Pérez purses his lips, looking from me to my father. His expression doesn’t change, but I can feel his wheels turning. Is he considering my offer?
“Jefe?” the other man prompts, his forehead wrinkled.
Pérez holds up one hand and looks back to me. A shiver runs down my spine at the resolve I see in his eyes, and I realize it probably would have been better to accept death. Whatever he has in store is definitely worse than a bullet to the head.
“Very well,” he says with a chilling smile. “I’ll allow your father an extension of thirty days to come up with half of what he owes.”
My shoulders sag with relief, even as I realize there’s no way we can come up with $2.5 million in so short a time. But then, a month will give me a chance to plot my way out of this. There has to be some country I can escape to where the Pérez cartel can’t reach.
“In the meantime,” Pérez continues, “I’ll need collateral. You understand … there’s a flight risk to consider.”
Damn it, he’s on to me.
“What collateral?” I ask. “The only thing of enough value my father owns is this house. You can take my boutique, too, if it will help.”
Pérez lowers his pistol and takes a slow step in my direction. “Your material possessions mean nothing to me, Miss Aguilar. What I intend to take with me is far more valuable than that.”
Faster than I can blink, his empty hand closes around my upper arm. With a yelp, I stumble as he spins me and then yanks me into his chest, his arm wrapping around my throat.
A protest dies on my tongue when the barrel of his gun presses beneath my jaw. My father remains on his knees, shaking his head and watching the scene with open-mouthed horror.
“Mr. Aguilar, your daughter will be a guest in my home for thirty days. If you haven’t produced half of what you owe me by the end of that time, I’ll put a bullet in her skull.”
I grip Pérez’s forearm with shaking hands. Surely my father won’t let them take me from this house. He must realize once I’m out of his sight, we lose control of this situation.
“Dad,” I beg, shaking my head and blinking back tears. “There has to be another way.”
“There is no other way,” Pérez contradictions me. “Either she leaves with me now, or you both die.”
The tears begin to fall as I realize I’m fucked no matter what. Either decision places me firmly in the hands of this dangerous man.
“Elena,” my father croaks, giving his head a slow shake. “What else can I do?”
Rage overcomes my grief, and I lunge toward my dad, forgetting about the man holding me back. My feet come off the floor as Pérez’s other arm snakes around my waist.
“Man up and do something!” I scream, kicking and flailing against Pérez’s unyielding hold. “You can’t force me to pay for your mistakes! It isn’t right! It isn’t fair!”
Wrestling me to my knees, Pérez wrangles both my hands and captures them behind my back. Pressing my wrists together, he puts weight on my lower back, forcing my forehead against the rug. My face heats up as I snort and huff into the carpet like a trapped animal.
“Promise you won’t hurt her,” my father pleads, his voice low and helpless.
“You have my word, no one will hurt her unless you fail to hold up your end of the bargain. If she tries to escape, she’ll be restrained with a necessary amount of force.”
I crane my neck to see my father, who won’t even look at me now. He’s wringing his hands and staring at the ceiling as if wrestling with his decision. The motherfucker. He’s already decided and we both know it.
“Take her.”
His words are like a physical blow. Only, instead of deflating me, they only ramp me up more. I buck and kick as Pérez pushes me flat on my belly and straddles my hips. His thighs are hard and impossibly strong, pinning me.
“Jovan!” he calls out.
The footsteps of Pérez’s partner thud on the carpet, and then he’s crouched beside me. A pitiful whine is all I can muster before the swift prick of a needle stings the side of my neck.
My limbs become heavy and useless within seconds, and the room starts to tilt and sway.
“What was that?” I hear my father ask in a startled, faraway voice. “You