Page 58 of Bound to the Crime Lord

“I only say this so you don’t move rashly. You need to be smart and not let your emotions rule your thinking. He has been planning this day for years. He has had time to think thingsthrough and prepare for every possible outcome. He will bank on your being reckless.”

He was right, but instead of agreeing with him, I kept quiet.

It had just turned three, and we were outside the abandoned, dingy-looking cabin.

Just as I was about to air my frustrations, a sleek Range Rover pulled up the winding driveway that led to the cabin. Rodrigo sat in the driver's seat, staring at our enemy head-on.

He had been silent the entirety of the car ride up here. I knew that he was taking Leo’s betrayal as hard as I was. He had been a brother, and to now realize that it had been nothing but a lie cut far deeper than one would like to admit.

“Remember to keep your calm,mijo,” my uncle warned me yet again. “Do not allow him to get the better of you.”

My fists were balled at my sides and my jaw was locked, riddled with tension and anxiety. “I know, uncle.”

I watched as the doors to the car opened and out came my brother alone, with no Juliette in sight.

I reached for the handle when my uncle stopped me with his hand. “Do not let the emotions get the better of you,mijo.Thinkbefore you act.”

I ground my teeth, looking over my shoulder at the old man. “You don’t need to remind me, uncle. I know what I’m doing.”

I hopped out of the car and came face to face with my one and only sibling for the very first time.

He was a striking image of my,our, father. The resemblance was almost uncanny. It felt like staring into the eyes of the man who had raised me all my life.

We were just about the same height, but I had a few inches on him. I was slightly bigger than he was, but he seemed a lot beefier, whereas I was leaner.

Diego spread his arms out wide. “Welcome, brother. I would have welcomed you when you landed a few days ago, but not allour guests had arrived. You see, I had been hoping you would bring that lovely girlfriend of yours with you, and when I learned you left her at home, I just knew that wouldn’t do.”

I balled my fists and walked forward until I came to the tip of my car. My hand itched to reach for my holster and draw my gun, but I needed to be patient. There was no need for blood to be spilled, especially blood of the same DNA.

“Hello, Diego.”

My brother scowled. “A man of few words, I see.”

“Where are they?”

“Who is the ‘they’you speak of, exactly?”

“Enough with the games, Diego. Where are my mother and Juliette?”

“Someone is a little testy. I would think that you would show me some manners. I am your older brother, after all. We share the same blood, same name.”

I ground my teeth. “I won’t ask you again. Where are they?”

He waved me off. “That’s no fun, brother. We should bond first. Let me go first. What’s your favorite color? You seem like a magenta kind of man.”

“Enough,” I bit out, drawing my weapon and pointing it at him. “I’m tired of your silly little games. Where is my mother and girlfriend?”

Diego’s lips pulled into a wry smile. “I wasn’t sure exactlyhowimportant she was to you. But it seems that my baby brother over here has found himself in the web of love. How sweet.”

My finger tickled the trigger.

Diego raised his hand in the air and snapped his fingers.

The wooden door of the cabin creaked open, drawing my attention to it. My heart tumbled all the way to the floor when I locked with a pair of eyes I had not seen in almost twentyyears. Eyes that I had believed were shut permanently almost two decades ago.

“Mama.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

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