I didn’t wait for him to reply.
Ending the call, I climbed to my feet. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, I was ready to be reborn.
Thirty-Four
Carmen
Adrenaline is a funny thing.
Ten minutes before I rocketed up the dark basement stairs, ratty fur coat wrapped around my shaking frame, I could have sworn my body was close to breaking.
Withdrawal has that effect.
But thanks to the buckets of adrenaline that my pounding heart was busy dumping into my bloodstream, the endless pain that had plagued me, bringing with it a sensation of cracking bones and ripping muscles, had stopped.
Completely.
It was a good thing, too, because the moment I reached the mill’s main floor, Faye darted back inside the building. When she’d gone outside to begin with, I didn’t know; I’d thought she was waiting for me at the top of the stairs.
I was wrong.
Face streaked with unmistakable alarm, she didn’t need to utter a single syllable for me to know that something was wrong as she dashed toward me.
Really wrong.
“Carmen!” she shrieked, sending chills racing down my sweat-soaked spine. “Baby, you’ve gotta get back to the trap house!” Eyes wide, she pumped her arms harder, moving faster to eliminate the vast space between us. “It’s Chiquita! She’s been shot!”
The ground beneath my feet shifted.
The world around me stopped turning.
Pulse thumping double-time, blood whooshed between my ears as my heel-covered feet slowed. Feeling as though I were walking on air, I nearly stumbled before coming to a shaky stop.
“Chiquita,” I whispered, body swaying from side to side as I forced my wobbly legs to hold steady. “She’s…”
Disbelief set in; I shook my head.
No, no, no!
“Dominic’s new girl, Ella or whatever her name is, was just outside!” Faye shouted as she reached me, coming to a stop in front of where I stood, seconds away from falling to the floor in a heaping pile of boneless flesh and never-ending pain. “She came to find us, says that she saw it happen!”
Every ounce of oxygen my lungs held left my body as my chest deflated, refusing to rise once more. A choked sob exploded from Faye’s throat in return, echoing off the walls. “He shot her on the sidewalk like a damned dog!”
No, no, no! My mind repeated.
This isn’t happening!
I’m dreaming, maybe even hallucinating.
It’s the withdrawal.
It has to be!
Hands sinking into my hair, I grasped the filthy strands tight and yanked on them as hard as I could. Pain shot through my scalp, serving as proof that I wasn’t standing amid a nightmare as my heart wished.
This was real.
Mi Chiquita had been shot.
And El Diablo had pulled the trigger.
Visions of Mamá’s last moments flashed through my mind at the thought, sending my mind even further into a frenzy. I didn’t know if mi chica was still breathing or not, but that mattered little to the vengeful darkness that chose that moment to rise inside me, demanding Dominic’s head as payment for the blood he’d spilled.
Tonight, he will die.
A crimson fog colored the fields of my vision as I slipped my hand into the top of my thigh-high stocking and curled my shaking fingers around the knife I’d hidden there, it’s blade still stained with dried specks of Emilio’s blood.
“Ella was real shook up,” Faye continued, “but said she doesn’t think Ashley’s dead.” I refused to release the relieved breath fighting to get free. Until I felt her still-beating heart for myself, I would not allow hope to blossom in my chest. “Young’un thinks Dominic just winged her on account of how pissed he was.”
I suspected Ella, who was one of El Diablo’s newest acquisitions, was correct. He wouldn’t kill Ashley, even if he was tempted to do so.
The puta madre was far too obsessed with her.
“Faye,” I said, voice steady despite the chaos working its way through my limbs. “Go home and get Amelia.” Wild, infuriated eyes meeting hers, I dragged my tongue across my dry lower lip. “Pack what you can fit in a single bag and then drive to the Battered Women’s Shelter over on Sycamore Street. Mi chicas, and I will meet you there. James too.”
Chest heaving, her brow furrowed as one tear after another spilled down her cheeks. “Robina Hood, maybe we should wait ‘fore goin’ through with this. I know what I said earlier, but now I don’t know if us leavin’ is such a good—”
She had to be kidding me!
“Dios mío, Faye!” I screamed as my emotions peeled away the remaining layers of my control. “We are not waiting!”
Such inaction was not an option.
“What if we don’t make it?” she asked, fear erasing any semblance of hope that had remained in her heart when she’d verbally shoved her foot up my culo minutes before in the basement. “If Dominic catches us tryin’ to run, especially after what he’s done to Ashley”—another sob—“he’ll kill us all for sure.”
“It’s a risk we have to take!” My blood boiled beneath my chilled skin, heating my flesh from the inside out. “If we don’t, then we’ll continue to live in a hell designed for us by the devil himself!”
“But—”
“There are no buts! El Diablo’s reign of terror is ending!” I hadn’t meant to scream at her, but given the situation, it couldn’t be helped. “You, me, Amelia, mi chicas”—if they’re both still breathing, I mentally added—“are getting the fuck out of this place!”
But first, El Diablo would pay for his sins.
By my hand.
Cupping a terrified Faye’s cheeks, I forced a shaky smile despite the agony thrashing my soul like a braided whip. “I love you, Faye.” I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “And because I love you so, I promise that I won’t fail this time. I will walk to my death first.”
“Carmen—”
“Do as I said,” I interjected, not giving her a chance to argue. “Go get my sweet Amelia”—I dropped my hands—“and take her to the shelter.” Gaze holding hers,
