Page 27 of Blood Ties
"Try me."
"You're saying you would take me back to Mexico?"
His eyes widen. "To him? Absolutely not."
"Then you lied."
"It's because of him you went through what you did. The man is responsible for your wife's death, for your children being left fatherless and the reason you need those." He points to the pill bottle I shove in the glove box.
I grab the water bottle from the cup holder, washing down the bitter taste of the white tablets."Maybe, but isn't it my fault too?"
"You'd do better to forget the man ever existed."
Easy for him to say. I step out of the car the moment it stops in front of my house. "I don't want to be bothered even if the world is coming to an end," I say to no one in particular. I drag my aching feet up the steps, slowly making my way to my room. I'm too exhausted to sleep. Whenever I go too long without proper rest I grow restless and irritable. I pull off my clothes and crawl under the heavy covers of my bed. Sometimes the weight is enough to settle my body. Not tonight.
The longer I lay in bed, surrounded by the silence, the more the memories from the past invade my mind. I wish they were only the ones I had with Miguel. Those don't last before they are being soiled by images of Julia's men chaining me to the wall and beating me until I'm shaking against the ground. I open my eyes wanting to see anything but my brother's face as he mocked me and slid his knife over my right cheek. I touch the jagged scar with the tips of my fingers, the coolness stinging my skin.
"Can't sleep? Guilty conscience from this morning's events eating away at you?"
I sit up in my bed reaching for my gun, except it's not where I thought I'd left it. I turn on the lamp next to me to make the person standing in the doorway more visible. Miguel's smile is wicked, and his eyes grow darker the longer they stay on me.
"Looking for this?” He holds up my revolver. "I didn't feel like you needed it tonight."
"What are you doing here? Didn't I leave your ass in Mexico?"
"I'm here, because you need me. If you apologize, then maybe I'll stay and help you."
I huff. "What makes you think I need your help?"
"Gabriel told me Mario Montoya and his friends are headed this way."
"Nothing we can't handle."
"Are you sure about that? Carlos doesn't seem to think so."
"I told him to reach out to his brothers, not you. Where’s Gabriel?"
"He's tied up at the moment. Mateo needs him home."
My brows knit together. "Why? Did something happen? Is Mateo okay?"
"You're worried about my son." It's not a question, but a statement.
I roll my eyes. "Don't make this about you. I know how much your son means to mine."
And I know how much he means to you.
When Miguel loves someone, he does it with his whole heart. Too bad what he'd felt for me wasn't enough. I was never meant to stay in his heart forever, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to let me go so easily. This isn't about us though. Both of our families and businesses are at stake. There comes a time in all of our lives where we must team up with an enemy in order to take down worse ones. When it’s only the two of us left in the end, I will no longer be able to use it as an excuse to keep him alive. Who will be the one to pull the trigger first?
"He's fine. He will be at least. Mateo is stronger than he looks. It will take more than some homemade bomb to take him down." He inches closer, looking down at his feet.
"Do you know who it was?" I sit up taller in bed.
"I do. Gabriel is going to do what he does best and track him down. The man is hiding like a coward. He hasn't been seen at any of his clubs in Florida for weeks."
"Which means he's more than likely somewhere else."
"Wherever it is, he can't stay there forever."
