“It wasn’t fake,” I finally get out. “My affection. The life we shared this year. It wasn’t fake.”
“It was,” she snaps. She says it like it’s an undeniable truth.
She inhales deeply, like she’s bracing herself for impact. “Who did you talk to about the why, Ghost? AboutwhyI lied?”
“Your father,” I say, the word already rotting on my tongue. “He gave me everything. Sold the story for a bag of snow.”
Her lips twist into something that barely resembles a smile. “Of course he did. Tell me. What did he say?”
I lean back, stare at the ceiling for a moment, as if the memory might hurt less if I don’t look at her while I speak.
“He said he and your mother owed the Verdugos. Cartel debt, drugs. The boss, Sombra, somehow found out I was lookinginto him, asking questions. Your mother offered a solution. Said she could make me disappear in exchange for their debt being wiped.”
“She made you set me up. Threatened Liz to force your hand, but it wasn’t even necessary. You didn’t put up a fight because you were already looking elsewhere — at a local cop, Bowie. And you were so gone for him, you wanted to help his career. So you made sure to tell him personally to stop me and check for drugs after you planted them on me. You can imagine it wasn’t hard to believe that story. You married him. Stayed married for a fucking decade. And it wasn’t evenyouthe one who filed for divorce.”
That last part stings like a motherfucker. I didn’t mean it to come out as an accusation, but it definitely did.
She shakes her head slowly, with a bitter smile. “My father… always a master at telling half-truths wrapped in lies. But that’s not what happened. Not really. It’s a perverted version.”
She stares at me, unblinking.
“I’ve carried the guilt like a fucking cross, Ghost. For years. I let your revenge be my penance. But after the circus at the clubhouse, I think maybe I’ve been too blind for too long.”
She exhales, and when she speaks again, she’s calm. Deadly calm.
“So I’ll tell you the truth. My side of it. While my mind is still clear of the shadows. I think it’s time I get to speak now, don’t you?”
I nod.
I have a feeling I might have been ready to believe anything that man said just to justify the pain I was already dead set on inflicting. And now, I’m about to find out if I burned Heaven down for a lie.
She speaks again. Her voice is hollow. Like none of it matters anymore.
“First of all, it wasn’t about a debt.”
Her gaze doesn’t meet mine. She’s staring through me, eyes glassy, face pale under the harsh lights.
“My mother is a vile creature,” she continues. “She’s been Sombra’s mistress for almost twenty years.”
My gut clenches. That fucker has been hiding her well, but then again, I never looked too deep into her either. I was too focused on Adora.
“My father doesn’t care,” she adds. “She gets him drugs, and that’s his version of happy. He does anything for her just to get his fix. I’m surprised she hasn’t slit his throat by now, but she likes playing with her victims. Controlling them. She loved controlling me, too, ever since I was little. Every part of my life was hers to dictate — what I wore, when and what I could eat, when i could sleep, and so much more. I didn’t breathe unless she allowed it.”
She lays the words out between us like broken bones.
“And if I disobeyed, I got punished. I learned early how to keep my head down. How to endure. And sometimes, how to trick her and avoid her wrath.”
She falls quiet again. Her eyes drift to the side, unfocused. Like she’s watching the past forcing its way back in. I just sit there, silently, taking it all. Bracing for impact.
“And then I met you,” she says, softer now. “And the more you pulled me into your world, the more control she lost over me. I started fighting back, breaking her stupid rules. She hated that. You have no idea how much it pissed her off.”
Her voice wavers, just slightly. My throat tightens, but I keep still.
“It doesn’t really matter now. That mistake that put you on Sombra’s radar?” she says after a beat. “You made it the night we first met.”
My spine snaps straight. What the fuck?
“Outside the La Jaula bar. In the parking lot across the street. You asked for my number, and before you left, you put your cut back on. My mother was outside smoking, and she saw you. I didn’t know… If I’d known, I never would’ve stopped to talk to you.”
