My breathing stops at the words. I look to Cassiel before something snaps inside me, a bold blend of fear, anger, betrayal, all tangled into a burning knot. I shove the door open, and three faces turn toward me. The first is Cesidio Biondini, who stands in a green suit, a gun in his hand, and his eyes wild with fury.
“Genesis,” he says my name softly, and I look him over.
My gaze turns to the second pair of eyes and the blood coating his thigh. Rushing to him, I drop to my knees and rip off the brown flannel I’d worn and fold it into a thick pad.
“Pa. Hold still,” I say, pressing the fabric to the entry wound.
“Mija, you’re okay?” he asks, and I swallow back the emotions.
“Am I okay? Pa, you’re bleeding.” I choke back the emotions rising in my throat.
I wanted a way out of his grip, but not like this. Not if it means him dying. I wrap the sleeves of my flannel around his thigh, loop them under, and yank hard. He lets out a strangled groan that makes my stomach twist, but the bleeding slows instantly. I double-knot it, pull again to make sure it won’t slip, then tuck the excess fabric under. My brain is still trying to catch up to everything going on around me. I stop when I catch sight of Alma in my peripheral vision.
“What the fuck did you do?” I ask Alma, and she shakes her head.
Charging toward her, I pull my hand back and strike her across the face. Her head snaps to the side, and a cry falls out.
“Hija,” my father warns. “Don’t. She’s pregnant.”
Pregnant? The words hit me, and anger curls like a snake through my body. Emotions catch in my throat and clog any words that want to come out.
“You,” I spit out, my head spinning back around to Cesidio. “What the hell is all this? What are you talking about? What do you mean he took me?”
Cesidio’s jaw ticks. A muscle jumps in his temple. I stand there half shaking, half ready to kill, waiting for an answer that could shatter everything I thought I knew. But I don’t get the chance. The cold metal of a gun presses against my temple, and a strong arm pulls me back into his solid chest.
“Don’t move or I’ll shoot,” Cassiel warns, another gun in his opposite hand aimed at Cesidio.
“You son of a bitch!” Cesidio growls. “Fucking snake. You told us if we brought you them, you’d give us Genesis.”
“I told you nothing. You just fucking assumed I would.” Cassiel pushes the gun harder into my temple. “Ignacio, you have a choice to make. I told you once already, Genesis will be my wife.”
“You’re what?!” I fight against his grip.
“You motherfucker!” Cesidio moves toward us.
Cassiel cocks the gun at my temple, and Cesidio retreats.
“You have a choice, Ignacio. You say no, and I kill both of your daughters, or you sign over your rights of conservatorship to me, and they both live.”
“With you! She’ll be forced to live with you, and in that case, she’s better off fucking dead!” Cesidio barks.
The truth is, I already feel dead inside.Both daughters?Everyone in this room knows something I don’t. There’s a brief moment of silence, and tears swell in the back of myeyes. The pressure from Cassiel’s arm around my throat makes it difficult to fight back the moisture.
Lifting my eyes, I see Alma, whose eyes are red like mine, as she stares down at my father. It feels like a million knives stabbing into me when I recognize her resemblance to Kamila. Something shifts inside me. I look from her to my father, and I hate that this is true. I hate that the man behind me has known this all along and played me.Again.
“This was your plan all along?” Cesidio sighs, shaking his head before falling into an empty chair behind him.
“Fuck you,puto.” My father says, lifting himself to move but failing.
“Pa. Don’t move,” I plead.
“Make your decision, Ignacio,” Cassiel demands. “Give me Genesis, and both your daughters live. Or pick one and watch the other die in her place.”
Chapter 42
Efren
Ipace the cell, haunted by the echo of my useless screams and failed attempt to save Alma. My throat burns. My fists ache. My body is broken. But my rage isn’t. My rage is the only thing keeping me alive.
