There’s no time to answer, to explain. I need to get underground now. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Where the hell have I been? Where the fuck has my mind gone? I left Cat and Oscar alone over some petty disagreement. Lady wasn’t even there to keep them company, and now I know why. Someone had to have known the maid was helping me, otherwise, why pick her up?
I slam through the basement door with my shoulder and stumble towards the underground parking garage. There, under a permanently parked car, is the manhole cover I came here through.
My mind is clouded, my judgement is off. I’m not used to having to make decisions based on keeping those I care about safe, and it’s showing. Even back when I was cementing my empire, Dante’s safety was hardly an issue. I just kept him at arm’s length and let him enjoy the spoils of my ever-increasing power. No one ever came after him, and I learned to rule with a cold, calculating fist. Sure, I could be hot-headed out in the field, but I didn’t become king of Colombia’s biggest cartel just by bashing in heads.
My frantic footsteps echo through the tunnels as I race for my family. The guilt in my gut is so strong that I worry it might crumple me over, but I can’t stop, I won’t stop.
All of this was to keep them safe. I was supposed to keep them safe.
The final corner before our bunker feels like a canyon to get around, and my feet just won’t move fast enough.
When I finally see the door I’m looking for, I can’t decide if I should feel relief or fear.
It’s closed.
What does that mean!?
... I find out soon enough.
21
Catalina
Angel bursts in through the front door like a mad man.
He’s followed by a gust of wind that nearly knocks me off my feet. “Shh!” I recover quickly enough. “Oscar’s sleeping.”
Angel hardly reacts to my scolding. He’s frozen in the doorway like a statue. For a split second, his eyes are wide and wild, but they quickly narrow back down into that suspicious scowl I know so well.
“Where’s Lady?” he asks. There’s a panic in his voice that makes me worried.
I swallow my fear. “She never came back...”
“Dante has her.” His words hit me like a freight train. I’ve been so worried for Lady lately, but I’d been hoping for the best. Maybe, just maybe, she’d come across an old friend or family member and decided that Oscar was safe with me, and that I was safe with Angel, and so she didn’t have to come back. At worst, I told myself, she got caught in a battle and was injured, so someone took her to the hospital, where she is still recovering.
Never did I dare think that Dante had gotten his hands on her.
Suddenly, the fear that I had swallowed down rushes back up. I nearly fall to my knees. “Does that mean...” I can’t finish.
Nonetheless, Angel seems to understand. “I don’t know, but we’re not sticking around to find out.” He rushes over to Oscar’s crib and checks on the sleeping child.
“He’s fine,” I assure him, but my voice is so shaky I hardly believe it myself. None of us are fine, not if poor Lady was forced to talk...
“Where’s his stuff? Did you pack like I wanted you to?”
Angel never asked me to pack, not that I can remember. Sure, he insisted that we we’re leaving the city, but I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea... “We don’t have much,” I respond.
“Let’s go. We can get everyone new clothes when we’re safe.”
More than anything, it’s Angel’s demeanor that has me on edge. I’ve seen him red-hot and ice-cold before, but I’ve never seen him panic. It’s not much, and to an untrained eye, he might just seem eager, but I can tell he’s worried... and that terrifies me.
Still, there’s only one thing I can ask. “Did you see Lady?”
“Yes,” Angel grumbles, too distracted to lie to me.
“... Did they hurt her?” The pain in my voice must be obvious, because Angel stops preparing to leave and instead marches up to me.