Page 85 of Vicious

“More time? Simon said he had cash.” The guy looks at Baba. “Were you lying?”

“No!” Baba raises his arms. “Look, I have…” he starts rummaging in his bag. “I have about a thousand dollars. May has a few hundred.”

Utter betrayal hits me in the gut, and I’m momentarily breathless, unable to even form words. He knew we needed that money for other things, and he’d gone and told some shady loan sharks where we were.

Doesn’t he remember what happened the last time someone came to collect when I’d been standing right there?

I fumble with the cash in my pocket, tossing the bills onto the nearby table. “That’s all I have,” I manage to say.

Baba adds his bills to the pile, and Sunglasses guy goes over to start counting. At the end, he shakes his head. “You said you had a thousand. This is barely seven hundred.”

I try to remember how to breathe.

Chase is still silent on the other end of the line, but one of the goons finally seems to realize I’m holding the phone. He lunges forward and wrenches it out of my hand. He glances at the screen and hangs up. “Boss, she didn’t call the police. Looks like she and her daddy are both liars.” He tosses the phone onto the bed.

The boss laughs. “So, no cops, and you’re over nine thousand bucks short of what you owe me.” He gives us both harsh looks. “I think you might be worth more to me dead. Do you know how much a few organs sell for on the black market?”

At least they aren’t threatening to sell me this time, and a quick death so they can harvest my organs would be preferable to being sold to someone worse than Giulio.

Then again, I can’t even guarantee a quick death. They might decide to keep me alive just to torture Baba.

Or because organs only last so long after someone dies.

Maybe I’d rather be sold after all.

“Wait!” Baba protests. “That’s not what you said would happen! You said I could pay any amount for now!”

Sunglasses guy shrugs. “I changed my mind. Fresh organs are worth more. What blood types are you?” He gives me a once over. “You think there’s a premium price on Asian organs?”

One of his goons snorts. “Don’t they have the same stuff inside?”

“How should I know! I’m not a doctor.” Sunglasses guy pulls out his phone and starts dialing somebody. “Hey, so, I have two fresh donors. Yeah. I’ll bring them to the warehouse now.”

For the first time in my life, I don’t think of my father first. There’s that whole thing about putting your own oxygen mask on before helping someone else with theirs, and the only way I can get us out of this situation is to stay alive.

I run for the door, only for the second goon to grab me around the waist and slam me so hard into the wall that I see stars.

“May!” Baba gasps.

I fight and struggle with everything I have, but he’s too strong. Like Chase, he can easily overpower me.

Unlike Chase, his touch does nothing but repulse me.

“Let go of me!” I yell. “Fire! Fire!”

Because screaming ‘help’ would get us nowhere. People—especially people at a dump like this—only care about their own well-being.

Unfortunately, the only thing I hear in response is a very loud “Shut up!” through the walls.

“Let her go!” Baba yells. He rushes up to us, pounding on the goon’s back, but Baba isn’t strong enough. The other goon pulls him away and twists his arms behind his back. Baba screams in pain.

Sunglasses guy scoffs. “Jesus, you guys got a death wish?”

There’s such clarity in this moment of terror and pain.

I think of all the things I didn’t get to do, all the things I missed out on.

Wo ai ni.

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