Page 70 of Trapped

Silas’s scoots Lucia and the twenty Squishmallows Cassiel had bought her to the center of the bed. I move to the empty space beside her and lie down next to them. Silas and I stare at each other from opposite sides of her. I smile at him. For the first time ever, I feel completely whole. I don’t want to be anywhere but with the two of them.

“How are we going to make this work, Silas?” I whisper into the silence.

“Stop.” His jaw clenches. “Don’t start the same shit of convincing yourself that you deserve less. We deserve to be happy, Thalia. We deserve to have our family together.”

I hate the way I need him to reassure me. It all feels like a dream, something I prayed for and never expected to come true.

“How will we make this work? I can’t just leave my family. Luca can’t be without her. Where will we live?” I vomit out all the questions keeping me from sleep. Silas reaches over Lucia to find my hand.

“We can go wherever you want. I don’t care as long as I’m with you. You and Lucia are my family,” he says.

My heart catches in my throat. I know where I want to be. I know more than anything that I want that damnblackpicket fence dream. I don’t care where—Houston, Arizona,Tamaulipas, anywhere in the world with him. He had been the past I was running from, and now he is the only future I can see myself running toward.

Six Months Later

September 16th

“Lucy, I’m home,” I hear from down the stairs. It was Silas’s clever way of greeting Lucia. She is too young to know Ricky Ricardo. I let his greeting fall flat to the silence of the house. I didn’t tell him Lucia was spending the night with Luca and Olivia tonight. I wanted to surprise him for our anniversary.

I smile wide and grab my black silk robe. We are still adjusting to our new home on Patricio’s estate. My uncle had built two homes—one for Adrian, and one for me. It was his way of giving back to us after the hell our father put us through.

Silas and I made a plan to split our time between Houston and Tamaulipas. I want Lucia to know the land and the animals. Iwant her to see the house I fell in love with. That’s where my heart is, but I can’t be far from my family for long. Olivia and I didn’t want to adhere to any strict schedule when it came to how we divided our time with the kids. They have their rooms here, they have their rooms in Tamaulipas, and their own space at the penthouse with Olivia. We are letting them decide. It is unconventional, but they are together and they are happy. That’s all Olivia and I care about.

“Diablita,” Silas says, watching me descend the staircase. He takes me in. I delight in the way his demon-possessed eyes take in my bare legs and the silk robe. By now, he’s figured out that the kids are gone. I filled the entire house with white lily petals, and candles light the dark house.

“Happy anniversary,” I say, making my way down to him. He pulls me into him and presses his lips to mine. I arch my back and give into his desperation. I open my mouth and devour his sweet taste. When I pull away, he groans.

“Did you forget our anniversary?” I ask.

“Never. Your gift is in the basement.”

I arch my brows, and he laughs. He grabs my hand and leads me down the hallway. He takes out a key from his back pocket and opens the door. I peer down the dark stairway. He looks back at me, and I catch the playful smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. He leads me down into the basement, hand in hand. It’s dark, and Silas doesn’t bother turning on a light. When we reach the bottom of the staircase, I’m able to make out a hospital bed in the far corner. I look at the woman lying there, strapped to the bed, and squeeze Silas’s hand tight in mine. The closer I get, the more I recognize the features. I freeze and stare at her.

“She’s been in a coma. She just woke up last month,” Silas whispers.

I can hear the roaring in my ears as my bare feet slide across the cold cement beneath me.

“Hello, Claudia,” I say when I reach her. She looks like she’s resting, but the moment she registers my voice, she sits up. Her eyes widen when she sees me.

“Where the fuck am I?” she yells, pulling on the straps.

Silas pulls on the cord in the center of the room, and Claudia winces at the bright light. I look around to find weapons surrounding us. Knives, guns, chainsaws, and other various torture devices hang on the wall. I place my hand on my heart and look at him.

“You made me my very own torture chamber?” I ask, and he smiles.

“And I brought you your very first victim,” he says with a wink.

“Fuck you both!” Claudia screams, and I send my fist into her face.

I hit her so hard my fist hurts. She begins to sob, and I look at Silas.

I had assumed Claudia was dead. That’s what Silas had led me to believe. I had been too focused on making sure Ricky recovered and my family healed in the aftermath to worry about anything else.

“How?” I ask.

“Mireya kept her alive. She was in a coma for the first three months, and we kept her alive and sedated for you.”

One of many benefits to having a sister-in-law for a nurse was her ability to play assistant to God. Mireya worked with the cartel doctor to revive Ricky and remove the bullet from his stomach. Despite Adrian’s jealous protests, she even made sure to check on Ricky while he recovered. But this… I had no idea she was capable of this. Maybe she is adjusting to our twisted world after all.

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