Chapter 35
Elliot
My eyes don’t move away from the figure walking away from the door, being escorted from the property by two security guards.
I spent years thinking my mom was missing or worse, dead, but she wasn’t. She made out whatever happened to her alive and she came to Chicago for us but now he’s making her leave.
She said so herself.
Bennett is forcing her to leave and I fucking hate him for it.
Who does that?
Who tells the mother of his niece and nephews to leave, especially when they just got her back.
Someone who doesn’t care about us is who.
“Why did you do that? We just got her back! You can’t make her leave!” I yell at my uncle who is standing by the living room entrance watching as I see my mother for what could be for the last time.
His face is hard and so is his voice when he responds. “I can and she is. I’m trying to do what’s best for you and your brothers and sister.”
“What’s best for us is having our mother!” There is anger all over the body, I so badly want to go over him and punch him until he bleeds.
“I’m sorry you think that, but as long as I have a say, you will not be seeing her.”
Tears run down my face as he pushes away from the wall and walks way. Instead of watching him leave, I turn back to the open door.
The figure is gone.
My mother is gone and it’s all my uncle’s fault.
Stark darkness meets my eyes when they flutter open. A sign escaping because I know I won’t be getting any more sleep, no matter how much I need it.
Another memory turned into a dream.
For days now, my mind has been keeping me awake. Thoughts and memories are making me not want to close my eyes because then its nonstop with things I don’t want to think about coming to the forefront.
But no matter how hard I try to block my mind, think about work or the woman I have at my side, no matter how many sheep I count, thoughts and memories with my parents at center stage, circulate my mind as if they were an endless reel.
Whenever I start thinking about something else, memories of them and our first ten years together, come up.
I’ve been battling them for days, for hours tonight and not even a sliver a sleep can save me. I can’t take it anymore.
Not wanting to wake Aria, who is sound asleep next to me, I get out of bed and walk out of the room after sliding on a part of pajama pants.
I should head to the kitchen to possibly look through my pantry for some tea that Henry might have left here to help me sleep, or even to the living room to watch TV, but apparently my mind and feet have a different idea and lead me to the home office.
When Aria is here, I tend to stay away from this room unless it’s something that can’t wait until the morning. Thankfully those moments have been far and few. Tonight though, the office seems like the only place I’m going to be able to find my solace.
I don’t need to ask myself why I’m thinking about my parents so much tonight, or for the last few days. I know why.
My mother’s birthday is coming up, two weeks away. Add that to what landed in my inbox earlier today and my mind is on overdrive.
As soon as I sit in my desk chair, I turn on the computer. I wait for the screen to turn on and as soon as it does, I’m dragging the mouse to the file labeled M.S.L.
The same file my brother sent me earlier today, but I didn’t bother to look through it, simply rename.
The file on La Chuparosa. On our mother.
Being the hacker that he is, Drake was able to get the information that I requested, while it took him longer than I it would, he still came through. Part of me wonders if the amount of time it took him speaks on his skills as a hacker or to my mother’s ability to stay hidden.
As for the Jack Harrison file, he said he need more time with it.
When I requested the information on la Chuparosa, I had all the intention to look through it and make sure that Leo and the Muertos wouldn’t find any information that connected her to my siblings and me.
I was going to do it even if it meant I was going behind the back of someone who I would consider a friend and is practically family to Aria.
But when they were sent to me earlier, I hesitated. Apparently It was hard to even think about what information was sent, let alone open them.
I can’t keep ignoring them, thought, more so when there’s currently a text sitting in my notifications from Leo asking for an update. Apparently he got word of a raid being planned and he needed to get ahead of it before it happened.
I’m not usually this callous when it comes to information, not one to no dig through every page to find what I want, but my mother brings out the worst in me.
I’m sure she brings out the worst in all of us.
There’s hesitation in my movements, but eventually, I click on the file and when it opens it feels like a whole damn elephant landed on me.
Drake sent pictures, videos and documents of every kind. I briefly skim through all the document names and notice that everything is listed by date going back almost two years.
I go to the beginning and click on the first photos and within seconds I come face to face with a photo of Marisela.
The picture is clear as day. No denying that the woman that is staring back at me is my mother.
I wonder if Drake saw this photo and asked himself why the woman looking back at him was familiar, why she looked so much like our sister.
I wonder if he figured out who she was. I want to think he did, but if he had, I would have heard an earful from him, and he would ask me every chance he got to ask me why I was looking into our mother, but I wasn’t interrogated.
Either he didn’t care about who he was looking into, or he didn’t put the pieces together. I truly hope it’s the latter.
The picture sits in my screen for a bit.
It’s been years since I’ve seen a new picture of her, ten to be exact, and it’s been close to seventeen since the last time I saw her in person.
She looks older, but still very much the beautiful woman that she is.
Her almost black hair, that was nearly to her waist once is now just above her shoulders and her greys are more prominent, but it’s her eyes that still look the same.
There is only nineteen years separating us and looking at the picture in front of me, it’s hard to believe she has four adult children.
Four children who hoped she was alive and waited years for her to come back to them, but she never gave a damn about our silent cries. There might have been a point in time where she did care about us and loved us wholeheartedly, but I doubt that is how she feels like that know.
Feeling myself getting angry, I exist out of the photo quickly click on the next document.
A profile on her.
I quickly skim through it and notice that all the information I’m looking at is just a bunch of lies.
According to what I’m reading La Chuparosa’s legal name is Maria Garcia and is from Tijuana. Nothing in this profile ties her back to being Marisela Serrano. Or even Marisela Lane.
Either Drake found out who he was looking into and made-up information to make sure nothing led back to us, or Marisela has been busy these last ten years creating a new identity for herself.
I did lose track of her about five years ago around the time I found a picture of La Chuparosa, so it is possible this could be why.
For the next hour or so, I go through all the documents on “Maria”.
Leo was right about her being a black cloud for other cartels. She’s spent a good chunk of time all over South and Central America. From the looks of things, she couldn’t stay away from her home for long because she quickly popped up in Sinaloa before moving around to neighboring states.
Then a little over a year ago, she started to spend more and more time in Texas.
Probably because she became friends with the politician.
Who looks like the biggest douchebag known to mankind.
Drake included a few pictures of him with our mother. Some of the pictures look like there were taken off security footage or from a really zoomed in picture posted on a public platform while others look like they were taken with a camera from a distance way with a clear target in mind.
I don’t know what lengths my brother would go to find information but I wouldn’t put it past him to hire a private investigator or a friend needing money to stalk someone to find what he needs. If I had thought of it, I would do the same thing.
I go through the rest of the file and find absolutely nothing that will tie me or my family to Maria Garcia. Both a good and bad thing.
Good, because then I don’t have to confess secrets to Leo that aren’t ready to come out.
Bad, because it means that my mother did everything in her power to erase her life and did not care about how it might affect her children, more so how it would affect the ten-year-old boy still very much inside of me.
A sigh escapes me.
I’m going down a rabbit hole that is my mother and I need to stop. I need to make peace with the fact that she’s not the same person that I spent my first ten years with. I need to realize that that woman isn’t coming back, that I’ve lost her just like I lost my father.
Robert Lane hasn’t been seen or heard of in twenty years and I don’t spend every waking moment looking for him like Bennett does. I need to do the same with Marisela. She went missing and I have to put it through my head that she never came back, no matter where she might actually be.
Having gone through all the information, I decide to send it over to Leo as is and let him do whatever the fuck he wants with it.
I’m done worrying about what will come out.
Whatever comes out about Marisela, whether it be from this file or somewhere else, let it. I’ll deal with the repercussions.
After sending the file over, I remember I don’t have the information on Jack Harrison.
Quickly, I send a text message to Drake asking for it. Not surprisingly, he messages me back within second.
We really need to get this kid on a sleep schedule or something. Which is ironic for me to say since I’m also up at three in the fucking morning.
I look at the message.
Drake
Yeah, I can’t do that.
I’m to sleep deprived to deal with this shit.
Elliot
Why the fuck not?
Not even three seconds after I hit send, my phone starts to ring.
With no greeting, my brother gets straight to the point. “Who is the information for?”
“Does it matter?” I ask, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“It does.”
“Why?”
“Just answer the question.”
I let out a sigh. “It’s for Leo Morales. Now send me the information.”
There is silence on the other end, I almost think the call drops, but eventually Drake lets out a sigh and speaks.
“I know Leo is our friend, love the dude, I do, but I don’t feel comfortable sending this information to him. Not after…” He slowly drifts off.
“Not after what?” I ask, the irritation I was feeling a few seconds ago melting away.
Drake goes silent again, this time for much longer than before. When he speaks, goosebumps form on my skin.
“Not after meeting Aria.”
My mind goes dark for a second and I can’t seem to think about anything other than what Aria has to do with the information on Jack Harrison.
Then my mind goes back to when she and I went to the cafe, and she told me about her ex.
She had mentioned that the fucker had run for office. For some reason the small dicked fucker wanted to run for mayor or another city shit, but what if it was bigger than that?
What if her ex is a congressman? The same congressman that is trying make life a living hell for Leo and the Muertos?
What are the chances this is the same asshole?
The same chance that La Chuparosa is my mother.
Fucking hell.
“Send me the information.” I state, my mind going a million miles a minute
“Are you going to send it to Leo?” Drake asks, the question coming out quickly.
I stop to think about it. Am I?
I don’t think I can answer that question without talking to Aria first.
“Just send the information and I will take care of Leo.”
“Ay ay captain.”
With that the call ends and within seconds the file on Jack Harrison lands in my email.
The urgency to look through the file right now is high. I want to sift through every last detail about this motherfucker and find what makes him tick. I want to know how the actual fuck he got connected to Marisela and destroy him for what he did to Aria if he really is her ex.
But I’m finding myself unable to click on the file.
All because of Aria.
If she’s connected to Jack Harrison, whatever he’s doing could have repercussions for her. She could lose her best friend. She could lose whatever relationship she’s built with Serena’s family.
I can’t do that to her.
Not without preparing her first.
Before even looking through the files, I have to talk to her. I need verification Jack Harrison and her ex are one and the same. And if he is, I need to know what she might have told him about the cartel, if anything at all.
She is my top priority right now.
Fuck everyone else.