Page 37 of Their Stolen Obsession

“Fuck,” Mr. Fish Breath fumed as he spat at the ground and kicked at the dirt with frustration.

He was pissed.

At me, himself? Who the heck cared?The guy was scum.

“Let’s get this over with before she swells up like a damn balloon, buffoon.” He pushed me forward, holding my tied wrists, but I resisted. “Come on! Move it.”

“Please, no, don’t do this,” I begged.

“Sorry, sweetheart, but we got our orders.” He gave me a shove, and I had no choice but to move forward.

I couldn’t run while he twisted me in the direction he wanted me to go, and I shook uncontrollably. My teeth chattered behind my pressed lips as I tried hard to stop the tremors, and I walked right through the main door of the warehouse. I was about to be sold off as a profit for the cartel. Dealt to a devil I didn’t even worship, and I didn’t even know.

Even worse?These monsters sounded far deadlier than the Pitrone brothers, who were more terrifying than anyone I had ever known. I’d be unlucky if I lived past the next twenty-four hours.

If the Bravatas wanted me, they’d take me. I’d suffer unimaginably while I was dead inside, and my body still had a heartbeat. My horrific fate wasplaying out before me, while I was trapped in a shell of myself. They’d rip the rest of my heart from my chest and leave my soul lost for the afterlife. My skeletal remains would be the only part of me left for this world, and I’d cease to exist. Buried in the earth while life walked over me and the world continued to go on.

As I was forced to comply, each step bringing me closer to my newest fate, I fought the tears. Instead, I glared at the new beasts devouring me and gnawing at the rest of my dignity.

“You’re late.” A man with ink on his face tossed his cigarette to the ground and stepped on it with the point of his shoe. “By a minute.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mr. Fish Breath said as he glanced at his wristwatch and tapped it. “Says here you’re fucking early.”

A gun cocked from behind the man with a cross design on his temple. He touched the tattoo and rubbed his forehead, clearly irritated.

“Don’t fuck with me. One signal to my men and they shoot you in the head,” he warned Mr. Fishy Breath and nodded toward him. “You got the goods?”

Mr. Fish Breath swallowed hard. I heard the gulp as he stood beside me, and I knew he was shaking in his boots. Served him right. Asshole.

“We got the goods,” the man behind me answered.

“Can I have a taste?”

Someone tossed a package his way. “Sure. Go nuts.”

The man pulled out a knife and sliced into the package. White power laid on the tip of the blade and he snorted the drug up his nose. Pinching the bridge of his nostrils and breathing, “That’s some good shit.”

“Always the best.” The man who held me pushed me forward with a grunt. “But we got something more to offer you.”

The Bravata man locked eyes with me, and my blood ran cold. My heart raced, a lump forming in my throat as I heard the organ beat out of control. The steady pitter patter rhythm was chaotic as he moved toward me and grinned from ear to ear. A sinister sight straight out of the scariest motherfucking horror film, but this wasn’t a movie. This was my life.

“Who is she?” he asked.

“She’s a nobody, a plaything you can do whatever you want with…” my dealer voiced as he offered me up for money. “But she comes with a price.”

He smelled me. “How much?”

“One mil.”

The man with ink gave a low whistle and asked me, “What did you do, love?”

I ignored him while tiny puffs of air escaped my lips. I couldn’t contain the tremble from them, my lower jaw quivering. Fear seared through me at an unthinkable speed as the man stepped back and peered over my shoulder. “I don’t have that kind of cash on me.”

“Bullshit.”

He laughed and pulled out a gun, cocked the weapon and aimed it right over my shoulder. Shit! Fuck!

I squeezed my eyes shut, and my nostrils flared with nerves. My fear was on fire, with the flames licking at me, ready to consume me whole. My voice repeated in my head, denial wanting to set in.