Page 109 of LA Reign

“Fuck!” he hisses as he palms his cock through his sweatpants.

We’re disturbed by a soft knocking at the door, and Alejandro jumps up. “That will be Lucia. She’s been checking in every fifteen minutes or so.”

I nod. “She must have so many questions.” As do I, now I come to think of it.

“Come in,” Alejandro says and a few seconds later, Lucia’s head pops through the doorway.

“You’re awake,” she says softly. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I say as I shift myself carefully up into a seated position. “Come here, sweetheart.”

She smiles at me and walks across the room before sitting on the bed, taking Alejandro’s place beside me.

So much happened last night. So much was said that neither Lucia nor I understood. We both have many questions. But last night was about coming home, getting checked out by the doctor, and processing the shock of being free from that terrible basement. She snakes her hand into mine, and I squeeze it. “Thank you,” I say simply. “For helping me get through all of that.”

She shrugs. “I didn’t do much. You were the one with all the fight in you.”

“You gave me more to fight for.”

Alejandro smiles as he listens to our conversation, then pulls up the chair from the dresser and sits down by us.

“I suppose you have a lot of questions, Lucia?” he asks.

“Yeah. You said…You said Carlos was my father?” She almost chokes on the words.

He nods. “It’s true, I’m sorry. Did you have any idea at all that Miguel Ramos might not be your real father?”

She shakes her head. “No. None at all. I mean, I always felt different to them, but I thought that was just because I was a girl, and you know, not a psycho like him. But he was my father. He would have told me if he wasn’t—wouldn’t he?”

Alejandro rubs a hand across his jaw. “I don’t think so. He wouldn’t have wanted to lose face. I knew that my Uncle Carlos and your mother had an affair. It lasted almost a year, and it ended a few months before you were born. It seems that your mother chose Miguel over him, and my uncle didn’t take it well. He was always a liability. But after your mother ended things, he completely lost it. We never knew what caused it. Now we do. He ended up in a mental health facility for over a year. And since then, I suppose things have been building in his mind. His paranoias, his delusions. He convinced himself the only reason he wasn’t with your mom was because of my father banning him from having a family. And I know for sure that’s not true. My Papa has said to me many times he always wished Carlos had found love.”

Lucia thinks it over, her eyes wide. It’s a lot to take in.

“Do you think they were happy? Him and my mom? Because she sure wasn’t happy with my dad…or the man I thought was my dad.”

“Who can say?” Alejandro replies, spreading his hands. “Sadly. we cannot ask her.”

“But you really think Carlos was my father?” she asks.

“Yes. And he certainly believed so too. As did your mother. At least according to her old friend, Crystal.”

Lucia smiles faintly at the mention of Crystal’s name. “She was always good to me,” she says softly. “Until the drugs really took hold of her anyway.”

“So is that why Carlos took us?” I ask. “Because he thought Lucia was his daughter?”

Alejandro clears his throat. “No. It was slightly more complicated than that. He knew that my father was getting ready to hand everything over to me. He resented the fact that it would be me taking over the family business, rather than him. So he tried to kill him instead, presumably to get in the way of that process and throw me into grief. Causing chaos so he could take control. Who knows? The man was crazy.”

I open my mouth in shock. “He had your father shot? His own brother?”

Alejandro nods. “He wanted to destroy our family as it is. He wanted to ruin me so that he could legitimately take my father’s place. He knew that I would burn this city to the ground to find you. He counted on me getting myself killed, or just being so lost without you that I’d self-destruct.

I nod while Lucia sits beside me in stunned silence. It is all so much to take in, especially for her.

“Perhaps he would have eventually used your freedom as a bargaining chip? Who knows what was going through his mind. He was loco.”

“I’m not sure,” I tell him. “His men…they seemed to think that once Carlos had achieved his goal, they’d be free to do whatever they wanted to me. They kept saying that. That Carlos would eventually get you right where he wanted you.”

“Again, who knows? But he was right. The easiest way to get to me was through you. Then when Lucia came into our lives, that just added more fuel to his jealousy. I honestly think he would have never harmed you, Lucia. I think he wanted to try and be a father, at least in the only way he knew how,” Alejandro finishes.