“I’m going to take you to your hotel first, and then I’ll go get Scout,” I lied.
“Why? I’d love to meet her again. I want to give her an honest chance to win my approval. I’ll be nice this time. Let’s just go straight there.”
“I don’t know if she’d be into that,” I said, making another excuse. Gianni was silent for a moment before responding.
“What did you do?”
“What?” I glanced at him but looked away quickly.
“Don’t play stupid. There’s a reason you’ve been avoiding her and me meeting again. Why? Is she even here? Did I fly out with you for no reason?” His voice became agitated.
I gulped. “I don’t know.”
“Don’t know what? What you did or where she is?”
I know what I did.
“I don’t know where she is.”
“So why are we here?” He snarled through clenched teeth.
“I’m trying to find her. I have a lead.”
“And what’s that?”
“A storage unit key. I think she may have something here.”
“Like what?”
“Honestly, Gianni,” I sighed and reached for my phone to change courses. I spoke into the phone, telling it to take us to the storage units. “I have no fucking clue.”
We drove in silence after that. Well, silence for me. My older brother spent the drive lecturing me.
“See, this is why Mom, Dad, and all of us, can’t take you seriously. All you had to do was marry Aleida, and everything would have been fine!”
After a solid hour of listening to him, I snapped.
“Really? That’s all? Don’t give me that bullshit. Marriage is just the beginning of a life I never wantedanyway. Fuck all of that.”
“You enjoy being the embarrassment of the family?” His red eyes went wide with fury.
“I’d rather everyone avoid me than have a wife I don’t like, kids I don’t want, and a giant mansion that’s more prison than a home.”
He scoffed at my statement, but he finally shut up. I knew I had hit home with that last statement. He had all of those things.
We pulled into the business and drove through the chain link gates.
“I’m looking for row sixteen, unit P,” I said as we began drifting slowly through the lot.
“There, turn right up at the next row.” Gianni pointed, and I did so. I hunched over as I moved even slower through the aisle, looking up at the letters on the units.
I was at L when I saw a figure leaning against a unit ahead of us. I stopped the car short and turned my brights on. It was a woman. She turned and stared at us, and my stomach turned.
I turned my brights off and startedtowardher, where she was leaning against the unit I was looking for. I stopped, turned the car off, and stepped out.
“Hello,” I said. She flicked a flashlight on and turned ittowardme. I flinched at the harsh light.
“Who are you?” She demanded. Her voice carried a thick Latin accent.
