Page 3 of Redd

No, no it can't be. This isn't happening, it can't be happening.

The Devil himself has come to claim me.

My heart raced faster inside my chest, slamming violently against my ribs like a trapped raven. I knew who this man was,everyoneknew who this man was.

He wasn't someone you wanted to get mixed up with. Diablo Batista was someone you avoided if you could. The mafia had worked its way into our city years back. And it had only grown with time, despite the police taking a stand against them and trying to drive them out.

They were here, they did what they wanted, and telling them no was not an option.

Diablo was a legend in the world of darkness and fear, second to the king of hell himself.

Why would he want me? What could he possibly need me for?

“Thank you, Xavier, you can put her away now.” I heard him walk away, closing a door and leaving me alone with a man that was probably just as bad as he was.

The urge to yell and beg him to let me go, to try and talk him out of whatever the hell it was he thought he needed me for, it sat on the back of my tongue, melting away and slipping down my throat.

Diablo hadn't asked me anything. He didn't want to know my name or who I was. He didn't give a shit about the family I was torn from or the life he had come in and ruined.

He just didn't care.

I felt something cold as ice brush my calves and slip between my ankles. The binding coiled tighter, popping free with a snap. My legs were loose, breathing with relief as the blood flowed effortlessly back into my toes.

“Thank you,” I said, angling my head over my shoulder so I could address Xavier directly.

Maybe if I talk to him, if I get him to see me as a girl, as a person. . . Maybe I can get him to let me go. I have to try.

“I appreciate it, I really do.” He didn't answer back, all I could hear was his heavy breathing. “I, I have a little sister, she just turned thirteen. Do you have any family?”

Snatching my wrist, Xavier yanked me to my feet. “Let's go.”

Swallowing hard, I balanced on my toes as he started to walk, and tried to keep up with him. “Where are you taking me?”

He wouldn't answer, allowing that horrible silence to take shape.

“Talk to me, tell me something,” I demanded, trying to stay strong, trying to not show any weakness or fear. “Where are you taking me?”

“It doesn't matter, you don't get a say in any of this.”

My eyes began to water, threatening to tear me apart. Blinking slowly behind the blindfold, I took in a deep breath. I was trying so hard not to cry, to keep in all the tears that wanted to soak my cheeks and force me into a hollow shell that used to be my body.

“Why am I here?”

Snapping my arm, he turned me on my feet and gripped my shoulders. “I'm going to give you a little advice; stop talking. No one cares about you, and no one is ever going to care about you. You can cry, you can scream, you can weep like a fucking dying flower, no one gives a shit. You have no identity anymore, you have no life.Youbelong to Diablo.”

Belong to him? What the hell does that mean?

I'm not property, I'm not something he can just claim as his.

“What? What do you mean belong to him? I don't understand. Why does he want me?”

“Sweetheart, there is no reason I can give you that you're going to want to hear. All you need to know is that man takes what he wants, he gets what he wants, and right now, he's decided it's you.”

“Fuck you, he can't do this! He can't just take me!” Curling my lip, I snarled like a rabid animal. “My family is going to know I'm missing, they're going to call the cops—”

“Don't you dare talk to me like that!” I felt a sharp pain as his palm whipped across my cheek, knocking my face to the side.

The pain swirled around my jaw, unlocking a savage beast from within. No one had ever struck me before, not like that. “My father will come for me you piece of shit.” My voice was horse and scratchy, trembling under unspent tears.