Page 46 of Blood Spilled
The closer I approach it, the more I recognize it to be my mother's. I stand outside the door, hiding just out of her view as I continue listening to her jabber away on the phone.
“Si, I understand you're upset. It’s all been a misunderstanding on both parts. But unfortunately, I can no longer hold up my end of the bargain since you went behind my back. We had a deal and you went and made one with someone else. That is not my problem. My son will be staying here with me until I get what I need from him and then maybe we can make a new deal. Your deal with my sons means nothing to me, and if you come anywhere near here, my men will shoot you dead.”
My mother slams the phone down on the desk, huffing in frustration.
“Buenos días, Mother.”
Caught off guard, her body goes rigid. “Hola, mi amor. When did you get up? Are you hungry?”
“Who were you on the phone with?”
“Oh, I was just handling business as usual.”
“Business huh? Does this involve you selling your own son after you're done using him? That’s right, I heard everything I needed to hear, Mama. You are a despicable woman and to think I almost felt sorry for you. So, who is it, huh? Who did you make this deal with?”
She shakes me off with her hand. “Don’t be so dramatic, mijo. It was all a ploy. You know I could never sell you. You are my only son, all I have left in this world. “
“Save it, I’m onto you. You aren’t as good an actress as you think you are. You will do or say anything to get what you want and once you do, you won’t care about your precious son.”
“I wanted this to work between us. We could have been a team and we still can be. All you have to do is tell me where the money is.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “I’ve told you already, I don’t fucking know where the damn money is and even if I did, I would rather die than tell you.”
Her hand comes across my face and I grab her by the wrist, bending it back until she yelps. “And I suggest you keep your filthy ass hands off me, because next time I won’t be so nice.”
She yanks away her arm, cupping her wrist with a pained expression. “You sprained my wrist, you ungrateful little shit. After all I’ve done to get you here. I could have let them kill you. I could have let Manivela have you and do believe me when I say you will be begging every day for death when he has you. You think what you went through with Angel was hell, well, this man will take you so far underground you will spend the rest of your life screaming until there is nothing left. I won't even tell you how they found his last sex slave. He was barely recognizable as a human, but if that’s what you want, I can tell him to come get you right now.”
I don’t even flinch at her words. That's what she wants. To shake in fear. There is only one person who can give me that and it’s his alone to have, no one else. “Do what you must, but I still don’t know where that money is,” I say smiling, folding my arms, coming off as smug.
“You’re lying. I can see it in your eyes.” That’s only because she sees what I want her to see. As long as she feels she needsme, she won't kill me. She can threaten me all she wants, but as long as she thinks I have what she wants, all they are is empty promises.
“Can you? What else do you see when you look at me, huh?”
Her eyes enlarge and I can spot the fury running through them. “If I find out you are working with them, money be damned. I will destroy you and I’ll give Manivela the leftover pieces. Don’t think I won’t. I’d hate to think of my own son as a traitor.”
“Working with whom exactly?”
“You know damn well who. Don’t play games with me.”
“Oh, but you love games. In fact, we’ve been playing one my whole life, haven’t we? Maybe this time one of us can actually reach the end. I’m not on anyone's side, but my own. I’m just like you, mother. You should have gone to that pier that day and maybe we wouldn’t even be here now.”
Her eyes grow wide. “What are you talking about? What pier?”
“Oh, I think you know.”
Leila grabs me by my tie. “Listen you little shit, you may think you have it all figured out, but you don’t know shit. You will tell me where that money is, or I swear I will—”
“You’ll what? Kill me? Sell me? Lock me in a cage? Pretty sure all those things have already happened to me, so do your fucking worst.”
“I’ll kill him,” she spits.
“Who?” I lift a brow.
“The man you are working so hard to protect.”
“And who may that be?” I cock my head.
“Mateo. You seem to be protecting him and his boyfriend. You should hate them for what they did to you. You should want them dead.”
