Page 29 of Trapped

I pull on the reins of Onyx, the black horse I had purchased for Thalia. It had always been my plan to look for her. I was just waiting for the right time. I was waiting to eliminate Claudia and find my siblings, but perfect timing doesn’t exist in our world.

Onyx’s trots slow to a walking pace. I stare out at the mountain ranges in front of me. I needed to get some air after last night’s events, and the scenery provides me with the serenity I need. I miscalculated my little devil. I thought if I showed her the house and gave her the space to voice her concerns that she would open up to me.

“I take it she didn’t welcome you with open arms?” I look over to my cousin, Ale, mounted on her horse next to me. Alejandra Macias is a year younger than me. Growing up, she desired nothing more than acceptance from all our male cousins. To be one of us. Only, most of them did not survive Ivan Consuelo’s wrath. Of the twenty men murdered on that bus outside the FDC, one had been Ale’s father and another had been her older brother. After the bus bombing, she, like Thalia, had been forced into the male dominant world of the cartel. She had been the one to salvage what was left of our family business. Over the years, she did not only prove herself to me, but she is one of the few people I trust.

“Nah, she tried to kill me.”Twice. But who’s counting?My dear wife had aimed her gun at me more times than she smiled at me.

“Jasper looks like he got his ass handed to him,” she replies.

I may have snapped a picture of Jasper after my wife sent her fist flying into his eye socket the night we saved her from Fellipe Gallardo. I may have also sent that picture to Nero and Cass. Then, like wildfire, it spread amongst every member in every chapter of Los Peregrinos. Apparently, it had made its way through to the cartel as well. Somewhere along the way, they had created memes of the photo. Memes that went viral on social media.

Me after working 8 hours of overtime.One user wrote above the picture.

When she goes through your phone. Another wrote.

My pussy after one night with a sapphic cartel boss.That was one obviously created by Ale.

“She’s got veneno in her blood,” I tell my cousin.

“She’s a Macias. What did you expect?” Ale responds.

Ale has never met Thalia. Like me, though, she has heard the rumors, and she is all about that women empowerment shit. She idolizes my wife’s strength and ruthlessness. I, on the other hand, am not impressed. Thalia is strong, but she is also stubborn. Ungrateful. And did I mention infuriating?

I had left the gun unloaded at her bedside as a test, and she had failed. With flying fucking colors, the woman failed. I made her sleep handcuffed to me all night, thinking I would be able to sleep. Yet red heels and black lipstick tormented my circadian rhythms.

“Were you able to break in and steal the safe?” I ask. With Thalia out of the penthouse and Olivia and her children at Patricio’s, I ordered my men to steal the safe from Thalia’s closet.

“Jasper retrieved it last night. It was filled with typical items—birth certificate, false passports and IDs—but also, there were a ton of threats. Someone has been threatening her. Jasper confirmed with the hotel staff.”

“What kinds of threats?” I ask.

“The safe was filled with creepy baby doll memorabilia and notes taunting Thalia about a baby.”

“A baby?” I ask. Ale forwards me the photos of various notes. All of them with a similar question.

Where’s the baby, Thalia?

Could she have had a child while I was gone? Is that the nagging feeling pestering me in the pit of my stomach? Ale reads my fallen expression.

“There’s no trace of her ever having had a child, or any paperwork on an abortion.” I nod my head. The feeling in my stomach doesn’t flee, though. There are other ways to get rid of a baby, and the Consuelos can afford the closed mouths.

“There’s something else,” she says, scratching the back of her neck. “The guys are positive the threats are coming from Claudia.”

Fucking Claudia.Of course, she would be behind the cryptic threats and messages. Claudia loves to play games. I know because I am currently stuck in a game with the conniving bitch myself. I look down and reread the notes. It makes sense that Claudia is behind this. Thalia is one of several things standing in her way. She would benefit from an alliance with Los Bandoleros because she needs someone to do her dirty work—one of many reasons she could never stand toe to toe against Thalia.

“What did my padrino say?” I ask. Aurelio Reyes, the father of the psychopath Axel, Adan, and Ariella, also happened to be my godfather. My father’s right-hand man and the same person who had helped me escape prison. After the bus bombing, I stayedat the FDC for a year, assuming the identity of the man who stabbed me.

When Aurelio agreed to get me out, he had one condition: stay away from Thalia. She was, and still continues to be, a sore topic of conversation for him. He is a murderous son of a bitch, and more so when it comes to his wife and the people she loves. Aurelio is not a force to be reckoned with. Any questions I had about Thalia were always received with short, vague answers. It was Axel who learned early on that knowledge is power. He strung me along in his blood thirsty activities, with promises of tidbits of information and flower delivery services.

“He said he’d look into it. He was more concerned about Thalia, and I told him she was safe. Everyone thinks she’s dead. The plane blew up mid-flight.”

The moment Jasper informed me that Fellipe Gallardo was a member of Los Bandoleros, I flew straight from Arizona to Houston. Thalia has a large target on her back, and Los Bandoleros have been plotting her demise. I don’t think about the ache in my chest at the thought of what would have happened if I hadn’t shown up when I did. My only regret is not torturing Fellipe. Had I had the time, I would have fed him to the pigs behind the house. Limb by limb. I’d keep him conscious long enough to watch them feast on his arm or a leg.

Ale and I ride the horses back to the stable and get in my truck, so we can fulfill our duties in town. It’s our job to make sure the locals have everything they need. The same way our fathers, and their fathers before them, had done. We pass out supplies and food to everyone. I have a reputation built in the city, but in this small ranch town, I make sure my people are taken care of. They pledged their loyalty to my family, and in return, we fund their businesses, build them temples, and help them live comfortable lives. When my father passed away, they mourned in the streetsfor him. Graffiti fills concrete with his name, and shrines have been built. They idolize him.

I’ll never forget the day I found out my entire family had been massacred. The lonely nights I spent in that dark cell. It was there that I had met my friend Efren. He would deliver meals to me while I stayed in solitary confinement. He was the one to get the message to Aurelio that I was still alive.

When I came out, Ale had already been working closely with Aurelio to keep our family business up and running. Aurelio trained me for the right time to return to Tamaulipas. He found me shelter with the motorcycle gang, and when the time was right, he was the one who served me Ivan Consuelo’s head on a silver platter.

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