CHAPTER 5
ELENA
It was the cold that woke her up. Icy fingers licking at her bare skin that was touching the tile floor. The only light in the room was a light bulb in the upper right corner, that looked as if it could die any minute. She wished it were dark, because the faint light showed her specks of brown on the wall she recognized as dried blood.
Elena closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. She had expected Pedro to be angry when he couldn't find Vicky, but she hadn’t expected him to do this. She imagined his footprint was imprinted onto her back.
Every breath jarred her aching body, so she wrapped her arms around her middle to keep the pain at bay. Then she did what she did whenever life dealt her a bad hand of cards—she concentrated on the positive. For starters, and most
