The girls start crying softly.One of them whisperspor favor.The smallest one—she can’t be more than twelve—hugs her stuffed cat and stares at me with wide and terrified eyes.
I can’t move.
My father raises an eyebrow.“No?Then perhaps I should decide for you.”
He turns the gun toward the smallest girl.
“Stop!”I scream.
“She’ll do just fine,” he says, cocking the hammer with an almost casual flick.“Pretty, innocent.Vega likes them that way.”
“Papa, please?—”
“You know what happens when you disobey me,” he says, eyes cold.“Do not make me repeat the lesson.”
My heart is pounding so hard I can feel it in my throat.“Kill me instead,” I whisper.
He laughs.“Be reasonable.”
When I don’t answer, he shrugs.“Very well.We’ll start with her and then move on to the others until you make a decision.”
“No!”
The gun stays trained on the girl’s forehead.
“Choose,” he says softly.“Or she dies.And then another.And another.I have four more, remember.”
I want to die.I want to disappear.But I can’t let him do this.
“Please, stop,” I sob.“Please.”
“Choose.”
The room is spinning.I close my eyes and point at the one who looks the oldest to me, tears streaming down my cheeks.“That one,” I whisper.“The one with the braid.”
The girl gasps.The guard grabs her by the arm.She kicks, screams, begs.
My father smiles.“Good girl.”
The door slams shut behind them.
* * *
The soundof the nurse calling my name drags me back to the present.My pulse is hammering so fast I almost don’t hear Hawk say my name.
“Dani?You okay?”
I nod too quickly.“Yeah.Just…spaced out.”
He studies me, his brow creased, but doesn’t press.Thank God.He’ll chalk it up to everything else that’s going on—Belinda, Gordon Brown, my life in turmoil.
The nurse smiles politely and gestures toward a hallway lined with white doors.“Right this way, Ms.Agudelo.”
Hearing that name spoken aloud makes my skin crawl.I want to tell her not to call me that, but Hawk’s hand is already at the small of my back and he’s guiding me forward.
The hallway smells like more disinfectant.When we step into the small lab room, I see the chair.
“Left arm or right?”the nurse asks, snapping on gloves.
