Page 20 of Blood Spilled
“Your mother is very much alive and she suspects you are too. She is looking for her missing son, hoping to put him back on top.”
I shove a few blueberries in my mouth, squishing them between my teeth. “Why would she want to do that?”
He laughs. “I think you know why. What were you and your dear mommy planning before the wedding? Was dear daddy even involved?”
“I think it's funny you actually think anyone could plot against my father without him finding out. Whatever my mother and father's plans were, were theirs alone. I only played a small part.”
He tilts his head in confusion. “Why were you marrying Mateo? Wasn't replacing Miguel part of the plan?”
“So you were led to believe,” I say in between chewing.
“What do you mean?” He scoots closer.
“You should know by now that nothing in this life is what it seems. I was only a pawn in my father's game. You think I'm the one who ran the whole show. I was a prisoner, and my father was my warden.” Sadly, this is the most free I've ever felt but I won't tell him that. I never knew which breath I took around my father would be my last.
“You're telling me marrying and killing Mateo wasn't part of your plan? You're telling me you didn't have an agreement with Mateo's mother?”
“That's what I'm telling you. It was my father's deal and his plan. I was just following it. I was the person my father hid behind. If the plan went south, it would fall on me, not him. The way it always did.”
“Why be a part of it then?”
“The same reason most people have in this life, to stay alive, but then I realized I’d much rather be dead. Looks like I can't seem to accomplish that either.”
Angel’s face wrinkles in confusion. “You're saying you wanted to die that day?”
“Yes. Wouldn't you want that too when your life no longer belonged to you? There comes a point where living for someone else becomes exhausting. I’d hoped if I threatened Mateo's, Gabriel would make it quick in order to save the man he loves. I wasn't counting on anything else.”
“You mean me?”
I nod, shoving the last piece of pancake into my mouth. “Yes, you were a bit of a surprise to me. You still are. I can't seem to figure out what it is you want. Your words don't always match your eyes and neither do your actions.”
He stands back up, pressing his lips into a thin line. “I don't believe a single word you're saying to me. You and your family have always tried to poison other’s minds, manipulating them into believing your bullshit and lies. You don't think I know what you're doing? You want me to see you as the victim and I think it's clear what I want.”
“Is it clear to you? Do you even know what it is you want? And I never said I was a victim. I know a lot of things I did were unjustified. But, after a while, you get so wrapped up in the person you're pretending to be that you no longer know how to be anyone else.”
“None of this even makes any sense. You kidnapped Mateo when you thought my brother would get in your way. You hired a hitman to kill him. You wanted my brother and Miguel dead. This was all you.”
I shake my head. “Wrong. I never hired a hitman. My father did when he was worried Mateo would ruin his plans. I didn't care about your brother and Mateo’s secret love fest. I did nothing about it at first and my father locked me in a box, telling me the next one would be my casket. When I woke up, something blinked red beneath my skin.”
I stare down at my wrist, touching the lump. I dig my nails into my skin, tearing at my flesh. “It's an explosive device sewn inside me with a tracker. My father knew my every move and the device lit up as a reminder. He's dead now, but it could still go off any minute if his phone ended up in the wrong hands. There were times I wished it did. No one knew about it except my father. No one knew that one button on my father's phone could blow me up into a million pieces.”
I dig my nails deeper into my skin, causing blood to pour down my arm. Angel steps forward with a pocketknife. “Hold still, you will get nowhere doing that.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, cringing as the knife cuts around the device. “Is it still active?”
I nod. “As far as I know. But only my father held the detonator. It can only be accessed from his phone.”
Angel digs beneath my torn flesh, eyes going wide when he holds the device out in front of him. “Fuck.” He calls for one of his men and the man who first brought me to this room appears behind him. He points to the device. “Get rid of it and be careful when you do. Also send Abe in with the first aid kit.”
“You believe me now?” I ask, holding my bleeding wrist to my chest. The pain is sharp and throbbing, but I am relieved to have that thing out of me. I was no longer my father's ticking time bomb.
He bends down in front of me again. “I don't believe anyone or anything at this point.”
A guy enters the room, setting a first aid kit between Angel and me. He exits the room after Angel gives him a nod, leaving me alone with my captor again. I should want other people in the room, but I don’t. It feels suffocating and overwhelming when random men constantly come in and out. My body immediately settles in Angel's presence which is insane since I couldn't stoptrembling in fear when I was first brought here. It makes zero sense to me.
For the last month or so, this man has made my life a living hell. Yet I still want him near me. “Hold out your wrist. I don't want that to get infected. You're already losing a lot of blood.”
Without giving it another thought, I do as he asks. His fingers wrap around my skin, feeling rough and gentle at the same time. I'm too busy staring into those dark brown eyes to notice the sting of the saline at first. He pours it over my wound, dabbing it with gauze. “You're going to need stitches.”
