I was halfway down the street when I saw a car’s lights come on from the opposite side of the road. Moving quickly, I went toward the car, hoping whoever was there would let me borrow a phone so I could call a cab or an Uber.
“Excuse me,” I called out, waving my hand as I approached the vehicle, forcing a friendly smile.
When I got close enough to the car, the window rolled down and a sliver of fear raced down my neck as I saw the man inside. He gave me a smile, but it didn’t meet his eyes. Something about him was wrong. It wasn’t until I looked down that I saw the gun pointed at me.
“I love when people make my job easier,” he said with a light Mexican accent as he grinned. “Move and I’ll shoot. Understand, Mija?”
His friend got out of the car and tied ropes around my wrists behind my back. They weren’t fur lined cuffs meant to protect. I wasn’t put in a position of comfort, but duct tape was placed over my mouth and they shoved me into a trunk.
My mind raced with anger, hurt, and fear. I was mad at my uncle, angry with Killian, and furious with myself for leaving one dangerous situation and getting into a worse one. What had my uncle done that I had been kidnapped not once, but twice, and why was everyone after me? Would Killian be able to find me?
#
Idon’t know how longwe drove, but I felt every bump and pothole along the way. Every time they slammed on the brakes, I’d go flying into the junk they had stored in the trunk.
Tears filled my eyes as I replayed the last twenty-four hours in my head—the last couple of hours had definitely been the worst, though. I’d thought he was maybe trusting me a little, and that’s why he left the restraints off, but he wasn’t trusting me. He was using me, and like a fool, I built up this fantasy in my head that it meant something. The worst part of it was that he warned me. Killian told me he didn’t trust easily and that women in his life were always temporary. I was ridiculous to think I would be any different.
When the car finally stopped, I did my best to brace myself and prepare to kick. Whoever these guys were, they would not lie low to get payment from my uncle. They had something else in mind for me. That they already pulled a gun on me told me they wouldn’t hesitate to shoot me. I knew getting away wasn’t going to be easy, but I would fail or die trying. I wasn’t going to lie down and take it. Not again.
I heard voices talking in Spanish. The sound was muffled, so I couldn’t hear what they said, not that my Spanish was any good, anyway. Two years in high school had taught me very little of the language, and I regretted that I hadn’t paid more attention to it in class.
The voices grew closer, and the steady tone as the trunk was unlocked sounded. As soon as the lid went up, I started kicking blindly. I nailed the first unsuspecting guy in the nose. Blood poured from his nostrils and down his chin as he howled in pain. The second guy tried to reach for me, and I tried to do the same to him, but he caught my leg. I rolled my hip to swipe at him with the other foot and almost hit him in the groin, but he dodged the move.
“Enough, Puta.” He used his body to pin my free leg against the metal of the car, and reached in to grab me by the hair. His fist pulled at my scalp as he dragged me from the trunk, then threw me on the hard concrete floor.
He pulled his gun and aimed it at my head. I glared up at him, wishing like hell I could turn back the clock and do things differently.
“You’ve got an appointment with the doctor, Mija.” The guy grinned at me. “Boss says you will get a good price.”
Price. For sale, again? What the hell?
Uncle Matt, what the fuck are you into?I wanted to scream. If I lived through this, I was going to kill him, or at the very least, figure out some way to ruin the bastard. He’d sold me not once, but twice.
The guy reached down and grabbed me by my hair again, painfully pulling me to my feet. My hands were still tied behind my back, and my screams of pain were muffled by the tape across my mouth.
As he dragged me, I tried to pay attention to where we were. It was some kind of warehouse, and he was leading me down a hall with multiple closed doors. He didn’t stop until the last one. When he got to it, he opened the door and shoved me inside. I fell onto my back. My arms were crushed between my back and the concrete floor, taking the hard impact of my fall.
When I looked up, the door was shut, and he was gone.
