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Tomás
I heard Kieran walk out the door and watchedthrough the window as he slipped into the trees with a bow andarrow like some sort of wraith, swallowed by the trees. I droppedback on the bed, playing with both Daniel’s and Dad’s rings. Theywere an omen of some kind, I just couldn’t figure it out. Havingthem in my possession felt so damn wrong. They should’ve beenburied with them.
I’d been so damn stupid.
Anger bubbled to the surface, and I threwthe rings against the wall. A satisfying thunk followed as theystruck the drywall and fell to the floor. The satisfaction lasted aheartbeat when dread replaced it. Dad’s stone had popped out whenit landed on the floor. I half expected to see his soul rise, andhe’d be pissed. I broke his ring. I had one job to do. One! Burythe damn rings. Secure their souls. And I broke Dad’s. I felt thebad juju prickling my skin in warning.
Don’t fuck withLa Santa Muerte. Iteventually gets us all.
I collected the rings. My brother’s stillintact, but my dad’s ring had been modified. An SD card had beenstuck between the stone and the ring.
My heart pulsed wildly in my chest. I knewthe moment I saw whatever was in this small device I wouldn’t beable to unsee. It’d be a message from the grave. The reason he waskilled.
“Don’t ask questions when you don’treally want to know,”Joaquín Moya always told me when I askedabout shipments, or targets, or what he and Miguel were doing.“You’re not ready, mijo,”he’d say, smile, and pat me on thehead as if I were a dog.
Dad had one strict line he had never crossedafter the twins died at seventeen. We weren’t allowed into thethick of things until we turned eighteen and made our own vows intothe gang life. Nick and I had been the youngest. While Nick hadn’twanted any part of the life, I had. I wanted to show my dad andbrothers that I could be useful. I wanted to show them that Iwasn’t Nick. That all the beatings they gave me had helped turn meinto a man.
A fucking man.
I felt the laughter bubbling at my throat.What a joke. I would’ve been dead if Maddox hadn’t saved me. Deadif Kieran hadn’t pulled me from the water, and then saved me fromJack. I wasn’t a fighter. I wasn’t strong.
But I had to know. I needed the reason whythey were dead.
I inserted the SD card into the slot on myphone and opened up the video file. An image of my dad filled myscreen. Alive. I raised the volume, and the sound of his voice mademy eyes water.
“What time is it going down?” Talis Alvarezasked. My dad had met with him a few times. Talis had even gone onruns with us. I’d spotted for him. Watched as he killed people whohad robbed us. Kieran’s friend from the club.
“Sunday at nine. We always make our runs inthe morning.” I recognized the voice of Trinidad Rosas, Sr., mydad’s best friend. He was dead, too.
The camera shifted as Trinidad moved to afourth person in the room with them. My heart gave chase, and Icouldn’t breathe. Kieran’s face appeared. “This is the last one,”he said. “We do this right, and you get payment and the Brennanswon’t be the wiser.”
“How can you guarantee that?” my dadasked.
“Because I’m going to own it all. Thebusiness is going to be mine. You do your part, and I’ll do mine.But remember,” his voice turned cold, “you betray me, and yourbloodline will be erased.” The promised violence in his tone sentfear rushing through me. I thought I had seen all of Kieran’sversions. I hadn’t. This one was by far the deadliest.
I watched as Kieran walked out while theother three remained. “He better be legit,” Trinidad said.
“He’s as legit as they come,” Talisresponded. “You in?”
Trinidad panned to my dad. I already knewthat look. I didn’t know how much money Kieran promised him, but itmust’ve been enough to risk everything. Even my father’s loyalty tonot only the Brennans but toLa Sagrada Sangreand hisfamily. “Yeah, I’m in.”
Trinidad and Dad argued after Talis leftover who should keep the recording. “Give me the recording,” my dadsaid. The video ended with Trinidad stopping the camera. They hadboth been on the take. Traitors. But what had happened afterward?Who had killed Trinidad Sr.? Had my brothers known about this? HadDaniel?
One of the reasons Dad had kept me out ofmuch of his crew was my inability to lie. My palms would getsweaty, my heart would pound in my chest, and my voice would crackwhenever I had to lie. It was as if a neon sign blasted on myforehead flashing Liar, Liar, and whenever something bothered me, Icouldn’t keep my mouth shut about it. Even if I should’ve. Even ifmy life depended on it.
The moment I realized Kieran had somethingto do with my family’s death I wanted to confront him about it. Iwanted to believe that he had a good explanation. That the videowas a lie, doctored, fake. I wanted to believe that my heart didn’tjust explode in my chest.
But I was done with his bullshit.
I had to get out of there.
And I had to do it fast. I wasn’t sure whereKieran went off to, but he’d be coming back. Some part of me hopedhe’d be coming back to explain the lies, and why he couldn’t trustme, or maybe just apologize and hug me.
I was such an idiot.
I splashed water on my face, shoved my feetinto some old boots I found near the door, and shrugged into an oldcoat. I couldn’t go anywhere on foot. I snatched the car keys offthe countertop and sprinted to the adjacent garage hoping therewould be a reliable ride I could boost instead of Wren’s piece ofshit car. But nope. The Mustang was all I had at my disposal.Didn’t these pricks know that snow and sports cars were a dangerousmix?
Despite the ice and snow, I had to try.
