by L. R. Wright
She was raised to draw the first sword. That is how she always lived her life—never scared, never worried, and always in control. Her father told her to never let a vengeful act go unpunished. That’s why she knew she would have done the same thing Adam did.
She composed herself, dashing wet tears from her face. “You look so much like him. You caught me off guard at first. Not many people can say that about me.” She stood up. “Janine did you a disservice. Unfortunately, you can’t take back what you’ve done.”
Adam rested on his feet. “Where’s Janine? We have a baby girl.”
A tear dropped from her eye. “I know, and your daughter is safe. I can’t say the same about you. Do you know who Melissa’s partner is?”
He shook his head.
“Well, then...” She looked into his eyes—Erik’s eyes. “We don’t need you anymore.”
Two guards entered the dining area with Kendrick. Kendrick picked Melissa up and slung her over his shoulder. Alexa and Dro followed Kendrick toward the back of the restaurant.
As she entered the diner’s kitchen she paused, hand on the wall. When she heard the sound of the muffled shot, she swallowed the lump in her throat, and walked out.
CHAPTER 22
May 10, 1998:
Dro watched Alexa as she slept. Nightmares seemed to plague her throughout the night and he guessed it was expected. She had just seen her friend murdered in cold blood that night. As cold and calculating as she could be, Dro couldn’t help but appreciate those times when she was vulnerable. It made him want to take care of her all the more.
Pulling a pair of pajama pants out of his dresser, he slid them on. He knew it was time to wake her up. He didn’t want to take a chance that Pop or Ma would come to his room and catch her sleeping with him. At the same time, though, he wanted to wake up next to her. When he climbed into bed, she rolled over. Her eyes red and puffy.
“You’re up?” he asked.
She rubbed her eyes and ran a hand through her wild curls. “I had a bad dream.”
“I know.” He opened his arms and she burrowed into his embrace, snuggling against his side.
“Was I screaming or something?” she asked.
He kissed her forehead. “No. But you were tossing and turning in your sleep, fighting something.”
“Wow, I fight in my sleep?”
“Yes, you do. I have to take cover sometimes.”
She giggled and he thought it was the prettiest sound he ever heard. “Stop lying, Dro.” She smacked his chest playfully. “I would never hit you.”
“Yeah, right.” He chuckled and pinched her chin gently. “Are you going to be okay? I know you cared about Erik.” He hated admitting she cared about any man to the point his death was causing her nightmares.
“I feel so bad, Dro. I don’t think I’ve ever lost anyone I really cared about—except for your mother.”
Alexa and his mother had been close. “Well, death is a natural part of life. It’s just unfortunate Erik had to die the way he did.”
“You mean that?” She kissed his shoulder. “You do feel bad?”
“I’m not heartless. I may not have liked him, but I didn’t want him to die.”
She picked at his arm, squeezing his biceps. “Me either. Thanks for this.”
“No need to thank me. I like having you here, sleeping next to me.”
“You better watch out, Dro,” she teased. “You’re going to be in love soon.”
Dro smirked. “Whatever. Go to sleep.”
She relaxed in his arms. And just when he thought she’d fallen back asleep, she mumbled, “I love you, Dro.”
When he heard her soft snores, he was finally able to admit it to her sleeping form and to himself. He kissed her forehead. “I love you, too.”
***
November 5, 2011:
Dro studied his wife. Although she wasn’t overtly upset, he could read the disappointment in all of her features. He often wondered how things would end for them. Would they get to ride off into the sunset? He doubted they would. His mother used to say “Adorar es de vivir,” to live is to love. She always told him that life was all about love. And that love makes people better.
He frowned as he thought about his mother. She wasn’t the best role model. She committed suicide, after all. But when he fell in love with Alexa, he finally realized what his mother had been trying to tell him. It was something special to love someone more than your own life. He understood why people searched for the one person that would complete them.
Alexa had been telling him for a long time now that she wanted out. She was tired of the adventure, the danger. She just wanted a quiet life with her family—a life without violence and shady business. He knew she loved him, but would that love be enough?
He glanced at her out the corner of his eye. “You with me, baby?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t look like you’re here with me. You’re off in another place.” They were speeding toward a remote safe house in his truck. This house was more like an abandoned shack. “Are you going to continue pretending you’re here with me?”
“I’m just thinking, Dro. I miss the kids. I just want them home. This not knowing anything bullshit is really draining me. Every time I go to pray, I stop myself. How can I pray for God to show me mercy when I have never shown any mercy to anyone? But then I pray anyway because I don’t know what else to do.
He felt her eyes on him and his gaze flashed to hers for a minute before forcing his attention back to the road ahead. “I don’t know how to respond to that. I wonder the same thing, though.”
She sniffed and he glanced at her again just as she wiped a tear from her face. He pulled into a long, unpaved driveway. Once they reached the house, he put the truck in park. Turning to her, he observed her, taking in her bowed head and slumped shoulders. “You’re going to leave me,” he said softly. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. After all, he did know her better than anyone. “When the kids are back, you’re going to leave me.”
She swept another tear from under her eye. “I would never leave you, Dro.”
“Not emotionally, physically.”
“I have to. I can’t live like this anymore. But you don’t have to think of it as leaving you. You can come with me.”
“I can’t just leave, Alexa. I have obligations here. I have a company to run—”
“I keep thinking about the kids. Do you want Kyleigh to grow up like I did under constant guard, learning how to shoot a gun at the age of ten? Forced to marry someone we know is trustworthy? What about Alex? Do you want him to take over a company that has brought him more money than he could imagine, but no freedom to be the man he wants to be? What if he wants to be a doctor, or a mechanical engineer, or even a chef? Don’t you want them to be happy doing what they want to do?”
“Of course I want all those things for our children. But you’re making it seem like this Martinez Organization is the same one my father ran. I’ve worked hard to legitimize this company. We do none of the old illegal activities. For the first time in three generations, Martinez’s sole income is from legitimate business. Look at your parents—look at us. Even though our fathers arranged this marriage, I love you more than I love myself. Our life isn’t that bad, Lex.”
“I know,” she admitted. “And I love you the same way. Sure, it worked out for us. What about Lei? It didn’t work out that great for him. He loves Ari and will never be with her because of this business. Ari was forced to marry Jackson even though she didn’t love him. And don’t you think Makayla knows where Lei’s heart really is? Look at Chase? He’s never been happy in love.”
“That’s because he’s in love with you,” Dro muttered under his breath.
She sighed. “We’re the exception, not the rule. Even though our lives weren’t necessarily bad, we can never escape the past. No matter how much you try, we still need guards, we still need B5s, and we still need guns in every room, explosives, bullet proof gla
ss in our houses or on our cars. For Christ’s sake, Dro, our kids can’t even open a window without me worrying that some faceless enemy is going to pick that moment to exact some revenge.”
He bowed his head and rested it on the steering wheel. He felt the cool tips of her fingers skimming the nape of his neck.
“You know how much I love you,” she said. “There are times when I think I’ll suffocate if I can’t be with you. But I’m a mother. I need my children to live better than I did. I know we can give them all the advantages in life, but we can’t give them the freedom they deserve. If I can give them a chance to be free, I will.”
Dro averted his gaze. He did want to give their kids freedom. He wanted them to have the life she was talking about. He needed to give her that life, too.
A knock at the driver’s side window jarred him from his thoughts. Dro lifted a finger signaling Lei to wait a minute. “I don’t know, baby,” he said, turning back to her. “I don’t know if that’s possible. I want to tell you it is but I just don’t know. I do know I can’t live without being able to look into your eyes.”
He lifted his right hand and skimmed her earlobe with his thumb. She leaned into his touch. “I can’t let you go,” he murmured.
“Let’s go together,” she pleaded.
He shook his head and ran his thumb over her mouth, down her chin.
“Don’t say you can’t leave,” she told him. “I know you have obligations here but you’re the boss. You can make up the rules. You don’t have to follow some invisible path. You can make the path.” Then she hopped out of the truck and hurried into the house.
“What’s going on?” Lei asked when Dro slid out of the truck. “She okay?”
“Not really,” Dro replied. “But she will be as soon as this is over.”
CHAPTER 23
May 29, 1998:
Lei sat in the kitchen at the breakfast bar eating a sandwich when Dro walked in. It had been pretty quiet since Erik was killed and the “Steve situation,” as they called it, was finished. In fact, this was the first time he’d seen Dro since he went back to school.
Dro sat next to him. “What’s good?”
Lei shrugged. “Shit. How long are you in town?”
Dro took half of Lei’s sandwich, and bit into it. “Not sure. It depends on if I can get any work done while I’m here.” Dro had chosen to take a class spring semester.
Lei nodded. “I hear that. It’s hard to concentrate sometimes. I started looking into law schools this week. And I scheduled a LSAT preparatory class.”
“I just signed up for the GMAT class myself.”
Lei drank from his can of soda. They had all decided early on to go into careers that would take them far away from the “business.” None of them wanted to end up working for the Martinez Organization as it was. Their main goal was to legitimize it.
“Did Alexa tell you she was going to major in business administration, too?” Lei asked.
“Yeah, I knew she was leaning toward it. She’s eyeing the hotel business. I’m kind of glad she chose that major. It’s better than psychology. She would’ve been trying to shrink all of us.”
They both laughed.
Lei opened his bag of chips. “Did she tell you she was trying to go to Duke?”
Dro froze. “She conveniently left that part out. That’s...different.”
“Yeah, Pop isn’t happy. He feels like she needs to stay close. He supposedly has big plans for her.”
“I bet she’s not happy about that.”
“You said it,” Lei agreed. “She was furious at him last night. It all came to a head at dinner.”
Dro snickered. “Where is she?”
“At the pool with Jon.” Lei popped a chip in his mouth.
“Who’s Jon?” Dro dropped his half of the sandwich back on Lei’s plate.
Lei grumbled a curse. Dro and Alexa were doing something he thought they’d never be able to return from. And it worked for them because their parents had already decided it would be best for them to marry and procreate. That rarely happened in their world. He didn’t need examples because he was living proof.
Lei was in love with Ari. He thought they would be able to be happy together, but Enrique was an ogre and a control freak. Now that Ari was pregnant with Jackson’s baby, he knew that he would never be able to be with her the way he wanted to. And to make matters worse, he couldn’t even count on Pop to try and make a way. Pop agreed with Enrique. Pop thought Ari should marry Jackson.
But what Pop and Enrique didn’t know was that Jackson was an ass. He was definitely not going to be good for Ari. He already didn’t want Ari to go to medical school. Jackson wanted Ari to change her major to education or something.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts Lei looked at Dro, who was watching him. “What?”
“Where did you go?” Dro asked.
“Nowhere,” he grumbled.
“Who’s Jon?”
“Jon is some guy she’s been hanging out with over the past couple of weeks. She brought him home one day and I met him. He seems okay. He’s completely different from Erik.”
“Different how?”
“Well, let’s just say he’s definitely not the athletic type. He looks more like he could be in the chess club or something.” Lei chuckled, amused with himself. When he glanced at Dro, though, the frown on his face made it clear he was not amused.
“Why are they at the pool this late in the day?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you go to the pool and ask her?” Lei got a kick out of Dro being all jealous, and didn’t bother to hide it.
“You’re enjoying this too much,” Dro rolled his eyes. “I don’t get that girl. I mean, Erik just died and she’s already taking someone else to the pool?”
Lei choked on the pop he just swallowed. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not really talking about swimming? And besides, Alexa and Erik hadn’t gone to the pool for months before he died.”
Dro glared at Lei. “Shut up, Lei. I’m just saying... Have you had this Jon checked out? Who is he really?”
“He’s Jon. Why are you so upset? As far as I knew, Alexa could see other people. Is this a problem for you?”
“Hell yeah, it’s a problem for me,” Dro admitted. “I don’t want her taking anyone else to the pool.”
Lei was stunned silent for a minute. Dro was really upset. This was so unlike Dro that Lei had to laugh out loud.
Dro stood up, nearly tipping the barstool over. “What the hell are you laughing at, Lei?”
“You. I wish you could hear yourself right now. You sound like the jealous boyfriend from hell, and you’re not even her boyfriend.”
“Who said I wasn’t her boyfriend? Hell yeah, I’m her boyfriend. What do you think we’ve been doing?”
“Keeping it light. That’s what you said,” he reminded Dro.
“I can’t stand you sometimes.”
“Hey, I just call it like it is. Those are the facts, brother. You laid those rules down, and now you can’t take it.”
Dro folded his arms over his chest. “Maybe it’s time to change the rules.”
“You better hope she’s fine with that,” Lei told him, cracking up. “But welcome to the club.” Lei had always sensed it, but Dro had inadvertently confirmed it. Dro was in love with his sister.
“Being in love with your sister doesn’t automatically mean we’re in some sort of club.”
Lei smacked Dro on the back. “Well you gave me hell about being in love with Ari. I just feel like I should return the favor.”
“Go to hell, Lei.”
Lei laughed out loud as Dro stalked out of the kitchen.
***
November 5, 2011:
Lei entered the safe house behind Dro. Kendrick was standing against the wall talking to Alexa as she took off the rest of her costume. Dro was on a phone call. Lei wondered what Alexa and Dro had been talking about in the truck. Things seemed pretty heated. In his mind, Lei knew she was
tired of this life. And the kids being in danger just cemented that in her. And if he was being truthful with himself, he couldn’t blame her. He had thought about it many times as well.
He rubbed the back of his neck and cracked his knuckles. It was hell trying not to think about where their family was. The only thing he could do was hope for the best. He knew Pop would die to protect them, but he was only one man. He couldn’t be expected to protect everyone. And as he thought about that, he thought about his life.
Lei had spent an extreme amount of time doing what everyone expected him to do. Hell, he didn’t even marry the woman he loved because it wasn’t expected. Instead, he married one of his best friends in the name of loyalty and honor. Love really didn’t have anything to do with it. Sure, he loved Makayla, but not the way he loved Ari. He wondered if Makayla knew that. He felt that she did, but it didn’t matter anyway.
Makayla knew Lei would honor his vows to her because that’s the type of person he is. He’d never slept with Ari again once he was married to Makayla, although he dreamed of being with her in that way. And it was hard every time he saw her to not give in to that temptation. He was still wrong, though, because he gave into the temptation to kiss Ari every time he saw her.
He wondered if his wife and the love of his life were safe. He couldn’t help but wonder if he would continue to live the same way once they were back. A part of him hated to hurt Makayla, but the strongest part of him longed to be with Ari and his daughter. And that part was ready to make the most important choice of his life.
Kendrick approached Lei. “I just got the word that Marnie was picked up by Janine’s younger sister, Janet, when Janine and Adam didn’t show up to pick her up. I did a check on her. She works a good job as a nurse. And she’s married with one child. When they never show up again, I’m sure she’ll take responsibility Marnie.”
