It’s not until warm fingers smooth over my shoulders that I realize I’m not alone, and I try to get a grip on myself.
“Baby,” Alejandro says. His voice is tender and warm. The moment I hear it, I straighten and try to dry my tears. “What happened?”
God, I wish I could tell him. What will telling him do? And I don’t think he would help me. Not when he finds out the truth.
“Nothing. I’m okay. It was… just a difficult call.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“Honestly, I’m fine.”
He touches my face, and I sink into the strength of his touch and search his eyes.
“You can talk to me. Does your father need money? Let me help.”
God… If only it were that simple.
“You’ve given enough. He was just…having a moment that made me miss my mom.” Nothing is ever far from the truth, so I’m not always lying.
He nods his understanding, but then something catches his eye and he looks ahead of us. I turn to see what he could be looking at and just make out the silhouette of a man on the fire escape two buildings ahead.
I’m inclined to ignore the man until he moves away from the wall and runs down the fire escape.
“Lucia, stay here,” Alejandro says.
“What’s happening?”
“Stay here.”
Without another word, he takes off like a bolt of lightning. He’s so fast I’m surprised because he’s so muscular.
Way at the end of the alley, the man leaps over the wall, and Alejandro follows. Two seconds later, a gunshot rips through the air.
It’s a loud bang that severs the sound of the night.
I clutch my heart and gasp in terror as fear knots my insides.
God, did someone shoot him?
The panic of thinking he could be hurt sends me after him. I run as fast as I can, allowing adrenaline to move me. Another shot sounds, and it pushes me faster and harder.
I can’t go over the wall, but I see a way around it, though it’s further down. I head that way and turn into another alley, where I see Alejandro and the man fighting on the ground.
The man has a gun. It was him who fired the shots. Alejandro is on top of him, holding him in some wrestling lock that has him fighting to break free.
They’re arguing about something. I get a little closer so I can hear but stop when I think of the danger.
“El Diablo sent you!” Alejandro barks. “Tell me who he fucking is.”
El Diablo. Alejandro is asking about him.
This is it, the moment the fantasy and truth collide with reality. I should have known he would know about El Diablo, but hearing him say that name has my head feeling like it might implode on itself.
I don’t know who El Diablo is, but I’ve seen him. I know what he looks like.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
“Fuck you, dog!” the man shouts in a thick accent. “I will tell you nothing.”