Vice(35)
And now she’s sobbing, trying not to, struggling to keep her shit together, and I can’t think of a single thing to say to her to make it better, because it’s f*cked. It’s all f*cked, and I am a hollow, empty, treacherous thing that can’t be trusted. I didn’t save Laura. I didn’t f*cking save her, and now I can’t be expected to do anything about Natalia. If I even try to help her, it’ll probably end in disaster, with both of us dead.
She turns around and her cheeks are streaked and wet, but she looks angry again. “Don’t you feel sorry for me, *. I don’t want your pity. I don’t need it.”
Of course she doesn’t need it. Pity isn’t going to help her; it’s only going to make her feel like shit. “I don’t pity you. I’m angry for you. I’m going to kill that son of a bitch for what he’s done to my sister. I’ll twist the knife that little bit deeper now, knowing what he’s done to you, too.”
“You can’t. Don’t you think people have tried before? He’s insane. Harrison and his men protect him all day, every day.”
“I can take care of Harrison just fine.”
Natalia slumps against the wall, looking miserable. “No. Seriously. Laura is gone, and the people here are already too damaged to put back together. Why lose your life over so many lost causes?”
“Lost causes are my specialty.” I stand, watching her. She’s the most stunning, graceful, breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen, even in her misery. In another life, one where we are both different people, I might have pursued her. I can imagine how she would fit perfectly into my arms. I can picture all too well what she looks like covered in sweat, naked, panting my name as she rides my cock. These are dangerous daydreams that simply aren’t practical here in this terrible, dangerous place, though. I slide my hands into my pockets, digging my short fingernails into my palms.
“Good night, Natalia.”
She stops me just before I leave the kitchen. “You’re not going to leave?” she whispers.
“No. I told you. I’m going to murder your father. I’m going to wait for the most perfect opportunity, when the time is exactly right, and I’m going to take his pride and his dignity from him, before I take his life.” I pause, and then ask her one simple question. “Would you like to watch?”
She doesn’t even hesitate.
“Yes. Yes, I would.”
CHAPTER NINE
AND THEN, THE RAIN
Two days pass, and I don’t see Natalia again. I don’t see Plato, and I don’t see Fernando. The only person I interact with is Ocho, who brings me my meals, and who, being mute, is zero f*cking fun to talk to. I stay in my room watching bad Ecuadorian television in a language I don’t understand, and I do push ups. That is my entire existence: Ecuadorian Days of Our Lives, and a thousand push ups a day.
On the third day of what appears to be my solitary confinement, Fernando shows up with Harrison on his heels. Fernando looks pissed beyond measure; Harrison, on the other hand, looks gleeful, like a kid on Christmas morning.
“We agreed that your Mr. Aubertin would be here today, Kechu. Please, can you explain to me where he is?” Fernando’s furious, his voice clipped, his hands shaking by his sides as he addresses me. I frown, looking over his shoulder at Harrison.
“I couldn’t tell him to come,” I say. “Harrison took my phone. And I’ve been locked away in this f*cking room for days. I tried to explain to Ocho, but I don’t think he understands English.”
Fernando turns, pinning Harrison in his severe gaze. “You took his phone?” he says slowly.
“Yeah, well, I mean we had to. He could have had anything on there.”
“And what did you find?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Well.” He shuffles his feet, looking awkward as f*ck. “There were some weird pictures on there. Some f*cked up text messages. But nothing untoward.”
“And you did not return it back to him?”
“I didn’t think it was important.”
“How are you to know what is important and what isn’t important? Give him back his phone.”
Harrison, unsurprisingly, has the damned thing on him. It’s probably been giving him a boner, knowing that he’s taken my toy away and it’s been sitting in his pocket this whole time. He thrusts it out to me, the dark look on his face just daring me to say something to him. I take it, smiling pleasantly.
“Thank you, Harrison.”
Fernando waits for the exchange to be over, and then he pivots on the balls of his feet and slaps Harrison across the face, hard. Harrison’s head whips around with the force; his eyes are the size of dinner plates. He’s shocked. He’s overflowing with anger too, but he’s not that stupid. He knows he can’t do anything to retaliate. “Leave,” Fernando commands. “Kechu and I must talk alone.”
Harrison looks stung that he’s being sent away. No doubt he wants to stick around to listen to Fernando threaten me in some way, but it looks like today is not his lucky day. He leaves, and Fernando places a hand on my shoulder.
“I already know about your conversation with my daughter the other night, Kechu. She came to me very first thing the next morning and told me herself.”