Page 125 of In the Dark

“Don’t,” I spat, my adrenaline whooshing through my head. I blinked twice before I told him, “Lower your weapon and take a seat. You’re my tío, the father of my cousins, the husband of my aunt. Act like it.”

He nodded and held up both his hands like he was surrendering.

I didn’t care. I was tying his ass up until I knew exactly what was going on. I heard a helicopter in the distance and Callahan shrugged, giving my uncle a look. “More back up, Monte. Better make a better case.”

“Give me the evidence. And I’ll be the judge and jury to see whether you live through the night.”

38

Jasmina

MONTE WAS PROBABLY STILL hoping for a miracle.

Maybe I was too, because I let him talk. I wanted him to have a reason, a way to explain all this away, but as he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, I knew he wouldn’t. “This isn’t how this is supposed to end.” And when I stared at him, I saw how crazed he looked, how he’d lost weight, how there were bags under his eyes. The blinders I had for him were gone. “I … I am doing this for the family. For you too. Everything I did, I did for all of us. Your mother ruined everything.”

Callahan came to stand beside me, like he wanted to support me but also let me make my choice.

“Why did she ruin everything?”

“Because she was …” He paused, rethinking his words. “She was a worker, not supposed to be a lover.” His voice was full of vitriol now. And I believed him. I’d known my mother wasn’t from the States but not much else.

“So, she was trafficked by you all, and my father …” I choked on the words.

“Bah, he saved her, he said. But let’s be honest, between me and you, he sealed her fate, because the moment he wanted out of trafficking was the moment someone was going to put them in the ground. If it hadn’t been Paolo—”

“Paolo did it?” I whispered, everything lining up in my head.

“Mija, Paolo was the mastermind. Your father and him argued and argued that night. Money wasn’t adding up, and Paolo knew it. But my dad … he put Sanchez, that bastard, in charge. Know what your dad did that night? He went home and moved all the money we’d made from it.” Monte shook his head. “You still don’t remember?”

I didn’t. A child’s mind was one of survival, and I’d blocked out most of that night.

My uncle waved the thought away like he couldn’t believe my memory was that bad. “Paolo lost it, and he shot both of them before he could get the information we needed.”

“The accounts …” I whispered.

“The money’s been gone ever since. And your dad supposedly said, choking on his own blood, you’d be the only one to ever find it.” Monte scoffed. “You never have. If you could just remember something, we can rebuild rather than having—”

“What? A partner, Monte? The Diamond Syndicate offered you that, and you—”

“They want to take over!” Monte spat, pointing at Callahan. “They’re power hungry, and—”

“You are. You let one brother live after he killed another. You bided your time, trying to pry information from a child … you were willing to sacrifice your daughter—”

“I … did it for family. I still raised you.” He huffed.

“You raised me as a pawn, and you allowed my parents’ deaths to go unresolved.”

“When I got there, you weren’t even crying, mija–”

“When you got there?” I said softly, and that’s when the memory sliced through my mind.

I heard my father yelling, “I’ll never give you that money, Paolo. You’ll never fucking find it if you do this. Even if you do, it goes back to them. We get them out or I burn it.”

“You’re out of your mind.”

“No.” I heard my mother’s voice. “He’s finally sane. He’s finally understanding that a life matters more than a paycheck.”

“Shut the fuck up, you stupid bitch.” And that’s when I heard one shot. And a roar.