Page 72 of Trapped

“What the fuck is that?” I growl.

I look at the clock flashing seven a.m. and then look over at Thalia. She groans and turns over. Her eye mask that reads ‘Don’t disturb the devil’ is crooked. So is the devil-horned spa headband she fell asleep in. I can’t help but smile. My wife is still as beautiful as the day I met her.

“Turn the music down,” she grumbles.

“That’s not me,” I say, moving to the window. When I open the blinds, I see the source of all the chaos. Outside the house is a live Mexican band playing on the front lawn, with horses dancing and people holding a large banner.

“Fuck,” I mutter and run my hand over my face. I stand thereas the anger begins to simmer inside me before Thalia creeps behind me.

“Congratulations. Love, Tio Cass,” Thalia says, reading the large banner held out on the lawn.

I turn to face her, and she shakes her head.This motherfucker. He never stops with the gifts. When Lucia graduated from kindergarten, he bought her a pony. When she won the spelling bee, he bought her a Ferris wheel. A fucking Ferris wheel he put in our backyard. For her sixteenth birthday, he bought her a car that cost a small fortune. He is always trying to outdo me as a father. He is always showing up like a parasite at family functions.

We all tolerate him for Lucia. I can’t make her cry. He sucks the life out of every special occasion, and he refuses to fuck off like I tell him to. My anger goes from a simmer to a boil within me. I rush down the stairs, eager to punch him in the face, and Thalia follows behind me.

“Silas, calm down. You're gonna wake the boys,” she says.

“Too late,” I say when I reach the bottom. PJ, our nephew, and Abel, our son, stand at the bottom of the stairs in their pajamas.

“It was Lucia!” Abel says, pointing to the door.

“Lucia Josefina Macias, what the fuck is going on?!” I scream and open the front door.

Lucia watches in awe from the front porch with a big smile on her face. Time has turned her into a replica of her mother. Tall, long, black hair, and beautiful eyes. I was grateful to watch her grow, even if it meant I have to threaten the men who now gawk at her. Even now, I catch the glances from the men in the band. Their eyes roam over her silk pajama pants and matching button-up shirt. I put my arm around her and glare at them.

“Where is he?” I ask.

“He’s not here, Dad. Calm down. It’s a graduation present,” Lucia says over the loud music. And I do, because Lucia has always been the thing to calm me.

“That was sweet,” Thalia says, and I glare at her from behind my daughter.We’re supposed to be team Fuck Cassiel.

Down the road, I can see Adrian making his way over. Mireya and the girls follow behind him. Thalia and the boys rush out to meet them, and I stay with my arm glued to Lucia. There’s no way in hell I’ll leave her with these savages.

“Where’s Luca?” I ask, looking around.

“The noise was too much for him. He went inside,” she replies.

Over the years, Lucia remained close to Luca. We turned the torture chamber in the basement into a sensory room for Luca when he stayed over. We had encouraged Lucia to give Luca space so they could learn to live their own separate lives. He spent more time with Adan learning coding, and had proven to have skills that were needed for the cartel’s advanced security unit. Lucia will be going to Sacred Hearts University and working toward her own career.

“I’m gonna go check on him,” Lucia says, and I let her go.

I know that, even though she and Luca are both thriving in their own ways, she is still hesitant about leaving him.

“Compadre!” Adrian says, pulling me in for a bro hug.

“¡Buenos días!” I say, greeting him, Mireya, and their two younger daughters, Jasmine and Evelyn.

“Hi, Tio,” Jasmine says. She is ten, the same age as Abel. She is a little hellion, but I cave to her charm because she looks so much like my wife.

“Hi, teeoh,” Evelyn says. She is three and was definitely an accident, but she has Adrian by the balls. Abel had been in an accident, too. Well, that’s what Thalia thinks, anyway. I would have had more kids, but after I had to split my time with Lucia and Thalia with Abel, I decided to snip my balls.

“PJ, calm down!” Mireya yells toward the lawn.

I watch as Abel and PJ punch each other. Abel can be a little psycho at times, and is the real reason I got rid of the torture chamber. Jasmine walks up, and they stop. She is the craziest of the three. A few times, she had made them both cry.

The music continues to play, and Thalia invites everyone in for a big breakfast. After brunch, Mireya offers to take the kids to the park, and Lucia and Luca go back to the hotel, where they work part time, and I finally get to enjoy time alone with my wife.

“I have a surprise for you,” I say, opening the front door. I had paid the band to stay behind and play one more song.

“Silas, I’m in my pajamas,” she says.

“I know. I’d prefer you naked, but this will do.” She rolls her eyes, but not before I catch the red specks in them igniting.

When the music begins, I watch the smile slowly grow on her face. The same melody that had plagued her in my absence has become her favorite remedy. I bring her in, and she wraps her arms around me. I breathe in her sweet scent and run my fingers through her hair. I move her around the kitchen as our bodies move to the song.Our song.

There had been a time we both felt trapped by the world we live in, and the choices made for us. But the truth is, I don’t mind living in a cage. As long as she is in the cage with me, then I am free.

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