Page 61 of Brutal Enforcer

“Emma wasn’t the enemy.”

I scoffed. “Name one thing thatLysehas done to you.”

“The Rojas.”

“I’m not talking about her family,” I interrupted, emboldened by my rising anger. “I’m talking abouther. What has she done to you or anyone else in our family?”

“You can’t separate her from her family.”

It was a repeat of the conversation that we had before. “Then you can’t separate us either, right? Your crimes are my crimes, and vice versa.” Angel’s face twisted with an emotion that I could almost call guilt if it wasn’t for the anger in his eyes. “My crimes are my own,” I said after letting him marinate in the thought. “I’ve slaughtered dozens of people. I killed my own father. I did that, and it shouldn’t reflect on you.”

“Okay, you’ve made your point…but it doesn’t change anything. You’ve defied me again and again, and I can’t let it slide. Not now.”

“I know,” I said. “That’s why I came back. If the Tíos knew that you’d let me walk away after everything I’ve done, they would turn on you.”

Angel’s anger broke then, and he looked unbearably tired. “What do you want me to do, Omar?” he asked. “I can’t kill you. We both know that.”

It was the first time he’d said it out loud, and I felt my shoulders relax. Ihadn’tknown that he wouldn’t kill me. I’d hoped. “Punish me,” I told him. “Make a show of it like Padre would have.”

“You want me to hit you?” He shook his head, and I stared, a little in wonder, as he blushed for the first time ever in my presence. He was actually embarrassed. “I’m too weak. It would be more humiliating for me than for you.”

“So, call someone in,” I said. “Everyone knows that you’re recovering. It would make sense that you would bring someone else in to do what you can’t at the moment.”There would also be no way of pulling the punches, I thought. No one would be able to accuse Angel of going easy on me. “You have to do this. If you don’t, you’ll look weak.”

“I don’t understand why you would bother coming back,” Angel repeated his sentiment from before. “You knew this would happen.”

I nodded. “It has to happen.”

“This doesn’tfixeverything,” Angel said after staring at me for a long while.

I knew that too. My brother had never been the easiest when it came to forgiveness, and my transgressions would have gotten me killed if I mattered less in his eyes. “It’s a start,” I said.

He nodded once, and then with a few taps on his phone, called in one of the guards, a big man named Mauricio. He wasn’t a cousin of ours, but we’d grown up together. Our fathers were close, and Padre had offered Mauricio a place on our security team when he turned eighteen. I’d trained him.

He was looking at me now with such an intense hatred that it was almost unnerving. “My brother has come seeking my forgiveness, Mauricio,” Angel said.

“He doesn’t deserve it,jefe.” The words came out in a tight wheeze, as if he were having difficulty holding himself back.

“I’ll decide that,” Angel snapped at him. He was all detached coolness now: he was the head of the Castillo family, not my brother. I’d seen this a handful of times since Padre had been displaced, and it never ceased to terrify me how easily my brother turned into a man who was so nearly identical. Angel shifted his gaze to me, and a chill ran through me. “I think there might be some redemption here…but it won’t come cheap.”

Mauricio grinned, obviously thrilled, and it was then that I remembered I had recently suffered a blow to the head. My body was still aching from the sneak attack.Fuck.“Want me to leave his face?” he asked my brother. “Or can I crush it?”

Angel hummed softly, as if debating. “You don’t have to spare him,” he said, “but nothing permanent. My enforcer still needs to be functional.”

Mauricio looked offended. “He shouldn’t get to be your enforcer after what he’s done,jefe.”

I chuckled before I could stop myself, and when Angel glared at me, I held my hands up in supplication. “Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to laugh. I just find it funny that he seems to think he can replace me.” I looked at Mauricio. “Know that the only reason you’re going to be able to beat me is because I’m allowing it to happen. This is my penance, and I am accepting it.”

I didn’t have a mirror, so I wasn’t sure what my expression looked like, but Mauricio suddenly looked less confident than he did previously. “Shut up, Omar.”

I looked at my brother, serious once more. “Si,jefe.”

“Do you need someone to hold your arms?” Angel asked.

I shook my head. “I won’t fight.”

Angel considered me for a moment before he nodded. “Mauricio.” It was only his name, but it was the go-ahead that the man needed.

I didn’t have time to brace myself for the first punch. It landed on my jaw with a force that rocked me on my feet, but I bit back a groan. Showing any sign of pain would only make him hit me harder. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth, and I spat it out, spewing bright red across the tiled floor.

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