Page 54 of Making the King

“Where’s Cain?” I whisper to Gray.

I don’t understand why the man in charge isn’t out there trying to get rid of the scum.

“Dunno,” Gray replied. “He could be digging his way to China, or getting ready to burn the building down with them inside.”

Huh? Neither of those options ring true, but I get the point Gray’s making. And the fact that Tex is alone with the Diamonds out there does make it seem like Cain’s up to something.

“Well, what if we want a specific Diamond?” A mean-looking nomad asks. “Do you fuckers take requests?”

One of the Diamonds clears her throat. “Of course we do. What’s your pleasure?”

“Not you,” he sneers as he backhands her. “We want the one with a teardrop tattoo.”

The room falls silent.

I look at Gray, who’s looking at me, and I can see the cogs turning in his head. Right now he has to be thinking the same thing as me; why would they want me?

“Not happening,” Tex snaps. “Get the fuck out of here. Now.”

The nomads shake their heads, menacing grins splitting their faces.

“We like it here,” a big, burly guy sneers.

As soon as the words are out of his mouth, the stage light changes to an eerie red, and smoke erupts from the stage. There’s so much it only takes seconds until it’s enveloping most of the room, making it impossible to see through it.

“Welcome to the party!” Cain’s voice rings out from every corner of the room.

A gunshot sounds and a body falls to the ground.

“Get down,” Gray hisses.

Even though he can’t see me, I shake my head. Narrowing my eyes, I try to see through the smoke, and I’m pretty sure I see some of the women run scared.

Another gunshot, and this time it’s followed by high-pitched screams.

“Cara!” My head jerks in the direction of the deep, booming voice. “We have a message for you from your mom.”

“What is it?” I shout back, unable to help myself.

“For every day you refuse to return to her, someone from your new life will die.”

I see red as a woman lets out a bloodcurdling scream. Before Gray can stop me, I run into the room, not stopping until I collide with a body. Up close it’s easy to see it isn’t someone I’ve seen before, meaning it must be one of the nomads.

“Estás muerto,” I scream as I kick him in the gut.

“You can’t kill me little girl,” he wheezes, doubling over as I kick him a second time.

Someone tackles me to the ground, and I flail my arms and buck as his crushing weight descends on me. He tangles his fingers into my hair and slams my head against the floor. I cry out, but don’t stop struggling despite my vision swimming.

More screaming, and at least one more body hits the ground. The smoke is still too thick to see properly, but I have a feeling the Diamonds aren’t fairing well. Feeling an unfamiliar need to help, or maybe it’s punishment I want to dole out, I continue to try to land punches, but none of them stop the guy on top of me.

Luckily, someone barges into him, and the second he’s unfocused, I buck again, unseating him. Using all my strength and training, I roll to my side and wrap my legs around him. Reaching for my shoe, I slip it off and use it as a weapon.

The guy laughs, not even realizing his end is fucking near.

“I told you what would happen,” I hiss at the same time as I ram the stiletto heel into his neck.

I try not to cringe at the sound, but really, it’s disgusting. So is the way he gasps, unable to form words.

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