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“Yeah. I think so. Like you said, it’s been a lot. I feel like my brain is still trying to process everything. Like, how is this my life? It all seems like something out of a movie. And not even one of those cool ones where the woman is a secret kickass warrior. No, I’m the emotional heroine that needs rescuing. Dammit. Without you both, I’d have died in the first act.”
“Oz?” Zig prompts, out of his element.
“Allow me to answer for my estrogen-challenged brother. Whatever you’re thinking right now, throw it out the window.”
“We don’t have windows anymore,” Zig points out, making me snort.
“Metaphorical windows. Jesus. Do you see what I have to work with here? What I’m trying to say is, maybe you’re watching the wrong kind of movie.”
He pauses, so I pull my head back and frown before turning to look over my shoulder at Zig, who looks just as confused as me.
“Is he talking about porn?”
Zig’s eyes shoot to mine before he grins that devastating grin of his. “Knowing Oz, it’s possible. And even I have no idea where the fuck he’s going with this.”
Good, because that makes two of us.
“I wasn’t done, asshole. Now, as I was saying, I think you’re selling yourself short. If this were a movie, you’d be the hero. You saved us all, remember? Now it’s our turn to save you right back. You just have to let us.”
He leans forward and brushes a kiss against my lips. It’s so soft, I’d almost think I imagined it if not for the tingle he leaves behind.
“How about we go through the bags and see what we have and make a plan? Will that help a little?”
“Yeah. I think that’s what I need. Something to focus on.”
“Alright. Then that’s what we’ll do. I do have a question, though. You don’t have to answer it, but I’m curious. How the hell did you end up at the Ortiz compound?”
I shiver, remembering. Oz rubs his hands up my arms as I turn so I can see them both. “Gerardo Ortiz discovered my gift purely by accident. We happened to be in the same place at the same time. There was a car accident. A little girl…” I shake my head, letting them fill in the blanks.
They look at each other and frown. “Gerardo Ortiz was Alejandro’s father, right?”
I swallow and nod. “I didn’t know who he was when he approached me with a job. I politely declined, but you don’t just decline a cartel leader.”
“What happened?”
“He took me anyway. Told me that once I healed his son, I was free to go.”
“Wait. You healed Alejandro? What was wrong with him?”
“Acute monocytic leukemia. Doctors had given him months.”
“And you cured him?”
There is no judgment in Zig’s voice. But knowing what I do now, I can’t help but feel my skin crawl as shame wraps itself around my chest, making it hard to breathe.
“Cancer is a tricky one. I’m not a cure. I can treat an illness or a symptom or an injury, as you’ve seen, but cancer often goes into remission before coming back. In most cases, it’s because it metastasized somewhere else and went undetected. But some people are—I don’t want to say prone to it, but I’m not sure how else to word it. It’s in their cells. They were always going to get cancer. Most will die from it before they wish. I can give them time. Reset the clock if you like. But eventually, the cancer will come back.”
“So instead of letting you go, he made you stay.”
I nod. “For two years. He was good to me, dare I say, considering he was effectively my warden. I know now how much worse it could be. I had a nice room, books, food, and pretty much anything else I wanted. Other than my freedom.”
“But a gilded cage is still a cage.”
“Exactly. But while I was wrapped up in my problems, I failed to notice what was going on in front of me.”
“Alejandro,” Oz says.
“He was just nineteen the first time I healed him. He was gaunt, weak, and looked so much younger than his years. It was hard not to feel sympathetic. It’s still hard now, knowing what I know, that the boy I healed and the man that tormented me are the same person. Once he was well, he thought he was special, apparently touched by God through me. That made him more suited to the position of king than prince. While we all slept, he slipped into his father’s room and slit his throat.”
