He shook his head. “No. I wanted out before this.”
“When before this? You mean before your coma?”
“No, during.”
I slowly shook my head in confusion. “I don't understand this at all. During?”
Nodding, he told me in a low soft voice, “I experienced nightmares.”
Intrigued, I leaned forward to ask, “During your coma?”
“Yes and let us just say it was something along the lines of being scared straight.”
His answer didn’t lessen my curiosity. But I felt like maybe I shouldn’t be asking. He looked upset already and that would not do me any good in my quest.
Looking up at me, he changed the subject back to his original inquiry, “So, what is your motive for kidnapping me? If it isn’t to trade me for a prisoner or because of some deal gone wrong. Then why? And if it is just about the kids, I also need to know the why.”
I wondered about his mental state a bit with his partial confession of nightmares during a coma. But he did seem sharp in any case. “It is about them, yes.”
“What is your personal interest in my niece and nephew?”
I took a deep breath and told him, “Because they are also my niece and nephew.”
He stared at me as he looked shocked into silence. “How can that be?”
“I can see that you do not remember me.”
He cocked his head at me and then he looked surprised as his eyes rounded. “You are Alex’s little sister. I knew there wassomething familiar about you. I just couldn’t pinpoint it. Dios mio!”
I nodded. “I was taken to my Abuela when I was twelve. My grandmother needed someone to take care of her and I did my duty.”
“So you weren’t there when—”
“—Alex was killed?” I nearly growled the words. “Executed by your father.”
Carlos lowered his head. “I never forgave Santiago for that. But he didn’t know that I was so close to Alex. I never told him Alex had been my best friend. I knew he would not care and I knew he might…” He raised his head to meet my eyes. “He would have used that to control my actions.”
“What do you mean?”
“You heard that recording. I mean you must have listened to it a few times, I assume. He was capable of horrible acts and he would also use the people you cared about against you. If he’d known that I was so close to Alex, you might have died as well as your parents and any other family you have. He used my love for Gabriela against me for many years.”
I gasped upon hearing this. I had never considered this circumstance. I only believed what the crime world believed. Carlos Castillo was as blackhearted as his father Santiago was.
Carlos nodded at me. “Si, he also used the twins a few times once he realized I knew about them. In fact, I participated in the murderous acts against the Mancinis simply because he blackmailed me. No one knew of this as they would be dead if I ever told of it. He promised Gabriela’s demise a few times to get me to do what he wanted. I learned better at a young age, not to let him know about any personal relationships.” He locked gazes with me as his eyes glinted with pure hatred. “I only hope he fries in hell.”
I felt stunned. All the things I believed I knew about Carlos Castillo went out the damn window with that lone sentence. The belief that he was as cutthroat as Santiago and other members of his family had been ingrained in me from a young age. I also had believed that he never cared about Alex even though they grew up as close as brothers.
“I loved Gabby and he ruined that too,” Carlos went on. “Allowing her to believe I had forsaken her and Alex. I had been forced to allow her to believe that I willingly accepted Alex’s murder. That I was in agreement with Santiago taking her children from her. I could never remove the ideals that Gabby had about me and my black soul. I had been forced to go along to appear to be in support of Santiago’s decrees. I hated him for that…” He looked away as he spoke softly, “Alex was the purest soul I’d ever known. He had no guile in him. And I have missed him every day of my life. He should have been my brother-in-law, instead, he is gone.” Looking up at me, unshed tears glinted in his dark eyes again. “I wanted to kill Santiago so many times, yet I couldn’t bring myself to murder him. My hidden hatred for him was dark but not dark enough to trade my soul for.”
I noted that he did not call him his father. He called him by his first name, Santiago.
Carlos continued, “But I intend to make all of that right. Secretly, I had been hunting those kids for a long time. And I finally located them with someone’s help. So I have known exactly where they are.”
I stood from my chair and exclaimed, “For all this time? You knew? How could you not—”
“Go and get them? Return them to Gabby?” He scoffed. “That would have made them dead just like their father.” He again looked up at me and met my gaze as he spoke softly, “They are his offspring, part of him. So I cherish them. And eventhough I knew where they were, I never revealed that. Because I believed Santiago when he vowed to kill them should I ever interfere. He wasn’t above murdering his own grandchildren. No, I was shown how low he would go when—” He halted.
I waited as I wondered what he meant. “You were shown?”
