Chapter 2
Chapter Two
I f I let them put me back in that box, I'm not getting out alive. I need to fight, kick, and swing. And that's what I do. My first connects with Dario's jaw. The pain breaks through my hand, rattling me, but I can't stop. I punch again until he grabs my arms in his hands.
"Don't fucking shoot," someone yells.
I pause to look at the man only feet away. His face is somewhat familiar. They're all aliados . And I'm in their hands. The fear blows into my heart. I try to free my arms, twisting my body off Dario. Maybe I can force him to let me go.
"Don't run," he warns.
Something in his voice makes me look at him, at the blood dripping from the side of his mouth, at the cold eyes that will probably be the last thing I see before I die.
And now I'm freezing again. My gaze is everywhere at once, on the crashed truck, the long tree-lined driveway, the fresh snow on the ground.
We are out in the open, and I'm naked. The same panic I felt when I woke up in that box, alone in the dark, now spikes the walls of my chest. I'm surrounded by a mob of criminals. I've seen gatherings like this. You don't grow up in this life without learning to recognize the signs. My insides tremble. I don't know if it is from the fear or the cold starting to seep through my skin. Dario Cordero and his family kidnapped me. They're either going to kill me, try to ransom me, or worse, pass me around.
They'll have to kill me first.
I lift a knee and catch Dario at his side, forcing him to release my hands. The second he frees me, I turn to bolt. Instead, I find myself eyes-to-eye with him, his hand pulling at my hair, forcing me to stare at him.
" Calmate , Soledad," he says.
"Fuck you," I spit back. "Let me go."
He shakes his head. "There's nowhere for you to go. You wouldn't make it a mile down the mountain without clothes."
"My father will pay you well."
He smirks, and it ices my insides. He's toying with me. I've seen Ludovico, my father, kill men before. I was eight, hiding in his office, the first time I saw him murder someone. He smiled like Dario just did. I never forgot it.
That's how I know I'm going to suffer a fate worse than death. Dario hates me. But I'll be damned if I go down without a fight.
I step closer to him, not missing the way his eyes rake over me. Then I lift my knee, but he turns sideways.
Feet rush toward us.
"No," he yells.
First, the pain breaks on the back of my head, and then, the world fades to black as the warmth surrounds me.