Page 153 of Dissolving Prejudice

“No.” My throat closed up. “That can’t be.” Dion hated me, that was true, but there was no way he’d kill Shay-Lee, right? Of course he would, just like he’d killed Iván.

“You think he’s above killing your bitch? Please,” Oro chuckled. “It was one painful death, or so I was told by the men who did it. Anyway, after getting rid of the body, this necklace is the only thing left from your ugly bitch—”

Before he could shit out more poison from his mouth, I head-butted him, knocking him off my lap and onto the floor. My wounds reopened, and blood poured down my face as I glared at Shay-Lee’s necklace, which fell from Oro’s hand and landed on the ground right in front of me. It was so close, almost close enough for me to touch. Sweating bullets, I looked at the necklace. The pure gold shouldn’t be on this dirty floor, and desperate, I tried reaching it. “F-fuck,” I groaned in pain while stretching my leg as far as I could. My body burned with the effort, but I pushed through the ache until the chair moved a little, and my foot nudged the jewel. But then, right as I scraped it with my toe, Oro beat me to it and easily picked it up from the floor.

“Didn’t you hear what I said?” He bent close while holding the necklace like it was some medal. “Your bitch is dead.” He spat the words, then wiped the blood from his nose. “He died because of you, asshole. But hey—” His lips curled into one ugly smile. “—at least now he’s reunited with his daddy in hell.”

An unparalleled feeling hit me, turning my body ice-cold. Yet this awful darkness that enveloped me wasn’t anger but doom. Cold, deep, endless doom that even death seemed small in comparison to. It left me speechless, thoughtless, but mostly soulless. In all those years I spent apart from Shay-Lee, I was willing to sacrifice my whole being just for his sake, and I had. I did things I shouldn’t have done, crossed lines one should never cross and broke promises I’d swore to always keep. All of that had left me scarred and bruised for life. Mentally and physically, I had lost myself in the process of keeping Shay-Lee safe, and yet, I’d do it all again if needed to. He was my day, my night, my fucking God. He was why I’d stayed alive up until this point, but not anymore. Now, it really was all for nothing because he was gone. Dead. Murdered because of me. He’d perished from this world, and with him, so did my last resort.

“Here,” Oro said a second before something hit my face and fell into my lap. “You can have this worthless shit,” he added.

And while he tried being mean, he did have a point. Without its owner, Shay-Lee’s necklace really was worthless. Just a piece of junk that had lost all meaning.

Staring at this damn necklace, I remembered seeing it on my mom’s neck, then on Iván’s, and lastly, on Llorón’s. I hoped he would never take it off and that with him, this cycle of pain would finally end, but it all came crashing down. My worst nightmare came to life, and yet, I had nothing left in me to even shed a single tear. In fact, I had nothing left in me at all, as I was no longer a man, let alone a human.

Shay-Lee

“There’s no way you can get out of those ropes,” Jordan told me, but I ignored him, as I had for the past hour or so, and continued trying to get free. Thus far, other than getting chafed by the ropes, I’d made zero progress.

“The knots are too tight, and you’ve been trying to loosen them for over an hour now.”

“Just shut up,” I shouted and tried moving again for nothing. “Fuck!” Tears started to flow down my cheeks, and I blinked my eyes, trying to make them stop. My life was collapsing in front of me, and I couldn’t do shit about it because I was tied to a stupid chair while Camilo was being tortured. My stomach flipped, and I felt sick with the mere thought.

“I just can’t do nothing while he’s there. I just can’t.” I broke down, my face hot from sweat and tears.

“I understand that it’s hard for you, but what you’re doing clearly isn’t working.”

My eyes snapped open, and furious, I stared straight ahead. “You understand?” I hissed. He sure had guts saying that, considering he never once cared for someone other than himself.

“Yeah, I understand that you’re worried for him, but we better face reality, Shay-Lee. We’re screwed.”

“So what am I supposed to do? Just give up like you did?” I turned to face him, although the room was too dark to actually see anything.

“I-I didn’t give up,” he said in protest.

“Sure you did, ’cause you’re a fucking loser, Jordan.” While speaking, I moved my hands, which were tied behind my back, trying to wriggle out of the ropes. “You always were such a loser. Shit. Just thinking about it pisses me off.”

“D-don’t let your frustration out on me.” His voice shuddered. “I get that you’re angry, but I’m not the reason we’re here.”

His pathetic words made me stop moving, and I breathed through my nose while rage simmered through me. “You’re not why we’re here?”

“N-no.”

“Oh really? Because if I recall correctly, none of this shit would have happened if you hadn’t been a psychopathic liar who helped my father get away with his crimes.”

I heard his chair dragging on the floor before he spoke. “How does that have anything to do with this?”

“It has everything to do with it! If you had just stayed out of my life, as you should have, then Camilo would have never gone to jail.”

He sighed. “You realize you don’t even make sense, right?”

“I make perfect sense.”

If Camilo stayed out of prison, he would have never signed that deal with Dion, meaning he would have never worked for him again and, more importantly, never met Oro. See? Perfect sense.

“Like I said, I’m sorry about your dad, but I was terrified back then. He would have killed me, too, you know?”

“So what?” I snapped, my brain nearly exploding with anger. “You could have at least tried helping me, even afterward. You had the whole trial to stand up for someone other than your own ass, but you didn’t. You didn’t because you’re a coward.” I knew telling him this now was pointless, but I was too angry to stop. Frustrated over life, I let it all out. Besides, lashing out at him was probably the last thing left to do as I waited for Oro to return and shoot us.