Page 66 of Empire of Carnage
The pressure near my eyes was unbearable as he squeezed even harder, completely disabling me from taking even the smallest sip of air back into my lungs. My vision went fuzzy, specs of colors floated around in my vision.
Maldición.
Was I really going to fucking die like this?
After everything?
“My men will be up here soon, then I’ll make them teach you why your father should have never put the stupid idea of a reina del cártel into your naive little mind. I’ll let them each take a turn with you, one by one, till you’re begging me to kill you sobrina.”
“Better not, tío,” I rasped, not even sure if he could make out the words as I forced them out of my mouth. He loosened his grip slightly like a dumb, curious bastard, eager for the rest of my sentence. “Maybe I’ll fuck them so good they’ll drop to their knees formeinstead.”
“Zorra,” he spat out venomously, letting go of my throat just to strike my face once again.
I coughed, swallowing a lungful of air.
“Is it not as fun when I weaponize the very thing you all tried to convince yourselves was a weakness?”
He didn’t get to answer.
A deafening boom came from somewhere in the house making us both turn our necks as if we’d see what was happening through the closed office door. Santos was creating a distraction, and fuck if it wasn’t hot as hell that he could offer me his help without treating me like I was powerless.
“Looks like your men are busy,” I taunted, sending my foot up between his legs with as much force as I could muster.
He wheezed from the pain, relaxing his grip around my neck to clutch his manhood defensively as he cursed me in spanish. It was all the time I needed to scamper away, just far enough to give me time to retrieve my gun from the floor under the desk and pull it on him.
“Now tío querido, did youreallythink it was going to be this easy to kill me, or did you come here just to offend me?”
He moved to reach his hand behind him, but I lodged a bullet into the very same shoulder to stop him from pulling out his own gun. He cried out in pain, but the shaking of the villa’s foundation let me know his men were far too preoccupied to come to his rescue.
“And here I thought I was going to have to kill you fast and miss out on all the fun. Looks like Carlitos won’t be welcoming you to hell just yet.” I smirked watching his eyes go wide.
“What did you do to my son?” he seethed, which only furthered new confusion.
“What do you mean what did I do? I killed that pendejo months ago.” I laughed plugging another bullet into his other shoulder when he attempted to reach back once again with his uninjured arm. “Vamos tío, I was really hoping to draw this out.”
“Sadistic, just like the rest of your family. Your temperament is more suited tolowerpositions, you can’t handle what it takes to be jefe,” he insulted me through pained grunts.
“President Ramírez seems to think I can, which begs the question… where does that leave you if I’m running the cártel they all recognize as the tried and true version?” I gave him a sinister smirk, stepping closer to him now that he’d dropped to a seat on the ground, arms limp at his side.
“Must be so easy… to fuck your way to the top,” he labored out.
I clenched my back teeth together, counting backwards in my head while I silently told myself that future me would regret not killing him slowly. He was antagonizing me on purpose. Pushing me because he knew it was over for him now and all he could do about it was hope I’d deliver it quickly.
I had no such plans to do so.
“I gave him a quick death, because he was a stupid bastard who didn’t know any better. But you tío, I’m gonna take my time with you. I’m going to kill you a little every single day until I tire of playing with you. And when you’re dead, I’ll use your bones to pick at my teeth after meals, to comb my hair, and to clean under my fingernails. I’ll burn everything else you’ve ever touched. Including Carolina,” I promised him.
There was a look on his face that could only be described as utter confusion. Which only let me know one thing, and it was the only thing I needed to know.
My tío was no longer in charge. Someone else was just letting him pretend to play the part.
“How long has she been running the show?” I asked.
He hocked a bloody wad of spit onto the ground by my feet.
“It’s going to get really smoky up here soon by the smell of things tío. I’d love to move us somewhere more comfortable but I’m real inclined to leave you here if it might get me answers.” I raised the Glock up once more, hoping I wouldn’t have to shoot him once again.
There was only so many bullets you could put into a man while still expecting him to stay alive for long-term torture.
