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Fire lit up the night sky, the pristine war zone now looking as it should have all along. I had plans for the property that had already been set into motion. Some good would come from this hell; I'd make certain of it. By tomorrow afternoon, what remained of the Calderón compound would be bulldozed.
An immense pressure was released from my chest. He was gone. My sister and I were free, and Mama could rest in peace.
Chapter Two
Holly
Guilt.
It was a strange emotion, sometimes so strong it stifled me and others when it was barely noticeable though still there. Guilt was a parasite I’d learned to live with, as much a part of me as my blonde hair.
I stared at the front door. A few days ago, I hadn’t exactly lied to Easton Carter, who was technically one of my bosses and a good man, but I hadn’t told the truth either.
“Mama, your phone is making a lot of noise.”
The reason I did everything flew into the living room, my smartphone precariously balanced in his five-year-old hands. It tottered as he rounded the sofa. With quick reflexes, he kept it from falling to the hardwood floor and held it out to me with a grin.
He dropped it into my open palm, but before I had a good grip on the device, it plopped onto the sofa cushion. My son didn’t get his sharp reflexes from me. I gripped the phone tightly.Not going there now.
“Thank you, baby.”
Gabriel crawled on the sofa and snuggled against me. I put an arm around him as he peered up. “Who’s blowing up your phone?”
I snorted. “Where’d you hear that?”
“You say it when Miss Jacobs calls you a bunch,” he explained matter-of-factly while I sat there baffled.
“I do?”
He nodded, and I scrubbed his head. My little sponge didn’t miss anything. He was so incredibly bright sometimes I wondered if I’d hold him back. Gabriel taught me new things every day. I wasn’t stupid, not most of the time anyway, but he was just so smart. And I didn’t think that because I was his mother. It was absolutely true.
I lit the phone screen. Four missed calls and two voicemails.
“Did you know James Monroe was the fifth president?”
I hit play on the voicemail and held it up to my ear before I absently shook my head.
“Did you know his daughter had a spaniel?”
I tried to give him a warning look. My boy wanted a dog more than anything, and he worked them into the conversation anytime he could. I tried every way I knew how to explain why we couldn’t have one, but he remained undeterred. And I couldn’t be upset with him for that.
“Holls, I need to talk to you. Call me back.” Jason’s strained voice was masked in a casual tone I knew all too well.
I hit play on the next voicemail from his number. “Holly, where the hell are you? You promised you’d come through for me. Call me the fuck back.”
Five minutes between my brother’s first two phone calls and only a minute between voicemails. I’d come through for him more times than I could count even though I knew that wasn’t helping him. But he’d crossed a line there was no coming back from.
He’d put Gabriel in danger.
The phone trilled in my hand. I started and glanced at the caller ID, despite knowing exactly who it was.
Gabriel plucked it out of my grasp and swiped to answer. “Hey, Uncle Jason.” I cringed and tried to get the phone back. “Yeah, Mama’s right here.”
He offered me the phone, and reluctantly, I accepted it. Before I spoke, I took a second to steady my anger. It wasn’t long enough.
“Hey,” I said, trying to keep my voice neutral, not for my brother’s sake but for my son.
“Where the fuck are you?” he shouted.
