I gave Aiden a look in the rearview mirror. He looked back at me with wide, frightful eyes.
“It’s going to be okay,” I promised, not knowing if that was true.
“Put your seatbelt on, boy. You don’t have a death wish, do you? Safety first.” Reyes fucking chortled.
Bastard.
“At this red light, you’re going to make a right to merge onto the highway,” Reyes instructed.
“I thought you said this ATM was close,” I told him.
He leaned forward and pointed his gun to the side of my face. “Is there a problem?”
I gritted my teeth and shook my head.
“Didn’t think so. Take the next exit.”
I took the off-ramp that took us to a side road. A minute later, I noticed one of my bank’s branches. Unfortunately, Reyes was right.
Though the bank wasn’t too far off the main highway, there wasn’t much around it. Just a few businesses that didn’t look as if they received much foot traffic.
“The ATM is around back.”
Of course, it was.
“I don’t have much in my account,” I told him.
“Really?” he asked. “Didn’t you just get paid? That should be a few thousand. We’ll work with that for now.”
I pulled up next to the ATM. Reyes sat back and raised the hood of his jacket over his head, covering most of his face. I knew he was shielding his identity from the camera.
“Take out the money,” he murmured from the back seat.
I inserted my card, and all of those stupid tips about codes to punch into the ATM pad to alert the bank that you’re in trouble ran through my mind. I knew none of that would work with him watching me.
So, I withdrew the limit that my bank would allow. I turned to Reyes. “It only allows me to take out three thousand.”
I swung back around after he took the money, purposefully hitting the unlock button with my elbow.
Reyes heard the sound of the unlock button go off while he stuffed the cash into the pocket of his jeans. But I turned fully in my seat and lunged at him, capturing the hand that held the gun.
“Aiden, run!”
“Bitch,” Reyes grunted when I clawed at his face with my nails.
“Get out. Run!” I yelled at my son.
He hesitated but then yanked the door closest to him open and was able to hop out of the back of the van. When Reyes attempted to reach for him, I threw a palm strike against his cheek.
The force of the hit was enough to stun him, giving Aiden time to escape.
“Mama,” Aiden screamed for me.
“Go, now,” I insisted, praying he followed directions. “Oof,” I gasped when Reyes clobbered me with his backhand.
The bastard followed that smack with a fist slammed into the side of my face. It was either his fist or the butt of his gun. A searing pain exploded on the right side of my face. I felt my entire body weaken from the beating.
I tried desperately to keep fighting, to maintain Reyes’ attention, instead of letting him get to Aiden.
