“No,” I shook my head forcefully. “Don’t you fucking dare get them involved.”
“Oh, but you already have, Shiloh. You. Already. Have.”
I was panting, heart thrumming with fear.
No. No. No.
He wouldn’t.
“They’re innocent. I swear.Pleasedon’t,” I begged. “They don’t know anything.”
“Or what about that other friend of yours, what’s his name…” Adrian paused to tap his chin in fake thought, my stomach twisting with anticipation. “Oh, that’s right. Pedro’s nephew and Alfonso’s son, Sebastian. Does he know you murdered his uncle? Does Carlos know that he’s frequently back in town, that’s he’s married and has ababy?”
I shook my head, eyes wide. Fuck, how had I underestimated this man? How had I let myself trust himenough to know these intimate details about my life? To know enough to manipulate me?
“Huh. Maybe he could be yourreplacement. Yes! That’s a great idea,” he nodded to himself with a sick smile. “I’m sure it wouldn’t take much for Carlos topersuadehim. He did cause some trouble when he tried to get his father arrested for domestic violence and child abuse back in the day. I’m sure Carlos wouldloveto make sure he’s learned his lesson before he was initiated. Sebastian seems like the kind of man to do anything to protect his family, even becoming a confidential informant.”
Adrian stepped closer to me, a smirk on his face. He’d won. And he knew it.
“I promise I won’t be the one to tell Carlos about who you’re spending time with ifyoupromise to sign a contract to be an informant. If you don’t do exactly as I say, Shiloh, I will kill your boyfriend and his family, make sure to recruit Sebastian, and then killyoumyself.”
Fuck!
“Okay. Okay,” I nodded, holding up my hands. “Please, just don’t hurt them.Please. I’ll do what you want. Okay?”
His shoulders relaxed and he nodded once.
“Good choice. Now get out.”
I didn’t wait around for him to change his mind and ran out of his apartment, taking the stairs two at a time down to my floor. I ran until I reached my apartment, locking myself in the bathroom and curling up in the bathtub.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. Everything was spinning out of control, and I didn’t know how to make it stop. I just wanted it all to stop. I could feel my vision going with spots clouding everything and I welcomed the darkness. I didn’t want to be conscious anymore.
Thirty-Five
November 24, Wednesday
Enoch
Islammed my fist into the pad as hard as I could, using my hips to gain momentum.
“Are you sure,” Jae said with a knowing look, grunting at the impact, “you’re not back on that Joe Goldberg shit?”
“No, I’m not,” I said, barreling out a combo that made him falter backward. “It’s not kidnapping when we’re her friends.”
Jae put the mitts down and pulled his hand out, stepping to the side to grab his water. I leaned over, my hands braced on my knees as I caught my breath.
“Friends?” he said, pausing to wipe his sweaty forehead with the back of his arm. “I thought y’all were a couple now.”
“You know what I mean, dip. I just know that isolation is not what she needs no matter how much she’s tried to shrug us off this week.”
He squeezed my shoulder before he put his mitts back on, motioning for us to get back to sparring.
It was eating me alive—her pain. I just wished she would let me in so I could help her. If she wasn’t so damn stubborn, I would’ve already showed up at her apartment. I just wanted to see her again, to know that she was okay. She’d refused to answer my FaceTime calls and was sporadic in her text responses.
There was a nagging knot in my stomach. I had nightmares of her not showing up to school because she’d been beaten so badly. And in one of them she had been taken hostage and I was trying to break down her door to save her, but I couldn’t get through before a gun was fired. I could only assume she had been killed.
That nightmare haunted me for days. The sound of her screaming for help. The gun ringing out, and then—silence.
