Page 118 of Keepsake

A silly thing I installed when I bought my apartment, when my life started and ended with MMA.

In a way, Mamá was right to hate it. This was all I knew. The walls shouldn’t be so empty. My dating life should be more than a couple of disastrous dates throughout the year.

I was forty-six.

Shit. Forty-six and in love for the first time.

The bag swayed with the aggressive punch, and still I wouldn’t stop tearing my own soul apart, never answering her.

Then she came around. That BMW didn’t belong in my neighborhood. I could smell her perfume from across the door. She screamed my name, her fist banging on the wood, but I kept punching the bag until her voice was hoarse.

“Don’t do it,” she asked quietly.

I stopped right away, breath stuck in my lungs. I held the bag, frozen in place with her raw tone.

“Alvaro,” she called, causing goosebumps all over my skin.

It killed me not to open the door, but I couldn’t give her the opportunity to change my mind. And she could. She would. Because I would do anything for that woman.

But David killed my sister.

Sofia was the one who locked the garage doors and turned on the engine that afternoon, but it was his words that played in her mind while she did it. He abused her since she was a teenager. He crushed her self-esteem and everything that made her the ray of sunshine she was.

Sofia was softness, she was giggles and warmth. She was… like Vienna. The person who always tried to make the best of things, who laughed the loudest.

She was good. Too good. My fate didn’t matter anymore, but if I was going to be dragged to hell for my sins, I was going to bring David with me.

“Alvaro, don’t do it,” Logan begged again.

My feet moved before I knew what they were doing. I crossed the living room, my heart lunging at the sound of her broken voice. I stepped closer to the front door, the only barrier between us.

My hand covered the door, still quiet, jaw set, trying my hardest to resist the temptation.

I could take her and pretend I didn’t carry guilt over my shoulders. I could let her pay him or pay him myself like I planned before.

Many options were better than the one I was going for. I knew that was true.

But I chose my path. I’d end David like he ended my sister. I needed it. Sofia needed it. The kids and even Logan needed it.

“Go home, Logan,” I called roughly, trying to scare her off.

I turned around, ignoring her voice, and my fist connected with the punching bag once more.

“Enoughpeopleoutthere.”Paddy’s eyes, full of greed, scanned the crowd.

“Do you have to do this every time?” I snapped.

Saying I was done with him clearly meant nothing, because I found myself back at his dirty gym. Paddy rubbed his hands with eagerness, pissing me off even more.

The money was never a factor, and my rage was never resolved. My empty life mocked me and this—whatever pawn I let myself be in Paddy’s games—wasn’t worth it anymore.

The mission played in my mind. Remove David from the kids’ lives and go home.

The crowd thickened outside, making Paddy jump on his feet and turn a cruel smile my way. “Whenever you’re ready, Toro.”

Paddy was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He knew whose palms to grease, who to befriend. He always played the sheep card in front of me, but something changed today. I could see beyond his posture and his lies.

“El Toro,” I corrected his shit pronunciation. With a last look, I went through the door. My eyes scanned every face, memorizing the moment I wanted to forget.

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