As defeat sinks into Warner’s baby blues, I don’t give them the opportunity to protest. Carlos is muttering to his men when I turn back around. To hold my nerve, I refuse to look at Tom on the ground. I’ll only want to collapse beside him.
“Are we doing this or what?”
“Very well.” Carlos straightens to attention.
“Then let my team have Tom, and we can be on our way.”
“One move otherwise, and I’ll send them all to an early grave. Is that understood?”
“Loud and clear.”
Two of Carlos’s men hoist Tom up, dragging him into the no man’s land between our two factions. I ignore Hyland, shouting like a madman and move to meet them. A single look warns the approaching assailant to keep his hands off me.
“If you want to keep those attached, I wouldn’t do that. I’ll walk alone.”
“Suit yourself.” He shows me his palms.
The idiot rightfully backs off, indicating for me to follow them into enemy territory. I keep my chin held high, shoulders back and muscles tensed while walking straight into Carlos’s orbit. Each step closer feels like battering another nail into my coffin.
“Hello, 768.”
“You got what you wanted after all.”
“Wasn’t that easy?” he preens, eyeing my approach. “Good choice.”
I halt in front of him. “Lower the guns on my friends.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Tom needs medical attention. Let them go.”
“Do you think I’m that foolish,puta?”
“You already have me,” I snarl. “They’re unarmed. We’re still outnumbered. Lower the guns, and let them see to my brother.”
“You’d do well to remember that tone never worked on me.”
When Carlos darts forward, the heavy strike shouldn’t be a surprise. He always did teach with his fists. I don’t move to dodge the blow, allowing it to smash into my cheek so hard, I know his knuckles will be imprinted on my skin.
Blood seeps across my tongue as my teeth clack down, and the punch’s force sends me crashing to my knees. My neck wrenches to the side, eyes streaming and skin burning from blood rising to form a bruise.
“Ember! Em!”
Hyland’s yelling reaches a fever pitch, cutting into the ringing that fills my ears. The full force of Carlos’s strength is enough to shake loose bones and teeth. And I haven’t taken it without a fight for so long, I almost forgot what it’s like to absorb his anger.
“Don’t touch her!” Hyland’s yelling is anguished. “Fuck! Ember!”
“You’ve cast a spell on them.” Carlos tsks above the enraged yelling. “That one would risk a bullet just to keep you from me. Shall I put one in him?”
I blink through the hazy fog infecting my sight. “Of course, you don’t understand the concept of loyalty.”
“I understand it perfectly well. You ran from us. How is that loyal?”
Carlos’s leg extends to deliver a hard kick to my chest. Pain cracks across my breastbone, sinking into my muscles. The momentum pushes me backwards onto my spine where I let myself crumple.
A kick to the ribcage follows, causing my bones to creak and groan. The flaring of painful heat in my torso is acute, and the blood that’s gathered in my throat erupts, spraying across the ground. Carlos seems to relish in the shouts his beating is creating.
It’s like he wants to provoke them. He wants an excuse to tell his men to fire. For each kick and stomp he lays out on my defenceless body, I can imagine Hyland battling to escape his teammates’ restraints. One step and those red dots will seal their fate.
