Page 214 of Plunge into Obsession

How many nights had I prayed for her to come back to me?

But not like this.

“Why didn’t you contact me,” I asked in a broken whisper. “I would have helped you. Whatever Luis did—”

“You’re still not getting it, are you? I didn’t want to contact you. I didn’t want to contact anyone from my old life. I would have left you alone. Let you live your own life, and I would live mine. But you had to go and stick your nose where you shouldn’t. You brought this on yourself.”

“So our friendship meant nothing?” I asked, trying to keep the shakiness from my voice.

She didn’t answer me. She didn’t have to. Her silence was answer enough. A sharp pain pulled at my heart, and I tried to ignore that when Lucinda pushed me out through the front door.

I looked around and realized there were no guards around.

I didn’t think the place had ever looked so empty.

What happened to everyone?

Almost as soon as I had the thought, movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention. I turned to see a group of about fifteen men or so surrounding us. I didn’t recognize them as Gabriel’s men. Lucinda nodded at them.

Gabriel had followed us out of the house and was now assessing the situation. From the shadow that passed over his eyes, it didn’t seem like he saw a way out of this.

He turned to me with a sort of desperation in his eyes that I could relate to.

Lucinda shifted slightly, and I could see her looking at one of the men from the corner of my eyes. It didn’t take me long to realize what that look meant as the man pulled out his gun and pointed it at Melinda. Before I could say anything, he pulled the trigger three times, each time hitting her on the chest.

She fell to the ground, her blood pooling on the concrete floor.

God, I was going to be sick.

Gabriel looked at Melinda’s lifeless body and turned to look at us, reminding me that my husband wasn’t a normal man. He barely blinked at the sight of Melinda, and perhaps, he might think she deserved it.

“What do you want?” Gabriel asked Lucinda.

He was still shirtless, the Santa Muerte tattoo on full display. Would she save us now?

“Choose,” Lucinda said.

“What?” Gabriel asked.

“Choose. Her—” Lucinda pushed the knife further into my skin, and I could feel a sting, then wetness from blood. “Or the baby.”

Gabriel blanched.

She laughed, and I took a shaky breath, fear keeping me immobile.

Gabriel shook his head.

“Yes,” Lucinda said in venomous mirth. “And if you don’t pick, I’ll cut her open and kill them both.”

Around us, the men laughed.

I cupped my hand over my stomach.

Fuck.

I wasn’t even given a chance to be a mother. And how the hell could she expect Gabriel to pick? There would be no way for the baby to survive without me.

Not this early in the pregnancy.

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