29. Sofia
29
SOFIA
“ W here will we go?” Ramon asked as we hurried to clean the house and find what we wanted to pack.
I knew the idea of getting up and moving somewhere else was a big adjustment for him. In any other situation, he’d be excited, like when we had that walk and talked about dream houses with Diego.
“What about Christmas?” he asked.
It was only two days away. Uprooting so close to it had to be so hard for him. Especially when I had no clue where to stay.
“And what about Diego? How will he know where to find us?” He shoved a couple of T-shirts into a small duffle bag, but slowly.
“I don’t know, Ramon. I just know that after those men came in here and took you away, there is no way I can feel safe here.”
I can’t feel safe without Diego.
“I can’t sleep here and worry and?—”
“Okay, Mama. I know that, but…”
I sighed, sticking some more protein bars into a bag. “I don’t want to do this, but I need to. I need to do everything I can to keep you safe.” I glanced at him. “And I can’t even begin to guess when Diego could come back.”
Or if he will.
What if now that his former life was coming back to him, he preferred it over us?
“But—”
He didn’t finish whatever line he wanted to argue with next. The door cracked open. Locked and with a chair in front of it, we were supposed to be safe. But the short, bald man who broke in had gotten in, anyway. Wood splintered as the lock flew off, and the chair busted to pieces.
“Not again.” I gritted my teeth, holding my arm out to keep Ramon behind me as we retreated.
I’d just gotten him back. Ramon had just miraculously returned to me.
I was sick and tired of this fear. I was exhausted from this constant terror. Twice in one night? Three times, men had busted in here?
I was done with this, fed up and done with letting my fear rule me.
“No! You are not doing this again. Get out.” I picked up a narrow Christmas tree statue. It’d crack, but it was a weapon. I’d shove it up his ass if I had to. Holding the tree up, I braced myself for a fight.
This Cartel thug was not getting away with my son. They would not try this again!
“No, you’re getting out,” he said as he stalked closer, pointing at me. “You’re coming with me so I can hide you where he won’t find you!”
“No!” Ramon shouted. “We’re not going anywhere.”
I backed him up, nervous about this man coming in. He was just one man, and he wasn’t one of the thugs who’d come the first time tonight. Even if this situation was one-to-one, he was bigger and stronger than me. And he had that crazed, maniacal look in his eyes that never boded well for anyone.
“The fuck you aren’t,” he snarled at him.
“No, we’re not,” I told him, making sure to stay between him and my son.
“Diego’s going to come back and?—”
The man roared, fisting his hands and clenching his teeth so hard his neck strained. “Diego will not ! He will not fucking come back.” He stepped closer, volleying his gaze back and forth between us. “He came back from the fucking dead. He came here to play house with my son.”
Shaking my head, I kept Ramon behind me. “No. No, he’s not.”
“Yes, he fucking is,” the man taunted. “I’m the one who fucked you. I’m the one who had the lights turned off in the health wing at the mansion. At the compound. I wanted one of you nurse bitches to take my dick.”
“Sebastian…” I cleared my throat. “He was the one who…”
“No!” The Cartel man slashed his hand through the air. “No! He didn’t. I fucked you that night, you dumb bitch. That kid is mine .”
“I’m not,” Ramon argued. “I want Diego to be my father.”
A low screech came from the man’s lips. “And I’ll be damned if Diego gets something of mine again.” He lunged forward, attacking me to reach for Ramon.
“Don’t!” I blocked Ramon from the man’s hands, but he shoved me out of the way.
Once again, the living room became a sight of violence and desperation. Before I could watch another Cartel man to take Ramon away, I dove back and tackled the man at his feet.
He kicked out, and I punched. Then vice versa. In a cutthroat fight, we tried to keep the other down. I had to stop him from taking Ramon. And he had to fend me off to get to him.
“I don’t need you around,” he said as he pulled a knife out from a sheath at the small of his back. He slammed the tip of the blade in my direction, but I rolled away. The weapon slammed into the wood, but I hadn’t moved fast enough. A long cut bled on my side, and I gasped as I considered the fact that I could be pregnant. That my baby could be hurt.
“Stop!” Ramon yelled, raining his fists on the man’s back.
One shove of his arm through the air sent Ramon flying backward. He landed hard and groaned for his efforts to try to defend me.
I scrambled back, desperate to escape, but the man grabbed my ankle and dragged me back over.
“I don’t need you. In fact, killing you would fit just perfectly with my brand of payback.”
“I am not a pawn of payback,” I said.
“You will be now.” He grinned as he drove the knife back down to stab me again.
I couldn’t be. I couldn’t. I had too much to live for. I told Diego that I’d rather die than live without my son, but that wasn’t it. I had to live for this love Diego and I had fought to build. I had to live for this baby in my stomach so Ramon could have a sibling. I knew that now and would vow to remember it forever.
However long my forever might last.
He drove the knife down, and I screamed, pinned in place and unable to move away from the searing slice of my skin tearing open. Blood spilled free, emptying out of me that much faster with this red-hot rage making my blood pressure shoot up high.
I couldn’t die. I couldn’t. Ramon needed his mother. Diego had my heart. And the new life growing inside would do well with me alive and here too.
Please, no. I just couldn’t die yet.
“Sofia!”
A gunshot was fired from the front door.