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I’m thinking about her.
She’s halfway across the city by now, safe, like she wanted. Like she deserves.
Run, little nightmare. You better be fucking running.
The tall one grabs my hair, jerking my head back painfully. “You’re still holding out on us, cabrón. Where are your people? You think we’re playing with you?”
The blade comes next. Cold, sharp steel pressed against my cheek. I feel the slice before the sting registers. They cut slowly, deliberately, and I can’t help but laugh through the pain. The sound is a rasp, broken and bloody, but it’s the only response they’re getting.
“Laugh all you want, pendejo,” one of them growls. “We’ll see how funny it is when we carve you up piece by piece.”
I spit out blood, grinning through the crimson haze. “I told you already,” I rasp. “This is between me and you. There’s no one else.”
Demarko rises from his chair and steps closer, narrowing his eyes. “You expect us to believe that mierda? You think we don’tknow? You’re working for someone. Ain’t no way you’re pulling this stunt alone. How did you find out about this place? About the meeting?”
I lean my head back, letting out another hoarse laugh. “Believe what you want, asshole, but you’re wasting your time.”
He slams the butt of his gun into my face. The impact cracks across my cheekbone, sending a fresh wave of pain surging through me, but I don’t flinch. I can’t. Not now.
Another hit to my stomach. My body folds, and I cough, blood spilling from my lips. They keep coming, relentlessly, trying to break me, but they don’t understand. I’m already past that point.
“I’m gonna ask you one more time,” the tall fucker says, his voice dropping to a low growl. “Who fucking sent you?”
I lift my head slowly, my vision swimming. “No one,” I grit out, teeth stained red. “This is my fight. Just me.”
He doesn’t believe it. None of them do. They think I’m hiding something, but they’ll never understand.
This has always been my fight.
Another blow lands, and I feel my ribs crack this time. The pain is dull, distant. I can barely feel it anymore. I’m too far gone. All I can think about is her. The last time I saw her—strong, defiant, that fire in her eyes as she stared me down.
She’s gone by now. She has to be.
But then I see something. A flicker of movement in the corner of my eye. At first, I think it’s the blood loss, a trick of my mind playing games with me. But it’s not.
My heart stops.
It’s her.
Cara.
What the fuck is she doing here?
She moves through the shadows like a ghost, slipping between crates, her body low, eyes locked on me and the menaround me. She’s got a gun in her hand. She’s focused. Determined.
My breath catches in my throat, and I force myself to stay still, to not give her away. What the fuck is she doing? She should be fucking gone. She was supposed to be free, out of this mess.
But she didn’t run like I expected.
My little nightmare came back.
Chapter Fifteen
CARA
Rhett’s eyes are droopy and he can barely keep them open, but a shimmer of life returned to them the moment he locked eyes on me. We’re exchanging glances, and I’m trying to tell him that I have a plan. My eyes flick to the massive tanks of liquid fluorine I found scattered throughout the warehouse. It took me a few minutes of searching, but I was able to gather enough supplies to hopefully knock over one of those tanks and burn through the wooden pillars holding a platform of chemicals above the two remaining men.
Using the ratchet strap and some rope that I found, I tie the rope around a tank, then hook the ratchet strap to the rope. I pull the strap tight as I lead it toward a thick metal bar that I’ll use to tip over the tank. As long as the strap doesn’t break and they don’t hear me tightening it, I think this will work.
