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Obviously, I was the only one doing interrogating for Los Muertos, or at least doing them well. Otherwise, they would’ve known to string my arms up above my head. Or, at the very least, they should have strapped my legs to the damn chair. Their mistakes would lead to their demise. And hopefully, Nikki’s salvation.

“What the fuck did you call me, bitch?” The ogre’s attention turned toward me. “You, I get to play with as soon as the boss is done.” His large hand struck my cheek, causing my head to snap to the side and throb in pain. My tongue probed at the split on my lip as I slowly turned back to face him.

“Fuck you,” I seethed, spitting a mouthful of blood at his face.

He let out a roar and threaded his fingers in my hair, wrenching my head back.

Nikki let out a cry, and I wished I could clue her in on the fact that I was fine, but I couldn’t do anything other than stare into the eyes of a dead man.

“Bitch. Now that you’ve gone and pissed the boss off. I get to hurt you and can say you weren’t cooperating.” His free hand reached for his belt buckle, and flashbacks of Jimmy in that alley came flooding back. But they didn’t pull out the scared girl I once was. No, those memories fueled me.

“We can call this part of your retraining,” he said, leaning in to run his tongue up the side of my face.

“Lesson one, pendejo. Check a bitch for weapons,” I whispered, ramming the blade into his throat. Warm blood splashed across my face when I ripped the blade out to stab him again.

The squelching and gurgling sounds were music to my ears. He stumbled back before collapsing on the floor by my feet, clutching where blood was seeping from his body.

Nikki let out a cry of surprise. She’d never been part of Los Muertos, so I didn’t know how many dead bodies she’d encountered, but today she’d already witnessed me kill several. I hoped she would be able to keep it together long enough to get out of here.

I crouched down, watching him gasp for air.

“Hard to breathe with a hole in your throat, eh, Armando? None of you did your research, did you? Figured I was one of Mario’s bitches; some weak little girl he saved. No…I’m the one you should’ve been scared of.” I laughed at the widening of his eyes.

“While I would love to spend time making you regret all your life choices, we don’t have time for that.” Standing up, I landed a kick to his ribs as I moved to Nikki. “By the way, you dumb motherfuckers really should learn how to restrain a captive properly.”

Nikki had a wild look in her eyes as I approached.

“Look, this is perfect. You can cut me loose, and we can both escape. Then you can run into your man’s arms and tell him you love him and rip each other’s clothes off. Hell, you can get it on in the parking lot and unlock your voyeurism kink. Point is, we can both get out of here, Ryan,” she rushed.

Nikki was rambling, a last-ditch attempt at getting me to go with her.

“Nikki, babe. All we’ve managed to do is get the zip ties off. Mario’s men might be dumbasses, but the numbers help even the odds. Fuck…”

I looked up to check the camera; the light had been turned on. It wouldn’t be long before he stormed in here if he was watching us right now.

“But, Ryan…” she whispered.

I gripped Nikki’s shoulders. Tears streamed down her cheeks, the moisture making her eyes bluer. My thumbs flicked away the runaway tears, but they were replaced with more. Unable to bear looking at my sister’s face, I pulled her into my chest, wrapping my arms around her. Nikki held on to me like I was a life raft, the only thing keeping her afloat in the storm. I just hoped I could live up to that.

“Nikki, babe. Tell him I loved him. Okay?” I choked out, my vision getting blurry.

Her whole body shook as she sobbed into my chest. Silent tears slid down my face, their saltiness mixing with the coppery taste of blood.

She couldn’t get out any words, but I felt as her cheek rubbed against my chest.

“Okay, I’m going to check pendejo for weapons, okay? And you need to try to remember how to shoot properly,” I said into her hair, happy to hear the small chuckle leave her lips. I needed Nikki to have some fire in her if I wanted to get her out of here.

“God, it would’ve been nice if you had two guns,” I mumbled as I patted down Armando.

I thrust the Glock I found into Nikki’s hand. “Don’t shoot me. Or yourself. Got it?”

She rolled her eyes. I didn’t think she would do any of those things, but given our situation, I needed to address every possible pitfall. We paused next to the door, listening for any commotion outside. I was shocked no one had come bursting in here yet.

Did they not see the giant man lying in a pool of blood and two women making an escape attempt?

I peeked through the crack in the door, seeing no one. But I couldn’t see shit through the half of an inch I had.

“Well, Niks, we’re about to fuck around and find out,” I whispered.