Page 45 of Queen of Ruin

Frustration swells in my chest, but before it gets a chance to explode forth at her, a sudden, sharp squeal of tires and brakes echoes through the air from the parking lot below. My blood runs cold and I rush past Valentina to the window.

Outside in the parking lot below, several black SUVs and Jeeps spill into the parking lot, but they remain trapped near the entrance as another driver, seemingly in the process of pulling out, crashes into one of them. An argument ignites between the driver of the shabby car and the driver of one of the SUVs, but I’ve seen those vehicles before.

They were parked up outside my apartment.

“Is it bad?” Valentina asks.

I meet her gaze and nod once. “It’s bad.”

“What’s bad?” Mindy pants, still attempting to get her arm out of Valentina’s grip. She glances rapidly between us and my heart begins to sink as realization dawns on Mindy’s face, giving birth to a new, painful problem.

“Are you hiding?” Mindy rasps. “You are, aren’t you? That’s why you went to Tech. You need money. You’re running from something.” She finally wrenches her arm out of Valentina’s grip as uncertainty shadows Valentina’s face.

“Mindy, not now,” I snap.

“No, you deal with me first.”

“No!” That frustration finally boils over and I grab her by the shoulders. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I was so fucking high after my brother’s death that I didn’t stop you from getting tempted to join me. I’m sorry we wasted years of our lives getting high, and I’m sorry I was strong enough to get clean, but I tried to help you! I spent years trying to get you clean and you wouldn’t listen! So I had to walk away. I’m sorry. I had to save myself when you refused to save yourself!” My voice cracks. “But you can’t keep coming back to me, torturing me, demanding things from me. I tried to help you and it nearly killed me, so please, leave me alone! Leave me the hell alone!”

A heavy silence falls, broken only by Mindy’s panting. She stares at me with wide eyes and I pray some form of understanding fills them, but instead of that, only malice does.

“Fuck you,” she snarls. “Either you help me, or I’ll help them find you.”

“Mindy!”

“Hey!” She starts screaming at the top of her lungs. “Hey! They’re in here! They’re in here!”

“Mindy!” At a loss, I grab her close and slam my hand over her mouth to silence her while Valentina darts to the window and peeks out.

When she looks back at me, she winces. “We really gotta go!”

“Fuck!” I yell. Mindy’s teeth sink hard into my palm and I’m forced to release her, but before she can start screaming again, I hold my hands up in surrender. “Fine! I’ll help you, okay? I’ll help you. But not here.”

Mindy’s mouth snaps shut and a smug smile stretches across her lips.

I look up at Valentina, pained by the understanding I find in her eyes. “I’m sorry. We don’t have a choice.”

After a cold glance at Mindy, Valentina sighs. “It’s fine. Let’s go.”

18

VALENTINA

Diego’s outburst visibly pained him, but there’s no time to process any of that information or even Mindy’s arrival here. The gathering crowd out here means we have to go. We grab what we can from the bags, and I slip the black card into my pocket, then Diego takes Mindy’s hand and drags her from the room.

She giggles the entire time, an alarming change from the teary woman ready to hand us over to a hell she knows nothing about. With Diego in front and Mindy between us, I take up the rear and we sneak from the room while keeping low on the walkway. Half walking, half running, we make it far enough along the walkway that the next building blocks our view of the parking lot, and from there, we all break into a full sprint toward the end.

Reaching it, we take the stairs down, and Mindy continues to laugh, although all humor is gone from her tone. She sounds more maniacal than anything else. My heart pounds but thanks to the painkillers, none of my wounds throb any more painfully than a small bruise, although my stomach continues to gurgle, a mix of hunger and stress. At the base of the stairs, Diego pushes Mindy into me.

“Watch her,” he says, then he takes off across the back parking lot toward the only car that looks like it has life left in it.

“You shouldn’t trust him, y’know,” Mindy says with a slight slur to her words. She gazes up at me through heavy lids. “He’s not a nice person.”

I wince inwardly. “I know a lot of not nice people,” I reply, holding her arm so she stays steady. “He’s the nicest out of all of them.”

“He did this.” She motions at herself. “He’ll do it to you as well.”

“I don’t think so.” I’m not scared of Diego. I’m scared of the people in the parking lot, the mysterious men who chase us down. I’m scared of what they might do to Diego or me if they get ahold of us. I’m scared that what’s hidden in my memories will be deserving of such treatment and I’ll be the dangerous one out of the two of us.