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“You piece of shit,” I spit. “You’re not going to get away with this.”
“Are you sure about that? You’ve sentenced the only one who could save you to death.” He cracks that awful smile as he motions two of his men forward. “Take her to the cell.”
“Let me go!” I shout and struggle, but they’re far too strong. That doesn’t mean I have to make it easy for them.
Dropping like dead weight, they have to literally drag me out. But to my surprise, we don’t go up to the third-floor suite like I thought.
“Where are you taking me?” I demand when we begin to descend the stairs.
However, before he replies, I already know. The room in the garage for the ones they aren’t willing to negotiate with.
My blood runs cold as I see the door to that room at the far end of the garage and recall imagining what goes on in there. Horrible things done to horrible people. Good people too if they were unfortunate enough to cross the wrong path.
I don’t have to imagine for long. Soon enough, I’m being tossed into the dark, windowless space, thrown in like a heap of garbage into a dumpster. I’m pushed in with so much force that I slide a few feet over the smooth concrete.
“No!” I cry out when the metal door is slammed shut, taking with it any sliver of light. I’m left scrambling up and blindly search for the exit. When I find it, I pound against it until my fists ache. “Let me out!”
It takes a long while for me to give up, even though what Declan said is true. Rowan was the only one who could have saved me, and I sent him to Hell. By the time my father suspects anything, I’ll be there too.
Wherever you go, I’ll follow. If the price of being with you is to burn for eternity, I’ll gladly pay it.The voice inside repeats the words I said to Rowan all those years ago.
I dig into my back pocket where I put the butterfly and pull it out in pieces. The impact of my crash onto the floor must have broken it.
Clutching the shattered suncatcher to my chest, I drop to my knees. And I sob, unable to contain the grief I feel for this thing in my hand, this thing that meant so much to me and that Rowan kept.
What have I done?
20
LOUISA
Nothing makes you long for a past shitty situation like being stuck in an even shittier one. That’s not a saying I’ve ever heard of. This one I came up with all on my own.
I curl up on the cold floor, wishing for the holding suite Rowan put me in when I first arrived. There was a warm bed, windows, a bathroom.
There was no one beating me just because they can.
A tear slips from my eye, rolling sideways across the bridge of my nose and over my other cheek.
“Fucking Mexican rat!” I hear for the millionth time in the span of only a few hours.
Knowing it’s coming, because this isn’t my first round with him, I wrap my arms around my head before the goon’s foot makes contact. He gets me on the back of the hand this time, the sole of his shoe tearing off some skin. Before I can even think about the pain, he’s kicking me again, this time in the abdomen.
That one takes me by surprise, knocking the wind out of me. I gasp for air, struggling to get my lungs to expand.
“Enough!” Declan says. He comes to crouch in front of my face. Leaning in close, he examines me. “This should be enough. We don’t want her to die before it’s time.”
“Just kill me now,” I manage to grunt out. “What the fuck are you waiting for?”
His dark eyes lock on mine. “Death would be a mercy you haven’t earned, dearie. Besides, there are others who would like a turn with Don Fernando’s spawn. Manny Valdez has already made a special request to be next in line.”
My blood runs cold at the mention of the drug lord my father fucked over before escaping to the States. Of course any of Papá’s enemies would do their research into his past. They’d want to find his worst fear. Manny Valdez would make anything Declan has done to me seem like a day at the spa. If he gets a hold of me…
I cough as I struggle to push myself into a sitting position. When I finally manage to, I glare at Declan through the one eye that hasn’t swelled shut. “This won’t get my father to bow down to you.”
“Dear, I’m not doing this to get his loyalties. I’m doing it becauseyouhad it coming. Or did you already forget I know it wasyouwho raided our trucks?” He cocks his head. “It wasyouwho fucked up. Not your father.”
If I wasn’t in so much pain, I’d laugh. The irony is too much. For years, I’ve tried to prove myself as an essential part of the Duran business and it’s Declan’s radar I end up on. Now I’m going to be handed over to one of my family’s greatest enemies, just like I did to Rowan.
