Freedom (Blackstone Series Book 3)

by J. L. Drake

Catalina.

  Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open, but she quickly recovered with a little nod. Salvador licked his lips in annoyance but then reined in his anger, as he had guests to impress.

  “Catalina, come.” He held out his hand, but when she didn’t react right away, he snapped. “Come here!”

  Slowly, her heels clicked across the tiled floor and she stood next to him. Her arms were folded, and her eyes were wild. He placed his finger under her chin and tipped her head back. She turned her head and looked at the floor. I felt the need to smash my glass and jam the edge of it into his throat.

  “You’ll have to excuse my daughter.”

  What? No.

  “Catalina is visiting from the States and is very tired,” he cooed as she looked at the floor. “We had a death in the family. Her brother was killed, and the funeral was yesterday.”

  I went rigid as her eyes stayed locked on the floor.

  “Catalina, don’t be rude. Say hello.”

  She stepped forward in her tight little dress and heels and extended her hand to me. “Nice to meet you,” she whispered as I took her icy hand in mine and fought to let go.

  “Please, call me Michael.” I looked over her head to Salvador. “Lovely. Does she do runs?” I needed to keep my persona up.

  “I’d be willing to negotiate.” He winked, and my blood pressure shot straight up. Slowly, my gaze fell to hers. So much was written across her face. I was sure my expression showed nothing of her betrayal.

  “She doesn’t run, nor does she have any part in the family business,” her mother snapped from the doorway.

  “Yes, well, if these men need Catalina to do a job, then maybe we can work something out.”

  “I don’t make deals with criminals,” she said with such hate I felt my own chest tighten.

  “Things can be arranged, my angel,” he purred over her shoulder, and my arm shot out to tug her toward me. As soon as I did, I realized how it looked, so I took her face in my hand and stared into her eyes like I was checking her out. I shook off the nausea that came over me. I would never manhandle her like this, so I only hoped she understood what I was doing. “She clean?”

  She snarled.

  “Should be. She has no tracks or cuts.”

  “I am.” She forced her face free from my hold. “Fuck you for asking.”

  Whoa.

  “She has a mouth,” Salvador warned in a tone that made her shoulders tense.

  “I like that.”

  “I’m not for sale.” She ripped her arm away and took a few steps back.

  “If you like that, I’ll figure it out.” He glanced at Catalina and strummed his fingers over his belt, and her eyes glazed over with fright. He grinned, and I felt Cole move to my side. We both had been tested today, but I was still in shock, so my head wasn’t on straight.

  “You hit her?” I had to know.

  “I have.” He licked his lips like he enjoyed the ability to inflict pain on his own daughter, and Catalina, once again, looked away in a state of shellshock. Salvador ended his crude act to pull out his phone and grinned at the caller ID. “Excuse me, gentlemen.” He stepped out of the room, and I started to move toward her, but she shook her head slightly and moved her eyes up to a camera on the wall.

  “Abel.” Salvador snapped his fingers at her, and he quickly joined her side. “Take Catalina for a walk.”

  “Don’t.” She pulled her arm out of his hold, and he stepped back immediately as if to show he wasn’t going to hurt her. Interesting.

  Salvador stepped out of the room for another call, and Catalina turned to leave. “Nice to meet you both,” she said, but I hooked her arm, and Abel cleared his throat and held back the security guards.

  “I’m sorry to hear about your brother.” I was desperate for her to look at me, for her to tell me this was a huge misunderstanding, but all I got were cold, lifeless eyes.

  “Me too. Thank you,” she whispered before she headed out to the hallway. Abel followed, and we were left with the two fat fuckers.

  What the hell just happened?

  I whirled around to find my brother with his work phone in his hand. He handed it to me. My vision went fuzzy when I saw the photo of Catalina standing next to her mother and Abel in front of a coffin.

  “We’ll figure this out, Mike.”

  “I hope you’re right,” I turned to look at him with my world crumbling around me, “or you might be leaving this place without me.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Catalina

  Abel’s face was white and confused as I closed the door. I cupped my mouth as I rushed into my room, in fear someone would hear my sobs. What the hell just happened? Why were Mike and Cole here? How? My insides rolled and stirred like a storm gaining speed as my mind spun out of control.

  My secret had just been exposed in the worst way possible, to the one person I wasn’t ready to share it with. I was the daughter of Salvador Esteban, son of Alamo Esteban and brother to Sebastian Esteban, a long ancestry of drug lords. Criminals.

  My hands shook so hard I dropped them to my knees and squeezed them hard. I heaved in a few deep breaths. Footsteps made their way into my chaos, but my muscles were frozen, and I couldn’t get my brain to connect.

  “Catalina?” A voice broke through my panic attack. “What happened?” I opened my eyes to find Elena, one of the girls I shared a bathroom with, looking at me in a panicked state of her own. “Come on.” She tugged my arm and helped me into the shared bathroom.

  Once behind the safety of the restroom walls, I dropped to the floor. Elena dampened a towel and pressed it to my head.

  “You look like you might pass out,” she whispered, and her kindness broke past my pain. The word had spread quickly that I wasn’t like the rest of them when I arrived home a few days ago, but for Elena to be this bold with Salvador’s daughter showed me she didn’t care who I was.

  “You need to pull it together or Salvador will know something is wrong.” She shifted to sit next to me on the marble floor. “Are you…” she paused, “are you pregnant?”

  “What?” That stopped the storm inside momentarily. “What makes you ask that?”

  “You looked so pale and like you might get sick, so I just assumed you were.”

  “No, God, no.” I closed my eyes and shook my head.

  Please, someone stop the spinning.

  “What happened, then?”

  “Nothing.” I took a deep breath but couldn’t contain my nerves. Everything confused me, sounds, lights, the cool floor. Ahhh! I held my head in fear it would spin right off.

  “The big guys in the bar?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I heard they’re looking for some mules.” She leaned back against the wall and covered the bruises that purpled her thighs. “What I wouldn’t do get the hell out of this place.”

  My heart broke all over again, but anger quickly took over. How could I have left these women behind? How could I have never looked back and lived a life that was so much better than this? I felt shame in that moment.

  “Have you ever thought about running?” she continued without a care. “Just running without looking back? Or speaking up to one of the border patrol agents?” She sniffed. “I almost did once, but Ana beat me to the punch, and it turned out the agent worked for Salvador…I never saw her again.” She paused. “Maybe a bullet to the skull would be better, just end it all.”

  “You are not alone in that thought, Elena.” I used the cool cloth to soothe my sore eyes, and my head pounded behind them.

  “Catalina?” Mother knocked on the door, and we both jumped. Elena’s fingers dug into my arm, but I gave her a pat to reassure her it was okay. “Catalina, I would like to speak with you now.”

  “One moment, Mama.” I scrambled to my feet, but she opened the door, and her eyes softened when she saw me and the state I was in. Just as I moved my gaze to Elena’s, she did too, and I felt the cold smother my insides once again.

  �
�Roman!” she snapped, and one of the house guards came flying into the room and nearly ripped Elena’s arm out of the socket as he pulled her up.

  “No!” I shoved him, and suddenly something hard hit my cheek, and I blew backward. My ears rang and my vision blurred, but I made it to my feet and grabbed a glass jewelry box off the counter and smashed it over his head.

  He tipped forward but took the blow well. His hand clamped down on the wound, and he drew it forward to see the blood.

  “Catalina!” my mother screamed and ran to my side. “Stop, or your father will make you! Your freedom is in jeopardy. Think about it!”

  “Freedom,” I seethed. “Why should I have freedom when these women don’t have theirs?”

  “Shh.” She tried to calm me, but I couldn’t be calmed. “Come with me before your papa takes out his anger on both of you.”

  I closed my eyes and cursed inside. She was right; this fight would only lead to pain for Elena.

  “Roman,” my mother said smoothly, “please help Elena back to her room. We have guests, and they will want to see her unmarked.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He glared at me but helped Elena to her feet and walked her out of the room.

  “I think it’s time we had a chat, Catalina.”

  Once in the garden, safely away from any cameras or guards, she walked with me arm-in-arm. My cheek was hot, and I was sure there was a mark, but my mother seemed to be able to look past it, like normal.

  “I never wanted you to be a part of this.” She kept her gaze forward.

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “You are my daughter.”

  “You let him hurt me.”

  The sound of the pebbles under our shoes filled the silence while we both let the hurt in. What little sun was left lit the tears that threatened her eyes and showed her pain.

  “I’ve lost one child this week. I won’t lose another.”

  “Then make it right and leave.” What I wouldn’t do to have a mother again, someone to love me the way I deserved.

  The crickets chirped high, and the frogs took the bass in the night’s melody. From a distance, the place was beautiful. The joke was on those who thought so.

  “I caught your father in bed with your tía.” Mama swallowed hard, and the muscles in her arm tightened.

  “Bash’s wife?” I nearly stumbled.

  “When I caught them in our bed, I lost all control, but also gained leverage.” A sliver of a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “I threatened to tell and leave.”

  “Oh, Mama, I’m sorry.” My heart ached again for her. I never could understand why she loved Papa, but to see a backbone appear in my mother was rather thrilling. “What did he do?”

  “He panicked and threatened to kill me. In spite of her, your father still loves me. Even as he loves her.” She fiddled with the button on her blouse, and sadness replaced her smile. “Remember the man who asked your father to buy you?” I nodded and fought to keep my tongue silent. “It was that night I found them, and that was the night I realized what I had.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I had something to use to get you freedom, mija.” She kept going. “The only way to save you was to threaten him. We both know Bash has more power than Sal does, and all it would take would have been one phone call from me, and this would all be gone.”

  I secretly wondered if she was giving me the ace I needed to tear down the kingdom.

  “After I collected my thoughts, I approached him in his library and laid out my decision. That I would stay and continue to rule next to him if he agreed to let you leave the family business unharmed. I know you hate me,” she whispered, “hate the life you were born into, hate that we do such unspeakable acts. I traded my life for yours, Catalina.”

  I searched for the right words, but nothing came but a heavy weight on my heart. I’d thought she was a weak woman who only loved one man and didn’t care about her children, but all along she had stayed in chains so I could be free.

  I stopped our walk and stood in front of her. “Mama, I’m so sorry.”

  Her warm hands gently cupped my cheeks. “I’m not. You got to live and be free. I’m so proud of you, Catalina. You made a life for yourself on your own with no money or help from us. That’s truly admirable.”

  I had always wanted a relationship with a mother like others had, and I was jealous of those who did. I was so wrong to hate her all these years. I was sorry for so many things.

  When one of the guards moved closer to the railing to watch us, she urged me to continue walking.

  “You must promise me one thing.”

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  “You must never let your father know I told you.”

  Again, by the way she said the word I, I felt like she was telling me something else. I nodded then groaned when my father appeared out of nowhere.

  “What happened to your face?” he snapped and glared at my mother.

  “Roman,” she answered for me, “lost his temper again.”

  “What did you do?” He addressed his question to me, but I unlinked from my mother’s arm and moved past him.

  “I asked you a question, Catalina.”

  “I know.”

  “Get ready for dinner. We need to make our guests comfortable.”

  I rolled my eyes just to piss him off further and headed inside.

  We entertained guests in the west wing of the mansion, where my father kept his most expensive items to make himself appear larger than he was. The windows were floor to ceiling high, a small stage stood off to the side, and five over-the-top gold candelabras lined the length of the glass table. Needless to say, it was ugly.

  “What happened to your cheek?” Abel shook his head and stepped up to me to examine my blue, swollen face. There was a time when his touch meant the world to me, but now he was merely a friend.

  “It’s nothing.”

  “It’s not nothing, Catalina.” He followed me as we entered the dining room, where Mike and Cole stood by the bar admiring the view of the gardens.

  “Who did that to you?”

  Mike whirled around when he heard Abel’s voice, and his expression darkened when he caught Abel’s topic of conversation. When Mike started to move, Cole caught him by the arm just as my father joined us.

  “Good, you have drinks.” My father took his seat at the head of the table and glared at me to sit. Abel’s hand landed on my lower back, and so did Mike’s gaze.

  It’s not what you think.

  I sank into the chair across from Mike and dropped my napkin on my lap so my hands could shake in private.

  Mama joined us shortly afterward and greeted the table in her normal way, only this time I smiled back. It would take baby steps, but now that I knew the truth, I was more than willing to work on our relationship.

  The staff set our meal in front of us and stepped back to wait for the next order my father would bark at them.

  “Lovely house you have.” Cole tried to make small talk, and when I looked up, Mike was staring at me. My mother’s brows pinched when she caught it too, but she remained quiet.

  I tuned out my father’s normal bullshit story on how the house came to be in his. He always failed to mention that it was actually Bash who was given the house, but later, due to a mishap between the brothers, Bash moved out. They hadn’t spoken since, and now I wondered if it had something to do with my aunt and my father. The brothers had been in a constant feud for years and killed anyone who stepped in their way.

  “I’m sorry to hear about the death of your son.” Mike addressed my mother. The blood drained straight down to my feet and took my stomach with it.

  “Thank you,” she replied carefully, with a look at her husband, then took a sip of water to moisten her mouth.

  “You live in the States, Catalina? How sad to be so far away when it happened. When did you find out?”

  I shot him a small warning not to do this here, but he dismissed it.
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br />   “Um, it was right after a party for work. I had gone outside to look for a friend, and that’s when I spotted Abel.” I nodded toward him. “My mother had sent him to pick me up. She called me with the news.”

  Mike’s lips pressed together like it wasn’t enough for him.

  “Is your work okay with you leaving so quickly? What about your friends?”

  I shifted, annoyed. He was gambling with both of our fates. “Well, Mr. Rutherford, I wasn’t thinking about them. I was thinking about the fact that my brother was now dead, and I had to come back to the last place on Earth I’d ever wanted to return to.”

  “Catalina,” my father snapped, and I swung my gaze in his direction.

  “I’m sorry, Father, did that just earn me the belt, or will I just get another crack to the cheek from your dogs?”

  His chubby face turned three shades of red as his blood pressure rose. Sweat broke out along the collar of his dress shirt, and the grip on his fork tightened. I’m sure he would have liked to stab me with it. Yeah, I’m not scared of you anymore.

  “Excuse my friend for upsetting your family,” Cole interjected with a hard look at Mike. “We appreciate your hospitality, but we are here on business, after all.”

  “Bring the girls in.” Salvador snapped his fingers, and one by one they filed in, each wearing a skimpy outfit.

  Elena caught my eye, and I gave her a look to stay strong. She shrugged and dropped her head. Cole caught my look at her, and he glanced at her and then back at me. He then used his elbow and signaled something to Mike that had him gazing in my direction again.

  What did I miss?

  “This one,” my father roughly grabbed Elena by the arm and swung her around to show off her backside, “is one of my favorites.”

  “Stop!” I jumped to my feet. “She’s not an animal, Father.”

  “My apologies.” My father let her go and quickly turned to his company. “My daughter doesn’t agree with the family business, not like her brother. I understand that you could be interested in her as well. Perhaps this could be arranged,” he threatened as he looked furiously at me.

  “Javier hated everything about his house,” I hissed, “but mostly we hated you.”