Page 12 of Deadly Scandals

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 to 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’re 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.