Page 13 of Hammer’s Fall

“You never were. That’s all on him.”

Camila glanced toward him and let one corner of her mouth quirk upwards as she spoke. “I can see that, but it’s not how I was raised. Papá always used those I cared about to control me, and he used me to control Mama, at least until it stopped working.”

“I’m sorry if this is painful. Can I ask what happened? You and the housekeeper were the only ones in the house—did your mom leave?”

“She tried. She tried to leave and to take me with her. But Papá somehow found out. He came home early and he stopped us. He told her that no puta was going to take his child away. That’s when he started hitting her. That wasn’t the first time I’d seen him hit her, or that he’d hit me. But this time he didn’t stop. He didn’t hit me that time, but he made me stand and watch as he ‘taught her a lesson’ he said.”

“How badly did he hurt her?” Hammer reached over and covered her hand where it rested on top of the blanket on her belly with one of his.

“He killed her.” The words came out as barely a whisper. Camila ignored the tears that fell silently from the corners of her eyes and trailed to her hairline before disappearing. He shifted beside her, and it wasn’t until his arms went around her and tugged her against him, then his words against her ear that she realized what he was doing.

“I’m sorry you had to see that, cariño. That’s something no one should have to see.” He held on to her.

Camila pressed her face against his chest and took a deep breath. It felt like some dam inside her, the one holding back her emotions, burst. The slow tears that had been leaking from her eyes turned into deep, heart-wrenching sobs. She curled her hands in his t-shirt and held on as the barrage of feelings overwhelmed her. She cried and cried, gasping for air now and then, and eventually calming until, while she still leaned against him, she no longer sobbed, but only let out an occasional hiccup.

Chapter Eleven

“Feel better?” Hammer asked once the woman in his arms seemed done with her breakdown. He’d run one hand up and down her back, in what he hoped had come across as supportive. With what he knew about her, both from what she’d told him and what he’d been able to find online, which wasn’t much, he suspected she hadn’t had a chance to break down like that, to purge the emotions she’d been shoving out of the way, in a long time, if ever.

Hammer might not be a psychologist, but he knew that a person didn’t break down like that somewhere they felt unsafe, somewhere you’d be punished for being human. If she felt safe enough to do it now, especially in his arms, he wasn’t going to complain. He liked the idea of being her safe space. The one she knew she could rely on to be there when she needed him. To stand at her back when she needed support and to step in front when she needed to be protected. If she could trust him to be there with her and not try to control her the way her father had.

While it wasn’t something he would ever do, and he knew that, it wasn’t his knowledge that mattered. It was hers. He needed to show her, to prove to her, that he was nothing like the piece of shit who claimed to be her father. Hammer wasn’t convinced of that bit yet, though he also couldn’t see Alejandro Montoya Mendoza claiming a child, raising a child that wasn’t his, or that he didn’t believe was. It was a mystery that Hammer wasn’t through with.

But this wasn’t the time to worry about that. His first concern right now was the woman in his arms. He needed to make sure she was okay. That was the first priority. Then he had a few questions for her. Though how he was going to ask them without making her feel like he was interrogating her, he wasn’t yet sure. He’d figure it out, he hoped.

It took her a couple of minutes after he’d asked for her to respond. Almost as if it took that long for the words to sink into her exhausted brain and register. She nodded, her face still pressed into the shirt he’d worn to bed the night before to keep from scaring her. She hadn’t said, but he got the feeling she was a virgin. Not just from how easily she blushed and her reactions to him and when Velvet had been acting out Goliath’s exhibitionism fantasies. Hammer rolled his eyes even as he thought about it. Goliath had a thing for public sex, and they’d all seen more of his dick than anyone should ever have to see of another person’s body ... or at least another person they weren’t personally sleeping with.

It wasn’t that Camila had been shocked by it—her reaction had caught his interest because it had been odd. Almost like she knew how things worked, knew what happened between two people, but had never actually done it. She was an uncommon mix of fresh, almost innocent but not really. Kind of like the little girl who’s been told to sit and be pretty all her life, but you can see in her face that all she wants to do is get down and play in the mud, even if she gets dirty. He wanted to show her how to get dirty.

Hammer burned to be the one to show her how amazing it could feel with the right person. Instinct told him things could be explosive between the two of them. But he didn’t want to push her into anything, especially not if there was any chance she would go back to her father. He knew she’d said she didn’t want to go back, but what we say we want and what we do are often two different things and right now, he wasn’t sure which to trust. He wanted to think she would stay, but he knew he was likely fooling himself. Either she’d end up going back to her father or she would move on. And Hammer was more than aware most women found him terrifying.

Though, Camila didn’t. Was it because she’d seen so many men worse than him, scarier than him?

Hammer wasn’t sure if he cared why she didn’t seem afraid of him. He found he liked the feeling of her in his arms. This tiny woman seemed to quickly be wrapping herself around his heart. But could he trust her? With his heart, with his club? That was the part he wasn’t sure about and he didn’t know how to go about finding out, at least not without jumping in and risking everything important to him.

“So now what?” Camila asked a couple of minutes later, her voice clear. No trace that she’d spent the last half hour crying. If he hadn’t held her through it, he would have no idea of the emotional turmoil she was in.

Hammer took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet, enticing scent of her skin. He held his breath for a moment, savoring everything about her.

“What now depends on you.”

“How?” she asked tilting her head back to frown at him.

“I’m not sure yet. But the Sons will give you a chance. We’ve always been big on judging someone by their own actions not by that of those around them.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means that we don’t assume you’re just like your dad. We let you show us who you are for yourself. That’s how we’ll determine if you can stay, if you want to, that is.”

“And what if they decide I can’t stay?” her voice was little more than a whisper, as if the idea terrified her.

“That would depend on why they decide you can’t stay. Sometimes it’s just that you’re not a good fit for the club. If that happens, I’ll help you get somewhere safe, set you up with a new identity if you need that, and make sure you have what you need to start a new life.”

“And what if it’s another reason?”

“The only other reason I can think of that you wouldn’t be allowed to stay is if you betray us. Then, I’m going to guess we handle traitors similarly to how your father would.”

Camila looked up at him for a few seconds. “I guess I can live with that. Or I guess I could die by it, but I have no loyalty to my father.” She fell silent for a moment, her gaze dropping, then she took a deep breath and looked up at him again. “But I’ve decided what I want is a family, and the ladies yesterday were telling me that the Sons of Sin is a large family. I would like to try to stay to try to make a place for myself.” She slid one hand up his chest. Hammer’s heart thundered in his ears as he wondered if she was trying to get a reaction out of him or if she was unaware of what her touching him like that was doing to him?