10. Lucia
10
LUCIA
W hen a key scratches at Luka’s front door, I stiffen but don’t make a sound.
It’s just him. Obviously, it’s just him, but still, I’m struck by the words he left me with this morning. His hair was still damp from a shower, his skin smelling clean, his eyes bright and ready for another day of bringing terror to the world.
I’d looked away from him, disgusted, as he ran the backs of his finger up my legs, and I’d slapped one freed hand over his when he went to lift the fresh, black shirt he gave me.
He’d laughed, dragging my glare to him as his white teeth gleamed at me. Dimples sprouted on both his cheeks that silenced the angry voice in my head for a moment, then made it come back with a roar. I hated that he was becoming more attractive to me. That I hadn’t noticed the dimples before. That they only came out because of him laughing at me.
I’d quickly scanned his face, searching for imperfections, and unlike Arseni, it didn’t take long. His top teeth are perfectly straight, but two on the bottom are crooked. I looked away before pointing it out with an even tone.
After that, he wasn’t so playful, which I told myself was my goal. But after he tied me sitting up in bed, my ankles bound and my arms knotted all the way to my elbows, he got in my face and spoke sobering words to me I’ve been thinking about ever since.
“There are cameras in this building, Peach,” he’d said, looking up and twirling a finger as if they were everywhere. He crooked a thumb to gesture behind him. “Whoever knocks on that door today is going to die. I gave the blonde cunt a pass yesterday, but if she hears you again, she’s going to need to be taken care of. So…” He ripped a piece of duct tape off the roll he brought and pressed it over my lips before putting a finger to his mouth. “Shhh.”
Then, that was it. He left. And it took me very little time to decide that what Tall said was absolutely true.
He would kill whoever came to that door. He would kill whoever tried to help me.
So now, even though I’m certain it’s only him, I still don’t make noise. I listen to his movements as he comes inside and slams the door so hard I wince.
Is he angry? Did something happen?
He wasn’t gone that long. Not a full day.
Did he get fired?
Will he take it out on me?
I drag my heels up the bed closer to me while listening to Tall below. His steps don’t sound confident and methodical today. They sound uneven. Like he’s stumbling. He sniffs several times while opening cabinets and rattling things around like he’s looking for something. Like he doesn’t know his own home all of a sudden.
Is he drunk?
When he coughs, loudly, over and over, I suck in a sharp breath.
Is it even him ?
I shift on the bed then still as it creaks, my chest tightening.
Do I still not want to be heard?
I listen carefully, angling my ear toward the ladder, and wait. I don’t know who it is. It could still be Tall. And there’s no way I’m risking pissing him off again by making a lot of noise.
Feet clomp on the floor beneath me and lead into the living room, so I eagerly turn my body that way. I can’t see the door or the kitchen or bathroom from this spot, but I can see the couch, and that’s exactly where the person goes. The person who is not Tall.
Well, he’s tall but not Tall . His long legs ungracefully fold beneath him when he gets to the couch. He flops on his back and lifts an open liquor bottle to his lips. Even from this distance, I can see he doesn’t need that bottle. He looks like he’s had more than enough. His light brown hair is a disheveled mess, and his shirt is wrinkled. Both of his knees jut from holes in his dirty jeans.
Would he help me?
Air whistles through my nose as I breathe more heavily, though I tell myself not to get hopeful.
Anyone who helps will die .
Tall was serious. I could tell by the look in his eyes, and he’s more than proven it to me.
But this man didn’t knock on the door. He must know Tall. He even has a key.
Does he know I’m here?
He takes another gulp of the liquor before sitting up and pulling a phone from his pocket. If he knows I’m here, he doesn’t act like it.
Minutes pass while he stares at the phone, what he’s doing I can’t tell. He sniffs intermittently, pinching his nostrils like they’re distressed. After a while, he pulls out white power and snorts it off Tall’s coffee table, the whole time never glancing at the girl staring down at him from this strange bedroom.
I don’t think he knows I’m here.
I groan into the tape, softly, fearfully, unsure if I want him to hear me or not.
This must be Tall’s friend. He wouldn’t kill him. I wouldn’t be responsible for his death. He…
There’s probably little chance he’d even help me anyway.
I groan louder against the tape, twisting my body as much as I can to face him. His head perks up, and he looks around but still not up. Not until I let out a succession of groans, hopping up and down on the bed.
When his eyes land on me, they bug, then blink, then bug again. He rubs them like he’s unsure he’s really seeing me.
I try to scream help at him, knowing it’s incomprehensible, and this gets him off the couch. He strides to the ladder, his gate appearing somewhat sobered, and climbs up.
His movements slow as he makes it onto the platform where he towers over me. His eyes roam my body, his brows coming together with confusion. Not with panic or concern. Not with the need to help . Just confusion.
My heart skips as tears burst to my eyes.
“What the fuck,” he murmurs, blinking again. He takes the last step toward me and slowly pulls the tape off my mouth.
I gasp as I whip my head to the side against the sting of the tape but only give myself a moment’s hesitation before I speak.
“Please,” I say, tears blurring my vision as I peer up at the stranger. “I swear I won’t go to the police about your friend. Please, let me go.”
The man shakes his head, not in response, more like he’s wrapping his head around things. I hold my breath while I wait for him to answer.
“What the hell is my brother doing with you?” he asks.
My heart sinks. Now it’s my turn to act confused.
Brother ?
“H-he…” I start but pause to think of how to finish.
His brother. Brother .
This man will never help me.
I close my eyes as grief sweeps through me, knocking against my windpipe and stealing my breath. When I finally catch it, I breathe in the booze reeking from this man.
I search my memory for the slightest hint of compassion in his expression upon seeing me, but it isn’t there. I’m a fool for thinking it could be. For thinking Tall would ever keep company with a person who was capable of compassion.
I wonder if this man will want to share me too.
Lowering my head, I give up on what I was about to say and cry instead.
“Are you a foreigner?” the man asks, sounding angry. Angry . Like me coming into this country is somehow a worse crime than his brother kidnapping me.
Only a second passes before he’s on the bed, grabbing hold of my hair and yanking my head back, making me gasp. “Answer me!”
Yes , seems like the wrong answer, but I’m so startled it comes out anyway.
“Did you come here with a boyfriend?” he asks, his words slurred and urgent. “Did you—Did…” He blinks while his lips tremble with unspoken words I don’t understand.
Did I come here with a boyfriend?
To the United States?
Is he talking about Mario?
Does he know who I am?!
My eyes burst wide.
“Yes,” I say, my chest puffing. “Yes, I came with my boyfriend. His name is Mario. Is he looking for me? Tell him where I am. Please. Please . He—he’ll give your brother money, whatever he wants, just?—”
The man’s hand wraps around my throat as his eyes turn manic. My air supply is cut off as he squeezes, and I struggle as panic grips me as tightly as his hand.
He comes in close, close enough that I can smell the liquor on his breath. “Where the fuck is my girlfriend?”
Seconds pass before he eases up his hold on my throat, allowing me to breathe. I gasp and sob, tears spilling onto my cheeks as I catch my breath.
I try to shake my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Rage comes over him as he squeezes my throat again, the color of his face turning the shade of the blood in his eyes. I try to buck and plead in a look, but I know from his grip that this isn’t a threat or punishment.
He’s going to kill me.
A sour taste fills my mouth as my veins flood with adrenaline, but the most tortured part of this is not being able to move my limbs. Not being able to fight .
I see Piper in my mind, see her struggle, and can’t help but see the irony that I was right about having the same death but wrong about my murderer. The two biggest mistakes I’ve made in my life involved asking people for help. First with Piper, now with this man.
Just when all hope slips away, the door downstairs bangs open. “Leo!” Tall shouts, the door slamming a moment later.
I dart my eyes to the ladder, my body jolting with one last shot of energy, not to break from the brother’s hold but to alert my captor. The one I now hope to be my savior.
Tall yells Leo’s name again as he comes up the ladder, but Leo doesn’t take his hand off my neck. Not until Tall puts him in a chokehold of his own and lifts.
“ Let go ,” he commands.
Leo chokes before his hand releases my neck. I gasp wildly, my breaths wheezing through my sore throat as my eyes spill fresh tears. I choke on sobs before gasping some more, scooting back as far as I can against the headboard.
Leo’s hands reach for Tall behind him while his face turns purple, his body bucking to get up from the bed, but Tall holds him still. His arm squeezes him securely in a chokehold until I think he’s going to kill his own brother, but he doesn’t have the rage Leo had on his face.
“ Calm down ,” Tall says, his voice low like he’s trying to be soothing.
Leo continues to thrash before finally relenting, his hands lowering to his lap. Tall pulls him backward before releasing him to fall on the floor where Leo alternates between gasping and coughing.
When Tall’s eyes meet mine, I can’t help but cower. In a way, he just saved my life. But in another way, I just got a horrifying preview of the way it will eventually end.
Tall finds the tape Leo removed and hurries to slap it back over my mouth.
“You need to stay calm,” Tall says, his back turned to Leo, although I’m certain he’s speaking to him. “Whatever she told you?—”
“That’s her,” Leo croaks, moving to a sitting position on the floor. I can’t believe he’s going to breeze past the fact that his brother almost strangled him. He stabs an accusing finger at me. “That’s the immigrant Piper picked up. The last person to have seen her. What the fuck is she doing in your apartment?”
What ?
His eyes blinking open, Tall looks as puzzled as I feel. He slowly sits on the bed, his hands clasping in his lap while we both seem to try to make sense of Leo’s words.
The immigrant Piper picked up… The last person to have seen her…
He’s worried about Piper.
He thinks I know what happened.
And he does not know Tall had anything to do with Piper or me.
Then how would he…
My mind flashes back to Piper when we were in her car, her fingers tapping away at her phone. Maybe she was texting someone, telling them about me?
But why would she…
I shrink when I figure it out. For some reason, maybe I imagine it, but there’s tension in the room I don’t remember feeling before.
“ Where the fuck is my girlfriend?” he’d asked.
He was talking about Piper.
He’s her boyfriend. Not Tall. Or maybe they both are. But I don’t think Leo knows that.
“First of all,” Tall says at last. “Don’t be dramatic. The girl isn’t the last person to have seen Piper . Just because she’s gone doesn’t mean anything bad has happened to her. But it does mean you need to let her go. It’s been twenty-four hours, and she’s fucking you up this badly… Take that as a sign. You aren’t good for each other.”
“The girl,” Leo seethes, climbing to his feet. “Your apartment. Why ?” His fists clench at his sides as he stands like a giant looking over Tall and me. I start to shift to the other side of the bed, but when he pins me with a stare, I still.
Could Tall really stop him from hurting us?
“It’s gonna piss you off, so just … breathe. Listen. Don’t react.”
“Fucking—”
“Piper texted me too.”
Leo’s mouth hangs open as his eyes narrow, but he doesn’t argue. He waits for Tall to go on.
Tall runs his hands through his hair, disrupting a curl. It strikes me in this moment how much I’m rooting for him. How much I’m hoping he has words to pacify his brother.
“She told me about your plan to whore the girl out but said, when she thought about it, she didn’t trust you to handle things… I think it was probably more than that. Jealousy, maybe. I think Piper was afraid you’d sample her or something.” He gestures to me.
My brow is scrunched while I listen. I know what Tall’s saying must be a lie. But why does Leo look so convinced?
Was Piper really planning something like this?
What the hell?
“I would never cheat on her,” Leo claims, though his voice hitches and his eyes are downcast.
“I know, I know.” Tall holds up his hands. “And I told her that, but still, she was more comfortable with me taking the girl. We met at the lake yesterday afternoon, and I haven’t seen or heard from her since, but man, I have to tell you, she was acting strange. There was a suitcase in her backseat…”
“What?!”
“Yeah.” Tall nods. “Honestly, part of me thinks there was no plan to whore this chick out.” Again, he gestures to me. “Part of me thinks she just saw an opportunity that would take your mind off the fact that she was leaving you, then couldn’t bring herself to picture you with another woman.”
Leo is quiet for several seconds, his eyes roaming like he’s thinking about what Tall is telling him. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he covers his hand over his mouth and sobs.
Tall stands unhurriedly with a frown on his face, and after a few seconds and a sigh, puts a hand on his brother’s shoulder. His brother falls into him, sobbing like a child with a scraped knee.
All the while I stare at the scene, unsure if I should be afraid or puzzled. This feels surreal. The enraged man who would’ve killed me minutes ago is a sobbing mess over the woman I watched Tall strangle, while Tall comforts him. It’s weird. Wrong . So wrong, I look away and wait for the vulnerability to pass.
It doesn’t take long.
“It was her boyfriend,” Leo says, pulling back with a new surge of anguished rage. He stabs a finger at me. “It had to be. He must’ve found out that Piper took her, and?—”
Tall’s loud groan cuts him off. “Why, Leo, does it have to be the girl’s boyfriend? Why can it not be plausible that?—”
“Because he’s cartel .”
Leo only pauses for a moment before continuing, but it feels like an eternity. It knocks the wind from me, pulling me forward, draining the blood from my face. I immediately try to study Tall’s reaction, but there is none.
“He wouldn’t just accept that his girl is missing. He’d?—”
Luka holds up a hand. His eyes close as he takes a deep breath, like he’s summoning patience. “ Slow down . How do you know he’s cartel?”
“I found him. He’s staying at a Budget Inn off Bradford and has been hanging around at a bar across the street called Lucky’s with several shady-looking Mexicans, all carrying.”
Oh my God.
They’re here.
How?
Did Mario call them? Are they his friends? Papá would never let Mario live after taking me. He certainly wouldn’t have a beer with him.
My heart pangs as my eyes water. This is all my fault. All of this is my fault. If he called them, it’s because he felt he had to. That it was the only way to save me. He sacrificed his own life to protect mine.
I whine at the thought, earning a glare from Tall before he turns back to his brother.
“And you figured that out in the course of a night? How ?”
Leo’s mouth opens, but he looks away and closes it. An understanding passes between the brothers as shame crosses Leo’s expression.
Tall runs his hand through his hair. “Shady-looking Mexicans does not equal cartel , Leo. If they’re at the bar instead of looking for the girl, they obviously don’t give a shit about her… Let it go.”
Leo tries to protest more, but Tall bats away every concern as nonsense with such ease that I start to question if he believes his lies. If maybe he’s developed some delusion that involves his brother’s girlfriend running off, alive and well, instead of in pieces at the bottom of a lake, much of her eaten away by various creatures.
But no. He’s just an impeccable liar.
And an even worse person than I imagined.