I drew in a shaky breath, willing myself to keep calm and most importantly, to keep talking. They hadn’t told me to shut up yet, and the longer I could distract them, the better.
Sasha was coming. I just needed to still be alive when he got here.
“So,” I continued, shifting slightly on the crate because sitting still suddenly felt impossible, like my body had too much energy and nowhere to put it, “just to clarify — and this is purely for my own understanding, not because I’m trying to critique your process or anything — but what was the plan here?”
Angry Chihuahua frowned at me. “What?”
“The plan,” I repeated, gesturing vaguely between them. “Like step two. Or three. Or … any number beyond ‘grab random woman and hope for the best’.”
Javier exhaled sharply through his nose. “You were not random.”
“Cool, cool, cool. That’s mildly concerning in a different way,” I muttered. “It’s just … I don’t really get the bigger picture here. Like, what happens after this? I mean, I get that taking me was step one, but … then what?”
Javier rubbed his jaw and Angry Chihuahua muttered something under his breath. Neither of them seemed eager to answer.
Fuck, this was not good.
“Oh my God! Please don’t tell me this Rafael person is coming to kill me.” Panic constricted my chest, curling around my ribcage like thorny veins, sharp and uncomfortable.
“Rafael isn’t coming to kill you.”
My shoulders sagged with relief as my mind raced.
“But he’s in charge?” I spoke carefully, letting just enough curiosity creep in so that they would respond without realizing I was fishing for information.
“Not exactly,” Javier said.
I cocked my head to one side. “Then why didn’t you call the person who is?”
“Because we don’t have his num—”
“Shut up!”
“Don’t tell me to shut up, Luis!”
Ah, so that was Angry Chihuahua’s name.
My brain was working overtime, piecing together the fragments I had unearthed. There was the hired muscle, the way these guys appeared to be entirely disorganized, and now the fact that they had no way to contact the man in charge.
Instead, they had called someone else…
Was this an attempt to get a foot in the door, so to speak? Was my kidnapping just a means to an end — a way to climb the ladder?
Good God, they really hadn’t thought this through.
“That’s okay, I get it. You can’t tell me anything. I’m just…” I blew out a shaky breath. “I just like understanding people. Even, you know, people doing, uh, questionable things. Makes it less scary when I know the why.”
They relaxed slightly, their posture softening and their eyes flicking towards each other. It was subtle, but I noticed that tiny shift from guarded to uncertain, like they weren’t entirely sure what the right move was anymore.
I softened my voice slightly, allowing some of the earlier panic to linger, but not enough to alarm them.
“You don’t have to, like, give me any details or anything,” I added quickly, offering them an easy way out and a clear boundary. “I just … I don’tlovethe idea of sitting here imagining the worst possible version of what’s about to happen, you know? My brain isverycreative when left unsupervised.”
Luis exhaled sharply through his nose and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not … it’s not like that.”
Javier glanced at Luis, then back at me. Hesitation was written all over his face, and I could tell he was already halfway to answering.
“Like what?” I asked gently, not pushing, just … opening the door a little wider.