For some reason, I believe that his grandfather cares for him. A person can’t have that level of concern for another without it meaning something. I just hope, for Mateo’s sake, that they have some salvageable relationship after this is over.
Mateo looks over at the camera as if he is speaking to it. “I am going to bring my sister’s back over here so that we can begin a new life.”
With that, he exits Ramón’s place and gets in his car to drive back to Houston, where our whole world is about to get a lot more complicated.
“I’ll be waiting, son.”
Everyone hears as the door shuts as Mateo walks out.
Chapter Thirty-One
EVIE
“Let’s Have A War” by Fear
We sit there stunned into silence. My breathing picks up, and Jameson’s grasp on me tightens. I practice my breathing like I was taught so long ago in therapy. When my thoughts go dark, I think about the therapist who helped me so much back then, but it feels like all the same emotions are just beneath the surface, threatening to break me. Amid a violent storm that threatens your life amongst the chaotic seas that rocks you to your core, you must get through it because at the end of the storm, there is calmness and peace.
The sun breaks through the stormy clouds, and the water reflects the light off the peaceful waters. This storm has been brewing for years, and now we must face it. No matter how strong I tried to make myself, I knew that this time would come when I would face all my fears and our family would have to come together to win a war—a war that was started so long ago over greed and power at the cost of those that weren’t born yet.
And we will have to suffer the burden to end it all.
I am pulled from my thoughts as Eduardo roars and throws everything off his desk. It all comes crashing down—his anger,frustrations, and helplessness at the failure to get his reason for existing, as he says to her so often in anyone’s company, are all his emotions swirling as he refuses to let her go.
Emma sobs into her hand, and he goes over to her, kneeling at her feet. He takes her hands in his, pulling them from her tear-stained face.
“I thought I was free, but will we ever be free from this, Eduardo?” she asks him so innocently that my heart breaks for her.
She suffered so much brutality from Julian. We ended his life, but his father is still alive and now wants to sell us off as if we are his possessions to do so.
“I am not going to let anything happen to you, baby. I promise.”
I rise from Jameson’s lap. I extend my hand to my sister much like I did that day we ended Julian’s life in that warehouse. I knew that this time was coming. The time when we would have to fight for our family.
She looks up at me, and her face is streaked with tears, but tears no longer flow from her eyes. There is a look on her face that I haven’t seen before. She looks pissed.
She places her hand in mine and rises as Eduardo moves aside, allowing her space to stand alongside me. She looks into my eyes, searching for something she must find, and then she looks at Eduardo.
“I am so tired of this fucker, and I want to see him suffer a cruel death deserving of the sins he has committed. I want to see him die, witnessing the moment his life fades from his eyes. I want to know that we did that and that he lost. Everything he wanted. His hopes and dreams are to be extinguished so he can burn in hell with his son.”
I’ve never heard Emma speak this way, and it empowers me to know that she can and will be brave enough to see this through.
Jameson is shaking when he takes my hand, pulling me out of my trance-like state, seeing my sister finally become the woman I knew she could always be. There is no place for weakness now, and knowing that she can be strong enough to do this helps me. I can’t be strong for the both of us, and Eduardo, as much as he wants to keep her safe, understands that she needs to be strong, his equal, if she wants this type of life with him. We all do. We are all part of this life together, and together we will fight to keep what is ours.
Someday, Eduardo will take over his father’s business and take his place as the head of the family. He was raised for this. Knowing that Emma can be by his side, strong and assured in her role as his wife, is all I ever wanted for my sister. I want all of us to get what we deserve–the happiness and peace we so desperately seek. This is the moment where it starts. It’s time to finish this. So, I say, “Let’s have a war.”
Jameson takes me to my apartment, and Emma will meet me here. Mateo has already texted us and told us he will be here soon, so we can be ready. I step through the door and walk to my bedroom. I stand there looking around the space I have called my own, but not my home.
Jameson comes around me and wraps me in a solid embrace. He is so warm, and I shiver—not from being cold, but from my comfort when he is here with me. I lean into him and tilt my head to the side. His warmth caresses me as he leans in to place soft kisses on my neck.
“When all this is over, Evie, I want you to move in with me. I want us to pick out a place together that is just ours. I want you. If I have learned anything from being with you, it is that life is fleeting. I see the dangerous life we live and the enemies that will stop at nothing to take what doesn’t belong to them in the quest for more power and control.”
I turn around to look him in the eye. I am amazed to hear his words spoken and the truth that he loves me written on his face. Jameson wears his heart on his sleeve. He may not be the alpha male that Eduardo is, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t risk his own life or do everything in his power to keep me safe. Eduardo was born into a different life than he was, but being Eduardo’s friend means that he needs to be a strong man as well.
“Maybe we can get a place in Eduardo’s building? Even Mattie, too. We can all have separate places, but still be there for one another.”
He nods. “That sounds amazing, Eves. I like that idea so much, and it will be the only thing I will look forward to when you are in that monster’s house. I won’t be able to keep an eye on you like I want to, but I will be able to at least track you.” He pulls out a box from his pocket. “Here. I had these made and picked them up the other day.”
He hands me a little black velvet, heart-shaped box. I stare at it, afraid to open it. “What is it?”
