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The slow drip of whatever concoction they had me on made me feel like my limbs were made of lead. “Tell me.”
"Easy there, Teo," a smirk played on his thin lips. "Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."
I glared at him, the edges of my vision blurring as I struggled to keep my gaze fixed on his face. "Where is she? What did you do to Sofia?"
His eyes narrowed, his smirk fading away as quickly as it had appeared. "Sofia is fine. She's safe."
I wanted to believe him. But the word 'safe' coming from her captor's mouth tasted sour in my ears. It felt like a mockery. "Safe with who? Safe where? I want proof of life.”
He regarded me with a look akin to amusement, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why? Feeling guilty for leaving her behind?"
“I didn’t leave her behind. You bombed us.”
He cocked his head, his eyes narrowing. “My daughter is fine.”
“Not thanks to you,” I spat at him, anger and disgust bubbling up inside me. He was no father to her, not really. What kind of parent puts their child in such danger?
“Careful, Teo.” His voice was calm and measured, but the sharpness in his gaze promised danger. “Don’t forget who currently holds your life in his hands.”
The threat did nothing to quell my anger. Instead, it fanned the flames. I knew I was running on borrowed time; my body was weak and I was ninety-percent sure it was failing, but if the last thing I did on this earth was get rid of this man, I would die happy. “Fuck you.”
His lips curled into a grimace, his eyes darkening for a moment before that cold, collected demeanor snapped back into place. "You should save your energy, Teo," he practically sneered my name, "You'll need it."
I clenched my jaw, the metallic taste of anger and frustration filling my mouth. I wanted to spit at him, to unleash all the venom I held for him, but that would only give him more satisfaction. I couldn't afford to hand him that victory.
"Just tell me where Sofia is," I insisted once more, my words shrouded in a hoarse whisper, the last remnants of my energy seeping out.
He shrugged. “Sorry, no,” he replied. “That’s not why I’m here.”
“Then why are you here?”
“You’re a hard man to get alone,” he began, pulling a chair up to sit by the side of my bed. He took his time, adjusting his large form into the small seat. "I thought it was high time we had ourselves a little heart-to-heart."
A chill ran through me. I didn’t want to have any conversation with him, least of all one that was intimate in nature. But what choice did I have?
"So, what? You're going to lecture me now?" I challenged, struggling to keep myself upright.
He let out a dry laugh. "Not quite, Teo."
He seemed thoughtful for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully. Then he leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees. His eyes met mine and for an instant, I saw something flicker across them. Not anger or hatred, but...regret? No way. This man wouldn’t be able to feel regret.
"No," he said finally. "I think it's time you knew the truth."
The air in the room seemed to tighten. My lungs felt like they were shriveling, my breaths coming in harsh and uneven. My heart pounded against my ribcage, echoing loudly in the sterile silence that surrounded us. “I don’t want to hear a fucking word from you until I get proof of life.”
His jaw hardened, but he sighed and reached into his pocket. He’d taken a grainy picture of Sofia in a…what was that, a cell of some sort? Before I told him that didn’t prove anything, he was showing me the timestamp. “I took this last night,” he said. “I figured you might be a little unreasonable.”
I couldn’t exactly hurt him—I genuinely wasn’t in any condition to—but I really, really wanted to. “You said you were going to tell me the truth.”
"Yes," he said simply, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards into a cold smile. "But where to start?"
"Start with Sofia," I grumbled, my fingers twitching with the urge to strangle him. "Tell me how you can claim to be a father when you've done nothing but hurt your daughter."
His gaze hardened, but not in anger. It was sorrow that I saw there - strange and misplaced on his stoic face. "Oh Teo," he sighed, shaking his head slightly. "It's not as simple as that."
I rubbed my head, which hurt. “Always with the preamble. Do you ever get to the point?”
“I knew your father,” he said. “Back when we were children in Little Havana. Before we both moved North.”
