Joaquin’s reply comes like a blade, raw and savage. “Fuck you.”
Rojas smiles thinly, unbothered. A slight tilt of his head is all it takes.
The shot explodes from the shadows, catching Joaquin high in the shoulder. Blood sprays vividly as he stumbles backward, cries out, pain echoing in the enclosed space. He fires back, desperate shots, defiant, but another round takes his leg, dropping him to his knees, groaning in agony.
“No!” I scream, surging forward, heart splintering in my chest. Joaquin tries to push himself back up, teeth clenched, fighting even now, but rough hands seize me brutally from behind, jerking me violently backward.
I kick, thrash, nails clawing at the man who holds me, screaming Kane’s name helplessly into the chaos, but a soaked cloth slams roughly over my mouth and nose, chemical fumes flooding my senses, choking off my cries.
The world spins violently, darkness clawing aggressively at my vision.
“No…” My voice is muffled, weak, useless.
Rojas steps closer, a satisfied smirk curving his lips as he leans into my fading vision, whispering cruelly, “Sleep now, Camille. Rivera needs to know how it feels when everything you love is ripped away.”
I try to fight him, muscles failing, limbs growing impossibly heavy. My body betrays me, succumbing swiftly to the chemicals suffocating my consciousness.
No. No. Please, no.
Desperation tears through me in frantic waves as darkness swallows everything. My mind screams Kane’s name silently, my last desperate plea slipping away into oblivion.
Don’t let this happen…not now. Not now when I have something so fragile, so precious to protect…
But the darkness doesn’t care. It envelops me ruthlessly, dragging me down, down, down, into a silence blacker than nightmares, into nothingness.
And the last, desperate whisper of my heart fades unanswered, as the world disappears completely.
Kane
My phone lights up again ringing shrill, violent, relentless. Joaquin’s name flashes urgently across the screen. My pulse slams through my veins as I swipe to answer, ice flooding my gut.
“What’s happening?” I snap, the words clipped and deadly.
But it’s not Joaquin’s voice that replies.
Instead, Rojas’s voice seeps into my ear, smooth as silk, edged with venomous amusement. “Rivera. I have something of yours.”
The world tilts violently, blood turning to ice in my veins. Everything slows, narrows down to that voice, taunting, cruel, and savoring every goddamn second of this. My grip tightens brutally around the phone, knuckles aching.
“If you hurt her,” I warn softly, each syllable sharpened to razor-wire precision, “I’ll carve your heart out with my bare hands.”
“You’re not giving orders anymore, Kane,” Rojas interrupts coldly, calmly, as though he’s thoroughly enjoying this moment. “You’re listening. Very carefully.”
Fury ignites, white-hot beneath the surface, controlled violence simmering in my bones. “Where is she?” My voice is deathly quiet, steel wrapped in ice.
“She’s alive. For now.” He pauses, letting those words hang between us, savoring the cruelty. “But whether she stays that way depends entirely on you.”
My chest tightens, lungs filling with a fury so profound I can barely breathe past it. The darkness inside me snarls, the monster uncoiling, clawing desperately toward freedom. “Tell me what the fuck you want.”
“I don’t care about your money, your territory, or your power,” Rojas replies, voice dangerously soft. “I want you humbled. Broken. On your knees. Only then will you see Camille again…perhaps still breathing, if you’re very, very careful.”
My jaw clenches hard enough to break bone. The edges of my vision darken, red clouding the corners. My voice comes out deadly quiet, mercilessly certain. “You just made the last mistake of your worthless fucking life.”
Rojas laughs softly, a mocking sound laced with arrogance. “Come and prove it, Rivera. I’ll be waiting.”
The line clicks silent, abruptly leaving me alone with the deafening roar of my pulse.
My chest heaves, hands trembling with barely controlled violence. Images flood my mind, Camille, vulnerable, afraid, hurt, because I wasn’t there. Because I failed her. Because I let this happen.
