AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Adriana
Mexico City, Mexico
We were three hours into the seven-hour drive back to Mexico City the next day when Brody turned to me, a deep line sinking between his eyebrows. “You’re quiet.”
I drummed my nails against my armrest. “Just thinking.”
“About what?”
“What I’m going to tell Val.”
He reached across the console, gently tilting my chin toward him. “You mean what we’re going to tell Val.”
I shook my head and faced my window. “This isn’t your problem, Brody. I’m the one who chased a ghost. I’m the one who dragged you to a club and put you in the middle of a massacre. I’m the one who convinced you to hold up a bank. I’m the one who harassed an eighty-year old woman. And I’m the one who went off to see Ignacio alone. I’m not letting you take the fall for my mistakes. Past, present, or future.”
Dios mío, just saying it all out loud turned my stomach. Was this the person I’d been all my life? Selfish without a shred of compassion for anyone but herself. There was no wonder everyone believed me to be the root of all evil.
That was all I’d ever been.
Brody sighed, running a hand through his unruly blond hair, the front of it flopping defiantly over one eye. “Adriana, you’re Val’s sister. He’s not going to kill you for acting like a Carrera.”
Amidst all the lies, my watery smile was genuine.
Because the irony was too poetic.
He wouldn’t kill me for acting like a Carrera. He was going to kill me for acting like a Muñoz.
“Besides,” he said, pulling the car over as he spotted the food cart he’d been looking for. “This isn’t over. Val’s soldiers are searching for Cristiano. Plus, I have another connection looking into it. Once we find him, we’ll shut both of them down.”
I twisted my fingers together as he pulled off the side of the road, my stomach roiling at the thought of food.
No, it wasn’t over. Just not the way he thought. The decision I had to make wasn’t whether to fall on my sword and protect Brody or to risk Val’s wrath and be a united front. It was whether to fall in line and protect myself or risk Ignacio’s wrath and be a ticking time bomb.
“Come on, Carrera. These pambazos aren’t going to eat themselves.”
I climbed out of the car, trying not to throw up as Brody lead me toward the crowded food cart.
One thing was for sure. I should’ve never kissed him.
* * *
We arrived in Mexico City early that evening. I planned to corner Val for some preemptive damage control, but he wasn’t home. According to Leighton, he and Mateo had urgent cartel business and had been gone most of the day.
So, Brody and I spent the rest of the night pretending each other didn’t exist. Not an easy task when just the mention of his name sent my pulse racing and my hormones into overdrive.
Considering where we were and the way we left things, we thought it would be best to keep this new development private for the time being. Besides, who would believe us anyway?
I spent my time alone, waiting for Val to return, lost in my own head until Ignacio invaded it. His gravelly voice echoed as I wandered the halls of the Carrera estate, the war waging inside of me tearing me apart.
“Val kneels for no one.”
“He would for his son.”
The walls closed in, moments away from crushing me.
“You’re nothing but an afterthought. A useless inconvenience. Reclaim who you really are and stop pretending to be this pathetic shell of a queen.”
I stumbled as the floor tilted, slamming me against the wall.
