Page 81 of Keeping My Captive

“Oh, Uncle. You’re not happy to see me alive and well?”

Domingo clears his throat, wipes his mouth with a napkin before tossing it down on the table beside his now forgotten meal. “Of course I’m happy.” I can see him reaching for his phone to alert his guards, and I don’t stop him. “Listen, Mateo, you have to understand that I only did it for the money.”

“You only did what exactly for the money, Uncle? You only had my entire family slaughtered in front of my eyes for money? Or you had my only reason for living taken from me and thus almost killing me in the process for the second time?” I shrug nonchalantly. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Money is the root of all evil, and people will do almost anything for it,” he tells me, as if I didn’t already know that.

“No shit,” I tell him with a smirk.

I can see his eyes shifting, glancing around the room as beads of sweat gather on his forehead. I’m not telepathic, by any means, but I can read his precise thoughts in this moment.

“Your guards are not coming,” I inform him. “You were right about people doing almost anything for money. Pay your guards enough and offer them asylum back in Mexico, and they will leave their master in a heartbeat.”

He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “Mateo, please. I’m the only family you have left.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” I pull out the Glock behind my back and point it at him.

“Please! Don’t kill me, Mateo!” he begs, groveling and sniveling like the pathetic, little weasel he is.

The coward.

“My mother, my father, my sisters. Little Lucita,” I say, my voice breaking with her name. I close my eyes briefly, trying to block out the memory of her screams. “Lucy was only eight years old,” I tell him through gritted teeth. “She was the most innocent.”

“It was wrong!” he says, throwing his hands up in surrender. “I know what I did was wrong, but I can’t take it back, Mateo. And none of this will bring them back.”

“You’re right. None of this will bring them back. But maybe their souls can finally rest knowing the man who betrayed them is finally six feet under.”

I squeeze the trigger and shoot him right between the eyes.

He slumps forward, his cheek landing in his plate of food. I watch the life drain from his dark eyes before I breathe a sigh of relief. After all these years, the retribution I was seeking is finally finished.

I tuck the Glock behind my back and leave the house. My mind is laser focused on one thing and one thing only — finding my little captive.

CHAPTER61

Aria

I’M PACING THE floor, waiting for my father to return from California. His flight landed an hour ago, and he still isn’t home. He’s been across the country for months, trying to work out a deal between Mateo and the FBI. Nothing was even set in stone before he left. He simply told me he would try.

He used his connections in the agency to try to set Mateo free from his crimes, but even my father has his limitations. What if they backed out of the deal and sent Mateo to prison?

Tears stream down my cheeks as I think of the worst possible outcome. Damn these pregnancy hormones. My hands drift down to my baby bump. I’ve really started showing over the past several weeks. And thinking about Mateo not being here with me during the birth of our son or daughter has a wave of fresh tears cascading down my face, and I furiously try to wipe them away.

“Don’t cry, Aria. You know what your tears do to me,” says a deep voice from the doorway.

Gasping, I turn and see him. He’s wearing his normal attire of a dark suit and dark shirt — black on black. His hair is shorter, and he has a thicker beard, but he’s still as brutally handsome and intimidating as ever.

My tears blur his face as he approaches and scoops me up in his arms. He buries his face in my neck and says, “Dios mío, I missed you.”

I sob against his chest. “I thought I would never see you again,” I confess.

“It almost didn’t happen,” he tells me. He pulls back and stares into my eyes. “Choosing you was the easy part. Working everything else out is what took forever.”

Slowly, I climb down out of his arms. There’s so much we need to discuss. But first thing’s first. Grabbing his hand, I pull it towards me and place his palm over my swollen belly.

Mateo’s eyes widen before narrowing. “What…” And then he surprises me by getting on his knees. He lifts my shirt and stares at my stomach.

We never discussed having children…or having a future together, really. So, I’m not sure if he even wants this baby. “Mateo,” I start.

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