We eat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes until I crack. “Well, this is super awkward.”
“I still can’t believe you’re here,” he says, pushing his plate away. “I feel like I should keep pinching myself to know it’s real.”
“I know the feeling. It’s very surreal.” I pop a shrimp in my mouth and chew. “Why are all my clothes still in the closet? Why does my room look like a shrine?”
“Because I never stopped hoping you’d come back to me.”
“What changed? You almost put a bullet in my head, and I know you hated me. I saw it in your eyes.”
“Eat and I’ll talk,” he says, jabbing his finger at my dinner.
Lifting my fork, I shovel a mouthful of noodles and shrimp between my lips.
I listen as he explains his thought process that day and in the weeks that followed. I continue eating, trapping my words inside as he outlines the steps he took to find me and his frustration at being thwarted every time they came close to locating me. By the time he’s finished, I’ve cleared my plate and drank all my water.
“Tell me Pablo suffered,” I say through gritted teeth after he’s explained how they lured El Rey into a trap so Cristian could kill him.
“Trust me, the bastard suffered.” A muscle clenches in his jaw. “Caleb, Joshua, and I tortured him for weeks. He was begging for death by the end. I watched him bleed out and die like a coward. Then we hacked him up and burned his remains. Nothing is left of that prick, and I hope he’s rotting in the fiery pits of hell.”
Emotion has me tied in knots, and it takes several minutes before I can speak. “Thank you. I have dreamed of avenging my mother every night since we were taken. It helps to know he can’t hurt anyone ever again.” My mind drifts, as it so often does, to the innocents I put in danger. “What about the missing women and children?” I’m terrified of his answer, but I need to know. “Please tell me you found them.”
“This can wait for another time. You must be exhausted, and it’s already been a lot.”
“I won’t shy away from this, Cristian. Tell me.”
“It’s not your fault,” he rushes to assure me.
“We both know that’s not true.”
“Sloane, listen to me.” Swiveling his chair, he faces me, taking my cold hands into his warm ones. “The only people responsible are my brother and the cartel.”
“Tell me.” I brace myself because I know it’s going to hurt.
“We found two of the children. A boy and a girl. They’re safe and being well cared for.”
“What about their mothers and the other mother and child?”
Pain glimmers in his eyes. “We were too late to save the women, and the boy is missing, but we haven’t given up searching. He’s high on our priority list.”
I rest my head on the table and breathe deeply as pain whittles through me.
“Sloane.” Cristian’s warm hand lands on my back. “Please don’t blame yourself. I could easily blame myself or Gia for finding them. If we hadn’t, the cartel may never have known about them. Or I could point the finger at The Commission for not immediately prioritizing the search. There is lots of blame to go around, but the real blame lies with Fuentes and the cartel.”
My eyes sting when I lift my head. “I set it all in motion, and I’ll never forgive myself.”
“I can’t tell you how to feel, but please don’t take that burden on. I’m begging you. You have taken on enough.”
“Guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.” I rub at my throbbing temples. “Not a day has gone by where I haven’t worried about them or thought about you and Elio.”
“It was the same for me.” His fingers thread through mine. “We found eighteen other kids. All Elio’s half-siblings.”
My eyes pop wide.
“They’re safe, and the search is continuing because we believe there are more.”
“That’s a lot to process.”
“It is.”
