Reina de la Muerte

prologue

vanessa

My legs feel like spaghetti noodles as I struggle to walk up the stairs, wiping my face with a towel. I've never been used to going to the gym by myself this much but Mom insists that training every day will help make me stronger, and I don't like it when she's angry at me. Daddy doesn't like when she makes me train so much and says I should be playing with the other thirteen-year-olds instead of working myself into the ground.

She does everything Daddy doesn't like when he isn't home, like hitting and kicking when she's mad or making me train so much. She hasn't had a lot to drink lately so she hasn't hit me as much this month, though, and that makes me happy. She's gotten better. Daddy's been home a lot more often, too, so she's been happier. It's only when he goes out on business trips that Mom changes.

"Vanessa, sweetheart!" Mom calls out from the living room. Speak of the devil.

When she sees me shuffle in the room, a lopsided smile grows over her lips; the smell of alcohol surrounds her body and I can immediately feel the blood in my veins run cold. "I'd like you to meet somebody."

I slowly make my way to her and see a giant man with big arms and a lot of tattoos. He kind of reminds me of Daddy except this man is scary-looking and looks dangerous. Daddy doesn't make me scared. He makes me feel safe. Plus, Mom is so much nicer when he's around but I think it's only because he always has me in his view. I just wish he was here with me instead of training with my brothers.

"Honey, this is Olsen," she says. "He's one of Daddy's friends. We're just going to be over some business so how about you go in your room for a bit, sí? I'll call you down for dinner."

I nod again and take a peek at the scary stranger. He's already looking at me and smirks darkly when I look into his eyes. I don't have a good feeling about him. think Mommy knows that from the way she's looking at me—with anger and silent threat. She always brings strange men home and tells me they're Daddy's friends. She says they just talk about business but I've never seen Daddy invite them over before

"When is Daddy coming home?" I ask her quietly as I start going up the stairs. The glare that morphs on her face is the only reason why I come to a halt.

"Soon." Her glare changes when she looks at Olsen, giving him a sickeningly sweet smile. "Go meet me in the office while I'm..."

Her voice trails off because I'm already running up the stairs to my bedroom. Footsteps follow me up the stairs but I don't stop moving until I'm behind the door. I try to close it as quickly as I can but it's forced open by the stranger with one hand. It slams against the wall and I flinch. When he takes another step inside, I take one step back, trying to inch closer to my bed. I've never had a stranger in my bedroom before, normally it's just Daddy or my brothers. But seeing him and all towards me makes my heart pound in ways I've never experienced—it makes me feel a type of fear I've never experienced.

"I didn't think Camila would have such a cute daughter," he says with a growing smirk, "and very well-trained."

My body is starting to shake but I refuse to freeze up like I normally do when I'm scared. Daddy told me that freezing could lead to something bad happening if I didn't learn to overcome it, and it helps to have his words in the back of my mind.

Always look for a weapon.
Never stop fighting even when you feel like you're losing.
Don't give up on yourself.

"Th-This isn't Mom's office," I mumble and continue to walk backwards. "It's down the hall."

"I've been here plenty of times, sweetheart," he chuckles darkly. "Your mommy's quite naughty once your father's gone, didn't you know. But you're a smart girl so you already know what's going on."

I do. I hate to remind myself but I know exactly why she brings these men home and they are not just to talk about business. Still, I refuse to give him the answer he's waiting for and go to the other side of my bed for more distance.

"What you do with my mother has nothing to do with me," I whisper. "Why are you in my room?"

Olsen laughs. The sound sends shivers down my spine and I hold my breath, hoping it'll block out the uncomfortable pit growing in my stomach. Tears build in my eyes and I look for any way to get around him, to get away from him. I already know he has no good intentions for why he's in my bedroom and I can't move fast enough to get out. He'd just catch me.

I open the drawer to my nightstand ever so slowly and pull out the small pocket knife Daddy gave me. I thought he was insane for giving me a weapon as a surprise gift on my birthday. I understand why he did now. He wants to keep me protected at all times and having anything as small as a pocket knife ensures my safety.

Olsen sees what's in my hand and his smirk fades until his entire face is blank. I can see his eye twitch and they become black with anger, watching with a cold expression set on his face when he sees me pull the blade out with shaking hands, pointing it at him.

"Don't play with things you don't know how to use, darling," he warns me, slamming my door closed with his foot. When he locks it, my brain finally snaps out of it's terrified state and tells me to call for someone.

"Mom!" I yell as loud as my lungs will let me.

I scream when Olsen tries lunging at me, missing me by a hair. I try to run around him as he's on the bed but his movement is too fast and I'm too small to fight him. His arm wraps around my throat and he starts to squeeze to the point that I'm coughing for air.

"Mom, help!" I scream for her again and again but I can't hear any sounds coming from downstairs.

She's coming. She has to be. She won't leave me up here with him.

"No one's coming to help you now, you fucking brat," he snarls, covering my mouth and adding a tight pressure when I attempt to scream for her again. It's getting harder to breath from the arm he has squeezing around my throat, and my vision starts to blacken around the corners of my eyes. Please, she has to help me... She wouldn't leave her daughter with a man like this. "I had to wait six fucking months to pay your mom for this and I'm not letting it end because you're deciding to act difficult."

Pay my mom? He paid my mother to do this? Why would she sell me off to a stranger for only a few bucks when Daddy owns a million-dollar company?

My entire body racks up a shiver at the realization. She left me. I don't even think she cares about me otherwise why would she treat me so poorly compared to my brothers? Why would she wait until the doors are closed to use me as her punching bag?

She put a price on me and ran out the second she found the highest bidder.

♕