Chapter 65

Two men entered through the door, their street clothes and tattoos pronouncing them thugs. Gina shuddered and flinched back when one of them reached for her. She lifted her hand instinctively to fight him off, but Selena said sharply, "Don't fight back, girl." Gina caught her eye and read between the lines, fight later when we have an advantage. She immediately dropped her hands. It took every ounce of self-control to let the man drag her into his body, to allow him to grab her by the face, yank on her hair and leer down at her, all while licking his lips and rubbing himself on her.

"Luego," the other man said, snapping his fingers at the guy holding Gina. Awesome, she thought, vomit rising in her throat, he just gave the guy holding her permission to fuck her later. He tossed a stack of bills at the priest and dragged Selena toward the open door. Gina was pushed out the door too and into a car similar to the one that was used to attack her and Alejandro the night before.

As she was being shoved into the car, Gina resisted, turning to glare at the priest who stood in the open doorway clutching his money against his chest. Unable to resist, she pointed at him. "Alejandro is going to kill you for this, old man," she hissed. "He's going to take you apart piece by bloody piece until there's nothing left. Then he's going to piss on those pieces and set them on fire. Not even the devil will take you after he's done!"

"May God be with you child," the priest said, his eyes devoid of emotion. He slammed the door shut, leaving the women to their fate.

"You made the wrong choice!" she yelled elbowing the man holding her as he grabbed her by the neck and shoved her face first into the back of the car. Her skirt went flying everywhere. She heard it tear as he shoved it aside and hopped in after her. Selena was crammed in against the opposite door. There was a driver and the other guy in the front seat.

Selena took Gina's hand and squeezed. "Shhh, calm down. It won't help to scream at them."

"Actually, I do feel a little better," Gina snapped, glaring straight ahead.

The guy in the front passenger seat turned, pointed a gun at Selena's head and told her in Spanish not to touch the door next to her. She held up her hands and assured him she wouldn't. He then told them both not to do anything stupid and they would be delivered safely to 'the boss.' Gina cast a sideways glance toward Selena. Apparently, the boss wasn't among these bad guys. Not that she was surprised. Stealing Alejandro's mother and bride straight out of a church on such little notice under the noses of so many bodyguards with the help of a priest took both planning and balls of steel. It wasn't the hallmark of ordinary street thugs.

"Put your seatbelt on," Selena said in English. Gina frowned and glanced at her, thinking she can't have heard the other woman correctly. Considering they were being kidnapped and driven toward what was almost certainly a gruesome death she didn't really think seatbelts were paramount. Selena sighed, turned dark, annoyed eyes toward Gina. "I said, put your seatbelt on, ni?a. I don't like repeating myself."

Selena was reminding Gina more and more of Alejandro. Without a second thought she reached for her seatbelt, wrinkling her nose when she had to touch the gang scum's hip to get it. And of course, he was half sitting on it. "Excuse me," she mumbled, jerking it toward her. He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. She latched the belt and shifted her hips as close to Selena and as far away from him as she could. Selena latched her own seatbelt.

"Safety first," Gina mumbled and attempted to settle as comfortably as she could when the driver pulled out of the alley and into traffic. He was driving at a normal rate, not trying to attract attention.

"Gina, love," Selena said calmly, after they'd been driving for a few minutes. "I don't think they speak English."

The guy in front passenger seat, who seemed to be temporarily in charge, confirmed this when he turned around and snapped at them in Spanish to quit speaking. Selina nodded benignly, waited for a few minutes and then leaned heavily against Gina and whispered, "I'm going to need you to stab your friend over there in the neck. Do you think you can manage that?"

Gina gaped at Selena for a moment, thought about her request, and then nodded slowly. She would do what she had to do, but now she was wishing she'd told Selena earlier about her botched stabbing job of the evening before. She might not be the right woman for this sort of thing.

"Good girl," Selena praised her quietly. "We're pulling onto the freeway. Now's a good time to start digging for that knife."

Gina didn't need to be told twice. Mostly because if she stopped to think about it, there was no way she would do something so dangerous as pull a switchblade on three gangbangers in the tight confines of the back seat of a car with Alejandro's elderly mother as backup. But somehow the lady had as much of a commanding presence as her son and Gina seemed willing to follow her into this suicidal battle.

She plunged her hand into her cleavage, drawing the attention of the guy beside her, while Selena pulled her own skirt up, reaching for something underneath. "What you doing there, chica?" the guy asked from beside Gina.

Gina shrugged, pulling the blade and flipping it open. "She told me to stab you in the throat and I'm an obedient little soldier," Gina told him.

But also squeamish, she thought as she closed her eyes and thrust the knife before he could bring his hands up to defend himself. She felt the blade sink easily into his flesh. Too easily. Shouldn't it have hit his carotid or something? She cracked an eye only to see that she'd stuck the knife right through his eyeball and into his brain. He was dead, sitting up on the end of her knife. Or at least she was pretty certain he was dead. His other eye was open, and he was twitching, but his shoulders were slumped and he wasn't moving otherwise.

"Oh my god," she gasped snatching her hands away. "I'm so sorry!"

A hand grabbed her by the back of the head and shoved her down into the dead man's lap. Bang, bang. Shots rang out, glass shattered. Gina covered her ears. Too late. They were already ringing from the gunfire. The car swerved wildly, bounced, swerved some more, swayed from side to side and then began to slow.

"Fucking puta, you killed him," the driver was screaming. "I'm going to fucking kill you!"

"You're going to pull over," Selena said calmly. "Unless you want the next one to go right through your skull like your friend here."

Gina tilted her head and looked up at the guy she'd stabbed. His body was slumped forward, blood dripping down his face and onto her. She cringed back. "Ew," she mumbled.

"You'll need a stronger stomach than that if you are to survive my son. You should also probably learn the difference between a neck and an eye," Selena observed. "You can sit up now."

The car was pulled to the side of the road. Selena snapped her fingers toward the driver. "Gun and phone. Now. Hesitate and I take your head."

The man did not hesitate. He passed the items back to Selena. She took them and stared coldly at him through the rear-view mirror. "You can tell your boss that he not only fucked with Alejandro, Reyes' man, but he came after the widow of Viktor Morales, El Escorpion. This was a stupid move. Who do you think taught our son the things that he knows? There will be no mercy for fools."

Gina had sat up and was looking around the car in a daze. Selena had shot the front passenger in the head and shattered the window in the process. They were pulled over on the side of an overpass. Luckily it wasn't a well used overpass and there was no traffic.

"You steady, ni?a?" Selena asked, eyeing Gina while continuing to hold her gun on the driver.

"Uh huh," Gina said faintly.

"Good, take this," she said, handing Gina the gun she'd taken. "Shoot him if he tries anything. You," she snapped at the driver, waving her own gun, indicating the door. "Get out and start hauling bodies to the side of the road."

Gina swallowed a gag and tried to look as tough as her new mother-in-law. She suspected she was failing miserably. Selena climbed out of the car with the younger man, her body clearly stiff with discomfort. She was in her early 70's and Gina knew she'd had her fair share of health issues. However, she was steady and strong as she followed the gang guy around the car, aiming her gun at his head while he jerked the back door open to pull the body next to Gina out. Though she'd been expecting it, Gina jumped back and aimed her gun at him too just in case he was foolish enough to try anything. He had the body halfway out when Selena stopped him to retrieve her knife.

Even the hardened gangster paled and muttered, "Madre de Dios!" when she yanked the switchblade out of his friend's eye socket with a nasty sounding squelch.

Gina swallowed hard but continued to watch and move her gun around the interior of the car, keeping it trained on the bad guy as he moved the second body out of the car. Once it was thrown to the side of the road, Selena smiled grimly at their helper and shot him in the thigh. Gina's mouth fell open. Her new mother-in-law was hardcore!

After his screams of agony died down Selena said calmly, "I couldn't have you getting away too quickly. You'll be pleased to know I didn't hit anything major. Now you remember my message?"

"Fuck you, you vicious old cunt!" he shouted.

"Oh dear, that wasn't my message at all," she sighed, aiming for his other leg.

"No, no!" he shouted. "Viktor Morales widow… Scorpion!"

"Very good," she praised and slid carefully into the driver's seat turning the key in the ignition. With calm resignation, as though she were going for a Sunday drive, she shoulder-checked and pulled the car back onto the ramp. "Seatbelt, Gina."

Gina stared at her in complete astonishment as she automatically slid back into her seat and reached for the belt. Ten minutes ago, she'd been convinced she was going to die on her wedding day. Now she suspected that her mother-in-law hadn't had a single worry on that count. Hell, the two women hadn't even sustained a single scratch during the entire kidnapping, which had taken a total of probably twenty-five minutes from the time the priest first started talking to them until now.

Selena glanced at Gina in the rear-view mirror. "You have something you'd like to say to me?"

Gina tilted her head. Yes, there were many things she wanted to say to Selena Morales; to ask her. Like who exactly was she? How did she know how to handle herself so well? Who was El Escorpion? And could Selena teach Gina to become brave like her? Instead she said the first thing that popped into her brain. "You shot two men, commanded that entire situation from start to finish like a pro and your hat is still exactly the same as it was when you entered the church." Wonder and admiration mixed in her voice.

Selena laughed and eyed her new daughter-in-law with indulgence. "Si, ni?a. While you accidentally stabbed a man in the eye and now you have blood in your hair and on your beautiful dress."

Revulsion twisted Gina's face as she looked down at herself. Sure enough, she once more had streaks of blood all over her arms and the front of her dress. Panic began to swell and short breaths burst from her lips. She closed her eyes tight and reminded herself that she was safe now, they couldn't get her. She glanced around and reached beside her for a discarded shirt to scrub away some of the blood.

"Here, take this," Selena said, passing the cell phone back to Gina and eyeing her as though to make sure she wasn't about to completely freak out. "I'm no good with these. I got him to tell me the code while he was moving the bodies, it's 7089."

Gina took it and typed the code in. She was relieved when the phone actually unlocked, and she immediately called Alejandro. He picked up right away, growling, "Si, who is this?"

"Alejandro, it's me," Gina said softly, her voice wobbly. She felt a rush of emotion at hearing his deep voice. Tears started in the corners of her eyes and she brushed at them impatiently. Stupid really, she managed to kill a guy and get through a kidnapping without tears but the moment she heard his voice she was ready to fall to pieces.

"Gina, where the fuck are you?" he demanded immediately, his voice rising in volume. "Are you safe?"

It was no use, the tears spilled over and a tiny hiccoughing sob escaped her lips. She tried to smother the sounds. "We're safe. We're both safe," she assured him in a high-pitched watery voice. "Your mama saved us. We're driving though, I don't know where we are."

"Of course she saved you," he snapped. "I was extremely relieved when I discovered this fool had her kidnapped with you. I knew she would get you to safety. Put the phone on speaker so I can talk to her."

Gina did as he commanded and held the phone out so Selena could talk. Rather than bother with any kind of emotion, the two held a quick, clipped conversation, agreeing that the best place for the women to meet was a remote café on the way to the airport.

When Alejandro said, "Keep my bride safe," to his mother, Gina felt the need to defend herself. After all, she'd somewhat held her own. "I stabbed a guy and I did a better job this time! I actually killed him."

Selena snorted but didn't bother interrupting to tell how Gina had missed her mark by a long shot. She probably wasn't going to make the best mafia wife. But dammit, she could bake and dance, and she had plenty of other wonderful qualities. And despite everything, Alejandro had chosen her and she had chosen him. They were a team now.