Ryker
Prologue
“Shh,” I hush Maggie as her sobs grow louder under my palm. “You need to be quiet,” I whisper as I peer around the corner and see the back of Manzo’s head. He’s talking to one of his guards, laughing. It's a sound always coated in pure ice - nothing warm or inviting lingering beneath it. Seeing Mia and Karmen finally reaching us, I let out a sigh of relief.
“We got it,” Mia whispers, handing me the backpack we packed weeks ago and buried in the backyard.
I nod and look back at Manzo, who leads his men to a white couch. I never understood why he always got white. He kills men here, constantly coating the white furniture in crimson red. Manzo takes a seat on the armchair across from the couch and pours the two men a drink.
“Now.” I mouth to the girls, pointing to the backyard’s now- open door.
Our heels click across the tile as we scurry to the door. I still have Maggie pressed against my chest, and my hand remains over her mouth as we walk out into the freezing night. Snow has blanketed every inch of the garden.One might look at this scene and see something beautiful, but I know better. Buried beneath all the snow and grass are the mutilated bodies of my late sisters—the ones who failed, the ones who were destined to be nothing more than beetle food.
We slip around the corner and pause when we nearly run into one of Manzo’s guards. The guard whips around and aims his AK- 47 at us, the sound of Mia’s heels sinking into the snow giving us away. His eyes widen with recognition when he sees us. He shifts his aim to me.
“You ladies need to head back inside. I won’t tell Manzo if you just turn and walk away like none of this happened.”
Raising my hands in surrender, I glance over my shoulder and see the three girls huddled together. Their grips are tight, the whites of their eyes shining in fear. There's no way I'll let them go back into that fucking house.
They will join our sisters if I can’t find a way out of this. I finally recognize him as one of Manzo's older guards. He’s been known to partake in our endless suffering from time to time.
Stepping forward, he shifts his finger to the trigger of his rifle. For a moment, I let the fear course through me. But I know he won’t shoot me. Killing me will anger Manzo, and the guard will likely die slowly and painfully.
My feet crunch in the snow as I take another step toward the guard. When I'm close enough to reach the gun, I pause, waiting for him to make the first move. We stand at a stalemate for what seems like minutes.
Conscious of the wasted time, I worry that Manzo could walk into our room and see us all gone. One girl out of her room wouldn’t cause alarm, but all four…all hell would break loose.
My hand snaps to the barrel of the gun, shoving it away. The guard squeezes the trigger, and the gunshot explodes so close to my face that my ears start ringing. I flinch away, ripping my hand from the barrel. The sound echoes through the night, and I’m barely able to hear the gasps of the women behind me as the ringing intensifies. I try to ignore them, focusing on the guard.
The bullet ricochets off the wall as I elbow him in the face. Shoving him backward, I rip the gun from his grasp and throw it into the snow. He stumbles, eyes wide, so I take advantage of his disorientation to swing again, this time hitting him in his temple. His head whips to the side, and he grabs my hair, yanking me towards him. He wrenches me closer, but I use my momentum to knee him in the stomach. He lets go of me, hunching over and breathing heavily. I deliver one final strike with my fist to his face, and he falls to his knees.
I stand there stunned at my own strength for a second before I’m snapped back to attention. The sliding glass door opens to the backyard, followed by heavy boots trudging through the snow. The women are wide-eyed and frozen in fear, huddled together, waiting for me to help them. My hand grasps Karmen’s bruised, thin arm, and I pull her past the kneeling guard.
He tries to stand, but I use my heel to kick him sharply in the dick. He lets out a scream, and we bolt towards the gate. There are shouts behind us, my heartbeat pounding louder in my head. We are so close, too close. My breaths quicken as I try and think.
“God damn it!” I yell as I shake the locked gate in frustration.
When I turn around, three more guards are rounding the corner with their guns drawn. My chest is heavy, my side is burning, my legs ache, and tears sting my eyes. I glance at Maggie, sweet little Maggie.
Pushing back the tears, I dart to the wall and dig through the snow, looking for a rock. It takes a couple of seconds before I find one big enough. As I’m running back over to the locked gate, I hear the distant shouting of the men growing closer. My heels have fallen off, and my feet have turned to ice, but I don’t care. I will save them, even if it’s the last thing I ever do.