Which brings me to my last remark. Do not fear me, son. I love you more than I have ever loved anything in this world. I have lived my whole life for you, and if my incarceration was necessary for you to have the things you love, then I will gladly serve this sentence, comforted in the knowledge that you are happy, that your wife is happy, that your children—my grandchildren—will be happy. Someday, when you are a father, you will understand this sacrifice I make for you and why I make it willingly, joyfully.
No one will ever find your whereabouts, and you will always be watched over. I have resources that the Americanos cannot touch and people that they cannot reach. The money is there whenever you need it. The people are with you even when you do not know it. They will protect you and those you love, as I always have.
Te Amo,
Miguel.
I stumble to the sofa and sit down, the letter dangling from my fingertips. Finally, I go to the kitchen drawer and pull out a prepaid cell phone. We keep them to talk to Beth’s friends and family. Every month, we get a new prepay, and so do each of her family members. Then we can talk. The feds don’t know, but I guess Miguel probably does. I hesitate, deciding who to call, but finally, I choose Gabe. He’s the only one besides Beth who was there with me, saw the place, met the man who is my father.
He answers on the fourth ring. “Bethy? Is that you?” he hollers obnoxiously.
“No, it’s, uh… It’s Juan.”
“Hey, dude. What’s up? How’s everything there?”
“Well, I need to talk to you about something,” I tell him as I sit down, still clutching the letter in my hand.
“Shoot,” he says. “I can take a break from this carburetor for a few.”
“Okay.” I read him the letter, and when I’m done, he’s silent for a while.
“You still there?” I ask.
“Yeah, man. Sorry. So, I guess the feds aren’t as sly as they think, huh?”
“I guess not, since it doesn’t seem like it was all that hard to track me down.”
“Can I tell you something, dude?”
I swallow, not knowing if I can take more bad news right now. “Uh, sure. Why not?”
“When we took you out of there? I didn’t want to say anything, but it was far too easy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just what I said. I never expected the whole thing to go that smoothly, and while I’d love nothing more than to sit around and congratulate myself on what a badass operative I am, the fact is, I’ve suspected all along that Miguel let us take you.”
“Shit, ese. Are you serious?”
“Yeah. Completely. And if that’s true, then I don’t think he’s a threat. I think he means what he’s saying in that letter. He might be crazy, but I have a feeling his crazy includes doing no harm to you and yours.”
I consider what he’s said. I consider the life Beth and I have started to make here. The home we’re building in this little apartment. And I think that, at some point, you have to stop looking at your world in terms of what should be and look at what is. A man like my father should be a threat to me—to everyone, really. But in reality, he’s never done a single thing to harm me. Things that I took as threats could have been misinterpreted. Stories that my mother told me might have colored my perceptions. Experiences I had in the RH may have led me to see him in a way that wasn’t fair.
“I think you might be right, hermano,” I tell Gabe. “And thanks for that.”
“Sure thing, but watch your back, man. I can’t have you or Bethy getting hurt. Alexis would never get over it, and it’d kind of piss me off too.”
I chuckle, feeling better already. “No worries. We’re safe. We’ll stay that way.”
“All right. Call again soon so Alexis can talk to you.”
“Bueno.”
After we end the call, I grab my books and the letter and head back to the limo. I go straight to Beth’s work and text her to come outside where we can talk. She slips into the front seat of the limo and kisses me on the cheek.
“Oooh, are we going to have a nooner in the fancy car?” She flirts.
“Sorry, linda, I’ve got something I need to talk to you about.”
“That sort of sounds serious.”
“It is,” I answer as I hand her the letter.
She sits and reads, her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide, and by the time she gets to the end, there are tears in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Beth. I just can’t believe this, now, after we finally get settled and everything’s going so well. You don’t deserve this, linda. And if you want me to leave, I will. You can go back home to Austin or stay here—“
“Stop it,” she snaps. “I thought we were done with that. There is no you and me, only us. You know that.”
I nod. Old habits die hard. “Okay. You’re right.” I look up and cup her cheek with my palm. “What do you want to do?”
“I want to hear what you think of this letter,” she tells me.
I swallow. “Well, I called Gabe and read it to him. He told me something that he’s never mentioned before. He said that, when he came to take me out of Miguel’s, it was too easy. Much easier than he’d expected. Linda”—I pause, looking at her steadily—“he thinks Miguel let me go that night.”
She lets out a breath she’s been holding and sniffs. “So he thinks Miguel allowed you to go, knowing what might happen?”
“Sounds that way, yeah.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think that maybe it’s time to quit living in fear of my father. Because, linda, he’s never actually hurt me. Ever. Maybe it’s naïve or careless, but I don’t want to leave our life here. I don’t want to keep reacting to shit as if we’re being hunted. I love it here. I love my job, you love your job, we love us. And my father says he loves us too. Maybe we should just accept that and quit worrying.”
I watch as a little smile curves across her face and she leans over and kisses me gently on the lips.
“Juan Miguel Antonio Martinez Ybarra, I love you and I trust you, and if you believe in your father, then so do I. Life’s full of risks. You can’t live it without taking some. We’re just learning how to live. Let’s not stop now.”
We kiss, and as my lips slide over her smooth, silky skin, I know we’ve made the right decision. I know that, as long as I have this woman by my side, I’ll keep discovering who Juan is, and we’ll make it through anything. I also know that, if I’ve learned anything in the last ten years of my life, it’s that love is powerful and it can make people do some amazing things—like give up their world, risk their safety, start a new life. Love can make you lose it all, risk it all, want it all. But most of all, love can help you have it all.
* * *
1 Hueros/as = blondies/ fair skinned
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Selena Laurence is the Barnes and Noble Bestselling author of what she likes to call Edgy Contemporary Romance. Her books have been Amazon Top 10 bestsellers in multiple categories including Multicultural Romance, Hispanic Fiction, Urban Fiction, Military Romance, and Romantic Suspense. Her New Adult romance, Hidden, won the 2014 Reader’s Crown Award for Contemporary Romance of the year.
Selena lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and spends a hell of a lot of time at soccer games, on her laptop, and reading. She requires a Mocha Latte every day to function, keeps a goldendoodle at her feet most of the time, and has more kids than she or Mr. Laurence know what to do with.
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Copyright 2014 © Selena Laurence All Rights Reserved
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ISBN-13: 9780989539197
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, products, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in encouraging piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase and read only authorized editions. For permission to use any portion of this material please contact the author at: author@ selenalaurence.com
Table of Contents
Title Page
Books by Selena Laurence
Dedication
Author’s Note
1-Juan
2-Beth
3-Juan
4-Beth
5-Juan
6-Beth
7-Juan
8-Beth
9-Juan
10-Beth
11-Juan
12-Beth
13-Juan
14-Beth
15-Juan
16-Beth
17-Juan
18-Beth
19-Juan
20-Beth
21-Juan
22-Beth
23-Juan
24-Beth
25-Juan
26-Beth
27-Juan
28-Beth
29-Juan
30-Miguel
31-Beth
32-Beth - Nine Months Later
33-Juan
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About the Author
About the Book Designer
Copyright Notice
Buried (Hiding From Love #3) Page 19
