“Your mother was having an affair with Jose Vasquez.” My uncle’s jaw clenches. “I found out and ordered your father to murder her.”
It feels like he just slapped me in the face as I stare unmoving at the man in front of me. “You ordered your own sister’s death?”
“She betrayed the cartel. There was no other choice.”
I clench my fists under the table, wanting nothing more than to launch myself over it and strangle the man before me. I don’t give a shit if my mom was fucking the entire Vasquez cartel. She didn’t deserve what happened to her. “You bastard,” I say.
Hernandez shrugs his shoulder. “I had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice.” I stand, unable to spend another minute in this man’s presence. He killed his own sister because she was fucking the enemy. “I need to get out of here.”
“Stop,” he orders.
I hate that my feet automatically come to a halt as I glance over my shoulder at him.
“Plane will leave eight o’clock sharp tomorrow. Be there if you want to visit her grave.” He shrugs. “It’s up to you.”
I don’t say another word. Marching out of his office and toward the back exit to the yard. I need air and space to clear my head. My uncle has just revealed that everything I thought I believed was a lie.
My rage toward the Gurin family for forcing us to relocate to North America was what I blamed for my mother’s death. Now my uncle is telling me their offer had nothing to do with it.
Father killed her because she betrayed the family. I swallow hard, wondering how I could have got things so wrong. Is it possible that my anger toward Natalya and her family was unfounded all this time?
* * *
The plane is alreadyon the runway when I arrive, the doors still open, but it looks like they’re getting ready to leave.
I launch myself out of the town car and sprint toward it, knowing I’ll never forgive myself if I miss this opportunity. The opportunity to say my peace and goodbye to the woman who loved me like no one else ever has. I swallow hard, pain clutching around my heart. I miss her every single day.
Running across the tarmac, I get to the steps just as they’re about to remove them. “Wait! I need to be on this plane.”
One guy raises a brow. “And you are?”
“Elias Morales.” I glance up the steps to see my uncle appear in the doorway, and acrid hate coils through my gut at the mere sight of him.
“Let him on.”
The men stop removing the stairs and I bound up the steps two at a time, struggling to draw in enough oxygen.
“Talk about cutting it fine,” Uncle says, eyes narrowing. “I didn’t think you were coming.”
I glare at him, knowing that despite how much I hate him for what he did to my mother, he’s my only shot at getting to visit her grave. “I wasn’t sure whether I was until the last minute.”
He just nods. “Take a seat. We’re leaving in a minute.”
I hate taking orders from him, now more than ever, but I take a seat near the back of the plane and gaze out of the window. My mother’s death feels like such a long time ago, but it was only six years today when I witnessed her beaten bloody by my father. I swallow hard, trying to forget the images that have been etched into my mind since that day. No boy, no matter how old, should have to watch his own father kill his mother, whatever shit she’d done.
My memories of it were hazy, but I had assumed the reason my father had done it was because she didn’t want to leave Mexico. A lot of that night I’ve blocked out, but I could never get the image of my mother’s broken, beaten and bloodied face out of my mind.
To my annoyance, Uncle Hernandez sits down next to me. Even though they are plenty of empty seats on the jet.
“I know you think I’m a monster for ordering your father to murder your mother.”
I glare at my uncle and then look out of the window again.
“What you can’t understand, Elias, is that to be a leader of a cartel outfit you must make difficult decisions.” He sets a hand on my shoulder, making me tense. “You will never be in that position, but leading isn’t easy. She may have been my flesh and blood, but she betrayed me to my enemy. I couldn’t allow it to go unpunished.”
I shrug his hand off of my shoulder. “I understand. Now leave me alone.” I glare at him. “I just want to say my peace at her grave.”