Page 95 of Sin & Secrets

All I can do is wait and listen as the car doors open and two sets of feet approach the back of the car. I’m bracing myself for whatever comes next.

Well, fuck them if they think I’m going anywhere without a fight.

I don’t recognize the men that open the trunk. Not that I gave myself much time to examine their faces before I began kicking and screaming with everything I have. My injured ankle throbs with every blow.

“Mierda,”one of the men buckles as my attack hits his low-hanging fruit.

But my satisfaction is short-lived when the other manhandles me out of the trunk and throws me over his shoulder.

“You’re fucking DEAD!” I scream, unable to do anything else as he carries me through what appears to be some kind of abandoned warehouse.

“Cállate,”the man holding me snaps.

But I don’t care. “He will fucking kill you for this!”

He shouts something to the man still on his knees by the car that’s barely audible over my shouting, before taking me through another set of doors.

The room we enter is two stories tall, entirely bare, save for a few decommissioned pieces of industrial machinery that are covered in dust and cobwebs—fishing, I realize, with a start. We must be near the docks.

The second captor appears behind us, dragging a collapsible chair from the wall to the middle of the room.

“Put me down!” I shout loud enough to burst eardrums.

My captor twitches, and with a grunt, he dumps me on the floor. I wince as I fall heavily onto my bad ankle.

I turn to run, but two sets of arms wrestle me into the chair, tying up my bound hands and feet.

When they step back, wearing a matching pair of smug expressions, I’m entirely motionless.

“You think this will hold me forever?” My voice sounds hoarse from all the screaming. “I’ll fucking kill you before he even gets here.”

But they both turn away, seemingly content with a job well done.

“Now, now, Cas. There’s no need to be like that.”

My blood runs cold.

A figure emerges from the shadows. His hair is unkept, stubble overgrown, and his eyes bloodshot and wild as he snorts something from the back of his thumb.

“You bastard.”

Claudio shakes his head too rapidly. “Now, now. You can’t speak to me like that.”

He walks directly over to me, steps clicking against the stark, concrete floor. Every inch closer feels like a hand tightening around my throat.

“Stay the fuck away from me.”

But he ignores me. “After everything I’ve done for you, you still don’t treat me with any respect.”

I spit at his feet.

Slap.

My vision blurs as I try to breathe through the pain of my throbbing cheek. Claudio has the audacity to shake his hand as if somehow I’d hurthim.

“That ends today.”

Two fingers gently tilt my chin up. I shake them away with a thrash of my head. But Claudio grabs my chin instead, forcing me to look at him.

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