Falling with Grace - Page 189

“Don’t make me.” My breath hitched.

“It needs to happen.”

“She can’t do it.” Andrés let loose a boisterous laugh as though someone told the best joke.

“Don’t let him win,amorcita.” Elias bent over and pressed soft lips to my temple despite the grime and filth I’d lived in. “Turn around and face him.”

I closed my eye and inhaled, his essencetransporting me to happier times as I turned, then faced my nightmare, my captor, the evil that etched itself on my soul forever.

“That’s good.” Elias lowered the pistol to my height. “Take it.”

I shook my head.

“Do it—”

“She can’t.” He seethed, his teeth bared. “She’s mine and she knows it.”

I winced. “I’m…” My voice caught in my dry throat as a redness coated my vision, my hand sliding against Elias’. “I’m not yours.”

“You’ll always belong to me,puta.” He shook his head, a malevolent smile spreading across his face.

He bent behind me, his breath at my ear. “We’ll do this together.”

I nodded, my finger curling around the trigger.

“For the both of us.”

“Grace. Don’t do this.” Andrés raised his blood and dirt-covered hands.

I took a deep breath as Elias placed his finger over mine, aimed the pistol, and squeezed the trigger together.

43

Grace

Ipulled the trigger until the gun emptied and the slide locked into place. Elias pulled it from my hand and reloaded, my teeth clenching, adrenaline shooting through my veins, numbing corrupted pieces of myself.

Bone shards and blood turned André’s face into minced meat, his skull shattered and unrecognizable, his chest oozing murky liquid.

Javier appeared around the corner, his feet digging into the dirt as he ran, his hand gripping his pistol at the ready.

Elias pointed his weapon, then lowered it.

“It’s just me.” He bent over, placing his hand on his knee as he caught his breath. “Pinche tu madre. I thought the fight had started again.”

I turned my naked body from him, a heavy pit sitting in my stomach. “I’m going to…” I gagged, forcing the acid down my throat. Jerking away from Elias’s grasp, I lurched again, relinquishing the water Miguel fed me.

“Javier, find something to cover her. She’s in shock.”

Elias stood between Javier and me, shielding me from anyone who dared to look.

“Rodrigo, Ramirez. Bring me that blanket, yeah?” Javier snapped his fingers at the men around the corner.

My muscles quaked, my knees buckling as I let loose a mournful cry I’d held in since the inception of my misery, my voice squeaking in between heaves.

It’s over.

I survived when I should have died, and no matter what relief that brought me, it didn’t erase the scars on my soul, the damage that couldn’t be repaired, and the perversity tainting my existence.