Chapter 3 : Kill on Sight

A chandelier made of solid gold hung in the middle of the large square room, emitting dim rays of light. Velvet carpets lined the floor, and dark wood paneling outfitted the walls. A dozen sections of the room were walled off with sheer curtains. I could briefly see outlines behind one of the curtains of a person on their knees and the other standing up straight. Scattered moans bounced off the walls.

"This is where you'll be staying, dear." Celeste turned to face me, her amber eyes flashing a bright red as if she was aroused by something—maybe the moans.

That odor of chlorine and sulfur that I smelt on the way down was just semen.

"No way in h*ll, Celeste. This is a prostitution ring, not a packhouse," I stated firmly. I rotated my head around to see if there were any exits other than the one we came in, but there weren't.

"You'll get used to it soon enough. The moans actually help me fall asleep." Her eyelashes fluttered as she confessed it.

Instead of a wave of fear overcoming my body, it was replaced by pure anger. It felt like molten lava was coursing through my bloodstream instead of the sanguine liquid.

Did my father know about this when he sold me to them? If he was in financial trouble, he should have let me know. I would have done anything for my father, yet this was how he treated me?

Celeste was seemingly aloof to my fury and continued my tour, pointing me to my 'private oasis' as she called it. There lay a pillow, a cardboard mattress, and a red-leather loveseat, presumably for lovemaking. Clearly, sleeping wasn't a priority in this pack. The translucent curtain didn't give much privacy, so I laid down on the couch and tried to lay as flat as I could to try and go unnoticed.

By that time, Celeste had already left me, citing she had a busy day ahead of her, and I thought I knew what that meant. I saw the change of clothes she was referring to from earlier, and to my pleasure, it was simply a pair of navy gym shorts, albeit rather skimpy, and a white tank top. I'd put them on later.

My mind began to swarm with thoughts about Efrain, the mate bond, my father's betrayal, amidst the moans and groans in 'The Lair.' I was overwhelmed with all of it, and my mind felt like it was going numb and my body felt extremely tired.

But, I needed to sort through what had happened.

Did I have a mate? At first I assumed I did. I even heard my wolf yell 'MATE,' but I didn't feel any pull to him after that. Even now, I didn't feel like Efrain and I were connected or destined to be together.

Or maybe I was just denying what the Moon Goddess had in mind because I was so repulsed by him.

Surely, he didn't seem like the pervert his father was, but he also was no gentleman. He had said it himself; he's a self-proclaimed playboy and didn't know how to take care of a woman. That's not the type of guy I could ever spend the entirety of my life with.

As slimy of a man as he was from our first encounter, I didn't get a chance to have a real conversation with him. He didn't seem to want me either, so it was possible we could work around his father's request and get what we both wanted: our freedom back.

The thought of that brought slight peace to my mind, only to be replaced by the thought of my father thrusting me into this situation. It made my heart feel like it was tearing at its seams. If–no, when–I got out of here, I needed to get back to my Papa so he would be forced to look his only child in the eyes and tell me 'why.'

I was a forgiving person, and I hated to hold any hostility towards my papa who, until this point, had been the perfect role model for me. I knew he had his hands entangled with the mafia, but he always promised me I'd never be involved. He specifically kept me shielded from that darker side of his life.

And I always believed him.

Maybe it was my trustworthiness that got me in trouble. But was I wrong for wanting to believe in the man who raised me to the strong woman I am today?

My eyelids had the tendency to shut themselves while I was laying here, and I had to force myself to keep them open. But, after resisting sleep for longer than my body wanted, it appeared Celeste's words maybe had some sort of validity. Maybe the distant moans around me could be the cure to my insomnia.

I must have dozed off momentarily because when my eyes jolted open, I noticed the whole room was dark, the chandelier's lights out, and the time on my watch read… midnight! I had been out for that long?!

I quickly gathered myself off the couch but immediately collapsed upon standing.

Did I stand too quickly?

My mind was ringing, and I felt nauseous. Was there at least a resident nurse at this packhouse? I did my best to balance myself and made my way to the only entrance, grabbing onto different sheer curtains along the way, luckily none of them fell down from my tight hold.

In the background, I heard shrieks and moans echoing off the walls, and it made my headache even worse. They were distorted, louder than earlier, and I heard the grunts of men this time. It seemed like the late night crowd was even more aggressive.

Fortunately, I had no one stumble upon me as I was resting. It made me think that maybe I was off limits, for Efrain only, and all the customers were made clear of which girls were available.

After many misplaced steps into sticky liquids and stumbling over a few adult 'toys,' I made it to the guard at the door. It was hard to see his outline in the dark.

"Excuse me, sir. I need to see a nurse. My head is—"

It was a literal shot in the dark to assume there was a nurse here, however, I figured with so many women in the harem that many would suffer sexually transmitted diseases that could prevent them from bringing in money.

"Nobody leaves unless I get word from my Alpha," he interrupted, his voice gravelly and low.

Just my luck.

"Or, unless it's an emergency," he added.

Oh, well, that gave me something to work with.

"It's an emergency, sir. I hit my head earlier and it may be bleeding internally." I pleaded this would work on the guard who seemed a bit dense just by the cadence of his voice.

He grumbled. "Fine. Go see the nurse. She's just down at the end of the hall. I'll call and let her know you're coming. And don't get any funny ideas.... If I don't hear from her that you arrived in two minutes, I'm sending my men after you," he threatened.

"Thank you so much, kind sir. I really appreciate it," I expressed.

"The name's Alicia. I'm not a sir, you twat."

Oh, sh*t!

"You have to understand, my eyes are failing me, Alicia. And mixed with the darkness, it's like swimming through a pool of salt water."

She growled and unlocked the door. I quickly scurried out, afraid to look back.

I made my way down the hallway where the only light left in the building seemed to be. As I headed there, I overheard a familiar voice. It was Efrain's. He was with another person, one who I recalled right away from his shaggy hair and dark eyes.

"Yo, yo, Fidel, I ain't getting bogged down by one b*tch, ya hear me?"

"What are ya implying?" I heard Fidel ask, curiously. "Cause I think I like where you're headed."

"Why do you think my father wants a grandchild, Fidel?" Efrain posed the question before answering it himself. "Because he wants me out of the picture. He knows I can't stand his a*s, and he always tells me how I'm a threat to his whole empire. There's no way I'm giving him an heir when he has one in me."

"I see ya point, man. Okay." Fidel nodded his head, doing more listening than contributing ideas. "So what do you suggest we do about that?"

"Easy. We kill the b*tch, and bam, all h*ll breaks loose between our pack and the Valle del Sol pack. Then, when the moment presents itself, all our higher-ups will vote my father out as Alpha for making this deal with Rodri in the first place. I'll get everything, and of course, my friend, I'll share the pot with you."

Efrain's words felt like a spear penetrating my gut. I could hardly breathe. He had no intention to ever produce a child with me. I should've been wary of his intentions when he changed his tone so fast and conceded to his father.

If I stayed here, I'd die. That much was clear.

This was my only chance to run now that I was out of 'The Lair.'

Surely, it was my best option.

Although, Celeste's words from earlier today served as a haunting reminder to me: "They're watching you."

I knew my two minutes was nearly up and Alicia would have security on my a*s any moment now, and I had no time to consider the consequences.

I tiptoed the other direction down the hallway, and as I turned the corner, I bumped into a shadowy outline, gasping loudly in astonishment.

I quickly covered my mouth, but it was too late.

"Hey, Chicharito, I was just going to check on you."

It was Celeste, and she was the only person here who would know a way out.

But, she seemed not to mind working for this pack, and it was difficult to know where her loyalty resided.

I quietly pleaded with her, "Celeste, you need to get me out of here. I just heard what Efrain planned to do with me."

She stared blankly. I knew it was a bad idea to tell her anything. I should have made up a blatant lie.

"Okay," she said softly.

"Really? Okay?" I asked, dumbfounded by her willingness to put her life on the line for me.

"Yeah, why not?" she threw back at me, seemingly perplexed herself.

"Well, I just assumed that you had a duty to Agustin and Efrain to uphold," I said, looking over her shoulder as I was anxious to get a move on as the seconds were catching up to me.

Celeste opened her mouth and said something that made me realize she was anything but her naive looks. "Trust me, dear, when I say this. There's no loyalty in the mafia."

Her words hit heavy and made me think of my papa. There was no loyalty in family either, it seemed.

"Now, let's hurry up," she urged as she grabbed onto my hand and led me up a stairwell when a voice boomed over the speakerphone.

"Attention, attention. We have a runner. Attention, attention. Code 313. We have a runner. Kill on sight."

Kill on sight. They were talking about me.