Carlos paused, chuckling to himself. “I was a little inexperienced. And desperate to prove myself to my jefe as I knew I was soon to become his sucesor. Los Siete has always been in the business of pulling people out of the trenches, but I might have gone fishing with a little too wide of a net. I had connections within the police department, people who were willing to turn a blind eye when a criminal would be more useful to us free than sitting in a jail cell.”
I dug my nails into my palms in an effort not to claw his eyes out. Fuck, my head was killing me. Everything fucking hurt and the sound of Carlos’s voice was making the nausea twelve times worse.
“It was around this time that I received a call. There was a car accident involving a drunk driver and a teenage girl who had been killed in the collision. And in the back seat of the man’s car there were two young children, a boy and a girl.”
Carlos nodded his head at me as my brows furrowed. My insides twisted with unease. I couldn’t remember being in a car accident as a child, but there were many things about my childhood I chose to forget.
“Looking back, I should have never agreed to help him, but like I said, I was desperate, and specifically desperate for low-ball bids on the city’s development projects. When I found out that Oscar, your father, worked for a contracting firm, I ignored the red flags. With you and your brother in the back seat and the death of that girl, he would have been charged with a felony DUI. A hefty fine and up to ten years in prison. And that was if law enforcement chose not to notify ICE that he was undocumented.”
“That’s the ‘debt’ my dad owes you?”
“Yes.”
I rubbed my eyes, the heat from the fire making it difficult to stay awake.I want to go home.My chest tightened at thethought of home. I was reminded of the sad truth that I didn’t have one, didn’t even have anyone left who cared about me. I didn’t haveanything.
“Okay. So, my dad owed you. How the hell did Javi end up involved?”
“Your father agreed to work for me, and in exchange I made his legal troubles disappear. However, he turned out to be completely unreliable.”
“Of course,” I muttered bitterly.
“I didn’t realize your father would turn to drugs to numb his guilt. I had every intention of killing him for attempting to back out of our agreement, but then Javier walked into the room. And…well, you know your father, Shiloh. He pleaded for his life and offered up his son in his place. I wasn’t going to kill a child, but I did recognize the opportunity he was giving me. So, I spared Oscar’s life, and I kept an eye on the both of you as you grew older. Took Javier under my wing while I waited for him to be old enough for more.”
I released a sigh and immediately regretted it as my chest spasmed with pain. That’s not what Javier told me at all. He told me that he met Carlos as part of a mentorship program sponsored by the YMCA we attended for after-school care.
“You’re saying that Javier was always going to join the gang?”
Carlos nodded. “Yes. As payment for your father’s debt to Los Siete. Although, I never intended for him to become an arreglador. It just so happened that his interests sped things along in that direction.”
“What do you mean ‘interests’? What’s an arreglador do?”
“You must have realized that there was something a little bit off with your brother’s emotional capacity, no?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked with exasperation. My brain couldn’t handle the overload ofinformation. “Please…” I ground my teeth, cautiously breathing through another wave of stabbing pain in my chest. “Just fucking say it already.”
“I think it’s best if I show you.”
My head tilted with confusion. “Show me?”
“Yes,” he nodded, standing up to walk towards his desk. He carried his laptop back to the couch, taking the seat beside me. My foot tapped the floor as he searched for a file.
My eyes widened at the video frame he pulled up on his screen. My brother was standing behind a man tied to a chair. Carlos pressed play. The shrieks were from someone who knew they were about to die. The sobbing and pleading for forgiveness sent a chill down the back of my neck. I forced myself to keep watching.
I jumped as Javier suddenly pulled the man’s head back at an unnatural angle and effortlessly cut along his hairline line with a scalpel. The man went into a fit of blood curdling screams.
That’s not Javi.
My stomach turned.
The familiar tattoo across his knuckles was unmissable. A smile was etched on Javier’s face as he pulled back the man’s scalp to reveal blood and bone. He flicked his gaze down to the man’s face and his shoulders deflated. The man had passed out, or died, I couldn’t tell from the video, but my brother was clearly disappointed as he scowled. He poked the man’s cheek. When his head rolled to the side, Javier cursed and threw the scalpel across the room.
I slammed the laptop shut, turning to the side just as I began vomiting. Carlos rubbed my back in a soothing motion. I shuddered, scrunching my body against the arm of the couch as I tried to get some space.
What the fuck? What the actual fuck? My brother tortured…killed people for a living? What the fucking fuck?!
I forced myself to take some steadying breaths, forced myself not to vomit anymore.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I shouldn’t have let you watch that. I just…well, I just want you to realize that you can trust me. I really do want to see you thrive, Shiloh. Just like I had tried to do with your brother. I was able to give him everything he had always wanted. An outlet for all those twisted thoughts he was having.”
