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This man was living proof of what happened when a relationship went sideways. Love was such a fickle, complicated thing.
I’d admired Ricardo once, for being exceptionally ruthless and never folding no matter how tough things got.
Now, he was up shit creek without a paddle or a life-vest, and had come to drown right in front of me. He didn’t fight hard enough in my opinion, thus losing all the respect I’d had for him.
“When will I hear from you?”
“Sometime tomorrow if I’m not too busy drowning in pussy—the unrelated kind, of course.”
With my final jab delivered, he turned away and shuffled from the room, looking as if I’d shoved a broom handle up his ass. The door to my home office clicked shut with his departure. He’d knowingly just signed over his entire legacy to me, never even obtaining my word that I wouldn’t destroy it.
Which, coincidentally, was exactly what I intended to do.
Another round of roulette won.
There were just a few more details to deal with. I flipped open the file Ricardo had brought with him, and stared down at the information.
Skimming over all the details about his estate and bank account, I stopped on a fairly recent photograph.
Two nearly identical faces stared back at me.
Elena and Eva Rias.
I hadn’t thought about them too much, to be honest, and I was unsure how to handle this little hiccup. Thumbing my lower lip, I tried to think of a solution.
What the fuck was I going to do with two twelve-and-a-half year old girls?
Chapter Two
Present
I stared at the box of ashes for what felt like hours. My left arm hung limply by my side, Eva’s jagged heart pendant clutched within my fist.
For a minute or two, I tried to convince myself this didn’t mean anything, that she could still be wherever it was she was supposed to be. I knew she was gone, though. On a sub-conscious level, I’d always known.
I continued to search for her because as her sister—and the only family she had left who gave a shit about her—I’d felt obligated to do so.
My prolonged denial made the truth a bitter pill to choke down.
Two symmetrical tears ran down my face, dropping off and falling silently to the beige carpet.
My cell continued to vibrate in my back pocket, stopping me from settling into a full-blown state of melancholy.
I knew who it was without having to check. I’d told him I was leaving, not where I was going; I’d simply hopped in the car and left.
The idea of going back to him wasn’t feasible to me. I felt the weight of his world in every inch of my spine. His presence would only make me go completely out of my mind. I couldn’t put up any semblance of defense against him in my current emotional limbo.
Shutting my eyes, I took a few deep breaths, pushing all the hurt, anger, and chaos to a dark corner of my mind.
I needed to remain cognizant of every move I made. I needed to get away from all of this and take time for myself, to regroup and sort out my shit.
I could bet my life that the car Mateo had bought me was equipped with a tracker. Taking off in it wasn’t an option. Running wasn’t supposed to be an option, but at this point, Mateo could go straight to hell. Then again, he’s probably love it there. I was positive that’s where he’d spawned from.
I slipped Eva’s necklace in the front pocket of my shorts, and gently placed the lid back on the box of ashes, ignoring the framed king of hearts card altogether.
There was a high possibility this wasn’t Eva, and nothing more than a statement confirming she was gone.
The whole cremation thing wasn’t Mateo’s style. The man just wasn’t that considerate.
