Page 87 of Taboo Flames

My gaze sharpens, and I gasp. “Ysabel?”

He nods. “That was her name. The woman I loved. Ysabel King.”

“It can’t be,” I say in shock. Blood rushes to my head immediately, and I feel dizzy. I haven’t heard that name in years—my mother’s name.

“You knew my mother?” I question.

His eyes become wide as saucers. “Sh—she’s your mother? It can’t be. She—” he trails off. “I never found you. I thought you died all those years ago.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I snap. I’m already too over my head to take more cryptics.

“She sent me to find you, but you were gone. The house was locked up, and the windows boarded. What happened?”

“What do you mean she sent you to find me? She’s the one who walked away from me. She abandoned me,” I hiss angrily.

“What?” he gasps, looking confounded. “Why the hell will she do that? She loved you.”

I snort. “Don’t give me that bullshit.”

“It’s not bullshit. I have endless detailed letters describing you doing the smallest, silliest things, like that one time you tied your shoelace with your left hand.”

I still remember that day. It had taken me so long, but it was worth it to see Mama whooping and cheering like we’d won the lottery.

“Then what happened?” I demand. Everything I’ve ever known to be true is being redefined, and I don’t know how to feel about it.

“She was threatened into leaving. It was a matter of wrong place, wrong time. She saw something she never should have, and a dangerous man wanted to make sure his secret would stay a secret. She was given a choice between staying and watching as you were dismembered or running and never coming back,” Estefan muttered, sorrow lining his eyes. At that moment, he looks old. Far older than his years.

“She…she should have told me,” I murmur.

“By the time her letter got to me, I couldn’t find you. She wanted me to bring you away from the city, and then we could become the family I’d always wanted.” He shakes his head defeatedly. “But those monsters aren’t ever content,” he says, his voice coming out hard. “They went after her and butchered her.”

If this is true, then it changes everything. I look over to the bar and check my watch. My informant should be here already.

“Can I reach you later?” I ask.

“Anything for Ysabel’s son,” he replies.

I hurry to the bar and take a seat, but after over twenty minutes, I come to the conclusion that, just like the others, my latest informant is another dead end.

I don’t want to think about everything I’ve just learned from Estefan, but it replays in my head like pieces of a puzzle I’ve never had complete parts to.

A lot of things make more sense to me now, but still, I can’t take Estefan’s words as rock-solid facts until I’ve spoken to Giordano. He’s the one who informed me that my mother was spotted in another city with someone else.

For the longest time, I hated my mother, and I don’t know what to think now that I know she was never the villain.

I jump into my car, my head spinning in different directions. The very foundation of my existence has been shaken, and I don’t fucking like it.

I know I should wait until tomorrow to pay Giordano a visit, but my body is buzzing with so much energy, and I need to figure out the real story. I’m tired of being in the dark.

Giordano’s gate is already open with a car pulling out of it when I get there. It’s the only reason I’m able to see him laughing boisterously in the courtyard. I leave my car outside and storm inside, surprised.

His eyes widen in shock for just a second when he sees me, and it’s enough for me to take note of it.

“Hello, son,” he says in the placid voice I’m used to.

The man he was standing with turns around and scurries off.

Something cold tingles in my spine. What the hell is going on here? Just a while ago, I was told Giordano is on bed rest because of health issues. It sounded really serious too.

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