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ESTEBAN
The moment I step into the jet I reserve for my business needs not relating to Empresa Falcon, I glance toward the back, to the curtains that are shut. I pause in the aisle, my gaze affixed to that curtain and my hands fisted at my sides.
It could be a wall of concrete several feet thick and it wouldn’t matter. I’d still be as aware of her presence as I am now.
Aurora.
Visions of her flood through my mind, her dark hair and even darker eyes. Her soft scent and silken skin. My body reacts to even the mere memory of her, my fingers twitching with the need to touch her.
For just a fraction of a second, my will falters and I move toward her. But just as quickly, another image enters my mind, the one where she’s bent over me as she plunges a long blade deep into the pillow beside me.
“Esteban.” Rodrigo’s voice slices through my thoughts and I turn to him, almost startled. “The pilot is ready.”
I stare at him as he inclines his head toward the seat across from him. Glancing one last time to the closed curtain, I go to sit in it, turning my back on her.
“How is she?” I can’t help but ask.
Rodrigo gestures to Felix, and he quickly brings us each a shot of tequila. I’m not in the mood to drink, but I want something other than the sting of betrayal to burn in my chest.
“Taking her with us puts us all at greater risk. Get her off the plane before we take off.” My head of security tips his glass and sucks down his drink in one gulp, grunting and breathing out heavily when he’s done.
“That’s not what I asked,” I hiss.
“Well it’s what I’m telling you, and you should listen. If you’d done that in the first place, you wouldn’t have to make the choices you’re making now.” He lifts his glass and Felix refills it. “I warned you about this, Esteban.”
I clench my jaw to keep myself from letting out my frustrations on him. He was right and I was wrong. But that wouldn’t have changed a thing, because I wanted her too much. I still do.
He lets out a long breath that begs for patience. “What do you plan on doing with her once she knows everything?”
“She already knows too much,” I reply. “I took her to see my mother.”
His eyes open wide at the fact I kept from him because I knew how he’d react. “You told her who she is?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you do that?” The question is laced with a hefty dose of incredulity.
I turn away from him, peering through the small rounded window, watching as we move down the runway, slowly at first, then gaining speed until we’re airborne. “I thought I could trust her.”
“You’re lying,” he says sharply.
Yes, I am. Rodrigo gives me a look so full of disappointment, I feel cornered by it. “I’m not leaving her.”
“Why? What do you hope to gain from this?”
“To give her what she wants. She wants to know everything. Well, that’s exactly what she’ll get. No holds barred. I’m going to cram so much truth down her throat, she’ll choke on it.”
Rodrigo smirks. “The more you give her, the deeper the hole you’ll have to dig to bury her in. You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”
Yes, I am. I’ve been aware of it since the moment I told her about my mother. Because it wasn’t that I trusted her. It was that I knew the moment I let her in that far, I’d never let her out.
* * *
The two SUVs I requested,along with the small Cessna carrying Santos Cruz and his second-in-command, are waiting for us on the tarmac when we arrive in the airport in Apatzingán, Michoacán, its propellers still spinning as if it’s also just landed. The two passengers exit their plane and watch as we come to a full stop.
“Dime,” Tell me, Rodrigo says as he answers his ringing cell phone. Then he looks at me. “We’re clear.”
Felix moves toward the front just as the captain steps out of his cabin. They exchange words before going to open the door.
Rodrigo gets up but doesn’t move from his spot. “Are you ready?”
“I’m not sure.” I stand too and glance toward the back.
“You’re going to have to see her now,” Rodrigo tells me as if I didn’t already know. “There’s no curtain to keep her from view in the helicopter. Unless you’d rather I take her to the hotel.”
“No.” I move past him toward the door. “I want her to see.”
As I step out, I undo the top button of my shirt and roll up my sleeves. While Guadalajara has a generally warm climate, it can’t compare to the steamy heat of Michoacán. Instantly, we’re covered in a wet blanket of dew and sweat, making the material of my shirt cling to my body. Though I’m not sure whether it’s the temperature that has me so uncomfortable or the idea of seeing Aurora.
Now isn’t the time to dwell on it, however, and I proceed to meet Cruz and his man halfway.
“Falcon!” he calls as he approaches. Before I have a chance to extend my hand to him, he slaps my arm in greeting. “Good to see you again.”
“You as well. I hope your flight was good.”
He nods in a motion that seems to move his entire upper body, while at the same time digging a pack of cigarettes from his jeans pocket and lighting one. “Luckily, the weather held up. This fucker can’t fly in the rain.”
“Hey, pendejo, I’m the best pilot in the country and you know it,” the other man says, then turns to me apologetically. “No offense to yours.”
“None taken.”
