Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
“We’re not wrong, sweetie,” Sia disagreed and tried to give Adelita a small sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry. But it was all run by the Quintana family.” She went to stroke Adelita’s arm, but pulled back and crossed her arms over her chest. “Garcia . . . I was his girlfriend. I wasn’t his slave. He told me things . . . He worked for your father. He spoke of you to me on occasion.” She looked sad. “And I accidentally ended up in one of the camps. I saw one of those hellholes with my own two eyes, darlin’. It’s all true.”
“No,” Adelita argued again. “I can’t believe it. I won’t! My father wouldn’t be involved in something like this. He mustn’t know. Someone must be doing it under his nose. Using his name to get ahead.”
“Princess,” I said, impatiently, “They are responsible for this. Our fathers are in this together. I sure as fuck know my old man is capable of this. More than, in fact.”
“My father can’t be.” I heard her voice break. She was freezing in my arms. “I don’t care what anyone says . . . I won’t believe it’s true.”
Silence grew thick in the room, until, “Is . . . is his name Al . . . Alfonso?” A small, whispered voice reached us from the back of the room. Adelita tensed. Phebe looked behind her. At Saffie. Lilah was holding Saffie’s hand, shock on her face, I guessed from the fact she’d spoken. Never saw much of the red-headed kid. But every time I did, she looked like she didn’t know what good looked like. Fuck, from what I knew of her, she hadn’t had anything good happen to her until she came here. Kid had been to Hades and back, and returned a fucking walking shadow.
Saffie came to stand beside Phebe, nervous eyes darting all around the room. I heard a creak from behind me. When I looked back, Lil’ Ash was beside AK, his eyes fixed on the timid kid. He was rocking from side to side like he was gonna take her from the room if given half a chance, just to get her out from all these people. AK kept his hand on Ash’s shoulder, keeping the prospect in place.
Phebe wrapped her arm around her daughter. Saffie looked at Adelita with huge, tortured eyes. “Is . . . his name . . . Alfonso?” she asked again, slightly louder this time.
“Yes,” Adelita said, voice trembling.
Saffie swallowed and held up her chin. “He . . .” She looked to Phebe and Phebe smiled. Her mother nodded her head in encouragement for whatever her daughter was about to say. Saffie dropped her eyes and whispered, “He . . . took me.” I felt Adelita’s sharp inhale of breath and felt my own stomach plummet. Because I’d never heard this shit. Never heard much of Saffie’s life outside of knowing she was a cult kid first, then was taken by Meister to sell to Garcia. Saffie’s voice broke but she pushed through. “When he came to . . . visit, he would . . . he would be given me . . . he would always ask for . . . me.”
A pained sob flew from Adelita’s mouth and her hand covered her lips. She backed into me until she couldn’t move anymore. My heart was racing at what this kid was saying. I could see how much it was killing Saffie to say it. Fuck. It was killing Adelita to hear it. A kid. Saffie was a scared fucked-up kid.
Adelita shook her head, but Saffie said, “He had . . . had a birthmark, here,” she pointed to her neck. Her hand dropped and impossibly, her face lost even more color. “I . . . I was never given the potion . . . the potion they always gave us when men came. He said he wanted . . . me to be present and awake.” Her breath hitched. “He said . . . he wanted me to remember him.” She visibly shook, and I thought the kid was gonna pass out. “And I did. I always . . . will always remember the devil’s . . . mark on his neck.”
“That’s enough.” AK pushed through us all and looked to me. “She isn’t saying anything all else.” He next faced Adelita. “What the fuck more proof do you need?”
Adelita’s breathing was shallow. She was deathly still in my arms. I didn’t think she was gonna speak again. But then she said, “She . . . she doesn’t need to say anything else.” Adelita looked to Saffie, who was clutching Phebe again, looking as exhausted as if she’d just ran a fucking marathon. “Thank you . . .” Adelita held herself together. I was fucking proud of her. “Thank you . . . for telling me this . . .”