Page 22 of Echoes and Oaths
“You tell me you’re back here because of a mission,” she said, her voice tight. “Not because ofus. You say you love me and that you left mebecauseof that love. What kind of twisted logic is that? What kind of organization employs a man to kill others?” She looked at him, accusing and exhausted. “Are you part of another cartel? A rival faction?”
Mateo shook his head quickly. “No. No, nothing like that. My government sent me. Not just mine. Multiple governments. I’m tasked with finding and eliminating high-level threats. Montoya was one of them. Now, the Ghost and Ortega are next. I’ve never told anyone that truth. It would seal my death if it got out, but you deserve to know.” He looked ather, and the honesty in his eyes shocked her. “I’ve never stopped loving you. I left because of what I do. I thought it would be safer for you. I thought I was protecting you.”
She stared at him, stunned. His eyes dropped to the child in her arms, and his expression softened.
“I didn’t know about Teo,” he whispered. “Not until thirty minutes ago when your mother brought him to you. That’s when I saw him.”
Eira’s brows drew together. “Then why were you even here?”
“I saw Ortega’s convoy heading in this direction,” he said. “I followed them. I was worried.” He hesitated, then added quietly, “I heard what you said to his enforcer.” He paused for a moment. “Is Ortega protecting you?” he asked. “Are you … involved with him?”
Eira’s expression twisted in disgust. Her words came like blades, and the thought he could believe that sickened her. “Howdareyou ask me that?” she spat. “How could Ieverbe involved with a monster like him? Did youneverknow me at all?”
Mateo flinched. He looked around the clinic as if searching for something solid to hold onto. “And yet … he’s protecting you,” he said softly.
She lifted her chin. “Yes. He’s protecting me.Because hewantsme. The only reason he hasn’t taken me, hasn’t ripped all this away from me, is because I told him Teo and I are yours.”
Her eyes narrowed as she locked her gaze to his.
“I saw the fear in his eyes, Mateo. Isawit. At that moment, I knew what my uncles told me was true. That you were an enforcer. A killer.” She exhaled a shaky breath. “Which you’ve confirmed tonight.”
“I will make this right, Eira,” Mateo said, his voice steady but pleading. “If you give me the chance, I’ll makeallof it right. Please allow me to do this.”
Eira shook her head, overwhelmed didn’t even come close to what she was feeling. “Don’t ask me to make a decision. Not now. Don’t ask me to process the shock of you being alive, the fact that you’rebackand that you’re after the Ghost and Ortega…anddecide what to do based on what wehadversus what we have now.”
Mateo nodded. “I understand the shock.”
“No,” she snapped, laughing bitterly. “No, youdon’t. You have no concept of what I’m going through right now. You shouldleave.” She wanted him gone as much as she wanted him to pull her into his arms and swear he’d never leave them again. God, how could he be alive? How could he just drop all this on her lap?
He looked between her and the sleeping child, then nodded slowly.
“I will leave,” he said quietly. “But I’mback. And I will return for both of you. I’ll come back in a way that doesn’t bring danger to you, him, or your family. I will protect you as I do what I need to do to get rid of the men who prey on this country.” Mateo stood and looked down at her. “I know I’ve told you a lot tonight,” he said. “And you can go to Ortega. You can tell him everything I said. That’s your right.” He paused. “But Iwilltake out Ortega. I will find the Ghost. I will kill them both.”
His voice dropped, quiet and absolute.
“Then I will return. For you. For my son. For your mother.”
Eira stared up at him, her breath caught in her throat. “I would never warn Ortega. But what makes you think we’d go with you?”
Mateo met her eyes, unwavering. “Then I’llstay. I’ll stay with you. I’ll protect you. I’ll give you a life you can be proud of. A husband you can be proud of. A fatherhecan be proud of.”
He didn’t give her a chance to respond. He turned and walked to the door, pausing only to look at her one last time before quietly closing it behind him. The silence that followed was deafening. Eiraleaned back in the chair, still holding her sleeping son, and closed her eyes as the tears finally fell…hot, silent, and unrelenting.
She’d begged for this in her dreams. Forhimto come back. And he had. But now, with the weight of truth pressing down on her chest like a stone, she couldn’t help but wonder …
Had her dreams turned into a nightmare?
CHAPTER 7
Jinx waited in the shadows, crouching beneath the veil of darkness until Eira and Teo disappeared inside the small farmhouse. The soft click of the door locking echoed faintly in the humid Venezuelan night. Crickets sang in the distance, and the low hum of cicadas pulsed through the heavy air.
Blowing out a slow breath, he dragged a hand down his face. He’d screwed up. Big time.
Telling her what he was there to do … that was one of Guardian’s cardinal rules. Never reveal who they were, what they did. No one was supposed to know the truth. They were Shadows that lived between the lines of war and peace. But tonight, he’d shattered that rule.
He hadn’t told her anything about Guardian Security, but he’d given her enough. Enough to end him. To blow his cover and send this entire mission spiraling into hell. And maybe … maybe that was why he’d told her. A part of him wanted her to have control. To take back the narrative of a story that had started with love, burned down to ash, and left a child in its wake.
She’d promised she wouldn’t tell Ortega. And he believed her. Once her house lights dimmed, Jinx turned and made his way back toward the ridge line where he’d left Raven. The darkness pressed close, but the moon carved thin silver lines over the distant rolling hills and the jagged silhouette of the jungle beyond.
