“Oh no.” He laughs. “Adelina is my mother.”
Cesidio pauses, looking at Ignacio, his face filled with disgust.
“My mother was Ignacio’s secret lover. Quite romantic, the story. While my mother was married to my father she met Ignacio Fernandez. Star crossed lovers from two different worlds but madly in love.”
Cesidio paces the room, the anger in him visibly boiling at the surface before he calms himself and finishes his story.
“See, they thought no one would find out. Not Raquel, not my father, butOgni santo ha il suo Giorno,” he says with a thick Italian accent. “Ignacio impregnated both women.”
Cesidio’s voice rises, his hand with the gun shaking, and sweat beading at his temples. “You know he chose you over my mother?” His nostrils flare. “Power and wealth over genuine love.”
“I didn’t know Adelina was pregnant,” Ignacio says weakly, his voice cracking around the pain.
“And when you did find out? Tell her thatpart,” Cesidio says, turning and pointing at me. “Tell her about the night she went missing, how you didn’t see a tragedy, you saw an opportunity. You went to my grandfather, you pleaded your case, and you took Genesis away from us.”
The heavy metal door creeps open, and all three of us turn. Genesis stands in the doorway, her eyes sharp. Confusion and fury twist together as they narrow in on me. And I can see her resemblance to Cesidio—the hate in their light eyes.
Chapter 41
Genesis
Ihaven’t left this house in over a month. This wasn’t the longest time Raquel had restricted me from going out, but this was the first time I’d finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel. The only problem was that the tunnel I had to crawl through was full of demons whispering in my ear and driving me mad.
I had escaped this demon before. I could do it again. For now, I just needed to play his game. Let him think he’d won me over. Throwing my bag over my shoulder, I walk up the stairs, the creak of each step guiding me to the freedom that awaits me. I take one last look around the house, walking slowly through each room and giving the space a long goodbye. One final passing of the home where I’d grown up.
I stop to look at the pictures on the wall of me, my younger brother Naz, and the baby, Kamila. My two reasons for staying as long as I did. I love them more than I love myself, but I don’t want to keep putting them in danger because of the invisible scars inside me that refuse to heal. The parasite created out of my depression is gnawing at the remaining pieces of my soul. I can’t hurt them anymore.
“Goodbye,” I whisper out to the open space, hoping they’llfeel the love I have for them when they return and find me gone.
Walking out the front door, I look out beyond our property to the sunflower fields. That’s where this had begun, and if I was lucky, where it would finally end. Starting the long walk down the gravel road, I’m prepared to run into security, but there’s no one in sight.
The closer I get to the end of the road, the more bodies I find sprawled across the pavement, blood leaking out and painting the ground a dark red around them. It’s a deep mahogany. I take a mental picture, curious about which medium I would choose to recreate the scene. Oil? Pastel? Maybe acrylic.
Dead bodies didn’t seem to bring remorse for me the way they would for someone living a normal life. These men had signed up to be pawns, and karma finally met them face-to-face, just as it had met me all those years ago.
Karma is six foot two, with death infused green eyes and rough hands. He is heaven and hell mixed in one. My savior and my torturer. Karma has a name,Cassiel Ontiveros.
For a moment, I forget he’s the devil I made a deal with. I pass through the gates. Somehow, it’s like I can feel him watching me, waiting to chase after me. My steps quicken instinctively.
Suddenly, I’m a little girl again, sprinting barefoot toward the sunflower fields, the sun beating down on my shoulders, and the air sharp in my lungs. My long hair flows behind me, and my legs stretch in front of me with long strides. I don’t stop until the towering flowers rise in front of me like a wall of gold. Then I slip inside the maze.
The large stalks brush against my shoulders, welcoming me home. I listen for any indication of him, a crackle of a leaf or the faint sound of his breathing. I’ve gotten better at catching him before he catches me. Cassiel never waits in theopen. He lives to hunt from the shadows, and even on a day like today, I don’t put it past him to hide.
I push deeper into the field, my fingers trailing over the coarse stems. A knot forms in my throat from the anticipation, and I ignore the way that fear feels like longing. A hand clasps around my mouth, and I stand frozen in place.
“You’re late,” he growls into my ear, and my body does the same bullshit it always does.
It craves him. The monster inside of me craves the one in him. I can’t contain it, much less fight it. His rough hands feel over the front of my body.
“No hidden weapons this time?” he asks, and I shake my head.
Releasing me, he circles to the front, and I gasp when I see the blood splattered on his shirt. His cold eyes and the large scar running down his face make him look dangerous, but the golden hour glow of the fading sun behind him makes him look like a god. LikeHuitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of the sun and war.
“Let’s go,” he commands. I follow him to the truck.
He opens the door and helps me in, strapping the seatbelt over me before taking his place.
“So what now? You’re back to being my knight in shining armour?” I say sarcastically.
