Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 89772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
“Cariño—”
She shoved him, but he didn’t waver, pissing her off even more. “They took Adriana! They took our baby girl because of you!”
He wrapped his arms around her, drowning her deeper in her despair. Only triggering her to relive the memory of watching Ari get taken. I knew because I felt it as well. When he pulled her closer into his chest, she completely lost her shit. I’d never seen her react like this, but we’d never experienced anything on this level of destruction and devastation.
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed, pushing him as hard as she could again and again. He didn’t move.
“You swore to me! You promised me!” One-by-one, her fists pounded against his chest.
“Lexi, calm the fuck down.”
“You’re a liar! I trusted you!” she sobbed, hitting him over and over with no end in sight.
“Mamá…” Each cry and punch of her fists against his chest increased the lump of guilt rising in my throat.
“How could you let this happen! You were supposed to protect her, with your life if needed! You lied! You’re nothing but a liar!”
My stomach was in knots, watching her breakdown while he allowed her to take out all her fury on him. She was always so fucking strong. She had to be to put up with him and us. Her fists slammed into his torso and he didn’t budge an inch. Remaining the solid man we knew and loved.
It wasn’t until she bellowed, “How could you do this? How could you let her get kidnapped?”
I couldn’t take it anymore and shouted, “It was me!”
She snapped around. “What?”
“You heard him, Lexi.”
“I don’t understand.” Her eyes shifted to meet his. “Is that why you had the driver bring me here when I landed? Did you want me to see her kidnapping with my own two eyes?” Her questions didn’t make any sense and it was obvious she was struggling to keep up with everything that was going on around us. “Why are you just standing there like our daughter wasn’t taken!” She didn’t hesitate in grabbing her cellphone from her back pocket.
“No.” He instantly grabbed it out of her hand.
“What are you doing?” she frantically questioned. “What do you mean no? We need to call the police.”
“That’s the last thing we need to do. What you need to do is calm the fuck down.”
“Stop telling me to calm down! I trusted you! You promised me you’d always protect our kids! Where were you?”
“Mamá…”
“Getting the police involved will only get Adriana killed.”
“Then what are we supposed to do, Alejandro? Just stand by and wait for them to bring her back to us?”
“Mi scusi,” Luciano chimed in, “Excuse me.” Standing beside my father. “I know this is a family matter, but I’m insulted this happened in my home.”
Our eyes connected with his as he pointed to himself. “I give you my word that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure your daughter comes home safe and sound.”
“Jesus…” she staggered back from the blow of his statement. “I’ve been such a fool, haven’t I? This whole time you’ve kept certain people in your life and I just thought…God…I don’t know what I thought. I trusted you with our lives, Alejandro. Have you been lying to me all these years?”
“I’ve kept certain families in my life to protect ours, Lexi.”
“What good has that done when our daughter is taken right under your nose?”
“Mamá!” I bit, unable to hold it in any longer. “For fuck sake! It wasn’t his fault. It’s mine! I was supposed to be protecting her and I left her.”
“You left her? What does that mean?”
“It means I failed you. I betrayed you. Not him. It was all me. I’ve protected my sister for as long as I can remember, and I got carried away in the moment. Adriana tricked me. She lied and played me, and I fell right into her hands. Sienna—”
“Who’s Sienna?”
“My daughter,” Luciano answered for me, bringing our attention back to him. “This was her graduation party. Your son became infatuated with my daughter this evening, and because of that he saved her from a man who could have hurt her. I watched the surveillance of you, Sienna, and Giovanni. You see, Mrs. Martinez, your son may have left your daughter, but he saved mine.”
“That doesn’t change the fact he left his sister to chase after your daughter,” Papá argued.
“I had no reason to believe that Adriana would move from where I left her,” I told him the truth. Silently hoping he would understand where I was coming from. “It was an error in my judgment. She promised me she wouldn’t move.”
“Yeah and you promised me you’d always protect her.”
“Promises were made by everyone, Alejandro.” For a second, my mother put her hand on my back in a comforting gesture.
Her reassurance burned.
Ached.
It did nothing but make me feel worse.