Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 89772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
One foot in front of the other.
Four steps.
Three steps.
Two steps.
One.
I stopped right at the bottom of those stairs where there were no more bullshit lies for him to spew, no more orders for me to follow, no more fantasy for me to live.
This was my demise and I fucking welcomed it with open arms.
Chapter 12
—Cruz—
“I don’t know! I swear I don’t fucking know!” a man whose ankles were tied to the rafters with cable cords, hanging upside down shouted loud enough to break glass.
His hands were bound behind his back, zip ties securing them in place. All the blood from his body drained to his face while more oozed off the deep incisions my father inflicted with the rusty blade in his hand. The guy looked like he’d been beaten within an inch of his life and when that didn’t work, he cut open his skin.
“Wrong answer, Sergey,” Papá declared.
“Nooooooo! Noooooo!”
Gripping onto the back of his hair, he viciously sliced from the middle of his chest to the bottom of his stomach.
“If I cut you diagonally, your intestines will fall out. Your choice, not mine.”
“Please… please… I swear I don’t know where she is!”
“Is that right?” he drawled out. “Lying to me only makes me fucking angry and trust me, Sergey, you haven’t seen me angry yet.”
“I’m telling you the truth!”
“As am I. Now we could do this the easy way and you can tell me where my daughter is, or we could do it the hard way and I gut you open like the fucking animal you are for taking my daughter.”
“I didn’t take her! It wasn’t me!”
“Sergey,” Papá sang out in a devious tone. “It took me five days to find the man on the video surveillance. She was following you out of the estate that night. It was you, Sergey. Only you. Now how long do you think it will take me to find your mother, your brother, and your baby sister? Huh? She’s in middle school, right? Patrons Academy. Motherfucker, I’ll slit all their throats while you watch and beg me to stop. I won’t. Not for one fucking second. So don’t make me ask you again. Where is my daughter?”
“Please…please…I swear to God I don’t know where she is!”
Cut.
He sliced off his finger, sending his victim into a reeling fit of agony and distress.
“God isn’t here right now, but El Diablo sure as fuck is. I don’t appreciate being lied to, especially to my fucking face!” He slashed off another finger.
“Arggggghhhh!” Sergey yelled in pure anguish, clearly struggling not to pass the fuck out.
“That’s for lying to me again and disrespecting me in front of my men. I suggest you man the fuck up and tell me where my daughter is, because I’m getting impatient and I’m going to move onto your cock next. Stop feeding me your bullshit lies before I decide I no longer want to play nice.”
“Listen,” Sergey coaxed with a quivering jaw. “I’ll be honest with you. Okay? I knew Adriana from school, they knew I knew her.”
“Who’s they?”
“I don’t know. I swear I don’t know. They said they’d kill my ma if I didn’t bring her outside and let them use my home. I wasn’t here. I didn’t come back until they said I could, and by the time I got back, they were gone. I swear to you that’s all I know.”
“What did they look like?”
“I only talked to them on the phone and they used one of those voice changers. I didn’t hear their real voice. Please… please…just let me go!”
“Let you go? Where are you going, Sergey?”
His chest heaved, and his nostrils flared. “To a fucking hospital! Please! Please!”
Out of the corner of my gaze, I saw a shadow in the window. I smiled wide, my eyes wild and brazen. Thirsty for their blood. Raising my arm, I aimed my gun and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
Shooting the piece of shit right in between the eyes, killing him point-blank. In less than an instant, everyone had their guns out, including my father. For the second time in a few short days, he directed his Glock right at my forehead.
Our eyes locked as he stumbled back as if the bullet shot into his heart. His stunned stare flew toward my target, instantly realizing what I’d done.
His men sprang into action.
Guns cocked and loaded.
Two bodyguards surrounding him, two more ambushing me while three rushed up the stairs in search of other enemies.
“Crucifixio.” My name fell from his mouth.
One word.
Ten letters.
My name.
The underworld spun around us.
Chaos erupted.
All Hell broke loose but our intense connection never drifted from one another. Time seemed to stand still from the moment his eyes bore into mine, beginning to unravel the emotion I always wanted to see inside of him. He didn’t try to hide it.
The disappointment.
The shame.