The door slammed, echoing down the long hall. Maria buried her face in her hands and cried with relief. The silence that followed was a balm to her senses after what she just endured. No matter what they did to her, or how long they confined her to this dark room, she would never tell them what they wanted to know. Not even if they killed her.

Maria was the wife of a top drug lord, Juan Hernandez, and it seemed Juan was nowhere around. The fact that several million dollars in cash disappeared the same time Juan did, probably meant more to the mob than Juan's physical presence. Maria did happen to know where Juan and the money vanished to; she also knew no one was ever going to find Juan on this side of hell. As for the money, who knows, it might show up some day; most likely not. One thing Maria did know for sure, Juan would never again molest their six-year-old daughter, Mayzie.

When Juan came home with the briefcase full of money a week ago, Maria finally saw her chance to save Mayzie and perhaps herself. She had known for some time that her husband was raping their little girl on a continued basis. When Maria tried to stop Juan he beat her unconscious, threatened her life, and told her not to interfere. Little Mayzie's screams echoed in Maria's head until she thought she might lose her mind. While Juan was away from home, he kept Maria locked up so she couldn't take Mayzie and leave. Juan could ill afford to have his woman running around bad-mouthing him to his peers. Even drug dealers frown on the rape of little girls, particularly one's daughter.

"Let me fix you a drink, sweetheart," Maria said in a sultry voice. "You must be tired after your long trip."

Juan glowered at Maria and remarked, "You okay woman, I thought you said you hated me? Why are you so kind to me all at once when we've been fighting like dogs the last few weeks? If you think you can change things, you're wrong. Mayzie is my daughter, and I will do as I please with her. I could use a bourbon, though, so snap to it, woman."

Unknown to Juan, Maria had talked the man guarding her into getting some poison for the rats she claimed were overrunning the house. Maria asked the guard for arsenic, telling him the rats were huge, and he fell for it. Now Juan would receive the results of her scheming.

Maria poured a nice drink for Juan and made sure she laced it liberally with the poison. "Here you go dear," she said. "We are family and, while I will never approve of the things you do, I want us to get along for the rest of our life," Maria smiled as she toasted Juan and wished him a long life.

Juan downed his drink in one gulp; he had never been a sipper. He thought the drink tasted a bit strange, but his stupid wife never did know how to mix a good drink. Juan made Maria bring him a couple more drinks to which she added more poison and some ground up sleeping pills. It wasn't long before Juan announced he felt sleepy and was going to hit the sack.

Two hours later Maria checked on Juan and found the combination of poison and pills worked perfectly; Juan was as dead as a person could get. She used Juan's cell phone to call her brother and asked him to come over.

When Maria's brother, Antonio, arrived she explained the situation to him and asked him to dispose of Juan's body, take the suitcase of money, and disappear.

"Make sure no one ever finds Juan," she said. "You remember the swamp we used to play in don't you? There's quicksand in the one pond; a perfect place to dump the bastard." When Maria finished telling Antonio what Juan had done to their daughter; Antonio was livid with anger.

"One more thing, Antonio, take Mayzie with you and find a safe place for her. If you don't the mob will use her to make me talk and I couldn't stand that. Do you think you can manage all that needs to be done?"

"You bet, sis," Antonio replied with tears running down his face. "I wish I could have had the pleasure of killing the son-of-a-bitch myself. I guarantee nobody will ever find Juan's body, and I will do everything in my power to care for Mayzie. May god protect you and send you back to us."

Maria hugged and kissed her daughter for what might be the last time. The grief was almost more than she could bear as she watched her brother and daughter walk away. She knew, beyond a doubt, the mob boss would come for her soon. By staying, Maria had given her loved ones that much more time to flee. She sat down to wait.

Maria lay on a cot in the dark room. She lost track of time and didn't know if minutes or hours passed before she heard the door down the hall open. Footsteps echoed down the hallway coming closer and closer. Whatever would prove to be Maria's fate, the time was now.