The Deliverance of Dilan (The Syndicate #4) (17 page)

“If you insist. I’m sure the boss will be pleased to know we’ve killed you.” My mind is fighting to stay awake, while my head is pounding the drums in my ears profusely. All I know for sure is we are descending stairs, because my body is being jostled around, bouncing fluently as I hang upside down. Whoever has their hold on me is digging their fingers into the back of my thighs. The warmth of his touch has my stomach convulsing.

“Very nice,” I hear a slimy Spanish accent, deep and brooding, and then feel hands gliding, smoothing, palming my ass.

“Get your goddamn hands off of her, Juan.” Oh my god. I become alert then. Squirming, screaming to be released from the firm hold keeping me in place on these shoulders. “Feisty. I love it.” Vomit is crawling up my throat. I’d give just about anything to be able to hurl the acid in his face. The difficulty to force words out of my mouth has me damn near gagging. The violent hit to my head is making me delirious. His hands on me, touching, feeling places he has no right to explore, make me feel dirty.

“Cecily. Now that you’re here, I will find you useful before I slice your throat. Put the other two in the back of the van. And pick this worthless piece of shit up off the ground. These two, though, can come with me.” His mark still lingers on my backside after he removes his hands. It’s dark. I can’t see anything. Not until I’m tossed into the backseat of a car. The smell of leather and cigars is stagnant. Even though my head is pounding and my movements are slow, I scrunch into the farthest corner of the car, away from this dirty man, while I’m shaking and wondering how many of us he has taken. He said the other two. Who could they be? I start crying, frightened for all of us. Images of little Justice and Diesel surface first. If they have Calla or Deidre, then what if they have the babies too? He said two though. There is no way he has the babies. So who is it?

This cannot be happening. My heart is crawling out of my chest. My mom, Alina…he could have any of them.

This out-for-blood psycho has triumphed over our family. He’s singlehandedly hit our men with the one and only weakness they have. Their women. He’s overpowered us. Taken complete control. Tricked us all.

I am weak from the blow to my head, yet I am determined to not let this man overtake the strength I know I have, to not let him break the love I have inside my chest that is beating out of control out of fear for this entire family. A tank of strength overtakes my fear. I will hide it until I need to use it. To fill these sick sons of bitches full with whatever possesses me to destroy them.

Cecily starts fighting against whoever is trying to shove her in the car, while she tells them exactly what she wants to do with them. “You wanted this, bitch, now get the fuck in there, or I will splatter your brains all over this cement,” one of them says. “Fuck you,” she spits. I have never seen someone fall so fast to the ground. I’m witnessing from the perched corner of this vehicle that has now become my best friend as she drops him to his knees. I shift away, inching slowly across the seat, my fingers stinging from the cold outside.

“You haven’t lost your touch, Cecily.” Juan grabs her by her throat. Her eyes stay firm, showing how courageous she is, while I watch in horror as he sucks the life out of her. He lifts her up by the throat, spins her around fast, and slams her head into the brick wall. Then he pulls his gun out and places it to her temple. Another man grips her hands, tying them securely behind her back. He flips her back around while she tries to catch her breath. She’s shoved onto the floor of the car, the pain she is in clear on her face, even though her eyes still flicker with anger and resentment.

“Don’t you say a word. Nothing. No matter what they do or say, you keep your mouth shut,” she whispers while trying to catch her breath. The interior light shows the handprints forming around her neck and a welt forming in the side of her forehead. I close my eyes and scream when I hear a gunshot right outside the door. My neck automatically shifts in the direction of the open door. It’s hard not to see a lifeless body being dragged to the back of the vehicle behind us. Obviously the man Cecily took down. His people mean nothing to him.

Juan enters the vehicle beside me with blood splattered all over his fancy suit. He doesn’t appear to be affected by this at all. He kicks Cecily repeatedly, her groans scarring, piercing through the vehicle. True to what she asked of me, she says nothing. He must be a man who strives on attacking the weak. Although we aren’t weak. We’re so much stronger than he realizes. So much better than he will ever be. Any man who strikes a woman, no matter who she is or what she has done, deserves nothing short than to have his balls cut off. What a sick bastard.

“Drive.” He shuts the door, smoothens his hair back, and drags me across the seat by my hair. I let out the smallest of whimpers, startled. However, I will show no fear.

Keep your mouth shut,
plays over and over in my mind.

“Both of you keep your mouths shut. You will speak when I tell you to. And you will do every damn thing I say.” He’s calm, which is more frightening than if he were angry. His hands are still wound tightly in my hair. I want to ask him why. Why is he doing this?

He pulls out his phone and stares down at it as if he’s anticipating a call. When it rings a few minutes later, I hear him say, “Ivan.” I freeze, my gaze falling to the floor. I can barely see my sweet friend, but I can feel her below my feet, feel her body stiffening as well.

It’s when he voices his threat, his words describing the things he wants to do to me, when Cecily screams from the floor. She carries on until Juan starts kicking her profusely. I hear bones crunching and small whimpering. And then nothing. I don’t even recall him hanging up the phone. My eyes stay trained to the floor.

“She’s not dead.” His callous way has me trying to jerk out of his hold.

“Oh, no. You will stay right here beside me, dear sweet Anna. The woman who should be mine.” My eyes light up with fury. “You,” is all I can manage to get past the large lump in my throat. “Sí, beautiful. It is me. Please call me Juan.” His Spanish accent is heavier than when he came into the shop. “I hate you. You tricked me. I looked forward to seeing you every day, and now the sight of you makes me sick!” I scream at him.

“Oh, sweet Anna. Don’t say things you surely don’t mean. It saddens me that I may have to give you up before I have the chance to fuck you properly.” My stomach drops. If I didn’t know this man was a sick fuck, I would say he truly means what he says.

“You’re sick. I would never go for a man like you. You’ve taken people against their will. Women. Who’s in the van?” I try to turn my head around to see if it’s following us, but his grip on my hair doesn’t allow it.

“You didn’t hear my conversation on the phone?” He tries to sound hurt, only it comes out mockingly.

“How could I when you were stomping on my friend?” Even with no blood going to whatever nerve controls my fear, I speak coolly.

“She deserves worse than that for dicing my cousin in the throat back there, forcing me to have to shoot him in the head to take away his suffering.” Rage burns through me from the way he talks about her. I couldn’t care less if his cousin is dead. I hope every last one of them dies. I’ve decided I’ve spoken enough. I keep quiet and take my eyes off of this filth, repressing the things he said about me, the way he spoke about wanting to fuck me, or that he may have to give me up. My guess would be, he’s handing me over to his sister.

He releases my hair and shoves me into the corner, where I stare out onto the busy streets, wishing like hell I knew this city better than I do so I could tell where we are going.

Several minutes pass before I hear him on the phone again. My head jerks violently in his direction at the sound of my name.

“You don’t come near her until I get what I want, Jazmin. Not a hair on her head is to be touched. Do I make myself clear?” I hear Jazmin telling him to kindly fuck off and to hurry up and get his shit done.

“You know, if I didn’t love my sister, or if she weren’t the only one I trust besides myself in this world, I would kill her if I knew I could keep you. So I have a plan, Anna. One I think you might agree with.” The smell of him makes me sick when he leans closer to me. His confession is lodged in my ear.

I bravely wane my response to him. All kinds of scenes are making a great effort, pushing to the forefront of my mind. Repulsive, vile, and revoltingly images of what his plan could be.

“I’m not interested in your plans. You’ll never have me.” He laughs then. Viciously.

“Sweet Anna, I will. If you fight me on this, it will make it worse for you. Worse for your friends. Especially for the queens of these two empires, which will crumble with their leaders’ wives dead. But if you agree, I will let the two in the other vehicle go. There’s no negotiation with Cecily. She’s as good as dead already for what she did back there, but you, my sweet little thing, have the power to save the lives of two of your friends. To make both Ivan and Salvatore happy by returning their wives back to them.”

I pull away from him as far as I can go. The lights from oncoming cars give me the perfect view of his blazing stare that’s scorching my skin. Not in a good way. Not in the way Dilan’s look blisters me. Dilan looks at me as if I were a dream come true. As if he had been waiting forever for me, and once we connected, his touch, his words, and the way his skin felt up against mine, his lips soft but firm, controlled my body in every aspect that leads two people to the most powerful emotion known. Love.

This sick fuck looks at me as a possession. A woman who will bend at his command. Who will drop to her knees if he tells her to. There is no way in hell I will become his toy. He’s stupider than any creature slithering its way around on this planet if he thinks I’m a woman to submit to him.

“What do I have to do?” I lie. He knows I’m lying too. He spoke moments ago of only trusting Jazmin. Which, he’s definitely dumb if he does. She strikes me as a woman who would take him out if he betrayed her. Good, maybe he should, maybe I should listen and think long and hard about whatever he proposes to me. Even if I did agree, he still won’t trust me. He knows damn well I would do anything to see no harm come to those women.

I played dumb when he said whom he has taken. He struck in the center of this family, taking the wives of the two most powerful men in this underground world. I almost believe he knows he’s fucked up. He’s started a war he knows he will lose. I’m not familiar at all with the rules of the underground. One would think though that if a queen is taken under duress, kidnapped, tortured, or whatever the likes this man has planned, that it not only means war, death, or that you have just committed suicide. It means more families will come together to take your entire empire down.

I realize now that this is my winning hand. I’m nobody to the rest of these families, but I’m somebody to my own. They won’t give up until they have both Cecily and I back.

“Your beautiful head is spinning. Don’t take me for a fool, Anna. I’ve never wanted a woman like I do you. I will keep you safe. All you have to do is come away with me. Tonight. We can leave now. I can have a plane ready to go within the hour. Just me and you. My sister won’t even know where we are. Not until I decide to tell her.” He’s so damn serious. If I didn’t hear him tell me as clear as day a few minutes ago he trusted his sister, I would believe him. He may think I am innocent, but naïve I am not.

“Let me get this straight,” I say with persuasion. “You’re telling me you would hand over those two, and you and I would what? Run away? You would live your life knowing you would have your sister and my family looking for us. That’s the kind of life you’re willing to live?” He scoffs at the sincerity of my question. I become more unsettled. How dare this man proposition me, then laugh in my face.

“Anna, you fail to see I know they will come looking for you. There will be fighting, death. My sister will be very angry when she realizes I haven’t shown up like we planned. And yes, I will let them go. No harm done.”

I tilt my body to face him. He cannot be trusted, and neither can I. We both know it. I have a barter of my own. He can take it or leave it. Well, he can do whatever he wants at the moment. He’s the one fully in charge here. He could take me by force. We both know he could.

“They’ll kill your sister and you know it. It’s bullshit for you to expect me to believe a word you say. You’ve proven how disloyal you are by throwing her to her death. She can’t survive them on her own. You two are a pair.” I flinch when his hands come up and cup my face. He’s not hard or cold like he was earlier. He’s gentle, his thumb tracing the seam of my bottom lip. The vile acid that’s been churning in my stomach is daring me to let it erupt and mix with the blood all over his suit.

“Anna. How quick of you to judge me when your family does the same thing I do. They steal, kill, and live off the money from the drugs and guns they sell. What makes the things I do any worse than what they do?” His grip tightens on my chin, forcing me to look at him. To see the determination behind his façade of bullshit. Daring me in an offensive way to answer him.

“Even though all those things you’re saying may be true, they are nothing like you. They don’t randomly kidnap people, especially innocent women. They don’t start a war that they will undeniably lose. And they sure as hell don’t betray a single person in their family.” I cover his hands with mine and try to pull them away, but my desperate plea for his cold, callous fingers to let go of me only spurs him on more. He reaches for my hair, pulling my head back in a way that has me grunting out my response to his abuse.

“I’m a man who takes what he wants. I want you, Anna Drexler. I want the purity that surrounds you. The fact that you know nothing about the things your so-called family does, fascinates me. You’re innocent. You radiate light in the complete darkness of the life I live. I don’t expect you to understand any part of it at all. You’re a blind fool if you think they don’t do the same things I do. Now, I will ask you one more time. Do you want their lives spared? Are you willing to give up your life, your mom, and Dilan for them?” He’s so smooth with his words. So right to the point. A single tear runs down my cheek. I may never see my mom, Dilan, or anyone I love again. Unlike him, I’m loyal to a fault. I will not let my family lose the women who help mold them together. They can suffer the loss of only me. They will never give up looking for me. I know they won’t. I can only pray they find me before this man takes the only thing I have left. Hope. I have one card left to play. To me, it’s the queen of hearts. He better listen and let me win, or I’m folding.