“You sure we have to leave anything?” I ask, not for the first time.
“Yes.”
Even though I know it’s the right thing to do, I can’t help but worry we’re setting ourselves up. We know nothing about thesemen besides that they’ve made a habit of stealing from us. Will they seek revenge for their missing brother?
I know I would if it were Mateo.
Maybe they’re different—maybe they’re better than I am.
“Okay, well, I sent the message off the burner like you asked. You sure the cremator will keep quiet?”
McCrae exhales loudly, clearly at his wits’ end with my nerves.
After cleaning up the basement—McCrae and the boy included—we dropped him off at a cremator who does jobs on the side,for a price.Then, we drove out here to bum-fuck nowhere and buried his wallet, keys, and an old picture that was folded in his pocket near Rock Saninto for his brothers to find.
It feels like a trap, one we’re setting for ourselves. There’s no turning back now, though—no matter how badly I want to.
I wrap a hand around McCrae’s bicep, and he slowly faces me. There’s a hard edge to his face, a reservation I’ve never once experienced.
I feel like this is the beginning of the end for us. No matter what happens, this has set in motion a plan to drive us apart. Some cosmic force, karma and all that shit; it’ll no longer tolerate the devil and the demon in cahoots. We’re two outlaws too many, an imbalance of good and evil in the world.
It makes no sense—we now hold more secrets of each other’s than anyone else—but I feel their weight starting to shred our bond apart.
I cling to him, and his eyes soften a fraction.
“We should go,” he says gruffly, and I just nod.
“What will you do with the ashes?” I whisper, sliding into the driver's seat of my car.
McCrae gets this far off look on his face before he finally says, “I’ll take him to the beach, somewhere special we used to go.”
THIRTY-NINE
RAFAEL SANTOS
December 1st, 2025
“Hi,Mama. It’s Rafael. I, uh, I’ve messed up. I don’t know when it happened, but I’ve fallen helplessly, irrationally, obsessively in love with my enemy. She’s not what everyone thinks she is—she’s so much more, and I’m addicted. But she, uh, she doesn’t know who I am. She doesn’t know the truth. I can already hear you telling me ‘the truth will set you free’, but this time’s different. The truth’s going to hurt her, and that’s the last thing I want to do. I need help, Mama. What do I do?”
Beeeep. The inbox you’re trying to reach is full.
FORTY
RAFAEL SANTOS
December 1st, 2025
“How do I fix things?”Valentina’s voice cracks, and part of me quivers with the need to go to her—comfort her after everything I’ve heard—but the other part, the one loyal to my family, bitter with regrets, clings to the wall instead.
It was all an accident—a tragic accident that meant nothing, and my entire family destroyed their lives because of it.I destroyed my life because of it.
“I think you should go to therapy,” Mateo, Valentina’s brother, states softly, like he’s afraid she’ll explode.
Fuck. Rightfully so.She’d have every right to burn this world down, and I’d love nothing more than to hold the fucking torch for her. She deserves that and so much more.
But I still don’t know where they took Jose’s body—where I can go to visit him and say goodbye.Does she even know?
“I can’t.” The panic in Valentina’s voice threatens to break me.
