.Carlos clutched his arm as scarlet seeped through his sleeve.
Mayté screamed.
Images of the past filled her head.Carlos with his thick head of black hair and chubby cheeks letting her snuggle close whenever she had a nightmare.Carlos crying when he lost his toothand dropped it before he could show Ma.Carlos helping her with her studies.
Carlos at her side when the world they had grown up with crumbled around them.
And now, Carlos with her in the most terrifying trial of their lives.
She couldn’t let him die.
Rodrigo yanked Carlos by the collar, but before he could do anything, Mayté crashed into him.The dagger dropped to the floor with a clatter.She scrambled to grab it.Anything to keep it away from him.Just when her fingers tightened around the handle, he grabbed her neck.Hard.A strangled choke burst from her lips.
“Ay, you are just as annoying as your old man.”Rodrigo squeezed her neck.She couldn’t breathe.Couldn’t think.Black dots filled her vision.
“But hey,” he spat and wiped his mouth.“Killing you both will end sudden death for everyone.So, congrats.”
Squish.The sickening sound of a blade piercing through flesh.
Mayté dropped to the floor.
Blood stained her hands and dress.
