I opened my eyes and tried to swallow but my mouth was completely devoid of any saliva. I blinked in the bright light of the room and looked around me. It looked like we were in a basement of a house. Lucia was sitting across from me. She was unconscious but she was breathing and she was tied to a chair. Instinctively, I pulled my arms and legs and realized I was bound too.
I couldn’t see Hugo, or George or Hank and my heart sank in my chest. What had happened to them? Were they still alive? God, what I wouldn’t give to see them right now, even Hank’s grumpy face would be a welcome sight.
‘Good afternoon, sleeping beauty,’ I heard a low, raspy voice beside me.
I turned my head to see two large men dressed entirely in black. One of them was sitting on a sofa and the other stood near a small table.
‘I’ve been waiting for you to wake up,’ he leered at me as he crossed the room until he was standing right in front of me. He reached out and ran a calloused fingertip down my cheekbone. ‘So fucking sweet,’ he hissed. ‘I’m looking forward to making you scream.’ He started to laugh and his accomplice on the sofa joined in.
I felt the bile burning the back of my throat, but I swallowed it back down. I remembered what Alejandro had told me. Don’t ask questions. Be silent for as long as you can – and listen.
‘Remember, you can’t play with her yet,’ the one of the sofa warned when he’d stopped laughing, and I heard the Spanish accent. See, I’d learned something already. Alejandro would be proud.
Alejandro. Thank God for him and his over-protective streak. He would already know we were gone and would be looking for us. He would find us soon. I was sure of it. That was what I told myself anyhow.
‘The boss said we need to keep her in tact. For now. Until we have Alejandro exactly where we need him.’
That was three things I’d learned now. These two goons worked for someone else and they wanted to exploit my husband in some way.
The one in front of me, cupped my chin with his hand and tilted my head upwards. ‘I’m going to have so much fun with you, chica!’ he sneered and I couldn’t hold back the bile any longe. I vomited all over him.
He cursed in Spanish and the one on the sofa started laughing again as the one in front of me brought his hand back and slapped me across the face with the back of it.
My head snapped back as I coughed and spluttered, trying to clear my throat of bile.
‘Fucking puta!’ he snarled and then he turned away from me. ‘I’m going upstairs to clean up,’ he snapped to his associate.
The room was quiet again when he left. I looked at the man on the sofa. I guessed he was in his late thirties. He had a tattoo of a crucifix on his neck and I winced at the irony. He stared back at me for what felt like an eternity, neither of us flinching.
‘Alejandro has taught you well, little puta,’ he eventually said with a grin. ‘Soon, you will know exactly why you’re here, and who took you. But it will make no difference. Because you will still be leaving here in pieces. And me and my buddy upstairs will take great pleasure in breaking you before you do. We will make sure Alejandro knows every single filthy way we’re going to violate you. Then he will have to live with that for the rest of his life,’ he started to laugh again.
‘Alejandro will find you, and he will peel your skin from your body while you’re still alive, hijo de puta!’ I spat at him.
He shook his head. ‘Oh, puta, you have no idea,’ he continued laughing and I closed my eyes.
Please, Alejandro, hurry.
