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‘This is a test,’ he said, gripping my chin. ‘You think I would let you out of my sight without some kind of insurance policy? I know you will stay with me, cholita, when you’ve a belly full of drugs and a United States Air Marshal by your side. Do not forget the deal you struck with me last night. Do you want your family to die?’
He released my chin, pushing me roughly as he stepped back. I looked at the pellets and gagged again, not as loudly this time but enough that I thought I might throw up.
Emilio returned to his seat across from me, breathing heavily, and I could tell he was trying his hardest not to fly off the handle and beat me to a bloody pulp. Not because it would make him feel bad, but because he wanted me to look pretty.
I took a deep breath in turn, let my shoulders drop, and tried to calm myself. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, recalling his threat about my parents. ‘I’ll try again.’
His lip curled up into a sneer and he simply gestured to the plate.
I bobbed my head, tentatively picking up one of the pellets in one hand and the olive oil in the other. Taking a deep breath, I repeated what I had watched Emilio do with the olive oil in his palm.
Without giving myself time to think, I slid the pellet as far as I could to the back of my throat and swallowed forcefully.
Shit!
The pellet lodged painfully in my throat for an agonising moment, and for a brief second I thought it would remain there. Thankfully, it eventually went down, and I swear I could feel it travel all the way to the depths of my stomach and settle on the bottom like a brick dropped in a fish tank.
I smiled, hitting myself lightly on the chest. ‘I did it!’ I was pleased, until I remembered where I was, who I was with, and how many pellets were left on the plate in front of me.
Oh, Christ.
Emilio looked amused as I stared in horror at the rest of the plate.
‘I don’t think they’re all going to fit inside me,’ I told him.
He chuckled. ‘Of course they will. I’ve fit twice that amount inside girls half your age.’ Half my age? Visions of nine-year-old girls swallowing these pellets made my heart contract painfully.
‘You’re trying too hard,’ he said. ‘It’s just like taking a tablet. Or sucking a cock. I’m sure you’ve had a cock in your mouth before.’
I almost fired a retort at him until I remembered I actually had had one of those in my mouth the night before, in the alleyway, before Este and I had moved onto other things.
‘Speaking from your own cock sucking experience?’ I finally managed.
Without pause, Emilio stood and reached across the table, backhanding me across the face with a ferocity that had seemingly come out of nowhere.
I cringed, holding a palm up to my stinging cheek. When I pulled it away, a small amount of my blood marked my palm. I glanced at his hand, seeing a large gold ring adorning his ring finger. Great.
I was too shocked to say anything. I just pressed my palm back to my cheek and watched Emilio, my mouth slightly open.
‘I wasn’t always this rich,’ he said, twisting his ring back to the correct position on his finger. ‘I was a smuggler before I was a kingpin, tough girl. I built this business up from the ground level.’
‘Your parents must be so proud,’ I muttered, one hand on my stomach as it growled in hunger. Don’t eat through the pellet, stomach acid, please don’t eat through the pellet.
‘My parents are dead,’ he replied without a trace of sadness. I cowered, expecting another slap for speaking out of turn. I had to stop mouthing off or it would be the end for me. ‘They were slaughtered by a rival mafia family in Italy when I was just a boy. My father was not as smart as me. Kind of like you and your father. We’re more alike than you realise, cholita.’
‘How lovely,’ I replied.
‘Quit stalling and get the rest into you,’ he said, pushing the plate closer to me. ‘We leave for the airport in one hour.’
My heart sank as I faced the impossible task in front of me.
He’s not lying. He’ll kill your entire family if you don’t do what he says.
I pulled the plate closer and continued.
* * *
Nineteen pellets. One for every year of my life. That’s how many I’d been able to swallow over the course of an hour, before my stomach refused to take any more. I still wasn’t entirely sure if the nineteenth had made it all the way down, or if it was still lodged in the bottom of my throat. I felt fuller than I’d ever felt before, fuller than I felt after the biggest El Día de las Velitas dinner of buñuelos and rum.
