Chapter 82 Mateo
MATEO
There was nothing quite as chaotic as evacuating a building full of people whose language you didn’t speak.
No wait, there was something that topped that.
It was getting a text from Santos saying that Celia was headed to the villa to kill her uncle and that she somehow found a way to ditch him in the process.
He sent a photo of him next to a blown up Mastretta with text underneath saying, ‘SOS, probably will get killed by cártel soon’ and I practically bulldozed through every civilian in the crowd gathered outside El Palacio in order to find Ronan and rush the fuck out of there to our girl’s aid.
It wasn’t that I didn’t think she was capable of doing it herself. It wasn’t that I didn’t think she couldn’t handle the fight.
It was about how the fuck I was supposed to go on if she somehow needed me and I wasn’t there?
Again.
I peeled onto the main road, the tires screeching against the asphalt as the car drifted sideways before entering the grounds of the villa.
A burning sports car was now crashed into the front of the house, blocking the doorway.
A portion of the upper level collapsed over it while the flames engulfed Celia’s childhood home.
Ignacio’s men struggled and fought each other to climb out of the building as fast as they could, but each time one of them found their way out Santos would shoot them down.
I hadn’t fully parked the car before Ronan jumped out, in full attack mode he pulled two pistols out, firing them off simultaneously towards the incoming lackeys to give Santos a break.
“Where is she?” I roared out over the sound of bullets flying in the fire taking over the mansion.
He pointed to a balcony up in the distance.
“She went up through there,” he yelled.
“You let her go by herself?”
“I’m gonna fucking tell her you said that,” he thundered at me. “She’ll have your balls for saying anyone lets her do anything.”
“I will actually pay you to keep your fucking mouth shut about that. Help me get up there.” I nudged him, both of us leaving Zerkos looking more than capable of handling the mess of men scrambling to get out of the villa just to be shot.
The pile of bodies was making it harder for them to crawl out of the blazing embers.
“She was in there.” He pointed at the glass door that led to the veranda.
“Give me a boost up,” I told him. He didn’t hesitate, clasping his fingers together and sending me up with a grunt.
“Hey, what the fuck man? Help me up,” he called out from below while I ran into the house.
The smoke was filling every inch of the villa, spreading its thick cloud all around me until I could barely see my hands in front of my face.
“Sunshine,” I bellowed out, trying to fan some clarity into my vision but I couldn’t avoid the involuntary tears that came from the smoke wafting all around me.
I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her labored grunts and the sound of something banging.
“Sunshine!” I screamed again, this time not hiding the panic in my voice when the thought occurred to me that it might be her struggling for her life I was listening to.
I followed the sound into the corner of the room until I was close enough that I could see the scene in front of me.
A brutal sight to behold. Celia Flores sitting on her uncle’s chest as she bashed the butt of her gun into his face over and over again.
Blood splattered over her and poured down his neck.
His face looked fucked, and he wasn’t moving, which led me to believe he was dead as hell considering all the blood on the ground, but she didn’t let up.
“Sunshine, we gotta get you out of here, there’s too much smoke.
” I grabbed her arm, but she fought me off, yelling a feral screech before sending the gun down against Ignacio’s face once more.
“Baby, please. Let me get you out of here.” I reached for her face and pulled her chin towards me, getting as close as possible as I could so she could see straight into my eyes.
She took a deep stuttered breath, breaking the feral trance she had found herself locked into.
“Get him out of here,” she said coldly, tilting her head back towards her half-dead uncle before standing up and walking back towards the veranda, where the smoke rolled out easily into the fresh air.
I could barely see her anymore, but her voice was still crystal clear when she spoke, despite the roaring of the flames outside the door. “I’m not done playing with him yet.”
I didn’t bother to check his pulse or give him the dignity of being carried.
I dragged the sorry fucker by the leg until I’d made my way out to the balcony once more and then, without any care, I shoved him off of it the same way Guillermo had done to me when Los Muertos attacked the Black Crow high rise.
Maybe Celia had the right idea.
An eye for an eye felt really fucking right.
The Diablos Locos and Celia’s men were all pulling into the property just in time to watch the flames engulf the building completely. She was already in Ronan’s arms by the time I made it to them, slowed down by dragging Ignacio’s corpse along the way.
“What do you want to do with him?” he asked her.
“Have Dominico lock him up in the dungeons, can you ask Emory to keep him alive for now?” He nodded to her before taking Ignacio’s leg from me and dragging him over to the group of cártel lackeys who were clearing out the pile of dead bodies out front.
Before I could even ask her how she was doing, Ramírez was already stepping up to her, and in three long strides he was practically touching her again.
“If that is Ignacio Flores you have there, I’m afraid I must ask you to surrender him to the police Senorita Flores. The list of crimes he must pay for is longer than I care to read.”
“Then that is not Ignacio Flores, and I would appreciate you allowing me to mourn this violent attack I’ve suffered tonight in my childhood home, José Luis,” she scolded him as if he she didn’t care what his title was.
“Celi—” he began but I cut him off.
“It’s Senorita Flores to you, Senor Presidente. And weren’t you just telling me, moments ago, outside El Palacio how you were deeply indebted to Miss Flores for saving your daughter’s life?” I reminded him, making Celia’s expression soften into a smile while the president’s jaw ticked in annoyance.
“I have to turn him in to the authorities. How else am I supposed to convince my followers—your supporters—that he won’t be a problem anymore?” he asked her in a hushed voice as if I had no clue what fucking shenanigans they were up to.
“That’s your problem to deal with José Luis. Figure it out. I’ll double my previous offer towards your budget.” His eyes widened at my suggestion. “But Ignacio Flores is mine, this is personal. Es familia,” she reminded him.
He gave her a nod and turned back towards the police cars flashing on the far side of the villa’s property.
“His daughter?” she whispered at me with a look of disbelief on her face.
“Yeah, look at you. You’re practically a superhero,” I told her, nudging her ribs with my elbow.
She gave me a smile, and though it was meant to be genuine, the attempted murder on her face really changed the whole vibe. Her smile faded, like she caught my train of thought and didn’t like where it was headed.
“Is this… too much for you? Too dark for you?” she asked.
“I know with the Crows you were all at least trying to do some good where you could. Here… I don’t know if there is any good here.
” She bit her lip, letting me know she was going into that place in her head where she let all her insecurities take over.
“Sunshine, the difference between me and you, is that you hate the darkness and I’m in love with it.
It pulls me in, it consumes me.The thing is, Celia, you are the darkness, and whether you love yourself or not is irrelevant because I love you enough for the both of us.
If I have, for one moment, given you the impression that by your side wasn’t the place for me, then forgive me.
” I brushed my thumb over the dried specks of blood stuck to her skin. “There is nowhere else I want to be.”
“Promise?” she asked.
I answered without words, pulling her into my chest and pressing my lips into hers for just a second before remembering there were so many people gathered outside.
Zerkos eventually made his way back to her side and Santos joined us as well.
One by one her council members left the property after checking in with her and eventually all that was left were the Diablos Locos who had been waiting for instructions.
We stood there, watching the villa burn down until César finally made his way over to say his goodbyes. He’d fulfilled his end of the bargain and earned his freedom, without death.
“Te amo, Princesita,” he told her, punching her shoulder softly.
“If I can ever repay the favor, just say the word.” She didn’t hug him, and he didn't reach for her like I would have expected them to.
Maybe because it would be harder to face the emotions than either of them were prepared for.
“Actually…” César said. “You could tell that stubborn doctor to come back over the border with me.”
“What?” She looked at him like she didn’t understand.
“That Irish skin, she’s gonna burn up down here Princesa. My Médico ended up signing up for a Doctors Without Borders program, so I’m… desperate for a good club doc,” he told her, scratching the back of his head nervously.
“Desperate for a good doctor, or desperate for that doctor?” I instigated, hoping to force the words out of the man myself.
He gave me a cutting look, but Celia paid no mind.
“If you think I can make Emory O’Connor do anything—” Celia started.
“No, she’s just as hard headed as you are. But she’s indebted to Zerkos, and she’ll go— or stay—where he tells her to.”