One year ago
“No!” I stumbled backward toward the bookshelf. “It’s not true!”
Cristiano sat on the couch, sympathy etching in the lines drawn across his face. “I’m sorry, Mari. It is.”
But I didn’t want his sympathy. I wanted him to take it all back. I wanted him to tell me it was all a lie.
“How do you know? He’s in with the Carreras! He could be lying!”
He clasped his hands in front of him. “Brody Harcourt got the information from Leo Pinellas. I verified it myself. The birth certificate is authentic, and so are the blood records. Esteban and Carmen both have type A blood. You are AB. They can only produce children with type A or O. Adriana Carrera was born with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes. The same thing that forced your transplant at age fourteen. Did you never wonder why your parents weren’t matches? Or Manuel for that matter?”
I heard every word he said, but I didn’t want to believe it. “They told me sometimes that happens.”
The corners of his mouth turned down and he sighed. “Mari…”
“Why?” I screamed, ripping a book from the shelf and throwing it at him. “Why would they do this to me?”
He averted his eyes. “I don’t know.”
The cry that tore from my throat didn’t sound human. I didn’t feel myself falling until I hit the floor. “I can’t be a Carrera. I can’t!”
* * *
Present Day
I blinked, the visions fading as if they’d never been there. “I’m so sorry I never got to know you. I’m sorry I grew up hating you, and for turning into such a selfish, vile woman. You must be so ashamed of me.”
“Cariño, none of what happened was your fault. We live the life we are given. A child cannot be faulted for not seeking the truth when lies are all she knows. I’m not ashamed of you. You gave your life to save my grandson, Adriana. That’s the most selfless gift a person can give.”
I gave my life?
I looked again at her flowing white gown and glanced down at the tether. I couldn’t breathe as I spun around. “Am I dead?”
“That’s up to you, but I believe someone is waiting for you.”
The tether grew slack. “I don’t know what to do.”
“You’re in charge of your own destiny, cariño.”
I glanced down once more just as the tether snapped and a voice from below carried by me on a passing breeze.
“We’re losing her…clear!”
Chapter Forty-Three
Brody
I was staring down at my clasped hands when Eden jumped up from the chair beside me. “How are they? How is my husband? Is he…” The words caught in her throat as tears poured down her face. Mateo slipped an arm around her, bracing for whatever news came next.
The doctor smiled. “Mrs. Carrera, your husband pulled through just fine. He’s in recovery.”
Eden let out a sob and covered her face.
I cleared my throat and stood. “What about Adriana?” When he didn’t say anything, I repeated it louder as Leighton took my hand.
His face became solemn. “She coded on the table.”
Sight and sound ceased to exist. My sister’s arm tightened around me, but I jerked away from her. I didn’t want to be touched.
“But we were able to stabilize her at the last minute,” he added. “The next few days will be crucial in Adriana’s body accepting the new kidney. Anything can happen.”
“Does that mean…”
He smiled. “It looks real good.”
Relief flooded my body, and I dropped my head back as Leighton hugged me. My heart raced with one question. “Can I see her?”
“I’m sorry, only immediate family is allowed, and Mr. Carrera is under sedation.”
No! She needed me. After all this, I couldn’t let her wake up alone. To strangers. To a silent room where she’d think she was abandoned again.
No. I dared this motherfucker to keep me away.
But before I could do anything, Eden stepped forward and shocked everyone. “Adriana is my sister-in-law, and as Valentin Carrera’s wife, I suggest you reconsider your stance on that rule. I’m a volatile woman, Dr. Torres. With the trauma my son and husband have endured, I’m sure you understand how unpleasant I can make your work environment should my emotions get the better of me.”
Everyone’s jaw dropped, including Dr. Torres’s who cleared his throat, a bead of sweat forming on his upper lip. “I, uh, I don’t see a problem in Mr. Harcourt visiting Miss Carrera once she’s out of recovery.”
“Wise decision.” Turning, Eden gave me a private wink. “Now, if, you all will excuse me, I’m going to check on my men.”
* * *
Two hours later, I still waited for her to wake up.
It didn’t matter. I’d waited for her my whole life. I’d wait for two years. Two decades. Two lifetimes. No one was taking me out of this room until she opened her eyes.
I brushed a piece of dark hair away from her cheek, ignoring the wires, tubes, and bandages in my way. Even with ashen gray skin and the quiet drip of an IV feeding into her veins, she’d never looked more beautiful. This woman. This force of nature who bulldozed her way into my life with threats and a vendetta.
She challenged me. She argued with me. She made me question myself and everything around me. She was both a brazen criminal and a fierce protector.
She was selfless.
I was the selfish one. I needed her here with me. I needed to hear her voice instead of the damn beep of the machines. And once I did, I was going to kick her ass for hiding something so huge from me…from all of us.
I pressed my forehead against her hand and closed my eyes. “Just say something. Anything. Let me know you’re coming back to me.”
“Hola.”
My neck snapped up, as her eyes fluttered open. It felt like every muscle in my body gave way at one time. “You gave everyone a scare, Carrera.”
She attempted a smile. “I like to keep things interesting.”
I tightened my grip on her hand. “How long have you known?”
I didn’t have to elaborate. By the guilty look on her face, she knew what I meant. “A few weeks.”
A few weeks.
The words settled at the base of my brain, and little clues came rushing back in a blaze of truth. “When you were sick on the plane, and when I wasn’t able to wake you up in Morelia, the dizziness, the coughing, all the talk about the end, and death…all of it makes sense now. I can’t believe I didn’t see it.”
She shook her head, reaching for my arm and wincing as a jolt of pain shot through her. “You didn’t see it because I didn’t want you to. You were never supposed to get close enough, remember?”
I remembered. It didn’t mean I was over it.
“Val gave you a kidney.”
“I know.”
“How?” When she just offered a secret smile, I shook my head. I probably didn’t want to know. “They said you coded. I thought I lost you.”
“You did.”
“Huh?” Something was off about her. Her demeanor seemed too calm. Almost at peace.
“It would’ve been so easy to walk away from everything, Brody. This life hasn’t been kind to me, so I thought the next one had to be better.”
She didn’t say the words, but the implication was there. I knew what she meant, and I stilled. “Do you still think that?
“No, I’m ready to finally start living. I used to want power, but that was the old me.”
“What do you want, Adriana?” I looked away, not wanting to see her face if her answer wasn’t the one I wanted to hear. I’d laid all my cards on the table. I still had some damn pride left.
“A home,” she whispered, her voice hoarse and raspy. “I want to belong.”
I entwined our fingers together, turning them so her palm faced up. “You have that, princesa. And I’ll never take it from you again.”
She swallowed hard, her brows pulling together. “Does that mean you
’ll be going back to Houston soon?”
“I have to. Val needs me there, and it’s my home. He’s put a lot of trust in me, and I won’t let him down.”
“I under—” She tried to pull her hand away, but I gripped it tight.
Maybe a little too tight.
Because what I’d mulled around while she was in surgery took a lot for me to say. It wasn’t something I offered on a whim, and it made zero sense.
Maybe that was why I trusted it.
“Come with me,” I blurted out.
Her mouth dropped open. “What?”
“We have hospitals in Houston. You can recover there. I’ll take care of you.”
“What are you saying?”
What was I saying?
Standing, I leaned over her bed and braced my hands on either side of her head. I got as close as I could to her without touching her, my lips hovering above hers.
Above the kiss I knew was mine and mine alone.
“I’m saying I love you, Adriana Carrera. I love the rival you were. I love the fighter you are. And I don’t want to miss a moment of the leader you’ll become. I don’t know how to do this. I’m winging it. I’ve only begged a woman one other time in my life, and now I realize it wasn’t out of love. It was out of fear. Fear that I wasn’t good enough for anyone else, or that I was just too fucked up for anyone to look beyond the mask to see the man. Then I met you. I met a stubborn, bossy, mouthy…”
She narrowed her eyes. “Watch it.”
I grinned. “Beautiful, amazing, pain in my ass who wouldn’t let me kiss her. And once she told me why, I stopped wanting to steal one, and started wanting to earn it.”
“Brody…”
“And once this woman gave me her kiss, I knew that was it for me. I never wanted to kiss anyone else for the rest of my life.” I ran the pad of my thumb over her bottom lip, and it was like coming home. Adriana closed her eyes, and I waited.
Waited for the answer of a lifetime.
When she finally opened her eyes, that smirk that I loved so much curved under my thumb.
“Does Houston have any decent food carts?”
Chapter Forty-Four
Adriana
Mexico City, Mexico
Six Weeks Later
I was getting cabin fever.
Well, if one could get cabin fever inside a mansion.
Still, in the six weeks since becoming the proud owner of my brother’s kidney, I’d barely been allowed to lift my own fork. He insisted on doing everything for me, and when I argued, he swore he was just protecting his investment.
Right.
However, the minute I got out from under Val’s watchful eye, Eden was there to serve as his stand-in warden.
Yes, I said Eden.
I couldn’t believe how much had changed in such a short amount of time. Not that we were best friends, but the animosity was gone. There was peace in the Carrera house, which only made the cartel that much stronger.
And deadlier.
Brody flew back and forth from Houston to Mexico City as much as he could, which ended up being every week. Val just rolled his eyes, but I saw the smile when he turned his head. Those two weren’t best friends either, but they’d found their peace too.
If the four of us could get along, anything was possible.
I zipped my suitcase closed, shaking my head at the mound of clothes Leighton was making me take to Houston. I didn’t have the heart to tell her half her stuff didn’t fit, so I’d just take them and donate them.
I did charitable shit like that now.
“Do you have a minute?”
I glanced toward the door where Eden stood, her red hair piled high on top of her head, Santi cradled in her arms.
“Sure. Is everything okay?”
She nodded, fidgeting as she walked into the room. “I owe you an apology.”
I waved my hand. “You don’t.” We’d had six weeks of peace. There was no need to open up old wounds just for words that weren’t needed.
Eden sighed, sinking onto my bed. “Adriana, we have more in common than I wanted to admit. We both had rough childhoods where we had to grow up too fast and rely on ourselves to survive. I didn’t have a real family.” She ran her hand over Santi’s dark hair. “Nash was all I had and after he died, well, Val and Santi, they’re my whole world. You scared me, and when I’m scared, I lash out. I can’t apologize for protecting them because I’d do it again. But I will apologize for not trusting my husband’s judgment.”
“Eden, it’s okay.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not. Please let me get this out.” Pressing her lips together, she took a deep breath. “You had my brother murdered, and I killed yours. I can hate you for it, but Nash wouldn’t want that. In fact, I think he’d be pretty ashamed of me right now. My big brother was my hero, Adriana. He was the best man I knew, and the only one who saw the good in me when everyone else put me down. He always said, ‘Edie, people do bad things, but it doesn’t make them bad people. What makes them bad is when they forget that.’” Her voice broke as tears spilled down her cheeks. “Santiago Nash Carrera is named after my brother, and I want him to grow up being as proud of his mom as I hope his uncle would’ve been. That’s why…” Her shoulders shook as she sobbed. “That’s why I forgive you.”
Before I knew what I was doing, I flung my arms around her. Startled at first, she soon leaned into it, pressing her cheek against my shoulder. After a few awkward moments, we pulled apart, both of us wiping our eyes, looking anywhere but at each other.
“Well,” I said, glancing toward the open door, “I should probably go downstairs. Brody will be here any minute.”
“Adriana, wait.” She grabbed my arm, a genuine smile pulling across her mouth as she glanced down at the wigging baby in her arms. “Santi, it’s time you officially meet your Aunt Adriana.” Scooping him up, she held him out to me, and I waved both hands, backing up like he was a ticking bomb.
“Oh, no, I can’t…”
Her grin widened. “Come on. Consider it practice.”
I didn’t have time for another protest. Eden stood up and dumped him in my arms. It was either take him or drop him. Paranoid, I tugged him against my chest, looking down at the little boy I risked everything for.
“Hola.”
It was all I could think of to say. One word that meant nothing, but then again, sometimes everything could be said without saying anything at all.
Kind of like a kiss.
* * *
Val stood at the bottom of the stairs outside the estate, shuffling from foot to foot. Brody grinned and kissed my cheek. “I’ll wait near the car and give you two a minute.” I nodded, watching him walk away as Val scratched the back of his head.
“You’ll be back for Santi’s baptism, right?”
I nodded. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“You sure you’re okay to fly? You can rest here for a few days.”
“Val! It’s been six weeks. I’m fine. Stop being a big brother.”
He chuckled. “Give me a break, I’ve got twenty-four years to catch up on.” An awkward silence passed between us again, and he took a step toward me, his expression turning serious. “Thanks for saving my son.”
“Thanks for the kidney.”
“Yeah well, don’t expect another one.”
It was my turn to chuckle. If anyone had told me two months ago that I would’ve risked my life to save a Carrera, or anyone but myself for that matter, I would’ve laughed in their face. That wasn’t who I was. Definitely not the person I was raised to be. Self-sacrifice was for the weak and stupid. I thought the only way to survive was to ensure others didn’t.
Then Brody Harcourt turned my life upside down, and it would never right itself.
I never wanted it to.
I’d learned to love. I learned to be loved.
I learned to forgive. I learned to be forgiven.
On instinct, my eyes found him, his gaze already
locked on me. Those green and brown swirls that commanded such passion. They saw me like none other.
Val stepped beside me. “Keep that one in line.”
I glanced up to see his eyes focused on Brody, the beginnings of a smile on his face. “Not a chance,” I shot back with a wink.
“Hey, Adriana?”
“Yeah?”
“I…” He scratched his chin, whatever he was going to say lost as the cartel boss pushed the big brother to the back of the line. “Don’t go soft on me just because you’re in love and shit.”
Sometimes I really liked the cartel boss a lot more. But I’d never tell my brother that.
“Not a chance. Haven’t you heard? I’m a Carrera.”
Epilogue
Adriana
Houston, Texas
One Year Later
They say life comes full circle to a place of meaning just to show you how much you’ve grown. I remembered thinking everything that was wrong in my life started the moment I walked into Caliente Cantina, and it would end there.
It did.
I just didn’t know at the end I’d find a new beginning.
“Hey, princesa, this beer ain’t gonna refill itself.”
I rolled my eyes at the old man sitting on the barstool, twirling his empty beer mug on his finger with a shit-eating grin. Hanging the last cocktail glass, I stepped off the overturned crate and kicked it out of my way. “How many times have I told you, Frankie?” I said, snatching it off his finger before it shattered. “My name is Adriana.”
“Yeah, but that blond guy calls you princesa,” he slurred, waving a hand around the empty bar.
“That blond guy owns this place, including that stool you sit on every day. He can call me anything he wants.” Tilting a clean mug under the tap, I filled it to the top and slid it into his waiting hands. “You, my friend, cannot. And that…” I said, pointing to the glass already at his lips. “…is your last one. You’re cut off.”
Drawn Blue Lines: A Carrera Cartel Novel Page 32