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“What happened to you, Victor? What made you becomethisdespicable? Truly, I want to know—”
He leans down into my face, spittle from his mouth flying out and landing on my cheek as he roars, “You want to know, do you?”
Then he grabs me by the shoulders, making me yelp in fright before he steers me toward a mirror by the hallway. He grips my chin between his thumb and forefinger, making me look at my reflection.
“You’re looking at the damn reason,niñita.”
My face crumples as I shake my head in confusion, shifting my gaze to his in the mirror. “I don’t understand.”
He forcibly shakes my head, pinching my chin more tightly. “It’syou. You’re the reason.” His brown eyes sear into mine as he hisses, “You never should have been born.”
“It’smyfault? I never did a damn thing to you, Victor.”
He leans down by my ear, holding my eyes in the reflection as his words make my whole world shift on its axis.
“Your mother changed when you came along. She used to be fun, always liked to party and have a good time with me – untilyou. She forgot about me. Her new priority was you. Gia wanted to give you a different kind of life than the one we had been living. A life that didn’t include me…”
I shake my head. “My mother didn’t want me. She left me at the church—”
“To hide you from me!” His bellow rips through the house, and he increases his grip on my chin, making me cry out in pain.
He repeats himself in a lower tone. “To hide you from me,niñita. So that you wouldn’t meet the same fate she knew I intended for her.”
My eyes go round as saucers while my stomach swoops uncomfortably. Victor’s sadistic smirk grows impossibly broader, and a bolt of pure fear runs through my entire body.
“Wh-what do you m-mean? My mother l-left me…”
Suddenly, he spins me around and slams me to the wall, getting right down in my face. His breath is as sour as I remember, and I fight the urge to vomit as he watches me in silence.
“Your mother never left you,niñita.” He brushes my bangs back from my forehead, his eyes fixated on the action.
A shudder runs the length and breadth of my body, knowing what the answer is before I even ask the question. “Wh-where is she then?”
His laugh is totally unhinged, his sour breath turning my stomach and making me wretch.
His hand moves to grip my neck, holding me firmly in place to hiss from between his clenched teeth. “She’s in an unmarked grave in the woods behind our house. Just a pile of bones and dirt by now, and nothing less than she deserved for trying to leave me.For you!”
Sweat beads my brow, and I pray Alex is on his way, because the look in Victor’s eyes turns demonic as he smiles sadistically. “And now, without your abuela here to protect you, I think it’s about time you joined her,niñita.”
CHAPTER34
ALEX
“What happened to you,Victor? What made you become this despicable? Truly, I want to know—”
“You want to know, do you?”
There are sounds of movement over the feed from Rey’s mic before she cries out, and I’m on my feet, moving to leave the living area instantly.
Ford’s hand lands on my shoulder, forcing my feet to stop. “Don’t. Move.”
I tilt my head back to face him, and he just nods sternly with a finger to his lips as Victor speaks again.
“You’re looking at the damn reason, niñita.”
There’s silence for a beat, and I meet Vaughn’s eyes across the room before Rey speaks. Her voice is wavering. Unsure. And I crave nothing so much as to go to her and protect her like every cell in my body is crying out for.
“I don’t understand.”
