To Love and Die (18+)

Chapter One

She couldn't tell if the stars blurring her vision were figments of her imagination or consequence of whiplash thanks to the force Victor had stricken her with moments before. She'd believe him to be one of those mindless cartel soldiers that she'd encountered in her previous jobs. Most of them were ruled by a lust for power and pussy, so she hoped to use that against them.

This one was not so easily fooled. Instead, he allowed her to lead him back up to his office in the awful place dressed up as a strip club, and before she could tie him up to get answers, he disarmed her. Now two soldiers held her by the arms as Victor interrogated her.

She stared into his fatal eyes. Behind them, she saw nothing. There was nothing there to salvage. She'd been convinced that he was a monster long before he joined the La Paz Cartel.

"Stupid puta, who do you work for?" The words seethed through his teeth like the tongue of a snake.

Before Meli could manage a reply, Victor smacked her again, this time with the back of his meaty hand. He was a robust man. Stout and short, Victor was not attractive by any means. Although her plan was made to look like she'd seduce him into providing viable information, he must have known someone like her would never actually be interested—no matter how much coke she'd snorted.

There was blood pooling in her mouth as he began again, "Such a shame that a bonita like you is a rat. Who are you working for?"

This time he allowed for her response. Meli spat the thick crimson liquid onto the boots of the soldier to her right, and he returned the favor by jabbing his pistol into her side as she groaned. "I work for no one", she finally spoke, vibrato echoing in her response. Even when she was being held at gunpoint by soulless drug traffickers, she would stand her ground.

"You must have known who's establishment this is right? This club is owned by a very powerful man, not even I'm not willing to test him. I will say, bonita, you have cojones." A small methodical laugh escaped his lips, and she began to wonder what was so funny?

He must have thought her to be young and naive. She had seen how he treated other women that came around. Meli had been watching him for weeks before she decided to make her move, and continue with her not so full proof plan. Had he thought she made it a point to walk into shady, off-highway strip clubs looking for cheap coke? Or did he believe that story she sold him about wanting to become a dancer in this place? Ultimately that's what lead the two of them to the office—that and the promise of something he would never get from her.

"You carry this", he held up the handgun that's usually tucked into the hostler under her pants leg. "And you think I'd believe you just came here for a job? And as much as I'd love to have those pretty labios wrapped around my cock, I can't help but believe you're not that kind of mujer, am I right?"

He was damned right, because the chances of her sucking him off, especially for a job, was about as thin as the chances of any of them making it out of the club alive. She encountered his kind before. He talked a lot, yet never said exactly what she needed to hear.

Growing tired of his questions, Meli recognized their meeting had not yielded the answers she was looking for. She would find them somehow, but this was the end of Victor Santiago.

Meli had shaken free the blade she had hidden up her sleeve. It was sharp, and before any of them could comprehend what was happening, the entirety of the blade was jammed into the neck of the soldier with the gun pressed into her side. She looked across from them and Victor's eyes went wide with surprise.

She wasn't as naive as he thought. The soldier to her left made a move but she had already withdrawn the blade from the neck of the first one. Before his body hit the floor, she moved swiftly, slicing the neck of the second one. The cut was clean from ear to ear. As the blood dripped from her knife, she'd notice Victor had drawn a revolver. It was a flashy thing. Gold lined the barrel with the spiraling of black roses painted on the grip of the piece, it was actually pretty and tempting. She wouldn't take it though. She would let him die by his gun, like the captain of a sinking ship.