‘How much does my family owe you?’ Shade asks Señora Reyes.
‘Five million,’ she answers. ‘By the end of the month, it will be higher.’
‘I’ll make a new deal with you.’
She laughs, seeming genuinely amused.
‘You have no money, younger Novelle.’ She glances at Blake. ‘You don’t have skills I can use like your friend does and even he will die today. You should not have come here.’
A plethora of guns click at her words like they’re some secret command.
‘Take the young Novelle and his friends to the back. All three of them,’ she says.
The guys are herded away, struggling, but unable to do anything. I stare after them, shaking, trying to get out of Andy’s grip, but he’s much stronger than I thought he was.
‘Wait! I’ll marry Marcus. I’ll do whatever you want. You can have all the money,’ I shout, sounding as desperate as I feel. ‘But don’t kill them.’
The cartel queen tuts. ‘Hush. Your brother knows what is best for you. And I know you can’t touch the money yourself.’
She taps the side of her head. ‘Retardada.’
My eyes widen because that’s close enough to English that I know exactly what that word means.
I see red, anger bubbling up hot and fast. This woman. Andy. All the people who constantly think the same things about me just because John Novelle told them a bunch of made-up stories to steal from me.
‘That’s a lie!’ I yell and Andy grips my arm so hard that the bone feels like it’s bending.
‘Shut up!’ he hisses.
Lu gets to her feet, looking angry on my behalf, but Eduardo grabs her. She struggles in his grasp, screaming loudly right in his face and the cartel queen lets out a loud sigh.
‘Dios! Take your loud prize to the plane, Eduardo,’ she orders in annoyance. ‘Keep her quiet.’
‘No!’ I turn on Andy. ‘You told me if I did what you wanted, you wouldn’t let them have her!’
‘You’re acting like a spoiled brat, Marguerite. Deals off.’ He grins at me. ‘But even if you had been good, I still was gonna give her to them just because.’
Eduardo pulls Lu from the hangar while she screams bloody murder and I look after her, helpless to save my friend, to save everyone I care about.
The cartel queen looks me up and down like I’m less than her. ‘In my world, a pillow over your face as soon as you were birthed would have ensured you weren’t a problem for anyone.’
Andy snickers next to me, and pats my head. I pull away from him.
‘You fucker,’ I snarl, slapping him across the face so hard that I split his lip.
He laughs it off, but his eyes are hard ashe yanks me closer to him roughly, silently promising retribution. My hand brushes against the cold metal of the gun at his waist.
I don’t even think. I just grab hold of it. The idiot doesn’t even notice my hand on it, can’t even conceive that I’d be smart enough to take his weapon from him even when he’s made it so easy for me.
‘With your permission,’ he says obliviously to the cartel queen, ‘I’ll take Marguerite to her future husband now. Get everything squared away this morning.’
Reyes waves a hand, and Andy begins to pull me toward the hangar’s front door.
‘Don’t do this,’ I say, pulling the gun, and pointing it at Andy who just laughs.
‘Put the gun down, Marguerite. You don’t even know how to use it.’
‘I can pay more than he can,’ I say to Reyes, ignoring him.
