I STARE DOWN at the dead man with a bullet between his eyes. His lifeless body is lying on the floor in the back room of the club, along with two of his men, who tried playing hero in protecting their boss.
What was supposed to be a peaceful meeting between the two heads of the largest Mexican cartel families turned into what almost became an all-out war and a fucking bloodbath. But I solved the problem quickly by taking the head off the snake before things could escalate any further.
Hernando Cruz is no more, suffering the same fate as every other man I’ve killed before him. His empire is now mine. With him gone, I will liquidize his entire cartel, taking all his drugs, money, weapons and men. Everything will become part of my kingdom, only strengthening it and ultimately giving me more power.
Cruz thought he could cheat me out of a deal, cheat me out of millions. Well, I showed him what happened to people who double-cross me.
He took the first shot. My ear is still ringing from the bullet that passed by my ear, narrowly missing my head. Maybe it was supposed to have only been a warning, but I didn’t take too kindly to his methods of persuasion. And so, when I pulled my Glock from my jacket, I didn’t just aim to wound or maim. I aimed to kill.
“Anyone who wants to work for me, talk to Ignacio,” I tell Cruz’s men. “Anyone who doesn’t, get the fuck out of my club.”
A few leave, which is understandable. They just witnessed their boss and possibly friend get murdered. But the rest stay, which only means more manpower for me at my discretion. At this rate, I’ll own half of Mexico by the time I’m done.
The door to the backroom swings open, and I watch as my group of men from the VIP lounge come barreling in. They’re on high alert with guns drawn, but I tell them to stand down. The show is over. And I can tell a lot of them are mad they missed all the action.
When Pablo steps forward, he surveys the scene quickly and then asks, “What the hell happened?”
I announce to the room, “Cruz wanted to have a dick measuring contest.” With a smirk, I tell them, “And I obviously won.”
My little joke seems to take away some of the tension in the room, but there’s still the little matter of the dead bodies. “Take care of this,” I tell Ignacio, pointing to the floor.
He nods in response before spouting off instructions to the men. They immediately begin wrapping the bodies in rugs and tarps, getting ready to transport them out of the club. I’m sure they’ll end up in the middle of the desert in shallow graves or at the bottom of a lake somewhere. It doesn’t really matter much to me just so long as they aren’t continuing to bleed all over my club floor.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I take it out. A frown tugs at my lips as I read the text from Javier.
Something happened to the girl.
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath. My stomach drops with the feeling that it’s been filled with a thousand rocks. “I’ll be back,” I tell Ignacio.
I button my suit jacket and make my way out of the room and up the stairs, taking them two at a time towards the VIP lounge. On the way, I think about the worst-case scenarios in my head as to what could have happened to Aria. Did one of my men betray me and touch her? I let them know from day one if any of them lay a single finger on Aria, they will lose their entire fucking arm and most likely their life.
I burst through the door and look directly at Javier, who is standing with his hands on his hips, looking beyond frustrated. I open my mouth to ask what is going on, but then I hear Aria whimpering from the bathroom.
Rushing to the door, I reach for the knob and turn; but it’s locked. “Aria, open the door!” I yell, banging against the wood, shaking the entire frame. My threat only makes her crying worse, and I can hear her begging like her life is in danger.
“Who is in there with her?” I question Javier.
“N-No one,” he stammers with wide eyes.
I study him for a few seconds to see if he’s lying. I don’t find any deception in his eyes, but I’m not completely satisfied. Would Javier lie to me to protect one of his cohorts? I would hope he wouldn’t be so stupid, because he knows the consequences for defying me.
“Fuck this,” I say before I take a few steps back. I swear to all that is holy that, if someone is in there with her, I will be adding them to the pile of bodies I left downstairs. Putting my shoulder into it, I ram up against the door. My shoulder screams in protest at the impact, but I step back and do it again and again. Once the wood has softened up and is starting to splinter, I kick at the doorknob until it breaks, sending the door flying open.
I expect to see someone in the small room with Aria, but she’s alone, huddled in the corner by the sink. Her head is pressed against her knees, her entire body trembling.
“Aria,” I say as gently as I can. Her trembling intensifies. “Tell me what’s wrong,” I demand. “Tell me what happened.”
When she doesn’t answer me, I grow infinitely frustrated. Grabbing her, I roughly haul her to her feet and force her to meet my gaze. The tears make her eyes look like two endless pools of honey, like I could fall into them for miles.
“Tell me. Now!” I growl at her, shaking her. I’m barely able to keep myself together. Someone obviously hurt her, and I need to know who it was, so that I can hurt them a thousand times worse.
“He…he took me,” she whispers so softly I barely catch her words.
“Who?” I demand. If any of my men touched her, so help me God, it will be their last night on this earth.
“He was at the club. The music was so loud. He shot up the place. There were bodies everywhere. Selina and I hid under the table. We tried to get out, but he…he caught us.” She closes her eyes, squeezing them shut, and it takes me a few moments to realize she’s recalling a memory and not talking about anything that happened tonight. “They took Selina and I from the club. He tried to…he was going to rape me,” she whispers, her words making my blood boil inside of my veins. “I told him I was a virgin, and he stopped. But then he told me he was going to sell me, and they took me to The Island. I was on The Island, and I…I…” Her beautiful face crumbles as fresh tears form in her eyes.
She’s barely making sense, but I understand the gist of it. She was taken from a club just like this before she was brought to the auction where I bought her. Obviously, being here reminds her of that time, and she’s been traumatized by it. The gunshots earlier must have triggered some sort of PTSD episode.
“Look at me,” I demand. And when her amber eyes finally meet mine, I tell her, “No one is going to hurt you. I would kill them first. Do you understand?” I give her a small shake when she doesn’t answer, but her eyes look lost, unfocused, like she’s not even here in the moment, like she’s looking right through me.
I know all about traumatic experiences. They still haunt me at night in my dreams. But I don’t want that for her. I don’t want her to be afraid for the rest of her life because of what happened to her.
“Come with me,” I tell her, taking her hand and dragging her towards the broken door.
“No!” she cries. “He’s out there!” she pleads, and it sounds so genuine that I almost fucking believe it.
She pulls away from me, but I catch her before she can run back to her corner to hide. “I’m going to show you, Aria.” I put my hand around her waist, dragging her out of the room. “I’m going to show you how to replace your pain with pleasure.”
