Obsession (28 page)

“I don’t—”

Doug hauled me up then he hit me in the stomach, so hard it knocked my air out in a painful blow. “Bitch, you brought this shit on yourself. You think you can fuck the Cordova cartel’s torture master and not face the consequences? You spread your legs for a fucking monster.”

The blow to my heart was greater than the agony of my body. “What? I—”

Before I could finish my statement, Doug hit me so hard my vision splintered into bright white fragments as I slammed into the wall from the power of his blow. Blood filled my mouth as I raised a shaking hand to my face, sobbing when I touched my deeply split lip.

Doug’s nostril’s flared and his eyes were opened so wide I could see the white all the way around. Screams filled the air before they became muffled and black dots danced around the edges of my vision. I have no idea how men fought all the time, because one good hit and I was down for the count.

“Shut those bitches up!” Doug roared down the hall, and I curled into myself.

Torture master, torture master
—the words kept repeating over and over in my head in tandem with the racing beat of my heart.

With a tsking sound, Manny laid a hand on Doug’s shoulder. “Hold on, hold on. We need to do this smart. Doug, lemme get my phone out so I can record this. Don’t kill her, don’t hurt her too bad ’cause we need her mobile, but fuck her up enough to get his attention.”

“No, please, no!”

I tried to fight him off, but he was too big, too strong. Jerking me up by my hair, Doug smiled as he laid a harsh slap over my already throbbing face, pain roaring through me. I would have screamed but he sent a fist to my ribs next, hitting hard enough that I couldn’t even draw a breath. Fear paralyzed me, but did nothing to ease the pain as he hit and punched me, calling me vile names, spitting on me and ripping at my clothes. I managed to rally when he started to take my pants off, but he merely choked me until I almost passed out then continued.

Drawing in any kind of deep breath hurt and I stopped trying, hoping that I could go unconscious, make the pain stop, not be aware of the violation that was going to happen next.

They were all circled around me now, spitting on me, calling me names, saying horrible things about Leo. My insides shriveled as they discussed who’d get to fuck me first and in what hole, in the most humiliating terms possible.

All I could do was moan in abject pain, the discomfort so great it robbed me of the ability to do anything but exist in the moment. Blood coated my mouth to the point where it was all I could taste, dripping down from my probably broken nose over my already blood-soaked chin. My fingers throbbed from where Manny had stomped on them, and I prayed Joy and Kayla were all right.

At least with the men distracted breaking me, they were momentarily safe.

Holding me up by the hair, Ray wrenched my head back and stared down at me. “Her jaw may be too fucked-up for a proper blow job. I’ll have to fuck her ass instead.”

“You hear that, Leo,” Doug mocked as he stared into the camera of his phone, taking a fucking selfie with my battered body. “Ray’s gonna tear that little asshole up real good, then we’re gonna take her someplace quiet and give all the boys a chance to help us fuck her to death. She’s gonna die covered in our sperm like the whore she is. After that, we’ll let the dogs have her and we’ll film it all, make millions off your whore.”

Nausea bubbled in my stomach and I began to retch. Ray dropped me like I’d caught fire, and if I wasn’t so busy trying to keep my internal organs from rupturing as I threw up, his aversion to vomit would have been funny.

My abdominals cramped as I continued to heave, my retches loud enough that I missed the initial crash of the door to my apartment being knocked down. I forced my sore neck to turn and had to squint to try to see what was going on. My blood roared in my head, dark spots dancing on the edges of my vision as I finally made out who had arrived.

While it wasn’t Leo, it was Mark, along with a man I didn’t recognize, and both men were armed and furious.

With his lips pulled back from his teeth, Mark shot Ray in both legs with his silencer-equipped gun, the man’s cry of pain satisfying a dark part of me that craved his suffering.

“Secure them,” Mark snapped to the man behind him before he rushed over to my side and knelt down. “Oh, Hannah, sweetheart, where do you hurt?”

I couldn’t speak, could only groan as I collapsed, trying not to do it in my puke. Mark made little crooning noises as he gently ran his hands over my body, inspecting my injuries. When he touched my hand, I cried out, and his voice shook as he soothed me. He told me it was going to be okay, that everything was all right, but nothing was okay and it probably never would be.

Somehow the man I loved, I worshiped, was responsible for me being beat to a pulp.

“Leo wants an update,” some guy said from nearby.

“Tell him I think two of her fingers are sprained, maybe broken, as well as her wrist. Her nose is okay, it looks like they were more intent on inflicting pain than actual damage. She might have some internal damage but her face is too fucked-up for her to talk. You check out the other two girls?”

“Yeah, they were tied up and knocked out. The blonde will probably need stitches for a nasty gash she has on her temple. Hannah’s in the worst shape.” Footsteps came near us and the stranger made a low, unhappy sound. “Shit, Leo’s going to lose his mind.”

“He is, but tell him to hold himself together, Hannah needs him. I’m taking her to the clinic right now.”

“Mrs. Cordova said to bring Hannah to the compound if she’s well enough to travel. She has her private physician waiting and can get him any diagnostic equipment he needs.”

Mark cursed and I continued to cry, hurting too much for any type of conversation. “Hang in there, Hannah, we’ll take care of you.”

I had no idea how much time had passed, the world was a haze of pain that I finally escaped by fainting, but what must have been many hours later, I woke up in a very nicely furnished orange and cinnamon-brown room that seemed blurry. I blinked, and that simple action sent a wave of pain through me. Swollen…my whole face felt tight and swollen. Next to me, a monitor beeped, and when I raised my right arm to touch my cheek, I winced at the poke of the IV in my hand.

“Hannah?”

Leo’s familiar voice instantly soothed me and I croaked out, “What happened?”

“Here, drink this.”

I groaned as he supported me, lifting me enough that I could grasp the straw between my swollen and throbbing lips. The water hurt my throat, but the pain was dulled to a manageable level. As the cool liquid hit my belly, my thoughts cleared a little bit.

“Joy, Kayla…are they okay?”

An angry growl escaped him and I looked up at Leo sitting in an orange suede chair he’d pulled up next to the bed. “They’re fine.”

“Who were those men?” I tried to clear my groggy thoughts. “Why did they do that to me? It was you…they hurt me because of you.”

The guilt and pain on his face confirmed it and my heart broke.

The door to my room opened, admitting Judith and her husband Jose. Wearing a conservative amber-silk dress, Judith’s eyes were red as she took me in with tight lips. I watched her, strangely impassive as she stood next to my bed, like I was watching a memory rather than participating in the present. Jose joined her, dressed in a sharp navy suit, and his face was filled with a sympathy that didn’t reach his eyes. He was wary of me, and he had a right to be. I wasn’t feeling very stable at the moment.

“Hannah,” Judith said gently. “How are you?”

“Get him away from me,” I said in a whispery, trembling voice as a harsh sweat broke out over my skin in a stinging rush.

“Pardon me?”

I held her gaze, letting her see as much as I could through my battered features that I fucking meant it. “Get Leo out of here, now.”

“Hannah,” Leo said in an agonized voice, but I couldn’t even look at him.

My throat hurt, bad, as I shouted, “Get your
torture master
the fuck out of here!”

“Hannah,” Leo tried again, touching my arm, and I lost my fucking mind.

“Get out!” I screamed into his face. “I hate you! You lied to me about everything. Looking at you makes me sick! Get out!”

I struggled to sit upright, crying out when my right arm, which I just noticed was bandaged at the wrist, sent a bolt of pain through me so sharp, it cut through my hysteria.

Leo lifted me and I went wild, screaming and hitting at him even though it hurt. My IV tore out of my hand and my blood spurted across the pretty burnt orange and cream bedspread. Cursing, Leo attempted to press the sheets to my hand, but I writhed against him, not able to stand his touch. How dare he act like he cared?

“What the fuck?” a man said in a loud shout. “What is going on?”

I screamed, a high-pitched sound that came from the center of my shattered heart. “Get him off of me!”

Abruptly I was released and I collapsed back into the bed, sobs racking me as I closed my eyes. Strong hands held me down, but they weren’t Leo’s—I knew his touch—so I didn’t fight. A feminine hand smoothed my hair from my sweat-soaked brow.

“Look what you did to her,” a man rasped from somewhere to my left. “Look what you and your fucked-up protégé did to her.”

“Fernando—”

“No—fucking look at her! She’s nothing but a kid and you let him have her, let him brainwash her. You screwed with her head so good she couldn’t even say that she knew him. It makes me sick!”

Judith shouted at him in Spanish, but I could truly give a fuck. My fragile mind and heart had been struck a severe blow, one so harsh I didn’t think I could recover from it. There was the sound of a scuffle as a new IV was placed into the vein at the crook of my elbow.

A few seconds later, cool relief flowed through my bloodstream and my sobs tapered off as blissful numbness washed through me. I knew people were still talking around me, and that I should pay attention, but I just couldn’t make myself care anymore, about anything.

Two days later I stared at Judith, then the long, clear tube in her hand, and then back to Judith.

“You will either willingly eat, or I will personally force-feed you. And trust me when I say you will not like it.”

Holding her eyes, I shook my head and folded my arms.

It was tough to look intimidating when propped up in bed on pillows, healing, but still unbearably weak.

Across my gilded prison/recovery room, Leo twitched, but I pretended I didn’t see him. I was very, very good at that, at pretending he didn’t exist. Since they were keeping me prisoner here and not letting me leave because I “knew too much”, Leo had been a constant shadow that was slowly driving me crazy. After I realized no amount of pleading or empty threats would get them to release me, I decided to go on a hunger strike. Not one of my brighter ideas, but I hurt so much—both physically and mentally—and I wanted Leo to suffer like I did.

Just the thought of him sent a cramp of pain through my heart, or maybe it was only my empty stomach cramping. I managed to hold myself together and not give in to my hunger. I’d missed two breakfasts, two lunches, and now almost two dinners. They were probably giving me something through my IV, but I knew I’d already lost weight I could hardly afford to lose. But they couldn’t make me eat and that was one small victory in my shattered world.

I’d be proud of myself if I wasn’t starving, but my body was the last thing I had any kind of control over, they’d stripped away the rest, and I needed some form of rebellion.

“Please, Hannah,” Leo said in a low, strained voice from nearby. “Please, you have to eat.”

I swore I could feel him, maybe a pace or two away, his hands twitching with the need to touch me. Last time he’d dared to lay a hand on me yesterday, I’d gone a little crazy, reinjuring myself and getting knocked out again in the process. I’ve found the Cordovas are quite fond of putting people who annoy them to sleep. Sometimes forever.

“Leo, out,” Judith said in a tight voice.

“Don’t—”

She stared at him, and even I shrank back against the bed I was in. “Are you telling me what to do in my own house?”

I held my breath, waiting for Judith to beat Leo to death with the tube or some other irrational shit. Isn’t that what a cartel lord would do? And as outlandish as the thought was of this sweet old lady cutting people’s eyes out and feeding them to the fishes, Judith was indeed a cartel lord. Not like the drug lords you see on TV, no, the Cordova Group was run like a corporation, and this woman was the CEO. That’s not to say her husband, Jose, was a sweet old man by any stretch of the imagination, but when Judith spoke,
everyone
listened.

I’d picked that up as I’d pretended to sleep, then eavesdropped on whoever was in the room with me talk. They never left me alone; the one time they had, I’d tried to smash a window to escape, which had only resulted in me collapsing in pain from my injured ribs.

It was Judith who’d found me gasping on the floor as I writhed in agony, who’d sighed and had her bodyguard pick me up and take me back to bed, while she lectured me on being a stupid child determined to cripple myself.

“I won’t allow anyone to hurt her, even you.”

She replied in Spanish, and whatever she said made Leo eventually leave the room, my stupid heart mourning the loss of his presence even as my mind celebrated a hollow victory.

“Now then,” Judith returned her gaze to me as I eyed her bodyguard watching us impassively, waiting for her to order him to jam the tube down my throat. “I’ve had quite enough of this. While I understand your anger, you are damaging your body, and that is just stupid. Starving yourself to death to spite Leo is just plain cruel.”

That had me staring at her, and my voice, rusty with disuse, croaked out, “Are you kidding me?
I’m
cruel?”

I didn’t miss the small gleam of triumph flash across her lined face that she’d made me talk. “Very. The only thing Leo ever tried to do was make you happy.”

I gawked at her, incredulous. “Judith, he tortures people to death for a living.”

She waved her hand at me, the stunning ruby ring on her right hand flashing with inner fire. “So do I. What’s your point?”

She sat at the end of the bed, a chill radiating from her that made me want to pull the covers over my head and hide.

“That’s kind of an important thing to share with someone.”

“He would have, eventually.”

“And let’s not forget the fact that he has enemies that will try to torture
me
to death the moment they learn of my existence.”

My voice broke at the end of the sentence but I managed to swallow past the lump in my throat.

Clasping her hands together in her lap, Judith’s lips twitched a couple times before she said, “That was my fault; you never should have been unprotected. I was so worried about Fernando that I forgot I’d pulled my security detail off your building. Leo didn’t have anyone watching the apartment—”

I held up a shaky hand, irritated at how quickly my strength was waning. “Wait, you had people watching my apartment?”

“Of course we did. While you may think the worst of us, I do try as hard as I can to protect my boys, my people. The moment Leo fell in love with you, you belonged to me, and I protect what is mine.”

That statement was disturbing on many levels. “I belong to myself.”

“You do, but your heart is infinite, so even if you gave an enormous part of it to Leo, you’ll never lose yourself.”

Confused, irritated, and not liking this “benevolent/violent wise old woman” thing Judith had going on, I tried to rally my cause. “I’m not eating.”

Shaking her head, she stood and moved to my bedside table, picking up the chocolate milkshake that Leo had brought me earlier.

“If you drink half of this, I will allow you to see Joy.”

That had me paying attention and I sat up, slowly because it hurt, but all the way. “Seriously?”

I hadn’t been allowed to see either Joy or Kayla, probably because I was too busy acting like a mad woman.

“Yes, but on one condition. As far as Joy knows, those men were corporate rivals of the Cordova Group who Leo helped put out of business. It is best if she continues to believe this. It will allow her to live as normal a life as possible.”

In other words, shut my fucking mouth about the Cordova cartel or my friend would pay. “Understood.”

“Good. Now drink.”

I did as she commanded, slowly at first because my stomach cramped as the cold, thick liquid hit it, then faster when my brain registered the fact I was once again helping to keep my body alive and released the hunger hounds in my stomach.

I’d finished well over half of it by the time I handed the glass back to Judith before turning my head to burp.

“Good. Now, you’ll learn that I’m a woman of my word, but all trust is built a step at a time. Are you ready to see Joy?”

“Now?”

“Yes.” Her lips twitched and I swore she had a fond look in her eyes. “She’s been rather…insistent about seeing you.”

A quick phone call later and the door to my room flung open, a wide-eyed Joy coming to a halt as she got a good look at me. Her blonde curls trembled as she visually inspected me, her hands nervously clutched in the denim dress she wore that fit her curvy frame perfectly. As I looked closer, I noticed her entire outfit had a new and expensive look to it. I’ll say one thing about the Cordova cartel, they knew how to dress a girl.

“Oh my God, Hannah,” she breathed, her eyes welling with tears. “Are you okay?”

Used to the pitying looks—my face was a swollen and bruised mess—I nodded. “I am.”

“You look terrible,” she said in a half sob, and to my surprise, Judith came to her side and gave her a one-armed squeeze.

“But she’s okay. Just like I told you she would be,
mija
.”

Not liking Judith being so nice to Joy, afraid the crazy old bitch would get attached to my sweet friend, I held out my hand, trying not to wince as Joy joined me on the bed, jostling me with her movements.

“What about you? Are you all right?”

“I am. Mr. and Mrs. Cordova, I mean Jose and Judith, have been great.” She absently touched a large Band-aid on her temple I hadn’t noticed before because it had been covered by her blonde curls. “I only had a mild-concussion and a few stitches, but Hannah, you look…I’m so sorry I told them about Leo.”

“What?”

“I mentioned him. I brought your relationship up because I was hoping it would scare them off.” Her eyes welled with tears. “And when they asked you if you were dating Leo, and you wouldn’t say that you were…I thought you were too scared to talk or something so I told them. I didn’t…I didn’t know they’d react like that. I swear, honey, I was trying to protect you.”