“I-I think I drank too much,” a female voice moans. “And I’m going to be sick.”
“Oh, no,” I say, kneeling next to the woman on the floor of the closet. “Let me help you to the ladies’ room, okay? You’re going to be fine.”
“If my boyfriend sees me, he’s going to be so angry,” she sobs. “I always do this! I get so jealous of those bitches throwing themselves at him, and then I drink too much, and we fight, and then he ends up smacking me on the back of the head like this!”
I’m too consumed with her tale of woe to see it coming, but I sure as hell feel her fist as she drives her arm down on the base of my skull. I pitch forward into her lap, my vision blurry from the surprise attack. She shoves me back, forcing me to sit up, and a large hand slaps a piece of duct tape across my mouth. My eyes widen as I stare at the allegedly drunk and jealous bitch in front of me. The corners of her blood red lips curl upward and knot into a malicious smile.
“Oh, yes,” she whispers, snapping her fingers at something behind me. “You’re a real treat.” She slips her hands under my breasts and squeezes each one. “Real. The buyers will love that. I bet that pussy is still tight and shiny, too, am I right? We make a killing on virgins.”
A scream bubbles in my chest with absolutely nowhere to go since I have zero ability to utter a single sound. A strong hand grabs me by the back of my gown and pulls me upward. I kick the woman in front of me, the heel of my sandal catching on her dress. My muffled cries won’t alert a damn soul back here. I’m too far away from the dining room, too far away from the lounge.
Too far away from the life that only moments earlier I despised.
God Almighty, what I would do to have it back at this moment…
I manage to free my foot from the dress and I launch both feet at her again, my arms flailing as hard as my legs as two men drag me out of the coat room and through a doorway across the hall, with the woman leading the way. They carry me down two flights of stairs, not saying a word. The woman pushes open a door, peers left and right and then waves the men on, pointing to another door. She kicks it open and points to a bed in the center of the room. “Hold her down,” she orders.
I struggle with every ounce of strength I can muster, kicking and kneeing with all my might, but they outweigh me by about three-hundred pounds.
The woman leans over me, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “Don’t fight it, sweetheart. It’ll be easier if you just accept your fate.” She smiles, leaning in close. “And rest assured knowing that your fate will be making a lot of people very rich tonight.”
She drags a finger down the front of my gown, dipping it under the neckline of my gown and grazing my nipples as I wiggle and struggle against the men, powerless in their tight grip. A wistful look flits across her face. “Too bad I can’t take them for a test drive first.” A needle appears from the evening bag in her hand, and a stinging sensation assaults my hand when she drives the needle into a vein. I try to twist my hand away, anything to keep what the hell ever she’s injecting me with out of my body.
“Goddammit!” she shouts. “I said hold her still!”
I weep, the sound muted by the tape. When she pulls out the needle, she winks and the tears stinging my eyes spill over.
Within milliseconds, my limbs turn into limp noodles and my eyes droop closed, the whole world consumed by a cold and numb darkness.
A perfect life.
I had a perfect life.
Had being the apropos word.
Chapter Five
Diego
I pull my knife out of the gut of one of Salvatore’s henchmen, his eyes wide and his jaw open like I just shocked the shit out of him with my ninja-like precision.
And I did.
He never saw me coming.
It was almost too easy, which makes me wonder if someone knows I’m here…if someone leaked my location.
And my intentions.
I have to assume she did, or I’ll end up like the asshole bleeding all over my shoes.
I sidestep the guy and twist my head left and right before stepping back into the hallway. Right after Salvatore pretty much shit his pants over the threats made by whomever he’s selling these women to, I figured I’d have him. The buyer disappeared before I could see a face or get a name, and Salvatore went running back to his office with his dick between his legs.
I was in position and he was so close, I could have gouged out his eyeballs. And just before I made my move, one of his enforcers made the deadly mistake of sticking the barrel of his gun to the back of my skull.
I glance at the floor one last time.
He shouldn’t have hesitated.
That shit can get you killed.
I’m not about to snooze on another opportunity, because it may be my last.
The hallway is quiet. Most of Salvatore’s men hustled their asses downstairs to prepare the women for transport. My pulse throbs against my throat. I can’t let that sale go through. I won’t let them move any of the women from this building, but there’s no way I’ll alert the cops before I get some face time with Salvatore. He’s not leaving this building alive and in some fucking paddy wagon.
There won’t be any bail.
No trial.
And he sure as hell won’t have a chance to see the inside of a cushy jail cell just for bastards like him with the means to pay off the authorities. Protection, food, smokes.
Fuck that.
He’ll get none of it.
I forget the fact that I’m one person taking on an army of scumbags.
I’ll worry about my odds later, after I slice off the head of the snake.
Voices drift out into the empty corridor.
I squeeze my eyes shut for a quick second.
Salvatore’s not alone.
I pull out my gun and tap the door open with the tip, the knife secured in my other hand.
I haven’t decided which way to go just yet. I figure I’ll get inside and make the call then.
Either way, they’re—
Fuck!
A strong force yanks me backward and I fall against something solid behind me.
And goddammit, it ain’t a wall.
“You little prick,” a deep voice grunts into my ear. His teeth are clenched tight and his spittle sprays the side of my face. “Did you think you were gonna get away with this little stunt? Think you can come in here and fuck with our delivery?”
“I’m not interested in your delivery,” I hiss. “That’s not why I’m here.”
“Well, it’s the reason why your ass ain’t leaving here tonight.” The mountain of a man behind me squeezes his beefy arm around my neck and drags me toward an open door.
Salvatore’s office door.
Fuck me, he’s practically rolling out the red carpet for me, asshole that he is.
He obviously doesn’t know who I am or what I’m about to do with the knife now tucked up my sleeve.
So I let him pull me along so I can quite literally kill two cocksuckers with the same proverbial stone. When he shoves me into the office, I trip forward, my foot catching on a stray piece of carpet. But before I flip around to face the guy, I wink at Salvatore.
I practically salivate over the look of sheer unadulterated panic that shadows his face.