Page 9
CHAPTER 3
Nirah
My eyes shot open and I bolted upright with a heavy gasp.
My forehead banged on something hard and I groaned, laying back down. Ow.
“Ouch.” A dark voice mused from above, and with knitted brows, I opened my eyes entirely but stared into darkness. What the… am I dead? Is this heaven? Hell?
My head turned left… then right… then up— I planted both hands on what felt like a wooden board above my head. No.
A cold sweat coated my forehead, and a searing pain pulsed in my bandaged right arm.
I repeatedly forced my palms into the sides of the wooden container I was trapped in, and as I was about to kick I realized there wasn’t enough room for me to lift my legs. I’m stuck. I’m trapped. I’m— wait. That voice.
My body stilled as my mind wrapped around what happened. Antonio back at the house. He drugged me and… nothing. I blacked out.
The same voice filtered down to me. “You done yet?” Antonio. Oh my God.
“Let me out,” I groaned, fighting against the wood but every muscle in my body froze when fine grains of sand smacked the wood on top of me.
“Remember how I said I’d bury you alive if you ever chose anyone over me?” Antonio’s voice wrapped around my heart, squeezing it relentlessly. No. Large amounts of sand hit the top of the container and my eyes grew wider. “Shouldn’t have chosen to run with Nereus.”
“Antonio, I swear to God—”
“I’m a man of my word, Nirah.” He cut me off, and the faint sound of We Belong Together by Ritchie Valens could be heard from… a car radio? Where the hell were we? Did we leave Vegas? Are we in New York? The fucking Sahara desert?
Sand kept landing harder than before, until eventually there wasn’t an ounce of light sneaking in through the cracks.
“Let me out!” I fought against the wood but it was no use. I was trapped. “You mother fucker!” I coughed, the dense sand keeping oxygen out. Fuck fuck fuck! “Antonio!” I banged my fists against the wood, trying to kick the bottom out. No, no…
The heat radiating off my body curled around my throat, forcing the last bit of air to leave my lungs. With uneven, ragged breaths I heaved for oxygen as the container closed in on me.
Frantically, my head snapped left and right as though in slow motion the wood was drawing closer, mocking me as it sucked out every last bit of oxygen.
My eyes squeeze shut as my fleeting pulse drummed in my ears, echoing as my chest burned.
“This isn’t real, this isn’t real. I’m not trapped, I’m not trapped. Breathe, Nirah, breathe,” I whispered, eyes burning with tears. “You’re fine, you’re fine, you’re fine. Nirah, you’re fine.” I muttered, squeezing my hands into fists until I took my last heap of air before darkness consumed me.
* * *
Oxygen raced into my lungs and with a heavy inhale I bolted upright, clutching my throat.
Goosebumps pricked my skin as I glanced around, scanning my surroundings.
The midnight blue sky was decorated with faint balls of light, allowing me to take in the trees surrounding the land—enclosing it.
Acres of green land stretched out around me, and my eyes darted to the dug up grave to my right. I glanced down the deep hole, my eyes burning into the coffin that I had been locked in.
The roof of the coffin had the word traitor—in Spanish—carved into it.
My blood turned to ice as my fingers curled into the grass, dirt filling my palms.
In nothing but the tank top and sweatpants I had slipped into back at the house, I got to my feet. I knew exactly where I was.
As soon as I rose to my feet a bright white light shone on me from behind and I whipped around, throwing my forearm over my eyes to shield them.
Squinting, I tried to look past the light but froze when armed men lined the area around me. Shit.
