Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 74620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“You fucking took from me, you made me love you and now you’re telling me it was all a lie?” His voice booms around me, as if circling me. I’m captured once more, this time, not by the man I’ve come to love, but by the Devil I still hate.
His body vibrates, his hands fist at his sides.
“Tell me, juguete,” he bites out, his teeth clenched so hard I’m certain he’ll crack them. I await the violence, but it doesn’t come. “Did you fuck with me just to make me love you, then you planned on bringing him into my home to kill me?”
“No! No, Victor,” I call out to him, needing him to listen to reason. “I was afraid at first. All I could think about was my father and that you had him locked away.” I crawl toward him, my hands and knees scraping along the sand. “I wanted to save my papá but then I fell in love with you while I was with you.”
“Love? You don’t know what love is,” he grits angrily, as he leans forward to tug me to my feet by my hair. I cry out as my scalp pricks, and my eyes turn watery from the sting of pain. “You fucking lying bitch.”
“I’m not lying, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t do it, I—” My words are broken by the gun he pulls on me, the safety unlocked, and he shoves it into my mouth. We’ve done this before, when he did, I wet myself in his office. But now, I no longer fear death because I knew this would come.
“You fucking lied to me.” His accusation breaks my heart more than it already is. “He wanted you as payment and now I know why. He wanted you out of my house so he could attack.”
I try to shake my head as I look deep into his dark eyes. I want him to see I love him, for him to look into my heart, but he can’t, not under the guise of fury that’s holding him hostage. He forces the barrel into my mouth, until it hits the back of my throat. I swallow around the metal, the harsh taste coating my tongue.
My eyes are wide, pleading with him silently to think about what he’s doing. If he can just clear the angry fog that’s clouding his judgment, he’ll see. I don’t fight, I don’t flail, I’m ready for this.
“Victor,” Rodrigo’s voice comes from behind him, “Javi here said you wanted to meet, so I thought I’d bring the party to you.” The coldness in his tone doesn’t belie the satisfaction in his expression as he takes in my situation. “Ah, you can pull the trigger. I was going to do it when she returned to me.”
The truth clicks inside Victor’s mind as he looks at me again. He doesn’t move, he doesn’t pull the trigger as suggested by his enemy, he sees me. A tear trickles down my cheek, free, lonely, and in need of his tender touch.
I think he’s about to do something stupid like pull a gun on Rodrigo, but he doesn’t. Instead, Victor lowers the gun and drops me to my knees. He turns slowly, his weapon still in hand, and I’m shaking as fear strangles me at the way Rodrigo is looking at me.
“She’s of no use to me,” he tells Victor.
“I thought she was your pet,” the man I thought loved me sneers. “You can have her back; I’ve already taken what I need.”
“Victor, no please?” I beg from the ground, my hand reaching for his leg, but he doesn’t even look down at me. He always told me he enjoyed seeing me on my knees, but right at this moment, I feel the cold aloofness he is expressing by not even acknowledging me.
“Ah, lucky man.” Rodrigo chuckles as he shoves his hands into his pockets. “I always thought she would give it up easier, but she seems to have held out for you. What did it cost you? A few pills? Some coke?” The taunt and gibe he throws my way cause me to flinch.
“I’m not a whore,” I bite out, but my only response is a laugh—dark and foreboding.
“I beg to differ.” Rodrigo grins down at me. “You look rather lovely on the floor, on your knees.” He turns to Victor. “Tell me, Cordero, are there any women left in Colombia you haven’t fucked?”
“This meeting isn’t about my male prowess. I want you out of my territory. I will buy yours, and you will walk away unscathed.” The challenge is there—leave or be killed.
“I will consider it.”
“This isn’t up for debate. I rule Colombia, every fucking acre of it.” Victor takes a step forward as he says this, and the men that flank Rodrigo lift their weapons.