Page 96 of Miguel

He opened his mouth and spoke, though I didn’t understand anything except the word ‘boy’. A moment later, he sighed before his eyes dipped down to my exposed legs.

I clamped my thighs together in fear, only causing him to chuckle. The tip of the gun lowered and I shivered in fear as it slid over my exposed skin, sliding the skirt up as it went so it nearly bunched at the waist.

I wanted to throw up.

Preferably on him.

The man pulled away and stood, turning to his companion. I couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief as they all stared at me, cowering in a corner, and began speaking amongst themselves. I counted how many men.

Five.

Five of them and one of me.

I had no experience fighting, I had no fucking experience doing anything except singing and prancing around with children. How was I supposed to get out of this? How was I supposed to protect myself with my hands strapped to my back?

My doom was looking wider and wider, and terror was threatening to choke me. I couldn’t make out what any of them were saying until they turned to me, snapping their attention in unison.

One of them, a straw-haired man with bright eyes, stepped forward. “You’re Miguel’s bitch, right?”

They knew Miguel’s name.

This was connected to Los Diablos.

Fear engulfed me anew.

“I asked you a question.” His boot flew out, effectively kicking me in a way that left me gasping. I fell to the side, tears stinging my eyes as the pain spread through my abdomen.

Thathurt.

My cheek scraped the dirty ground, saliva pooling from the side of my mouth. I turned, eyeing them with as much hatred as I could muster.

“Fuck you!” I spat.

“She’s the Vice President’s old lady,” someone else said. “I’ve been watching from a distance.”

My stomach churned with that information.

They’d beenwatchingus? What thefuck?

“What are we going to do with her, then?” another one asked.

My gaze bounced back and forth between them. They were speaking in Spanish for my benefit, to instill fear into me. A tactic, I was sure. And it was working.

Iwasafraid.

“I say we kill her. Show the Diablos who the fuck they missed with.”

“Nah, pretty face like that could make us a lot of money.”

A cold sweat broke out over my face.

“True. And they did lose us all our product. Let’s keep her for now. Reconvene and decide. Let’s get shit done. Quickly.”

With a few more sneers my way, they marched away. I watched them with wary eyes, burning my gaze into them, hoping they could feel my hatred radiating from the distance.

It wasn’t until they disappeared behind a steel door that I finally sagged and was able to breathe heavily through my nose. Tears stung against my eyes as soon as they were gone and fell freely against my face. I gave myself a single second of fear before I steeled myself and assessed my injuries. My body throbbed from their rough handling, but it wasn’t unbearable. With a heave, I rolled and managed to sit up and lean back against the wall.

Looking around, I noted I was in what seemed to be an abandoned factory. There was nothing but steel and blocks all around me, with thick steel doors, and whatever windows were scattered around were too high for me to reach.

---