I sat forward to grab it, but Carlos flattened his hand across the top.
“Adrian will hold onto it until you deliver it. You’ll have an appointment under the name of Hannah Bell. It will be regarding a case number written on the sticky note here. All you have to do is give him this envelope.”
I blinked, trying to process what exactly it was he was asking me to do. Was this some sort of bribe?
“Just give him the envelope? That’s it?”
“This is a small test. To prove your loyalty to this family. Your brother went through the same process. As did Adrian, and every other member of this family. Complete this task without any issues and we can move forward with your initiation.”
My brows scrunched with skepticism.
“And what if I get caught? Or what if someone stops me?”
“It’s not a trap or a trick. You’re a smart girl, I think you can see what purpose this test serves. I know you’ve done well to keep your mouth shut this weekend, so prove to me that I can continue to trust you and you will be rewarded.”
He flicked his gaze to the vomit I’d left on his rug and grimaced.
“Never mind. Adrian, bring her to Cristian and tell Vicky to come clean up a mess in my office.”
Adrian nodded, standing from his seat in the corner of the room. When I didn’t move, Adrian hoisted me up from the couch.
“Get your hands off me, fuckface,” I glared with as much malice as possible.
Adrian rolled his eyes, sweeping his arm out for me to move along past him.
“And Shiloh,” Carlos called. I paused to look over my shoulder at him. “The offer still stands. You’ll be safer here if you moved in with me.”
I shuddered at the suggestion. Fuck, I felt like I was going to collapse, but I forced myself to keep moving towards the door.
It was clear that if I kept my mouth shut, I would get to keep living. Problem was, I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep being alive.
Ten
October 6, Wednesday
Shiloh
Iwoke to pounding on the bathroom door. It took me a moment to gather that I was sleeping in the bathtub.
“Go piss outside!” I shouted.
I groaned and unwound my body from my fetal position in the bathtub. I’d moved my alarm clock and bedding into the bathroom when I came home to find my bedroom door missing last night. The bathroom was the only other room in the house with a door and a lock, so I made do. Although there was no way I could make this work long term.
The banging persisted so I unlocked the door and opened it. My dad looked haggard, like he’d just arrived back home from a weekend bender with Kush. I stifled a gag at the thought of him.
“I have to shower for work,” he stated gruffly, attempting to shove past me into the bathroom.
I put up my arms to block his way. He squinted at me with irritation. I felt myself growing angrier by the second. This disheveled, deteriorating man was my father, Javier’s father, our flesh and blood, yet he’d watched his first-born child be murdered. And proceeded to get so high he didn’t care that his daughter was being raped before his eyes. I would never be able to understand how a parent could treat their children so disgustingly. How did he live with himself?
“What happened to Javier?”
My dad blinked at me like I was stupid.
“Where did they take him?”
He cleared his throat, rubbing his bloodshot eyes with a sigh. “Cremado. More cheap porque Carlos dijo que no paid for funeral. The church no help neither, porque los limpiadores made us tell police it was suicidio.”
I swallowed thickly, my nose tingling with the urge to cry. No funeral. No proper goodbye. At least he wasn’t buried in a ditch somewhere.
