Chapter 29 Lyse
Lyse
“Am I going to die, Omar?” I wanted — no, needed — him to tell me before it happened. I didn’t want to walk into anything blind.
“I’m not going to let that happen,” he said as we moved through the hallways of his home.
He’d been so sure that he could get Angel to understand, but it didn’t sound like there’d been much understanding. “Stay behind me,” Omar said, low and only for me to hear.
My throat tightened, and my eyes started to burn, but I was determined not to cry. Instead, I held onto the back of Omar’s tee shirt and followed after him, hoping that I was putting my trust in the right place.
When Omar opened the door to his brother’s office, I couldn’t see the other man at first — the only thing I could see was Omar’s back — but I peeked out around his massive shoulder to get a good look at the leader of the Castillo family.
Angel wasn’t as big as Omar, obviously, but he was still tall and broad and deadly. His injuries should make him look weaker, but if anything, he looked that much more menacing. The moment his black eyes locked on me, he stood and pointed a gun in my direction. I yelped and ducked behind Omar.
“What the hell are you doing?” Omar demanded.
I couldn’t see Angel anymore, but I could hear the snarl in his voice. “What you should have done days ago if you weren’t going to return her to her father.” I heard the gun’s safety click off. “Move out of the way, Omar.”
For a horrifying second, I imagined Omar doing what his brother said, moving out of the way and leaving me exposed. But then… “No.”
“Perdona?”
“No, hermano. I’m not moving.”
Angel scoffed. “So much for your loyalty always lies with me,” he said.
I felt Omar take a breath, and I ached for him. His siblings were his life; he would do anything for them…how was it possible that he would chance losing them now? For me? “I would die for you and our family, hermano,” he said. “I would follow you to the ends of the earth.”
“But you won’t move.”
“I can’t.” I couldn’t help but hold my breath as they stood there, staring each other down. Neither was willing to back down. “Angel, hear me out,” Omar tried.
“She has to die,” Angel insisted. “You should know that better than anyone! At this point, she’s a liability. You don’t hold onto a hostage for weeks. You don’t fuck them!”
I cringed. “You told him?”
Omar didn’t take his eyes off his brother. “I didn’t have to.” He didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t really want to know. Not while Angel was waving a gun at me. At us.
“Luis Rojas contacted me,” Angel said. “He wants your head for taking his precious daughter. He’s promised to end the feud between our families, but only if I give him you.
” I risked a look around Omar’s large body again.
Angel’s fierce expression was now marred by sadness.
When his eyes landed on me, he aimed again, and only Omar pushing me back kept him from pulling the trigger.
He’d be willing to risk probably hitting Omar too.
The man was terrifying. “I figured we could dump Lyse in his territory somewhere. A message to leave the Castillos alone for good.”
Omar tensed again. I pressed my face between his shoulder blades, wanting so badly to comfort him, but this wasn’t the time or the place for it. “They don’t want me back,” I called from behind Omar.
“What?”
“My father told Omar to do whatever he wanted with me,” I said.
“Why would he demand your brother’s head if he wrote me off for dead?
” I poked my head out from behind Omar, and after a moment, took a step out of my hiding place.
The gun was aimed at me instantly, but I refused to hide again.
Instead, I put my hand in Omar’s and threaded our fingers together.
“He wants you to kill me, so that he has a reason to go to war with you.” I glanced up at Omar. “Jesus told me as much on the island.”
“Who is Jesus, and why was he on my island?” Angel demanded. So, he doesn’t know everything, I thought.
“Jesus is my cousin,” I said. “He tracked me to the island, and when I resisted returning with him, he let slip that he was supposed to kill me and dump me somewhere that they could blame you. If you kill me now, you’ll be doing exactly what my father wants.”
I glanced up at Omar, who had a fiercely proud look on his face. It almost made me forget about the gun being pointed at my head. “My girl is smart, hermano,” he said. “She’d make a good Castillo.”
Angel’s eyes bulged. “You’re telling me that you want to marry this girl?”
Well…that was news to me. I looked up at Omar again, looking for any sign that he was trying to rile Angel up, but his expression was serious. My heart leaped into my throat. “Lyse is mine,” Omar said.
The older man’s eyes narrowed. “Do you intend to marry her?”
Marriage meant protection. If Omar married me, then Angel would be obligated to protect me…unless Angel did away with both of us right now. “If I said yes?”
Angel’s finger moved to the trigger. “I can’t let that happen, Omar.
I won’t be responsible for one of the Rojas, not after everything.
” He was growing frustrated with us, I could tell, but he was still hesitating.
I couldn’t figure out why. “She’s been all over our island.
Her family tracked her there. Can’t you see what a liability it is to keep her around? ”
“They tracked the man that I killed after he stowed away on the boat. I didn’t think about him wearing anything when he was trying to beat me to death.”
Angel pinched the bridge of his nose, like we were giving him a headache. “Do you ever think anything all the way through?”
“I’m sorry, hermano. Should I have searched him while I was trying not to die?”
I squeezed Omar’s hand. “Enough.”
Angel’s eyes snapped to me. “Are you telling my brother what to do, puta?”
Omar pushed me behind him, again. “You don’t get to talk to her like that,” he said. “You can call me whatever name you like, and I’ll likely deserve it, but not her.”
For a moment, Angel looked impressed, like he was seeing his brother for the very first time, and then the gun wavered for a second before he pointed it squarely at Omar’s chest. “No!” I tried to move so that I was in front of him, but Omar kept me at his back.
“You’re choosing her over us.” Angel sounded devastated, but his aim was true.
If he pulled the trigger, it would blast a hole in Omar’s chest. It would likely be fatal.
Two weeks ago, if I had gotten news that La Bestia had died, I probably wouldn’t have thought about it more than good riddance.
Now, it would wrench a hole in my chest.
“Don’t do this,” I whispered, pressing myself against Omar’s back. “Don’t let him do this.”
“Listen to her,” Angel said. “Your pet Rojas is actually making sense.”
But Omar wouldn’t be swayed: he didn’t move even as Angel threatened him, but he didn’t draw a weapon either. He wouldn’t hurt his brother, even now to protect us both. “If you’re going to kill her, you’ll have to kill us both, hermano.”
The seconds stretched on for centuries, but finally Angel let out a yell, and I heard the click of him putting the safety back on. “You’re no longer a Castillo,” he said. “Do you understand me? You are done with this family.”
Omar’s body went rigid against me. “Angel.”
“Take her and go,” Angel talked over him. “Get out of Miami, start over somewhere where I never have to see or hear from you again. If I ever see your faces again, there won’t even be big enough parts of you to dump in the Everglades.” He motioned for us to go. “Twenty-four hours, Omar. I mean it.”
You don’t have to tell me twice, I thought and grabbed hold of Omar’s arm. “Let’s go,” I urged him. “Now.”
Omar was reluctant to turn his back on Angel, but with a heavy breath, he did and hustled me out of the office. “I’m not a Castillo anymore,” he said, sounding shell-shocked.
I reached up to cup his face in my hand. “You belong to me now,” I said, repeating the words he’d said to me. “We’ll just be Omar and Lyse from now on.”
He stared at me, lost, for a moment before my words registered. “Omar and Lyse,” he agreed, leaning down to kiss me. “We need to go.”
On our way out, we passed the kitchen, and Emma startled when she saw us. “You’re…still here.” Still alive, I corrected her in my head. Obviously, she had not expected the meeting to go well.
Omar’s eyes dropped to her belly bump, and he frowned. “I’m sorry that I won't be around to become Tío Omar.”
“What happened? Where are you going?”
We don't have time for this. “Angel’s letting us live,” I told her, “but we have to leave Miami.”
Emma's eyes became wet with tears. “He can't do this,” she said. “I won't let him do this.”
Omar shook his head. “It's all right,” he said. “I made my choice.” He put his hand on my shoulder, and Emma's mouth flattened into a line. “Look after Angel for me, okay?”
She nodded. “You best go. I imagine he'll come looking for me soon.”
Omar hugged her, hard. “Adios, Mija.”
When he let her go, he took my hand, and we hurried from the house. His SUV was where he left it. The guards were gone. Now that we were leaving, I suppose Angel didn't feel the need to posture anymore.
Omar opened my door for me, and a little thrill rose in my belly. Were we actually…free? “Just Omar and Lyse, right?” he asked.
I nodded. “Just us.”
We kissed again, a little rough and a lot desperate, and then I was climbing into the passenger side. Omar waited until I was seated to shut my door, but before he got around to the driver’s side, the front door of the house flew open.
“Where the hell are you going?”