Page 17 of Jagger's Remorse
I glance at Jagger, letting fear flicker across my face. "Do I have to?"
"You do what she says," he grumbles, but I catch the tension in his shoulders.
He doesn't like this.
Good.
I pull off the shirt slowly, making my hands shake.
Stand there in my underwear while they catalog my damage.
"Jesus," Mel breathes. "What happened to her?"
"Life," Raven answers. "Turn around."
I comply, letting them see the full canvas of my education.
Whip marks from Adelina's lessons about endurance.
Knife scars from Carlos teaching me blade work.
Burn marks from when I refused to break during interrogation training. And the centerpiece—Santa Muerte inked between my shoulder blades, her skeleton face serene among the violence.
"That's cartel ink," Tina observes. "High-level shit too. Not just street soldier stuff."
"What were you in Mexico, princess?" Raven asks.
Time for truth wrapped in lies. "I was nobody. Just Miguel Delgado's daughter trying to survive after—" I gesture at Jagger. "After he killed my papa."
"So you ran to Mexico?"
"Where else would I go? My father's family took me in. Tried to keep me safe." I let my voice break. "It didn't work."
"Who did this to you?"
"Los Zetas. Rivals who wanted to hurt my uncle through me." The lie flows easily. "They had me for three days before my family paid ransom."
Even Raven flinches at that.
Los Zetas have a reputation that makes even hardened killers nervous. "And the Santa Muerte?"
"Protection. My aunt said if death already owned me, maybe she'd keep me alive." I force tears. "It didn't work. My uncle sold me anyway."
Mel steps forward. "That's enough, Raven. Look at her. She's been through hell."
"Hell's just beginning, sweetheart." But Raven steps back. "Get dressed."
I pull Jagger's shirt back on, making sure to stumble slightly. Traumatized. Broken. Harmless.
"She can stay," Raven announces. "But she follows the rules. No speaking to brothers without permission. No leaving whatever room she's kept in. No causing trouble."
"And if she does?"
"Then she goes to the kennels." Raven's smile shows teeth. "And trust me, princess, what Los Zetas did will feel like foreplay compared to that."
I shrink into myself. "I understand."
"Good. Jagger, keep your pet on a shorter leash. Next time she spits on a brother, I'll cut out her tongue myself."
