Seducing Texas (So not Prince Charming #2)(38)

A man shorter than me grabs my arms while I scream. He puts duct tape over my mouth, while three of them force Aedan to the ground. A gun slams against his skull, and his body goes motionless.

I cry out. “Stop. Don’t hurt him.”

The short man searches my pockets and removes my cell phone and change.

A dark hood is pulled over my head; they drag me outside, and pitch me into the trunk. My knees bang against the interior, but bruises are the least of my worries. Aedan is seriously hurt, and Manny had Mom killed. What do they plan on doing to me?

The car speeds off down our road and then gets onto the freeway. I have to do something now before they take me across the border. The rear lights glow red. If I could knock one out.

Using my feet I kick out the driver side rear light, hoping a cop sees it. It’s dark outside, but despite that, I push my hand out and pray the car behind me sees it. The car I’m in veers roughly off to the side, wrenching my wrist. I pull it back in and nurse my cut hand, sucking on the blood pouring from it.

Within minutes, the car rides over a bumpy road. I peek out of the broken taillight, but it’s pitch black and no other cars follow us.

It’s too late. They’re headed for the border or to dump my body somewhere. I’m tossed around and eventually the car pulls up onto a paved road. Tears sting my eyes. If Manny gets the flash drive, he’ll kill us both. He’s always been crazy. He once tried to beat Dad for not being part of the family business. It was one of the reasons he left home at a young age. He didn’t want that life, yet our grandmother thinks he should.

My body cramps in the enclosed space. I don’t want Cyn to come after me. Manny will just kill her, and that’s his obvious intentions.

For hours, I remain in the trunk. When the car finally stops, I hear Manny’s voice. The trunk opens and artificial light from his compound floods into the trunk. It’s been years, but I’ve been here before. It’s not too far south of the border off of 35. New additions including a huge pool in a garden setting have been added to the main building—thanks to my mom—and it burns me.

I struggle against my bindings. “Manny, why don’t you leave us alone?”

He smokes a cigar, blowing out puffs of smoke. He wears even more gold and heavy jewelry than his thugs. “Your sister knows too much. Once you’re both gone, it’ll put my mind at ease.”

“My dad knows your whole business.”

“I have lots of men who can get rid of him in prison. He’ll be quiet until he realizes you’re both dead.”

I swallow down my panic. He’s going to kill us all. He’d taken Mom’s millions and now he’s tying up loose ends. Cyn and I are two of them.

“Lock her up,” he says between inhaling a lungful of cigar. It stinks and forms a thick cloud around us.

One of his men shoves me toward a building in the back past several dark SUVs. He throws me into a stone floored cell, bruising my hip and shoulder. My whole body aches from the abuse, and terror threatens to suck me under. I brush away my tears and pray Aedan is okay. I can’t give into my fright, even though the thought of Mom brutally murdered plagues my mind.

I push myself up and glance around my confines. There’s nothing but a cot and a hole in the ground to serve as a toilet. Three sides are stone and disintegrating mortar, and iron bars face outward down the narrow hall. The left wall should go into the house.

If I can escape, it’s a little over fifty miles to the border.

Digging at the old mortar with my fingers, I sit in the dark cavern for what feels like hours when my much younger cousin brings me food and a bottle of water. I haven’t gotten very far with my fingers, and my digging seems pointless.

“Lo siento,” Christina says in a meek voice.

My uncle had his ex-wife killed so he could marry a much younger woman. My latest cousins are eight, ten, and thirteen. Christina is the middle one.

“Gracias,” I say.

She touches my fingers through the bars and tears well up in her eyes. Manny has never been a good father. I saw him take a belt to his oldest son at Cyn’s wedding.

As soon as she leaves, I take a sip of water and continue digging at the stones, using the metal knife she brought. With the knife, it goes much faster. Within a half hour, I almost have one stone dug out and artificial light seeps in through the cracks. I only need to remove five or six stones and I can escape.

Teenaged Manny comes to pick up my food. I quickly stuff the taquitos down my throat, hiding the knife and the water.

Like his dad, he has a hard cold glint in his eyes. “Hand over the knife. Don’t think about escaping. My father will cut off your head just like he did to your mother. Your sister and you will die. All those years living the high life and my father took that all away. How does it feel to be poor?”

“Bueno,” I say. I’m okay with the townhouse. “You will always live in fear of being killed by your competition or the DEA.”

He sneers. He’s so much like his dad it’s frightening.

Using my fingers, I continue digging until they’re raw and bleeding. By sunrise, I only have two stones out. I know Cyn will come right away, and I don’t want her to. If only I could figure out a way to get rid of Manny before he kills us.





Chapter


Cyn


Rubbing the knot on his temple, Aedan rouses from his prone position on the floor of my townhouse. “Bloody hell.”