I scoot to the edge of the bed and it’s this moment when I realize something is wrong with my hand? I flex it and the bandage wrinkles with the movement. Why the hell is my hand wrapped? Why is it hurting so damn bad? A throbbing pain is pulsing so bad I can feel it all the way in my toes. Bile rushes up my esophagus. Half of my pinky finger is gone. My stomach lurches and sweat drips down my back. Chill bumps fan over my body as I retch and dry heave. There is nothing on my stomach to expel.
I don’t understand. Spit dribbles down my chin, and I grip the sheet and wipe at my face. Did he do this to me? Did Diego knock me out and cut off part of my finger? My head spins and I fall back on the bed with a million questions and emotions dancing in my head.
“I need you to trust me, Princessa…” his voice rings in my ears. A sinking feeling settles in my gut and my tears fall.
I trusted him.
I fucked him.
He fucked me in more ways than I thought possible.
His betrayal shouldn’t hurt so greatly but it does. It’s like hot coals being raked over my body.
My only question is why aren’t I dead yet? If he was sent to kill me why hasn’t he? Hope blooms in my chest, but I squash that emotion down.
A door opens and light spills into the room. My temples throb once more and my heart pounds in my chest. “You’re awake,” Diego’s gritty voice washes over me and my stomach tightens.
“Go to hell,” I rasp as more tears blind my vision. My hand is killing me and it’s hard to focus on anything but the ache I feel where the other half of my pinky used to be. “How much?” He takes a step closer. “How much!” I cry, holding my hand where my finger should be. “How much did my stepmother pay you?”
“Nothing.”
I start laughing. I don’t know why yet I can’t stop.
“Sybil,” he starts, but I cut him off with a stare that is intended to kill if looks could very well kill.
“Stay away from me. I don’t know what you did to me, but I know you did something. I saw all that blood and the dirt. You…you buried me.”
“Baby, listen.”
“Baby!?” I shriek and start to get up, realizing that there are cuffs around my ankles and there is a chain connected to the footboard attached. I yank on the chain. “Let me go. Right now. Let me go and I swear to you I won’t tell anyone.”
“I did this for you.” Diego strokes my jaw, and I smack his hand, turning away from him. “I needed it to be real. For it to look real and for there to be evidence.”
“Evidence?”
“Your DNA.”
“My DNA. Are you insane?”
“Only about you.”
“Please, Diego. Whatever shit you got yourself into I’m about to come into a large sum of money. I’ll pay. Whatever you want.”
“All I want is you, Sybil. You can’t see it now. I know you don’t understand. It’s just the moment I first saw you I knew we were meant to be together. I know you feel it too, Princessa.”
My stomach flutters at his words. He’s not wrong. He’s so not wrong but that doesn’t make this right. This is fucked up. Seriously messed the hell up. His rough hand comes to my cheek and he leans into me. His breath washes over my lips. Then he kisses me, and I let him. His tongue slips between the part of my lips, and I give myself this one bit of good. One bit of good before he finishes the job. Diego is going to kill me. This much I know. He has no choice now. I know who he is.
Winnie’s words…her warning plays in my head.
“Violence. Death. Blood. Betrayal.”
I open my eyes and stare at Diego’s blue eyes wanting to drown.
“You don’t believe me, baby, but you’ll see. It’s all for you.”
“You mean for you. There’s something you get out of this. What is it?”
“You need food, Sybil.”