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“He’ll find out what’s going on, mija,” my father says as though reading my mind. “It’s what he does.”
“I shouldn’t have let him go alone,” I whisper.
“Yes, you should. He needs to do this with no distractions. He would only worry about having to keep you safe if you were there,” he says matter of factly.
I turn back to the window, wondering if my father is right. Jax does need to focus, but I’m pretty sure he needs me and Matthias too.
I sit at the large dining table, picking over the lasagna that Magda warmed through for me for dinner and feeling like my world has imploded.
How is it that less than two weeks ago I was getting married to the man of my dreams and so insanely happy that I couldn’t stop smiling? Now my new husband is on the other side of the country alone. My father hates him and he can hardly bear to even look me in the eye. Not to mention that I’m potentially about to have the whole world see pictures of me naked and even worse, having my pussy eaten by Toni Moretti.
Jax swears he won’t let that happen but how will he stop it when he’s in Dallas trying to find out who tried to murder his father?
I swallow the lump in my throat. I’ve wasted too many tears already on this whole sorry mess.
I close my eyes and will myself not to cry when I feel a soft hand smoothing over my hair. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” my mom asks and that’s my undoing.
I turn in my seat and bury my face against her. “No, Mom,” I sob.
“It will all be okay,” she soothes as she goes on smoothing my hair.
I cling to her and she lets me cry until my eyes and throat are raw and I have no more tears left. I pull back from her and wipe my wet cheeks with the backs of my hands. “Sorry,” I whisper.
“Lucia!” my mom scolds me as she sits beside me, brushing away a stray tear with her fingertips. “Stop apologizing for everything. You are entitled to a few tears.”
“What am I going to do, Mom?” I sniff.
“What do you want to do, sweetheart?”
“I just want this to all go away. I want to go back in time and never let anyone have a chance to take those stupid videos. I want Papi to be able to look at me again and not see… that!”
“He will,” she insists.
“No,” I shake my head. “He’s so ashamed of me.”
“He is not ashamed of you. Not even a little bit.”
“But he saw…” I shake my head as it starts to spin.
“Yes, he saw something no father wants to see, but you weren’t doing anything wrong, Lucia. The person who took those videos is the only person at fault here. Not you. Not Jax.” She reaches out and takes my hand in hers. Her skin is so soft and warm. How is it that she always feels like home to me?
“But he was so mad at Jax. What if they can’t get past this?”
She waves her hand dismissively. “You know how he gets. He’s angry and he’s upset. He won’t take that out on you because you are his little girl, and I would give him hell if he did.” She gives me a wicked grin and despite everything, I laugh. “So he took it out on Jax, but they will both shake hands when this is all over, and they’ll go back to being the best of friends again. I promise you.”
“You think?” I sniff.
“I know.”
“What would you do if you were me, Mom? Go to Dallas or stay here and help Papi?”
She takes in a breath and then she smiles at me. “The same thing you would do, sweetheart. Be with my family.”
JAX
Sitting on the chair beside his bed, I watch my father sleeping. It’s after 2 a.m. and he hasn’t woken since I arrived eight hours ago. The doctors tell me he’ll wake up again as soon as the drugs they gave him wear off.
I listen to the beeping of the machines all around me and all I can think about is her and how I’ve abandoned her when she needed me the most. I tried to call her a couple of hours ago and her phone went straight to voicemail. How have I fucked everything up so quickly?
