Page 53 of Tainted Blood
“Would you like to hear the best part? I stood right here and jerked my dick raw to her screams, especially when his arrow hit its target.
His taunts sink behind my iron walls, slipping beneath my skin.
“Seeing her chained to the wall like a dog was the highlight of the night.” He trails off, another low laugh rumbling in his throat. “But that honor goes to the real dogs when they ripped your sister apart.”
A wave of red crashes over my eyes. I’m a fusion of working parts—a machine hell bent on maximum destruction.
My wife is dead.
My sister is dead.
And this motherfucker is dead.
This time, my fingers make contact with my pocket, and I pull out my switchblade. Popping the button, I swing my arm backward and make contact with whatever the hell is there.
The man lets out a tortured hiss, and the pressure around my neck releases. I spin around to find him holding his own neck, attempting to pull my blade out. I’d love nothing more than to mutilate and dismember this pendejo, piece by piece, but I’m done with the small talk. With that in mind, I aim my gun at his forehead and pull the trigger.
Leaving him to rot, I continue my search down a cold stone hallway of closed doors. Behind every one is a woman. Some are Thalia’s age, some are younger. They’re all dead—their lifeless bodies strewn across their bed like broken dolls.
“Thalia?” I roar. “Where the fuck are you, muñequita?”
By the fifth room, I’m numb to the carnage. Numb to the waste. When I reach the sixth, a massive explosion rocks the castle, the impact slamming me into a wall so hard I see stars.
Images from that pinche cabrón’s taunts seep into my mind as I search for my gun in a haze of dust and debris. I think of her running for her life, hunted like an animal...
Like a dog.
Bile rises up in my throat at the thought of my little sister being thrown to a pack of them.
At the end of the hallway is a winding stone staircase that leads down. I’m starting my descent when a voice comes through on my radio.
“Santi. I’ve got Lola. She’s fucked up, but she’s breathing.”
His words are like a punch to the chest. “Gracias a Díos.” Forgive me, Lola.
Drawing air back into my lungs, I refocus and resume my journey.
“What about Grayson?”
“He found some American girl still alive. Sicarios have cleared a path, and they’re taking them to the SUVs… What’s your location?”
I hesitate, then decide there’s no point in lying. “I’m headed down into the cellar.”
“You’re going where?” His shock is clear enough to be heard on every channel. “Santi, this place is about to blow. Grayson’s already on his way out.” He heaves out a jagged breath. “Committing suicide isn’t going to save her.”
Dying won’t save her. But living without her won’t save me.
“Take care of my sister, RJ.”
I switch my radio off after that.
The steps are endless, taking me further and further down into the darkness. There’s a dank smell down here that’s permeating every sense. The clouds of dust are blinding, but when I hit the bottom, they seem to clear.
That’s when I see her.
I always believed I didn’t have a heart until Thalia stormed into my life and changed everything. For days, it’s been beating to her rhythm. But now, seeing her in a fucking cellar like this, it’s close to stopping.
She’s chained to the far wall, her slim arms reaching high above her bowed head, her toes barely dusting the floor. Her naked body is a dirty canvas of gashes and bruises.