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Pulling over on the side of the road, he rests a hand on my arm and I feel more grounded than before. “You're sure it was him?”
“Yes. And you'd think him being alive after I was told he was dead only five years ago would be the weird part. He had no idea who I was.”
Antonio's eyes squint. “Maybe it was just someone who looked like him.”
“No.” I shake my head so quickly, nausea crawls up my throat and the car spins. “It's my brother. We grew up together and were inseparable until… until the accident. He had his scar, a birthmark, and eyes just like mine.” I've already said too much haven't I? What if he asks what my brother's name is? Then he’ll know I've been a liar this whole time. I want to tell him the truth but lies are what's kept me alive this long, and I'm not ready to lose the good between us. I need to tell him though. Keeping all this inside is killing me. I begin hyperventilating and take off my seat belt, folding in on myself.
“Woah, woah.” His large hand lands on my back. “It's okay, baby. We'll figure it out together, okay? Just breathe for me.”
Nodding, I sit up slowly and he squeezes my hand. “I've been lying to you,” I say, the weight of my deceit already slowly slipping off me.
Goodbye, Daddy. Goodbye good moments.
Tilting his head, he pulls his hand back. “About what?”
“Who I really am. I guess you technically never asked but I've been keeping it from you.”
His lips press into a thin line before he opens his mouth. “I think that's fair considering your situation. It's good to keep those things from people you hardly know. Especially people like me.”
“But that's the thing,” I say hysterically, my eyes watering. “I do know you, Tony.” I meet his hard brown eyes. “I've known you most of my life.” He doesn’t care for the nickname Tony now, but he didn't mind when I used it when it was easier for me to say than Antonio.
His jaw twitches and he turns in his seat, his back hitting the door. “What do you mean? Are you…” Panic sets in his eyes. “I think you should stop talking.”
“But…”
He presses his fingers to my mouth. “I don't want to know. It's better I don't know. It's not like it'll change anything that's happened. We'll still be in the situation we are in now.” Blowing out a breath, he steps out of the car, and the door closes as I reach out for him. He paces back and forth, rubbing a hand over his face. Curse words slip from his mouth and he pounds his fists at his sides, pacing some more before getting back in the car.
“Let's get out of here.” Long strings of uncomfortable silence wrap around us until we reach the warehouse. He shifts in his seat, tightening his fingers around the steering wheel.
“Tony…”
“Don't fucking call me that,” he hisses.
“Are you leaving me here?”
“I don't know yet. I never should have taken you away to begin with. It wouldn't be so hard to leave you now if I hadn’t.”
“You said you'd never make me come back again, remember? No matter what.”
“Things change, remember?” His eyes are red rimmed when he looks at me. “Tell me who you were looking for in that club today.”
“I thought you said you didn't want to know.”
“I'm not ready to hear the full truth of who you are out loud but I need to know your brother's name in order to figure out if your little theory is correct or not. You said he's dead, and if he's alive, he could have something to do with the man after you.”
“Ethan Ramos, and the man after me is my uncle.”
“What?” His eyes are piercing.
I take a deep breath, squeezing my knees together. “EG is my uncle. Well, not by blood. He's not really related to me but it's what my dad told us to call him. Uncle Eddie.”
He slams his hand on the center of the wheel. “You knew this whole fucking time?”
“I didn't want you to hate me. It was wrong to lie to you, I know. I've been lying for so long, I've forgotten how to go on without it.”
“You're sure it's him?”
“He fits the description you have perfectly, and I think he was the one who left my father's ring in my house after someone burned it down.”
