“Hey, asshole!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

“What are you doing?” Cali hissed, fear tingeing her voice. “Are you insane?”

“I have to pee,” I told her calmly, while inside, I was terrified. If this didn’t work, we were both dead.

I heard rustling outside the door, but no one came in. Sighing, I shifted, clenching my fingers around the chains above my cuffs. This was not going to be fun. “Yo, cocksucker. I’m talking to you, you dickless pussy.”

“Nova, you have a death wish,” Cali whispered. “Please don’t get him in here. He will only beat me again. I can’t take much more. The baby…”

“You will both be fine.” With everything else going on, I’d forgotten she was pregnant, but I’d make sure nothing happened to my baby niece or nephew. With that giving me extra incentive, I adjusted my hold, taking more weight on the arm that wasn’t injured, but there was no way of not causing more damage to the dislocated shoulder.

The door was kicked open, and a seething Manuel Ramirez stomped into the room. His face was twisted with hate, his pupils blown out, letting me know loud and clear he was hyped up on coke. Was there anything more pathetic than a drug dealer who was addicted to his own product?

“What’d you say to me, bitch?” he slurred, his accent so think I barely understood him as he walked toward me menacingly. “You dare to call me a cocksucker?”

“Your breath sure does smell like you just spat out your boyfriend’s dick,” I taunted. “You got a little man juice right there.” I touched my tongue to the corner of my mouth to indicate where it was, smirking at him. “Go ahead and lick it all up, Manny. I’m sure you want to get every last drop.”

He was pretty fast for someone high as a kite. Or maybe it was because of the drugs. One second, he was across the room. The next, he was standing right in front of me, his fist lifted to strike me. I let him. His hands were like ham hocks, and the blow dazed me for a moment, leaving my ears ringing. I let my head drop forward, pretending to be knocked out from the punch.

“No!’ Cali screamed. “Leave her alone, Manuel. She has nothing to do with this.”

He turned to face her. “She helped you run from me, Calista. She is the reason you got away and I couldn’t marry you when the old bastard died. All that money, and he left it to his whore’s bitch of a daughter.”

“I will never marry you,” she screeched. “I will slit my own throat before I become your wife.”

“You think I want to marry you for anything other than to get the money that should have been mine to begin with? I hate you, you stupid bitch!”

He took a step toward her, and I moved before it was too late and he was out of my reach. Even in pain, I was faster than him. Jumping up, I took my full weight onto my arms, pulling myself higher so I could wrap my legs around his neck from behind.