Page 40 of Hostile Rival
Abandoned in an empty, under the stairs space wearing only my bra and panties, I sit on the floor, huddled next to Margo. We hear footsteps on the other side of the door every so often.
“I loved him,” Margo’s voice carries in the dead silence like a lucid dream. “He was trying to protect me.”
I swallow, my throat dry and my mind blurry, still feeling weirded out. “I’m so sorry.”
“Whatever happens next won't be good. I can feel it,” she whispers. “These people are ruthless. I had no idea Ruben hung out with the Souza cartel.”
Awareness crawls down my spine like she’s dumped a bucket of cockroaches on top of my head. “Do you know where we are?” I ask, hopeful she had seen something when I was too out of it to think straight.
“Trees…I—I saw trees.”
Her breathing quickens when heavy footfall comes again, and this time stops outside the door. Suddenly an acutely blinding light shines on us, and I throw a hand up to shelter my eyes. Blinking wildly, I grip onto Margo tighter.
A husky male voice gives an order and suddenly she’s brutally ripped from my side. Her screams end abruptly, but I can’t see what happened. I only feel my retina burn when I try to search for her.
As much as I hate the darkness that eventually descends, it's better than the intense light. The distinct click of a lock signals to me I’m alone and trapped. My heart sinks.
Minutes feel like hours when you’re waiting. And that’s what I’ve been doing since they took Margo. Lost in my head, I’ve paced from wall to wall, taking two steps in one direction and two steps in the other. I even tried the door handle, stupidly rattling the damn thing just in case it magically unlocked.
My stomach churns and growls, hunger setting in, but nausea telling me I couldn't digest, anyway.
No one waits for me at home to raise the alarm bells now I’m missing. I’m just a woman who’d disappear, never to be seen again.
No hero is coming to save me.
As morbid as it sounds, that thought gives me a little comfort. At least Mama had left me before I left her.
Pushing my spine into the wall and hugging my knees for comfort, I dip in and out of sleep, exhaustion getting the better of me. Eventually, the blinding light comes again. Brutal handswrap around my biceps, and I'm hauled to my bare feet, stumbling and weak.
The burning white light never moves from my face. It throws off my senses and disorients me. When I try to block my eyes and wriggle out of my captor’s grip, I receive a hard swat across the side of my head, rattling my teeth.
Step after step, I’m ushered in one direction, then pushed down flat onto a cold surface with my arms strapped by my sides.
“Let’s hope we’ll have better luck with this one. Spread her legs and push her knees up.”
“What are you doing?” I grit out, straining to sit and get away from the light. “Where’s my friend?”
“Shut her up.” A male voice slithers over me at the same time as groping hands force my thighs apart.
“Stop! Get the fuck off me!” I yell, one breath away from becoming hysterical.
Firm fingers hollow my cheeks, and a dirty cloth material is packed into my mouth.
“Try the same amount as the girl before.” That emotionless voice comes again.
My fingers curl, ready to fight, but my arms are restrained, and my dignity is in tatters. A slippery alien object that feels like an oblong egg is inserted up my ass, followed by a second. My insides scream and my lower half convulses, the urge to reject them strong.
“This test will decide whether you’re of any value. Mules get to live. Keep the cocaine up there and don’t shit it out.” My nostrils are flaring, and muted snarls keep coming. A quick slap heats my left cheek. The bastard stays hidden behind the blinding light. “Or you’re useless to us.”
When my arms are freed, I lash out, thrusting a fist into the air, not knowing if it would connect. It doesn’t.
I still can’t see properly, only hearing the spine-chilling calmness of the man I presume is in charge. His hardened voice would haunt me for the rest of my life.
“Put her with the others.”
My skin prickles.
Others.
