Thirteen years later…
Alissa
My phone chimed on the nightstand, alerting me to an incoming text.
I’d lain awake for the past hour, unable to fall back asleep after a nightmare from the past had jerked me awake. Rough hands. Crude words. Heavy bodies smothering me. Foul breaths. Brute force. Pain. So much pain. I’d been fighting the same nightmare for three years, but could never seem to be free of it. The past still haunted me. Tormented me. Would I ever be free of it? Would I ever be normal again?
I rolled over, reaching for my phone, glad to have a distraction from the past. Who could be texting me at eleven o’clock at night?
Dara, my neighbor, who lived two doors down.
I swiped the screen.
Run! The Spartans are here! They’re coming for you!
My heart slammed into my ribs. Oh shit! I scrambled out of bed, dropping the phone back on the nightstand. Dara had been helping keep a lookout for the Spartans. She knew they were hunting me and had promised to let me know if she heard anything.
Frightened screams, angry shouts, and merciless gunfire announced the Spartans’ presence somewhere out in the main corridor.
I opened the dresser and snatched up a pair of jeans, yanking them on. Then I raced to the closet and yanked a clean shirt off a hanger. I would prefer to be fully clothed when they knocked down my door, rather than dressed in my nightshirt. Not that a mere piece of fabric would protect me from those brutes. Especially now that Romeo ran the gang. He was a cruel, heartless leader, much worse than Kenny had been. Far worse. At least when my brother had been alive and running the Spartans, I’d had protection. But his death had made me a target. Romeo had been taunting me for years with his lewd comments and his lustful looks. If it weren’t for Kenny, I was certain Romeo would have captured me and forced himself on me long ago. That was just how he was. I probably hadn’t been a top priority on Romeo’s radar since Kenny’s death, but he’d been watching for me nonetheless.
Kenny had been killed a few weeks ago by the dregs. Since then, Romeo had been making the rounds, strutting around like a buck in rut, letting everyone know he was in charge. The B.O.S.S.
Now that the Spartans were here, I was in deep shit. There was no escape. The only way out of my apartment was through the front door. I could make a run for it and hope I got away, but chances were I wouldn’t get far.
I would have to face them bravely.
Drawing in a deep breath, I retrieved my phone and scrolled through the contacts. I needed help if I was going to survive. There was only one person who could save me in this particular situation. And sadly, that wasn’t me. I was helpless against the Spartan army. Against Romeo. Sure, I knew a few self-defense moves that Kenny had taught me when I was younger, but those moves would be useless against an army.
I reached Hunky Nate’s contact on the phone.
Hunky Nate.
That’s what I called him. He was the kind of “hunky” that made my breath catch and my pulse race whenever I thought of him. Yeah, he was hot.
Nate was a dreg. A dangerous man. A mystery whom I hadn’t stopped thinking about since the night he’d offered to get me out of the city a few weeks ago. Stupidly, I’d refused.
I had promised myself I would never text him. Never call. I hadn’t wanted to appear helpless. Needy. Even though that’s exactly what I was. He had given me his number the night Jacob, The Fighter, had come for his daughter, Hazel. I’d been keeping Hazel safe from the Spartans, hiding her so they wouldn’t discover her gift. Nate had been with Jacob, along with two other dregs. He’d said his name was Nate. That’s all I knew about him. His name. Nate.
I had wanted to prove that I was a strong, independent woman, even though deep down I wasn’t. I had been too proud to ask for help. I hadn’t wanted to appear a victim, because even though that’s exactly what I’d once been, I had vowed never to be one again. And someone like Hunky Nate would never respect a victim. I didn’t want him to view me as a victim. I wanted him to view me as a woman. Foolish, I know. He was much too masculine, too powerful and worldly and dangerous to even glance twice at a woman like me. He was the type of man who would see beyond appearances and into what lay deep beneath the surface. He might like the way I looked—most men did—but he would know I wasn’t as strong as I pretended to be. He would sense the weakness inside me, the pain in my broken, battered soul, and he would know I’d once been a victim, and that somewhere deep inside, I would always be that victim. He would pity me, and the last thing I wanted from Nate was pity.
Shouts came from out in the main corridor, jerking me from my thoughts.
Then the Spartans banged against my door.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
It wouldn’t be long before they broke the door down.
It might already be too late for me. The Spartans might kill me outright. I had no idea what plans Romeo had for me, but I was positive they wouldn’t be good.
I should have taken Nate up on his offer that night. I should have left this city then and there.
But I hadn’t. I hadn’t been sure if I could trust him.
He was a stranger. A dreg.
And handsome as sin. With hair as dark as night. And eyes so intense they pierced your soul. A light green, his eyes were the color of a not-quite-ripe pear, and outlined with gray undertones that faded near the center of his irises. Yeah, I’d noticed that. I was an “eye” girl. I always noticed eyes first. Faces fascinated me, but especially eyes. Hunky Nate had knowing eyes. Eyes filled with intelligence. I imagined there wasn’t much, if anything, that slipped past that man’s attention. What would it be like to get lost in those striking eyes? To see into his soul? I’d never seen eyes quite that color of green before.
I hadn’t been able to get Hunky Nate or his piercing green eyes out of my head since.
How did I know if he was safe? How did I know he wouldn’t hurt me?
I’d chosen to take my chances in a city I’d lived in for the past five years, rather than leave with a handsome stranger.
Now I regretted that decision.
The Spartans had found me.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The pounding continued at the front door.
I quickly typed Nate a text: This is Alissa. You once offered to help me. The Spartans just found me. Please help.
I sounded desperate. Needy. Pathetic. A victim.
You are desperate and needy. At least right now.
I couldn’t worry about how pathetic that text sounded because I really did need help. I wasn’t sure what, if anything, Nate might do with that message. If he came, by the time he arrived, I might already be dead.
The door slammed inward with a loud crash. Armed men barged into the apartment, swarming down the short hallway and into my room.
I quickly hit “send”. Would Nate get the text? Would he come for me? And if he did, would he be too late?
Romeo followed his thugs into the room, pausing to leer down at me.
“Caught ya!” He sniggered, his black gaze raking over me. Romeo stood only around five-eight or nine, but he was muscular and broad-shouldered. He reminded me of a bull dog. His real name was Alvaro, a Cuban name, I think, but he’d always gone by Romeo. I’d only known him for a few years, but in that time, he’d always been full of himself and seemed to think he was irresistible to the ladies. He’d risen up the ranks of the Spartans over the years, and now that Kenny was dead, Romeo had quickly taken my brother’s place as the Spartans’ leader. He was young, only around twenty-five or so, and as ruthless as they came. The very sight of him caused my body to quake with fear.
Romeo stepped forward. He grabbed a handful of my chin-length hair, and yanked my head back. “Kenny’s not here to save you this time, gorgeous.” He thrust me away and turned to his men.
“Take her phone. And search her for weapons. I wouldn’t put it past her to be hiding a knife in her bra.”
I endured their crude groping while they snatched my phone and searched me for weapons.
“She’s clean.”
Romeo’s eyes glinted with malice. “I’ve got plans for you, girl. Just be grateful you’re a woman or I would kill you. Instead, I’m going to sell you.”
What? My breath caught. My heart thudded. “Sell me? To whom?”
“To the Sureños. I’m making a deal with Enrique. He’s excited to get a look at you. I told him you were a smoking hot blonde, with legs that go on and on until they finally make asses out of themselves.” He snickered, but I didn’t laugh. He wasn’t funny. “If Enrique likes what he sees, he’ll take you and sell you to the highest bidder. A babe like you should fetch a hefty price, especially since you’re a former celebrity. If this deal works out, then the Spartans will become allies with the Sureños.”
True fear clenched at my gut. The Sureños were a ruthless Mexican gang who were known for buying and selling women into the sex trade. Enrique Vasquez was known to the other gangs as “The Flesh King”.
I should have trusted the dregs that night and left the city with them. I should have put my trust in a handsome stranger named Nate.
Because now I was likely to suffer a fate far worse than anything I’d ever imagined.