“Let’s get out of here.”
She nodded but didn’t speak. Heading to a safe house of an associate, I got her inside to clean up. She seemed numb, so I guided her to the bathroom where I started the water and undressed her. Getting under the water and rinsing the blood took a bit, but when I finally got the traces off her she calmed down.
I stripped and showered in the second bathroom. When I got out, she was still letting the water run over her.
“You okay?”
Her head lifted slowly and her eyes locked to mine. “He’s over, it’s done with him,” she whispered like it was finally sinking in.
I nodded. “It is.”
She moved and turned the water off before stepping out of the shower. I held out a towel for her. Gently, I dried her body before I helped her get dressed.
“I thought I would feel better.”
“Taking a life doesn’t ever give relief. It only soothes the drive deep inside us for revenge. I guess that’s where the saying two wrongs don’t make a right comes from.”
“I miss her,” she whispered.
“As do I.”
She sagged into me. “Nothing will ever be okay. Going after Maricio gave me the drive to go on. Now, now I’m just numb. Who am I without my daughter? Who am I without being a mother? Who am I now?”
“As you suffer, I too will suffer,” I repeated words I told her so long ago. “Mi ceilo, you needed vengeance. I gave it to you. There is nothing I won’t give you.”
She looked at me confused. Then she became agitated. “You can’t give me my daughter back and that is what I want, Javi.”
I blew out a breath before the words tumbled out. “I had to make it safe for Yesnia. So Aurelio took her for help and they hid her away while she has healed.” I paused studying her face. “Maricio was the only threat to our daughter. You took care of the threat. Now, you can have her back.”
Tears streamed down her face. It wasn’t registering. I gave her a moment and then I gave her the last gift I had in this life to give.
“Yesnia is alive. She is waiting to hear from you.”
Chapter Thirteen
Mari Belle
Shock.
Surprise.
Elation.
They all rushed through me.
“What!” I screeched. I heard the words he said, but they weren’t making sense. I buried my daughter how could she be alive.
“Yesnia, she’s alive. She’s still healing. Her lung was punctured by the bullet. She had to have surgery and a blood transfusion. But your pain can be no more. She’s alive.” Javi’s words came out but my brain struggled to process them.
Anger hit me like a wrecking ball, slamming into me and destroying my heart. I killed my brother because I thought he killed my daughter. Guilt gnawed at me. This was a betrayal and I couldn’t fathom what to feel or think.
“I trusted you,” I screamed as I yanked free from his hold.
“I had to keep her safe,” he yelled back at me chasing me as I took off.
I ran through the house crazed until I came to the kitchen. He let me hurt while he knew where she was. I saw red. Nothing was clear other than this need to make him hurt. I pulled a knife from a butcher block and held it to Javi’s throat as he approached me.
He smirked and pressed his neck into the blade. “I’m ready to die, mi ceilo. I have but one request.”
The emotions were too much. I was struggling with everything. I didn’t want to give him a damn thing. The tears ran down my face in hot streams.
“In your pain lies my pain. In your suffering, I too suffer. For what you feel, mi ceilo, I feel it too.” Javi lifts his phone punching in numbers on the screen.
“Hello,” I heard Yesnia answer in a groggy voice. “Papá, when can I see Mamá?”
“Soon, hija. Very soon. Papá loves you, hija. I’m so ready to bring you home.”
Her voice was Heaven to my ears. “Hija,” my voice cracked.
“Mamá, I missed you.” Her voice picked up hearing from me.
“Oh hija,” I started to tell her everything but stopped myself. “I’m so thankful you’re okay.”
“Tio can’t get to me here. Papá has made sure of it.”
I glared at Javi. He kept my daughter from me.
“Tio won’t hurt you ever again. I can promise you that,” I explained.
“I know. Papá told me this would never happen again. I believe him. He loves you, Mamá.” I heard the hope in her voice. “Estella has told me so much about him and you. I’m sorry I helped Tio.”
“I want to see you, hija. And no more talk of Tio, he can’t get to you ever again.” My heart found comfort talking to her. I wanted to both kill Javi and never hang up the phone. I needed to hold her. I needed to see her, touch her. I needed this to be real.
“I want to see you too,” she told me as I heard voices in the background so I knew she wasn’t alone.
“Are you safe, hija?”
“Yes, I have Axel, my friend here and Abuela.”
I found comfort that she wasn’t alone, but at the same time my heart hurt to be away from her. “It kills me not to be with you,” I told her honestly as I felt the emotions overtaking me.
“We’ll be together soon. Papá promised I only had to stay away from you until he could make sure Tio wasn’t able to get to me.”
She was confident in her father. They had bonded over this tragedy.
I had been left in the dark.
It hurt.
Not as much as watching her bleed, but the pain was still raw and the betrayal was too deep.
Javi moved the phone closer to him as I kept the knife pressed to his neck. “I’ll make the arrangements, Yesnia. We’ll be to you tomorrow.”
“Okay, Papá.”
She was calm. She was okay. The call ended with I love you’s exchanged and Yesnia oblivious to the fact that I had killed her uncle and currently held a knife to her father’s throat.
“We’ll not be seeing my daughter tomorrow. I’ll be seeing her.” I pressed the knife in deeper seeing the red of his blood trickle out as the blade sliced into him. “You’ll be lucky to see another day. My daughter is gone to you. She and I are leaving and you’re not to follow.”
“You can hate me, but first hear me out.”
I thought for a moment and paused just enough for him to continue.
“You had over twenty years with her. Every decision for her life was made by you and you alone. I know you feel betrayed,” he said looking at me sternly. “I know that feeling well. You betrayed me before too. This wasn’t about that though and it wasn’t about you. It was about Yesnia. I had to keep her safe. I had to make sure her death was believable. We weren’t certain of Maricio’s reach. If he had eyes on the mass, it needed to be real. I did what I did for our daughter to be safe. Hate me all you want because I wouldn’t change a fuckin’ thing about how I handled her incident. I kept her safe.”
“You grieved beside me like you hurt too and all along you knew she was okay.”
His eye turned angry. “I hurt. Do not diminish my pain, Mari. I was away from my daughter after just learning of her existence. This wasn’t easy for me and it wasn’t without sacrifice. So before you get on a tangent and on some high and mighty roll you should know I have been away from her too. It killed me but I stayed away for her safety. And I couldn’t say she was one hundred percent safe until Maricio was eliminated.”
I was so angry. So hurt. I couldn’t think straight.
I jerked the knife from his neck throwing it to the floor as I screamed out in frustration.
“Where is she?”
“Currently healing in a home three hours from here on a farm. She’s surrounded by fields and trees.”
“Who is with her? Axel, whom I don’t know and your mother, but who else?”
“The Hellion, the biker who brought her to me is Axel Crews. He is no stranger to our daughter though. When I found out about Yesnia and sent my people
for her, they studied her social media. She posted a picture with the biker on New Years Eve. So when I arranged her transport, I used him so she would be with someone familiar. After she was shot, Aurelio rushed her to a clinic with a doctor on my payroll. He saved her life. I didn’t want her to be alone, but I wasn’t sure who could be safe with her. When she came to, Aurelio said she was muttering she should have called Axel.”
“You left her with Aurelio when I could have been there to care for her.”
Javi nodded. “Yeah, I did because Maricio would have kept coming after you and using her to hurt us both. I wouldn’t allow her to feel anymore pain. So I contacted the Hellions Motorcycle Club and made arrangements for them to send their crew with Axel to the house where Yesnia would be recovering. They did because it was a job that I paid them well for, and Axel has been by her side as a source of familiarity and comfort.”
“And she was okay with this?”
He shook his head. “She didn’t care. She’s happy to be alive and safe. Axel will be going back to North Carolina and she will come here tomorrow. My mother didn’t know of her situation until after the mass and didn’t go to her until we left to chase after Maricio. I needed to know my mother was safe and I had many resources covering Yesnia so having them together made sense.”
“Money can’t buy everything.”
Javi smirked his blood still came down my neck only it was a little less now.
“No, it can’t, but I used it to keep her safe and I would do it all again.”
I thought on his words. He did all of this to keep her safe. To keep her alive, he pulled every resource at his disposal.
I felt like I was given a second chance to be a mom.
“She’s had no family with her.”
He shook his head. “My mother and my sister went to her. Luciana had to return to North Carolina to check on Anna who decided to stop answering her calls so she couldn’t stay. She needed to be a mother, but has called Yesnia every day. My mother has not left her side since the day I made the arrangements for Estella. They have bonded and gotten to know one another.”
A warmth filled me. My daughter was alive and she wasn’t alone.
“Take me to her.”
“No,” he replied. “She’ll be transported home tomorrow and we will meet her there.”
“I want to see my daughter now.”
“We have to sort our shit first.”
I thought for a moment and played my cards. “If I sort things with you then she comes home?”
He nodded.
“What do you want?”
He leaned back relaxed. “I want our family. We’re reunited. We have a chance at a life together.”
“I can’t simply marry you. That’s crazy.” I couldn’t believe he really had hope we could be together. I didn’t know what to think much less feel. Currently, I was fighting the urge I had to kill him.
“Didn’t ask for that. I’m not getting any younger and neither are you. I just want our second chance for you, for me, for us, and for Yesnia.”
“I can’t make you promises. And I don’t think the world you live in is for me and my daughter.”
“Our daughter,” he corrected. “I’ve never met a woman more capable of being in my world than you. Without hesitation you have protected me and our family.”
I shook my head trying to shake off the warmth filling me at his words.
“I just want a chance. No promises on either side. We’re connected by grief, love, and history. Tell me you feel nothing and I’ll give you and Yesnia every thing you want including freedom from me.”
I looked him in the eye. I saw his scar and the pain hit me. Everything he had been through because of my brother. The pain, the loss, the years he lost, it all swarmed in my head. I couldn’t say I felt nothing because that would be a lie.
“I don’t know what I feel.”
He smirked. “That’s a start and I’ll take it.”
He lifted his phone again. “Aurelio, bring my daughter home.”
Excitement, happiness, and comfort filled me.
“Can we leave now?” I asked needing to get to her.
“Are you gonna put a knife to my throat again?”
I looked him in the eye. “If you betray me and keep me from my daughter ever again, Javier Almanza, past, present, or future be damned I’ll not only put the knife to your throat again, but this time I’ll cut deep and wide until you bleed out at my feet the way my heart bled for my daughter.”
“You’re mine,” he told me proudly. Extending his arm he showed me the signature Almanza cartel dagger tattoo. “We cut with a knife for a bullet is too fast. When my enemies die, they feel my presence and they know their end is coming.”
“I’m not part of your cartel.”
“My cock in your pussy. My name’ll one day be on your body. You’re mine, Mari as the cartel is mine. The difference is you are not part of my cartel, my cartel is yours. The power I have is yours to take. The empire I amassed is yours to manage. I give you everything if only you would give me this chance.”
“I can’t think clearly. I need to see Yesnia.”
He softened. “Understandable. Let’s go home.”
And just like that he loaded us in his car and we hit the road to go home. I was a bundle of nerves ready to hold her again. My daughter was alive and returning to me. There wasn’t a better moment in the world than the one when I held her in my arms once again.
Chapter Fourteen
One Month Later
Mari Belle
I still couldn’t believe everything that has happened. My brother shot my daughter. I attended her service believing she was dead, but instead Javi had her in hiding to keep her safe until he could be certain Maricio wouldn’t strike again.
It had taken some time for me to come to terms with it all. Honestly, the moment I held Yesnia to me again everything washed away except the happiness in having her back. I struggled with forgiving Javi but if he hadn’t done what he did there was no way to make sure without a doubt Yesnia was safe. So after I let my mind wrap around everything, I had to admit both to myself and him that what he did was the right thing even though it hurt.
Yesnia and I moved in to Javi’s Chicago home. I wasn’t sure that she would stay with us forever even if that was okay with both Javi and me, but for now she was here. We were a family.
Right this moment, though, I was in bed with Javi as he just removed my shirt and teased my breasts through my bra as his tongue invaded my mouth on a mission to find my tongue.
He broke our kiss, dropping his head to my lace-covered breasts where he sucked through the material bringing me back to the moment. Having Yesnia with us, I wanted to smother her. Javi carried me away today so that our daughter could call the young man who had stayed with her while she recovered. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one to find love.
The last few weeks had been challenging as we found a way to be together. Javi and I both had a lot of things to forgive each other for. It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. Yesnia was thriving being in Javi’s large Chicago home. She loved the city and the freedoms Javi’s life afforded her.
We were a family.
We were together.
And right now, my man was loving my body thoroughly.
The sensations overwhelmed me as Javi’s hands and tongue seemed to be everywhere. I had no past to hold me back and a future that looked bright. I was full of joy, elation, and the more he worked me the more I thought I might die from pleasure as my orgasm continued to build.
I rocked on his finger as he worked me until sliding in two and scissoring them stretching me to feel him even more. I was wanton and lost in the moment.
This was love.
This was freedom.
This was unity.
Leaning over, I slid his shirt over his head, exposing his gorgeous body to me. His tattoos only added to the layers of the man under me. Each one told a story and each of those stories tied bac
k to family, including my name over his heart and Yesnia’s covering his neck. They were new and I couldn’t get enough of them. His muscles flexed with every movement while his eye was clouded in lust.
I paused as my stomach clinched. He pressed his thumb to my clit and I saw stars as my climax consumed me. The aftershocks worked through me making my skin overly sensitive.
I moaned.
He groaned.
He pulled his fingers from inside me as he kissed his way down my belly. At my thighs he nipped before swiping his tongue over my pussy lips. He lapped and licked, setting me on fire. I came alive again needing more.
Reaching out, I cupped his chin pulling his up to me. With his face to mine, I kissed him tasting the erotic mix of me on his tongue. I slid my hands down his body, removing his pants and boxers as I found his waistband. Freeing him, I took his hard length in my hand and stroked his shaft feeling it throb under my fingers. His large cock grew with the attention.
I guided him where I wanted him and inch by inch he slid inside me. As I stretched to accommodate him, I thought about my heart and how he filled me so completely like he did my pussy right now. This was Javier Almanza and me, an intense, passion fueled connection like love and hate.
With a surge, he thrust deep inside of me and my pussy walls clamped down before they began to milk his cock.
Love filled me.
Passion consumed me.
There was no room left inside me for hate anymore.
Needing to have him closer, I wrapped my legs around him locking him to me where he only had enough room to slide in and out of my tight, wet heat. With each move of his shaft into me, I felt fuller and fuller. My orgasm continued to climb as I felt like I might combust from pleasure.
He pounded into me in a relentless pace that had us both covered in a sheen of sweat. “I love you, Mari,” he whispered the words I loved to hear. “Mi ceilo, you are everything that guides me, covers me, and surrounds me. I love you.”
“Javier Almanza, you’re everything I need, everything I want, and you were made for me. You’re my gift from my mother. I love you.”
Cartel Queen (Almanza Crime Family Duet Book 2) Page 10
