Chapter Fifteen
Xiomara
M y legs kicked out, colliding with bodies that grappled with my struggling form. I grunted and screamed, even though logically I knew nobody was coming for me. The sounds tore out of me, wild and afraid, even when I didn’t want them to.
I was already aching and in pain, but it didn’t matter to my captors.
“Calm that bitch down.”
I screamed as a fist collided against my cheek. I swore I saw stars and a crushing agony spreading through the entire left side of my face rendered me immobile almost immediately. I stopped fighting, the pain pushing out the cloud of rage momentarily.
My captors unceremoniously tossed me to the ground, causing the breath to whoosh from my lungs. I groaned in pain, rolling to my side to glare at the men.
There were four of them, and they all had guns.
Only one of them sported it, though. The others bulged through their shirts, the outline obvious.
The men had brought me to a warehouse of some sort. The fact that they hadn’t blindfolded me was worrisome. It let me know that they didn’t plan on letting me leave here alive.
But I’d fought like hell. Even with my shoulder screaming from the bullet lodged there, I’d fought.
And in this moment, I despaired as they crowded near me, discussing my future.
“Careful with the goods,” one of them said. “Boss man wants the product intact.”
When he said product, I knew he meant me.
My heart sunk to the bottom of my stomach.
“Are we allowed to have a go at her?” another asked, his eyes straying in my direction.
I glared right back, refusing to cower.
It’d be a cold day in hell when I let men like this intimidate me, let alone fucking touch me.
“No.”
“But–”
“No,” the obvious ringleader of the group repeated more firmly. “We wait for directions. Okay?”
“Fine.” And like a petulant child, his leg kicked out, colliding with my body and making me wheeze.
“Fuck, did you not hear what I just said?”
I was going to make them pay. I was going to fucking kill them. But I needed to steal one of their guns first. Maybe I could lure one closer somehow. Take it from him. Shoot him in the head. Or use one as a hostage.
Would I get very far considering the pain I was in? I had no idea. But I knew I had to try.
“You boys are pathetic,” I spat out at them. It drew their attention to me, all of them clenching their jaws in irritation. “Four men to take down one girl?” I laughed. “Bitches. You afraid of a little woman with a baseball bat? Is that why you had to ambush me with guns? Didn’t want to end up like your bitch ass friends buried deep in the dirt?”
“Shut the fuck up, cunt.” One of them slipped closer and I pretended to cower, sliding away from him but angling my body just so, preparing myself for anything. When he was close enough, I struck.
Because he’d expected me to cower, he didn’t see me coming. He only felt when I yanked the gun from within the belt of his pants and aimed it at his face. A single flick of my fingers to take the safety off and I was shooting.
The low angle in which I shot at him ensured I didn’t get him between the eyes, but the bullet did shoot his big ass nose, blowing the thing clean off.
He screamed and jerked backwards, his cries of agony and the gunshot distracting the others. Too late, they scrambled for their own weapons.
Too fucking late. I shot one in the chest and he went down, his own gun falling from his grasp and going off. The bullet whizzed somewhere, but I was already far too gone in my rage. I shot my targets, the blackness closing in. The piercing pain of a bullet prevented me from being dragged under. I tried not to double over, but getting hit with a bullet once again sent one of my shots far too wide. I missed the bastard by a hair’s breadth, allowing him to advance on me.
He’d lost his own gun in the melee and took advantage of my distraction by body checking me. I cried out as I fell backwards, gravity making the gun slip from my hand.
The man landed on top of me, my head cracking against the ground. His fingers wrapped around my throat and squeezed.
Black spots danced behind my vision.
Fuck no. I didn’t want to die here today.
Using my nails, I gouged through his fucking eyes like we were taught. He cried out and jerked away from me and my fist struck, hitting him in the jugular.
He choked and I heaved up with all my might, shoving him off me. I scrambled away from him, my body shaking and yet determined. He hauled on my pant legs, trying to pull me back towards him, but I was faster. My fingers closed around a gun and I whirled–
A shot rang out and he slumped forward. Nothing but a cadaver oozing blood from his chest.
But I hadn’t…
“Xiomara!”
I looked over the dead man’s shoulder and found Ink, gun in hand, rushing in my direction.
And the sight of him, so close, so fucking close, made me feel one thing. My lips curled into a smile as he dropped to his knees beside me, shoving the body away. He pulled me into his arms.
“You’re safe,” he whispered. “You’re safe now, Xio. Te tengo. You’re safe.”
And as my eyes closed into a blissful sleep, I felt it down to my bones.