“Crystal.”
“Good luck, brother.” Kyle left the stairwell, and we followed behind him.
Once outside, I turned to Ashley. “We need to stop at my place and get my gun. I’m going to find out where Mitch is so he can go with us.”
I didn’t have my truck, so I climbed into Ashley’s car and grabbed my phone out of the paper bag to call Mitch. He picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, man. What the fuck happened? I went to pick up Joaquín, but he’d already been released. I bolted back to your place, but Mia was gone. Her purse was missing and her phone was shattered on the ground, but the rest of her stuff was there.”
Fuck. But then a realization hit me. Her ring. I had opted for the tracking device. All I had to do was activate it.
“Hang on a second.”
I used my phone to log into the site the jeweler had given me and traced her ring. When a map popped up, I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Dude, she’s about two hundred miles up the coast. They just passed Carpinteria.”
“How the fuck do you know?”
“I installed a tracker on her ring.”
“Nice, bro. Hey, I’m in Carlsbad. I’ll hop in my truck and keep driving north until you catch up.”
“Good. We’re on our way.”
“We?”
I glanced over at Ashley. “Yeah, we. Autumn’s coming with me.”
Mitch didn’t even bother to ask why. Maybe he knew who she was. I didn’t care at this point. I just needed to get to Mia before Joaquín tried to touch her, again.
We made a quick pit stop at my place to get my gun. As we drove up the coast, I considered what Ashley had said—that this was my fault for pulling that stunt. Well, if she hadn’t lost sight of my son in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to do it. It didn’t matter who was to blame. I was going to fix it.
7
Mia
It took all my inner strength not to jump out of the truck when we stopped for gas in Santa Barbara. Pretending to like Grant as Ksenya had been easy. I was in love with Grant; I’d just been pretending to be another woman. But pretending to have amorous feelings for my brother was completely different—I had to pretend he was another man.
“Where’s Julián? How do you know where he is? You’ve been in jail.”
“He’s safe. That’s all you need to know. I always told them to go to a certain place if Grant came knocking around.”
Damn it. I’d hoped that in an effort to seduce me, Joaquín would be more open with me. But he was controlling every aspect of our road trip.
“Okay. Where are we going?”
“To unwind, relax. I’ve been locked up for seven months. I want to be alone with you.”
Fuck. I would not sleep with him; I would kill him first. But luckily, he’d promised to give me time. But . . . my son. Where was he? This was my only hope to find him.
Joaquín leaned over the truck as he pumped gas, and I noticed the outline of a gun in his pants. Of course he was armed. It would be more shocking if he wasn’t carrying. His lawyer must’ve hooked him up.
But I was armed, too. The gun was in my purse. But who was I kidding? Despite my training, I was no match for Joaquín. Grant and Mitch could take him, but not me.
Mitch was supposed to be following us, but Joaquín being released early had fucked up Grant’s entire plan. Joaquín had destroyed my phone and brought me in a vehicle they weren’t tracking.
Mitch won’t have a clue where I was, until Grant is released. Grant had given me this ring, and when he’s free, the ring will lead him to me.
Joaquín climbed back into the seat, and we headed up the coast. I’d imagined this reunion so many times, but it had never ever been like this. I didn’t know what to say; anything that came to my mind seemed wrong. So, I kept my mouth shut and stared at the ocean.
After a few hours of listening to music, Joaquín exited toward Carmel-by-the-Sea, and my stomach twisted a bit. Mama and Papa would always bring us here in the summers, and Joaquín and I would spend our days rolling in the sand dunes and our nights gazing at the stars. We’d raced our remote-control cars up and down the sidewalks and had spent hours at the Monterey Aquarium. It had been one of our happy places.
How would he ruin this memory?
When Joaquín turned toward a cottage on the beach, my heart raced. “Where are we staying?”
“Daniel has a place he’s letting me borrow. I need to clear my mind. The only good thing about being in jail is that I wasn’t force-fed all that media bullshit. I spent so much time alone, wrestling with my feelings and figuring shit out. It gave me time to realize what would make me happy. It’s not being a SEAL or having money or getting high. It’s you. You’re all I need, Mia. I’m gonna show you how much I fucking love you.”
I had to separate who I thought he once was from who he actually was. He’d been different for years, but I had been blinded to his dark side. My soul ached. How could I feel compassion for this monster? He’d raped me, kidnapped my son, and murdered a woman. And possibly my parents. There was something wrong with him. He needed to get help. I just wished he had received the therapy he had needed before his life spun out of control.
I couldn’t say these things. My son’s life depended on my compliance.
Instead, I took his hand in mine. “Let’s get dinner at the Mexican restaurant that Mama and Papa loved. And then we can get ice cream and stop by my favorite gallery. Just like old times.”
He pulled in front of the house and grasped my face, kissing me again. “I fucking love you. You’re so incredible. I’ll love you until the day I die, until I take my last breath. Listen, Grant will love another woman. But I won’t, Mia. You’re the only woman for me.”
His words were choked with emotion, and for the third time today, I burst into tears. What had happened to him? It couldn’t have just been my parents’ lies that drove him to this madness—there had to have been something else that had triggered him. He’d been such a great brother to me, he’d been such a happy boy, when did he crack?
Lies. Lies destroyed everything. For the first time I saw that. My lies destroyed Grant, Joaquín’s lies destroyed me and my son, and my parents’ deception destroyed Joaquín.
A crushing feeling enveloped my chest. I knew in my soul that this would be the last time I would ever be with my brother. This would not end well. One or both of us would end up dead once he realized that I had no feelings of romantic love for him.
But for this moment, for tonight, I would hold on to him and our childhood dreams as I bid my long goodbye to my brother.
8
Grant
That ring tracker had traced Mia and Joaquín up the California coast. Mitch was closing in on them, but I was still speeding to try to catch up.
The phone rang, and I picked up. “Yeah, where are they?”
“In Carmel. Parked in some driveway near the beach.”
“Okay. I’m a couple hours away. Keep watch on them.”
“I am, but man, hey. They were just kissing in the truck. How far are we going to let this get before we take him out? He’ll probably rape her again.”
Dammit, why had I taken this call on Bluetooth? Ashley glared at me with a look that screamed, “She’s fooling you.” Fuck her.
“Mia has a gun. She won’t let that happen. I’ll be there soon. Just keep your eyes on them.”
“Okay, man. Let me know when you’re close. I’m texting you the address now.”
Ashley opened her mouth “Grant—”
“Stop. I don’t want to hear it.”
But she didn’t stop. “No. Listen to me. She’s playing you.”
Fuck this bitch. “No, I fucking told you. Joaquín is a psychopath, and Mia is doing what she has to do to make sure he doesn’t fucking kill her. Or our son. Joaquín is crazy and has nothing to lose. Nothing. What the fuck do you expect her to do? Tell him off? He kidnapped her.”
A few hours later, I pulled up to
the address Mitch had given me. I quickly located Mitch and hopped into his truck, unfortunately with Ashley in tow.
I slammed the truck door, and Ashley climbed in the back.
Mitch did a full eye fuck on Ashley. “Why’s she here exactly?”
Apparently he didn’t know she was NCIS. “She bailed me out of jail.” That wasn’t actually a lie.
He turned to Ashley. “You clean up nice. Though I prefer your rhinestone thong and thigh highs.”
She smiled and batted her eyelashes at him. “Maybe I’ll give you a private show later.”
Damn, Autumn was back.
Mitch licked his lips. “I’d like that, baby doll.”
I ignored them and pointed at the house. “Have they been here all this time?”
“No. They went downtown. Grabbed some food, stopped at a touristy store and then did some window shopping. Even shared an ice cream cone.” Mitch’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
Ashley touched Mitch’s shoulder. “What flavor, big boy?”
Mitch’s brow cocked. “Mint chocolate chip. Want me to buy you some? I’d love to lick it off your pussy.”
Ashley laughed, and there wasn’t a hint of her previous disdain for him in it.
“Hey, if you two want to go fuck, that’s fine. I prefer to operate alone.”
“Whatever, dude. See for yourself.” Mitch handed me some binoculars. We were four houses down, but with Mitch’s optic equipment, I might as well have been sitting inside the house with Joaquín and Mia. Good thing I wasn’t because I would’ve strangled him.
Once the lens focused, I saw exactly what I didn’t want to see. Joaquín and Mia cuddled on the sofa, watching something on television. He had his arm around her shoulders and was stroking her hair, and she was snuggled into his chest.
My mouth filled with a bitter tang, and I closed my eyes, praying to erase the image of them together. Like a fucking rubbernecker, I couldn’t help myself from opening my eyes and taking another peek.
And there it was. Joaquín was kissing my wife, his sister. His hand touched the top of her breast, and it took every inch of my self-control not to reach into my holster and put a bullet through his head. I could’ve made the shot from a mile away.
I handed the binoculars back to Mitch, who willingly gave them to Ashley.
Ashley squinted. “She seems into it to me. She just touched his face.”
“Just fucking watch them and stop speculating. This isn’t some fucking reality show you’re viewing—this is my life.”
Was I wrong? Was Mia some sort of psycho in love with her brother?
She hadn’t been convinced of his guilt when I last saw her.
Could Ashley be right?
Mia was snuggling on the sofa and appeared very intimate with Joaquín.
No. No. I knew my wife. She was a warrior, strong, and capable. She was willing to do anything for her family. And I knew that she was risking her life to save our son.
9
Mia
Tequila. I needed Tequila.
I decided that getting Joaquín drunk was the best option. After we walked around town, I stopped at the liquor store and bought a bottle of Don Julio Blanco. He’d been jailed for seven months; he’d definitely want to cut loose and get wasted.
I tried to pretend that Joaquín loved me only as a sister and that we had been reunited after a long deployment. It worked for the most part. We ate enchiladas suizas from our favorite cantina, indulged in ice cream, hit up a store to get a change of clothes and toiletries, and then strolled through the galleries.
Back at the cottage, Joaquín started a fire. Even though it was the middle of summer, the thick Carmel fog made the night air chilly. We watched television on the sofa, where he gave me a few kisses. I was completely grossed out but kept telling myself this was just like a love scene.
He stood and placed blankets in front of the hearth. “Come here, babe.”
Babe? Fuck. I walked over to him and lay beside him, staring at the embers. “It’s so beautiful here. I just wish we could go back to the way we were. With Mama and Papa. We were so happy.”
Joaquín turned toward me, his eyes radiating anger. “Fuck them, Mia. They lied to us. They fucked me up. Dad beat me within an inch of my life when he caught me staring at you and then kicked me out of the house. I had no choice but to join the Navy. I was only seventeen.”
I remembered the night Joaquín had left, his face bloody, his nose broken. Papa had told me that Joaquín was involved in a fight, but he wouldn’t let me go see if my brother was okay. The next day, he was gone. I never even got to tell him goodbye.
“I never knew he was the one who hit you. I had no idea why you were in such a rush to join the Navy. They told me some guy was bullying you and you just wanted to leave so you took the GED and joined. I was hurt that you didn’t tell me yourself.”
“I couldn’t. They wouldn’t let me. I was just a teen, and they tried to deprogram me. The mind doesn’t work like that. You can’t tell someone to stop thinking about someone, or to stop lusting after someone. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t deny it. They deserved everything they got.”
My blood chilled. “Joaquín, did you have anything to do with their deaths? I need you to tell me.”
He looked at the fire. “I wished them dead. Out loud. And someone made my wish come true.”
My breath hitched, and he must have heard it because his eyes turned back to me. I was playing a part. I had to calm down. Plus, he wouldn’t have brought me all the way here just to kill me.
I took one of my yoga breaths and said a silent prayer. Please keep my son safe from this monster.
Joaquín kissed my hand. “I did it for you, Mia. I did it for us. Without them, nothing stood in the way of us being together.”
I held back my tears, refusing to let him see me cry. How could I have never seen how disturbed he was?
He didn’t press me any further, and before I knew it, the warmth of the fire overtook him and he drifted to sleep. I considered taking the keys and running away from him, but then I would never find my son.
***
I woke the next morning and found Joaquín sitting on the deck staring at the ocean. I sat next to him. “Hey. Will you take me to see our son? I just need to hug him. Please?”
“Sure. But we can’t take him with us. I’m only on bail; I could be recharged anytime.”
Especially since you are guilty.
I kept that thought to myself. “Where is he?”
“Get ready, and we’ll go.”
I brushed my teeth and pulled my hair into a ponytail. With my hair back to my natural color, I looked more like myself, which was a small comfort in all this chaos. I wasn’t the same person I was a year ago, though. I was stronger, relentless. I wouldn’t give up.
When I emerged from the bathroom, Joaquín was staring at me. He pulled me against him. “If I take you to see him, you need to do something for me.”
He didn’t need to say what he wanted from me. His hand on my ass told me everything I needed to know. I ran my fingers through his hair. “I’ll do whatever you ask if you take me to see him.”
He released me and went to get ready himself. I went to the front porch and saw a truck a few houses down.
Mitch’s truck. Luckily, Mitch had purchased this truck after his divorce so Joaquín wouldn’t recognize it. There were three people inside, and I didn’t need to see their faces to know one of them was Grant.
I wanted to run to him, but I didn’t dare. Instead, I raised my hand just a bit and waited. The driver flashed the lights just as Joaquín came out, and I was forced to turn away. Acting casual, I followed Joaquín to his truck, knowing Grant would follow.
Three hours later we were back in my hometown of Marin and pulling in to a small apartment complex in the Canal.
Joaquín opened the truck door. “Wait here.”
I nodded, and he went to an apartment and came back in a few minutes with an older
Mexican man. Joaquín got back into the truck. “Julián is at the neighbor’s apartment for a playdate so you won’t have to worry about the grandma recognizing you. Tomás will take you over to meet him.”
“You’re not going to come?” Not that I wanted him to.
“Nope. Look, we can have other kids. But it’s best if we forget about Julián. His existence gives me a motive to have killed Tiffany. I’m going to let you say goodbye to him.”
Fuck you. The only person I’m going to say goodbye to is you.
“I understand. He doesn’t even know us.”
I scanned the parking lot, looking for Mitch’s truck, but it wasn’t there.
And no other vehicle entered the parking lot. After ten minutes, Tomás opened my door, and I followed him to a third-floor apartment, which was apparently his since he just walked right in. Tomás greeted the woman standing in the kitchen with a kiss. He motioned me over to the sofa.
Again I nodded, but before I could sit down, Julián ran out of the other room dressed as a superhero. He was holding a little girl’s hand.
All I saw in his perfect face was Grant. The strong cleft in his chin, the devilish grin. How had I not seen it before? Had Joaquín ignored this strong resemblance? Well, he clearly hadn’t seen him in a while and Julián’s features must’ve become more developed. I shuddered. If Joaquín looked at my boy now, it would be clear that Julián was Grant’s son, not his. I wanted to scoop my boy up and run away. But I couldn’t, I had to wait. I knew that if I could buy myself enough time, Grant would be here.
Tomás handed me a bag of weed. This fake drug deal was a cover for my being in this apartment. My son was being babysat by a drug dealer.
My hand grasped the outline of the gun in my purse. I could grab my son and run, but where would I go? Julián ran into another room, and I forced myself to thank Tomás as he ushered me out almost as quickly as I came in.
Fuck.
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