Page 75 of Bone Dust

“Seriously? Do you think anyone cares about a fucking restraining order these days?” He shakes his head in disbelief. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the idiot tree in your family, does it?”

“Momma, I wanna go home.” The desperation in Gigi’s plea forms a lump in my throat.

“Momma, I wanna go home,” he mocks. His cruel and contemptuous words sting. I throw him a glare, but it’s Gigi’s tone that pierces the darkness inside of me.

“Shh. Soon, baby.” I croon softly in her ear.

“Lying to her like you lied to me?” His tone sends shivers down my spine.

“What are you talking about?”

“Doesn’t matter. Soon, you’ll be gone, and I won’t even keep you as a memory.”

A scuffle behind me sets my nerves on high alert. I think it’s a rat, but a beam of light reveals two men. Not rats at all—or are they?

“This what you got?” The more menacing-looking of the two men inspects me. The other man is shorter and emotionless, observing us with cold, reptilian eyes. My gaze shifts between the two as I attempt to mark details to memory when the man of lesser height bares two dark stained teeth in a lecherous smile. Instantly my blood chills and my skin crawls. He rocks back on his heels and leers at me.

“You did good, Drake.”

“Told you I would,” he shrugs and then looks away, an air of confidence breathing new life into him.

Gigi sniffs back tears. The child who’s never known fear now trembles with it.I hold her tighter.

“So, what now?”

“Payment.”He looks me over like I’m merchandise and I narrow my eyes.

“Whatever he’s promised you, I can meet and beat.”

He ignores my offer and approaches us, licking his lips. He then wipes his arm across his mouth in a revolting gesture. As he reaches for Gigi, I scream.

Jumping back, I bare my teeth. Any mercy I might have possessed is suddenly gone and I turn savage.“Don’t touch her!”

His laugh is sinister as he pulls back his filthy hand.

“Girl, you got a mouth on you, but I like a little fight,” he scoffs. “Drake here got himself in a bind and needed cash. Too much blow and not enough money. It’s not the first time he’s fucked up and had to do something illegal to pay off a debt.”

The other man pauses, lowers his chin, and looks at me with threatening eyes. “Too bad you didn’t go home after that concert, girlie. I could’ve gotten a better price for you before you had that kid, or, I could have kept you myself and sold her, but he came up with the cash. Who would’ve guessed your father kept that much money in his house? But Drake knew. It was enough to settle the score.” He pauses to sneer. “At least, it was enough that time.”

His sinister words hang in the air, suspended by omens and danger. My eyes travel from him to Drake. “What’s he talking about?” I don’t wait for an answer as I snap my head around and confront the despicable man. “Was it you? Are you the bastard who killed my parents?”

Murder coats my words and Gigi whimpers. I jerk her back up onto my hip, my arms around her with a death grip.

“Me? Hell no,” he laughs. “I don’t do shit like that. That was all him. He doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty.” A devious nod in Drake’s direction sends shivers up my spine. “And he never got caught. Got away scot-free. Go figure.”

“Go to hell!” I scream. “If I don’t kill you first, you’ll go to jail for the rest of your miserable life.” I level the threat and believe I’ll make it come true.

“You think you’re getting out of here?” The three of them laugh. “Who’s going to save you, girlie? Ian Stanton? He owes me big time, too.”

Deep confusion pinches my brows together as I try to make sense of his words. “What’s Ian got to do with it?”

His slimy smirk freezes me in place as he slowly reveals a truth so hideous it makes me sick. “You’re a smart girl. I’m a businessman. Ian had enough blow to last him that night, but I brought him more. I saw you leave his room. He was too wasted to pay me, and I told him I’d get it the next day. You know what happened but he’s still alive, ain’t he? Ian owes me. Drake owed me.” He pauses, sniffs, and sneers. “You see where this is going, right?”

His words twist a knife in my stomach. I know who’s responsible for my parent’s death, and I understand I’m about to pay a debt I don’t owe. I scream. “We don’t have anything to do with this. Let us go.”

He cackles, my words falling on deaf ears. Gigi clings to me as if her life depends on it. Little does she realize it does. Her pull-up diaper is soaked and sagging around the back of her thighs. The smell of urine is thick and mixes with the putrid stench of packed soil and rusty metal. She holds me tighter, her small hands gripping my shirt. It’s rage rather than fear that courses through me and I taste bile in my throat. Angry tears sting my eyes and blur my vision until all I see is the same shade of red that painted the area beneath my parents’ dead bodies, and I scream a primal scream inside my head. Every fiber of my being vibrates with wrath. Drake has no idea what I’m capable of because the woman I’ve become since he last saw me is now a mother. That same anxious girl who obeyed him died that terrible morning. He might have brought out the fear in me but the girl in my arms made me a warrior.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

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