Sweet Collateral

“She’s just a girl, Rafael.” I’m half expecting her to swat me upside the head. “She’s been taken and raped.” I drag my hand down my face. Jesus fuck. This woman. This is the damn cartel, but Maria always seems to turn a blind eye to that glaringly obvious fact.

“She sits on that balcony all day like she might never see the sun again. She eats, showers, and sleeps when she’s told to. No matter how many times I tell her she can do as she likes she just stares blankly.”

I store this information. “What do you want me to do?”

“Just talk to her. Take her around the house. Get her out of that room.”

“You’re welcome to take her out.” This isn’t a holiday camp. I have better shit to do than entertain Nero’s collateral.

She shakes her head. “It needs to be you.” I stand up and drop the empty bowl in the sink. “Please. For me.”

This damn woman. “Fine. I’ll do it later. Now stop hassling me, woman. You’re making me look soft.”

A smile spreads over her lips, crinkling the corners of her eyes. “You’re a good boy.” She straightens the collar of my shirt and kisses my cheek.

Jesus Christ.

I get back from helping Carlos with our rat problem. I’ve sent Samuel to organize tomorrow’s shipment, and I have an hour before I have to call the Colombian suppliers. As soon as I walk in the door, Maria is waiting. She takes my jacket, eyeing me meaningfully.

I go upstairs to Anna’s room. Lucas shifts awkwardly beside the door, trying not to look at me. He’s a good kid, but he’s not cut out for the cartel. It takes me a moment to spot Anna when I step inside. Through the open balcony doors, I see her long legs as she lies on the floor, a bandage covering one ankle. I move closer and lean against the doorframe. Her eyes are closed, a small smile on her lips. She’s completely naked, her once pale skin now a golden hue that accentuates the silvery scars littering her body. A week of Maria’s food has done her good. A hint of possible curves lay where once there was only bone. For a moment I can’t help but notice how beautiful she is, delicate, like a porcelain doll.

When I clear my throat, her eyes slowly open, head rolling to the side as she takes me in. It’s almost predatory; the distance in her eyes as she assesses me.

“Come on. I’m showing you the rest of the house.”

I’ve watched her routine with Maria, her inability to make a decision for herself, so I go to the closet and find a dress. She wordlessly takes it, slipping the silky material over her head until it cascades down her bare body and brushes the floor. I

We walk through the house in silence, her limping slowly behind me. Not like I didn’t have crutches brought here for her, but apparently she’d rather suffer.

I take Anna downstairs and into the games room. The guys sometimes come in here when they’re on shift, to play video games or pool.

“This is the games room. You can play pool or whatever.” I gesture around it, but she isn’t paying attention, her focus on the window. She stares out that window at the darkness beyond as though it’s her salvation, and I wonder if she was ever allowed outside.

“Come on.” I lead her down the hallway and through the back doors that lead onto the pool deck. Underwater lights illuminate the entire space in bright turquoise. “Pool and gardens.” I gesture to the encroaching darkness beyond. Her gaze fixes on the gardens beyond the pool, and she takes a hesitant step forward.

“Would you like to walk?” She stops and doesn’t answer. It’s like she wants to be a prisoner, as though she can’t voice what she wants, or maybe she doesn’t even know anymore. I start walking towards the gardens anyway, passing through the sculpted hedges that lead out onto the perfectly trimmed lawn. Rose bushes and night Jasmine bloom in the flowerbeds that line the walkway to the massive pond. I’m told my father had it built for his wife, years ago.

I reach the pond and watch as Anna trails her fingers over the flowers, pausing to smell a blood red rose in full bloom. The way she caresses the velvety petals; it’s clear she has been deprived of any kind of beauty. Her bare feet whisper over the freshly watered grass, and for a second she looks peaceful. For a moment she looks like a pretty, carefree young girl walking through a garden of flowers. How looks can be deceiving. Her gaze lifts to mine, and she watches me carefully as she moves closer to the low stone wall that lines the round pond. Her fingers over the glassy surface of the water. It’s almost childlike, an innocent curiosity. When a couple of fish come to the surface, she smiles and sits on the edge. I realize that it’s the first time I’ve seen her actually smile, and I find myself unable to tear my gaze away, helplessly lured like a lost sailor to an enchanting siren call.