Falling With Grace

“Why are you soaking wet,mi hija?” Her gentle voice soothed the quake in my belly as she led me down a hall with a wide expanse of windows overlooking a courtyard with a large pool and a bar.

My heart thundered.

What if I told her Elias held me captive?

Would she help me?

“I-um…went for a swim.”

She took another bite of her banana and then discarded it in the trash as we entered the kitchen. “In those clothes? You’re spinning tales.”

I swallowed, my stomach tightening as a sharp pang cinched my chest.

“Come, let me show you my garden.” She weaved me through the hall and out through a side door.

What about a change of clothes?

“Look at these tomatoes.” She plucked a large, juicy red tomato off the vine and handed it to me. “Try it. You need a little something on your bones.”

My belly growled as I sunk my teeth into the meaty flesh. My toes curled.

The acidity danced in my mouth as the juice ran down my chin.

“Good, right? I plan on making salsa with these.” She leaned in a little closer. “A secret recipemi mamápassed on. Don’t tell Elias. He’ll want it for himself.”

I forced a smile and glanced behind us.

They’d come for me any minute, and the gentlest moment I’d had in three years would be over.

Rosa’s kind voice swirled around me, her caring touch a painful reminder of something I could never have again.

“Mamá.”

A hand slipped around my elbow and jerked me away from Rosa and into a broad chest, his fingertips digging into my bony flesh.

I winced, and Rosa’s eyes widened. “I raised you better than to handle a lady like that.”

“You’re a sacred heart, Mamá.”

He yanked me away as I handed her the half-eaten tomato, my feet stumbling over each other. “Thank you.”

“Who told you to speak to anyone?” Elias’ kind-hearted demeanor dissolved like bones in acid as he pulled me away, passing Javier, who refused to look at me.

Nadia, the woman he’d argued with, stood in a doorway, her gaze a fiery hot inferno on my skin as we passed by.

The air in my lungs burned as my feet slipped over the slick, marbled floors and scraped across the cemented driveway.

“What are you going to do with me?”

“That remains to be seen.”

His spicy scent caressed my senses, setting me at ease for a split moment until he opened a heavy door to an outbuilding at the furthest side of his property.

My heart thundered in my chest, my pulse drowning out our shuffling steps.

He shoved me, my shoulders tipping toward the ground. I crashed to my knees on the hard cement. Sharp pain spliced across my torn skin, my bruises developing bruises.

Dim yellow light seeped into the square room, its reach not quite touching the walls as it swung from the ceiling.