Page 12 of Keepsake

I held my breath as she released hers, her voice sounding tired on the phone. “I’m not going to drag your family through that. But I did talk to a lawyer already.”

“Logan…” I palmed my head.

She chuckled softly. “It’s just my cousin. I needed to go there with someone on my side.”

“I was on your side.”

She didn’t respond to that. Instead, she said. “I want to talk to the kids. I want to tell them about the situation and at least have a chance to be part of their lives. I’m not going to lie here, if they hate me,” her voice lost its firm quality, “if they hate me, I won’t change anything or uproot them. I just want a chance. At least to be Aunty Logan, you know?”

“Tía Logan?” I chanced.

“If they call me tía, that angry vein in your mother’s forehead might explode.”

I chuckled at the image. “Don’t worry. If it didn’t explode when I was doing MMA, I can’t believe it would with just a word.”

She took a breath, and then she broke my heart with the next thing she said. “We used to watch you fight, Sofia and I. She would tape them, and we watched them together over and over again.”

My mouth felt uncomfortably dry. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I hear a smile in her voice. “The good ones we watched many times. I think I know all your moves. She thought you were the coolest guy on earth. Her big brother hung the moon.”

My hands strangled the steering wheel like I could crush it between my fingers. Grief like nothing else took residence on my chest and for a second there, I couldn’t breathe. Eyes on the road, but I couldn’t see anything else.

“I’ll text later with a date to meet the kids,” I rushed to say.

Before Logan could say anything, I hung up the call and breathed through my nose. My heart ticked like a time bomb, my mind frail, unprotected. I couldn’t keep myself together.

My vision doubled up, it only focused back when my phone chimed with a message.

Logan:I’m sorry.

My discontent ripped through my chest, coming out in a horrific scream.

Trying to get back to myself, I headed for the only place that could numb the guilt enough to make me forget I let Sofia feel so alone. She left this world, leaving us all behind…in shambles.

“You’resupposedletme know before you come around, huh? I have to work the bets.” He tapped my shoulder.

“Hands off,” I growled.

Paddy raised his hands quickly like I was an unhinged animal. It was a fair assessment. I disliked the man, but he ran the illegal betting ring, and he let me in whenever I wanted.

And I wanted in now.

I needed it.

As I wrapped my knuckles, my deadly stare ahead, my body buzzing with adrenaline, Paddy moved around. His twitchy body observing me, his yellow teeth showing with a smirk.

“Ya know Castillo, some would say you should look for a shrink. Fixing your life in a ring isn’t the answer.”

I finished with one hand and moved to the other. “Yet, how would you make money?”

“I’m trying to be your friend.”

“Don’t.”

“Come on.” He dared to approach. “We’ve known each other for—”

I worked fast, closing my hand around his neck, shoving his slimy body against the rusty lockers of his shitty gym. No one would come to this hellhole if it wasn't for illegal betting. This shit wouldn’t survive a day.

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