AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He stares down at the letter. “Do you think she’ll come back?”
I counter him quickly, “Will you give her the freedom to decide that for herself?”
“Where the fuck is she, Vicente?!” Romero’s yell stops Alvaro from answering.
“Fuck.” I stand as the man barrels through the door.
“I know you fucking helped her leave. I know you took her somewhere. Tell me right the fuck now, or—”
“Or what, Don Herrera?” I ask tiredly. “Do you think hurting me will get me to rat my sister out? Better yet, do you thinkthreateningme will help your case with her at all?”
Romero looks like he wants to say exactly that, but he blows out a breath and drops to the pool chair, running a bloody hand through his hair.
“I can’t lose her.”
“Then you guys can't push her,hermano. Let her breathe. Give her some time.”
“She blames me,” Romero says, his head dropping into his hand. “I killed her mom, didn’t tell her about her dad, kept her heritage to myself…so much shit I did wrong and now—”
“Fuck!” I snap, unable to stand another second of these two blaming themselves. “It wasme! I killed my mom.”
Bile rises up my throat.
“You don’t know that,” Alvaro says. “We all shot her.”
I shake my head and sit next to Romero. “I was the first person to pull the trigger. I aimed for her heart and it was a deadshot. I killed my own mother and I’m too afraid to tell my sister.”
Romero shakes his head, running a hand through his hair. “Your sister is alone in her sorrow right now. She blames all of us, but I can’t let that be. No matter what you think, Vicente, it wasmewho killed her, okay? Not you, not Alvaro…me.¿Me entiendes?”
Before I can respond to that, he stands from his seat and leaves us. Guilt floods me anew because relief loosens my lungs when Romero takes my blame from me.
I’m sorry, Mom.
I hope you can forgive me, Vi.
* * *
Romero - one week later
A week has passed sinceDiablaleft us. Pretty early on, maybe a day or so, I figured out where she was by following Vicente without his knowledge. I’m sure the kid knows I could easily kidnap his sister back, but he knows I’m a man of my word. She needs space? I’ll give it to her, but that in no way means I’ll keep my distance. I’ll just make sure she doesn’t know I’m near.
I’ve given her a sense of freedom, peace of mind in the belief that she’s alone with her thoughts and grief.
I’ve watched her, though. I’ve seen her crying alone inside the small beach house. Screaming out to the sky in her pain and anger. I held myself back as she questioned the heavens and cursed the dead. I sat hidden and unseen, watching my girl break each night, rebuild herself the next morning, only to repeat the process all over again the minute the sun drops beneath the horizon.
She reminds me of Alvaro when he lost his mother.
She drinks but barely eats; she cries and hardly sleeps; she stares off into space and never smiles, but when she does finally fall into a fitful sleep, I listen to her whisper my name.
Her unconscious mind reminds her that she loves me.
I always carry her to her bed, trusting that the alcohol she consumed will have her believe she put herself there. I whisper to her, confessing my love and promising the moon, but I can do nothing more. I torture myself with this distance.
Shetortures me.
With each tear she spills, I hate myself a little more.
Vicente killed the woman who gave them life and now I fear he’s broken something between them that cannot be repaired. She doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve seen the looks she gives him. It's the same look she gives me and Alvaro. She doesn’t see us, she sees our sin against her.
