Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Then I made an epic mistake.
Manny, the guy who seemed to be in charge, was manhandling Hannah. He had a gold tooth that kept on flashing when he smiled wide like a shark, and his huge, overweight frame dwarfed my fragile friend. His two friends—Doug, a tall guy with pale brown hair and a serial killer’s smile, and Ray, a short and thick man with dark hair and small, dead brown eyes—watched with matching smirks.
The mood instantly turned deadly as Manny, pissed that Hannah wouldn’t confirm that she was dating Leo, smacked her hard. “I asked you a fucking question, bitch. Use your fucking words, or I swear to God, you’re going to regret it.”
He hit her again, drawing blood from her lips with the power of his blow, and I broke.
“Yes,” I blurted out, trying to spare my friend another slap. “She’s dating Leo Brass. Big guy, long blond hair, scary. Rides around in a Rolls. Please, don’t hurt her. They’ve only been together for a few weeks. She hasn’t done anything.”
Ray, the guy with the dead eyes, grabbed me by my hair. To my complete shock, he began to slap me around, hard. This was the first time anyone other than my brother or sisters had smacked me, and they’d never done it with their full strength. Pain exploded in my face and I cried out, clawing at the hand holding my hair as Kayla’s scream cut through my own high pitched sobs. Ray ignored my pathetic attempts to get away and hauled me, along with Kayla, down the hallway to my bedroom.
He threw both of us to the floor where we landed in a tangle of limbs. Kayla tried to stand up, but before she could do more than get to her knees, Ray had a gun out and pistol whipped her with it until she collapsed with a terrifying gurgle.
Screams were pouring out of me at this point. I tried to scramble to Kayla’s side to protect her somehow, but I was so terrified I was clumsy, getting caught up in my own feet as I struggled to pull myself up on my bed. I was going to grab something, anything, to defend myself, but Ray was on me before I got further than my pillows. He yanked me by the hair again and threw me to the ground, kicking me in the stomach and back until all I could do was curl up in a ball and try to shield myself.
It hurt to cry, and I struggled to draw in a breath, my wheezing gasps struggling for air.
Ray hauled me up by my hair and grinned as I heaved with sobs. “That’s right, cunt. That’s what you fuckin’ get for scratchin’ up my hand. Think I’m gonna keep you so I can fuck you to death. Yeah, you’re gonna make me some money. Gonna make you famous for dyin’ with my cock stuffed in your heart. Watchin’ your heart stop beatin’ while I fuck it through the hole in your chest’ll make me cum hard. In fact, I think I’ll jizz on your heart as it beats its final pump. My fans’ll love that.”
The vile picture his words painted made my stomach heave. I tried to use my feet to push away from him, but he merely laughed and hauled me back, clearly enjoying my useless struggling.
He leaned down, and I wanted to wretch as he pulled my hair out of my face, studying me. “Gonna keep you pretty before the fun starts. Cute girl like you? My fans’ll love it when I fuck your face up. Cut your eyebrows off, then your eyelids so you have to watch, so you have to look me in the eyes while I fuck you to death. I’m gonna cut you from pussy to asshole and, then I’m gonna let my dog either eat you alive or fuck you, his choice.”
Bile, hot and bitter, filled my mouth. My brain short circuited, overwhelmed by fear and revulsion, and it seemed to stop working. I’d read about being struck dumb by terror, had seen videos on the nature channel of it happening to animals, but I’d never grasped how horrible of a thing it was until it happened to me. My flight or fight instincts didn’t even kick in. Instead, I just lay there in shock when Ray gave me one final smile before smashing his gun against my temple and dissolved my world into bright white and black sparks.
My older brother, Fernando, thrashed against the padded leather cuffs we’d had to restrain him with, his agony pouring off him in waves. Sweat beaded his exhausted face, and his black hair was plastered to his skin. He’d fought us so hard, every tendon and vein on his body seemed to stand out with sharp relief. His lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl of anger as we secured him. The man who’d once been my kind, compassionate older brother—the best out of all of us, to be sure—had been reduced to an animal, crazed by his unending grief. Nina, his late wife and mother of his only child, had betrayed us all in the worse way, her attempt to extort money from the family resulting in her child’s death at the hands of a rival cartel.