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Except…how could I ever forget her? The pain in my body had nothing on what it was like to put her on that train. She’d taken something vital from me with her.
Lili frowned, and I could tell that she wanted to ask, but she and I both understood mutually assured destruction. If she asked about Lyse, I’d press about Matteo. “Come on,idiota.” She held up her phone. “I’m your ride to the marina.”
CHAPTER33
Lyse
Matteo stared at me like he was seeing a ghost, and a part of me felt the same way about him. My brother was handsome, almost pretty in a way, but there was a hard look in his eyes now. The aura around him was different.
He looked like a man. That was it: he no longer resembled the little boy that I thought of when I pictured my brother. How had it only been two weeks since I’d last seen him? What was happening at home that made my little brother grow up so quickly?
“Apá told me you were dead,” Matteo said. We had met at the Starbucks just inside the Amtrak station, and he’d been staring at me for the past three minutes, barely blinking, like I would disappear if he looked away. “He said Omar Castillo raped you, killed you, and dumped you.”
The words made me flinch. Omar might be a lot of things — big and almost unforgivably violent, for sure — but he would never harm a woman like that. Of that I was abundantly sure. “Do you believe everything Apá tells you?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Matteo countered, and I scoffed.
“Because I’m sitting right here in front of you,” I said. I wanted to reach out and touch him. In the past I wouldn’t have hesitated, but I held back. I didn’t want to believe that Matteo knew about Jesus coming for me, that Apá had been the instigator, but I couldn’t be sure. He could just be a really convincing actor.
But why would he agree to come without backup?I thought. It wasn’t as if Matteo could kill me himself. Like Omar, I believed to my core that my brother was incapable of actually harming me. I might not be able to trust him entirely anymore, but I did trust that.
“Apá has no reason to lie,” Matteo insisted, but even he didn’t sound like he believed him. “He doesn’t gain anything from it.”
“He sent Jesus after me,” I told him. “He tracked me to the island that Omar was keeping me on, and instead of rescuing me, he tried to kill me.”
“No.” Matteo shook his head hard enough that he could have snapped his own neck. “He wouldn’t do that. He came back with his face crushed…he’s the one that found—” He stopped and swallowed hard, like he was trying to stop himself from throwing up. “He said he found you.” His voice came out softer, more questioning, and I wanted to draw him in for a hug. It would be what I normally did when we were little and he was upset.
“Well, he’s obviously lying about that,” I said, gesturing to myself. “When I didn’t go with him right away, he got mad, and you know how Jesus is.”
Matteo dipped his head. “He gets mouthy.”
I nodded. “He told me that he was sent to kill me and leave my body somewhere a Castillo could be blamed for it. He wants to start a war because they killed the head of the Rojas family’s precious daughter…except Apá’sthe one who told Omar to do whatever he wanted to with me.”
My brother went still. His hands clenched into fists on the top of the graffitied table. “What are you talking about?”
“The night that Angel woke up, Omar tried to negotiate with Apá and Felix.”
Matteo nodded. “I was there.” His cheeks flushed. “Apá sent me out after I toldLa Bestiathat I would gut him for touching you.”
I laughed; I couldn’t help it. “Mijo,” I breathed. “You don’t have to protect me.”
“You’re my sister.Of course, I have to protect you.”
“Older sister,” I pointed out. “Protecting you has been my job since the day you were born…please don’teverthreaten Omar again, okay? The man could snap you in half if he wanted.”If I didn’t have him wrapped around my finger, I thought smugly. There was something utterly empowering about a man like Omar Castillo belonging to me.
He put you on a train alone, I couldn’t help but remind myself.Exactly how does hebelongto you?
“Omar Castillo is an idiot for even trying to act like his brother. He doesn’t have the brains for planning.”
“He was trained to be the muscle for most of his life,” I said. “His father obviously educated his sons differently. It doesn’t make Omar stupid.”
Matteo looked shocked. “You’re actuallydefendinghim to me! He kept you captive for two weeks!”
“He wanted to trade me for our territory in the nightclub district,” I said, touched by Matteo’s fierceness but certain Omar would flatten my brother in a second.
“We couldn’t afford to lose that spot, Lyse. It’s an easy front, and we’d be risking more than a failed nightclub.”
“Apá obviously felt the same way,” I said. My voice went cold. “After you were sent out, he told Omar to ‘do what he had to do,’ in regard to me. Felix said the same, apparently.”
