Page 126 of In the Dark

And two more shots. I ran down the stairs and my father’s eyes connected with mine, and the last thing he murmured was “There’s a twinkle in your eyes, baby.”

My lullaby.

I repeated in a higher pitch, “When you got there? You hugged me and told me we’d get through this together.”

“Ah, she finally remembers.” He smiled.

Callahan looked at me then. “You okay?”

I raised my chin and the gun to Monte’s head.

If it wasn’t clear before to me, it was now. He knew I knew something.

Callahan didn’t say anything.

He nodded at me and said, “Do what you want, Viper. For the family you want. Adamantem infractum manet.”

He let me take the lead, gave me the reins, trusted my judgment rather than trying to sway me with his own. I knew his mantra meant not only that Diamonds were unbroken but that we would remain unbroken now too. We were Diamonds together.

It was proof that he loved me.

It was proof he was my family, and that was all I needed.

And something equally full of love for him but full of darkness for my uncle settled into my bones.

“You kill me, mija, Perla will never forgive you. It would be blasphemy to kill the man who took you in, who—”

“Blasphemy is letting your own brother bleed out another brother and raising his daughter as a weapon, Tío Monte. A weapon that will ultimately be your own demise.”

He blinked in surprise at how vicious my voice sounded all of a sudden. The viper had come out now.

“Did you know my father left an encrypted SD card to me?”

He frowned at first, and I saw how his eyes widened just a fraction.

“How much money do you think my father laundered over the course of his lifetime?”

His gaze searched my face before contorting slowly. It morphed from that gentle uncle I’d understood over the years to one full of entitlement and desperation. “You found it? I knew you had it in you. He fucking hid it from us all, didn’t he?”

“If he did?”

“Jesus Christ, I told Paolo again and again that you’d remember something. That Sanchez wouldn’t have died without a key to give to the child he loved. It’s why I told Paolo I’d take you in.”

“Because you thought I’d lead you to money?” Not because I was a child who’d lost her parents, not because I was his niece. “Not because I was your family?” Was being the keyword.

Callahan had shown me I could choose family. We could choose who we allowed in and out of our lives. This time, I’d choose to get rid of the parasites in mine.

And Monte had to have seen the change in my eyes because that’s when the man started begging. “Please spare me how I’ve spared you all these years. Please let me live and see—”

God, I couldn’t take it.

“Do you expect mercy or grace from me, the woman you had stabbed numerous times?”

Monte seemed to think I was a lost cause because he turned to Callahan. “We helped our brothers, you and me. Callahan, you must know how it is. We stand beside them, never getting the praise or recognition, and we should. It’s my time. Jasmina, you know I deserve it. Look at the time I took raising you for Sanchez, and the time I endured Paulo’s idiocy. My brother was an idiot. I was always the smart one.”

“Was it just a competition?” I whispered. “They were your brothers.”

“And I was the best of them,” he hissed viciously. “Can’t you see that? I made sure it was Maribel who was supposed to marry that Diamond filth. Not you. She was perfect with the fact that she can’t have children!” He held his head high. “And when you acted out again, because you always have to act out of emotion rather than intelligence, I was willing to save you! I tried to make sure you wouldn’t have to conceive with him!”