Epilogue
CALEPH
“I love you.”
The words reverberate in my head. They trickle through my veins and set fire to my blood.
I’ve never been with anyone long enough to hear those words uttered. And I’ve never said them to a woman before, either. But I don’t need to think twice about my feelings for her when she says the words.
She loves me. And I love her. It’s a given. It may have taken us a while to get here, but we’re safe in the knowledge that for us, there could be no one else. If I can’t be with Ariadne, I don’t want to be with anyone else. And now I know that she feels the same way.
I look out at the great ocean, its blue ice washing over us as it cleanses the past and writes a new chapter in our lives. Ariadne is safely ensconced in my arms, wrapped in the cocoon of my love as I hold her close to me. We’ve only been on the water for a few days, and already she’s overcoming her fear of the water, her seasickness settling into a comfortable silence that only rears its head if we’re crossing abnormally violent seas.
“When will Attila come?” she asks.
“A few days. Let’s enjoy our time alone before his sorry ass lands here.”
* * *
Ariadne wraps a hand around my neck and pulls me closer. She’s been insatiable since she came back to me, and I can’t seem to get enough of her any more than she can get enough of me.
“Are we really going to spend the rest of our lives on this boat?” she asks.
“We can do whatever we want, baby. Stay here or go on land. Sail anywhere you want.”
“I think I like the idea of never living on land again,” she tells me, as the yacht slips past the Gulf of California. It sounds like a great retirement plan, but I know eventually we’ll have to hit the shore again; there are some matters which simply cannot be handled while you’re rocking against a lurching sea-swell.
We hear the rotors of a chopper as it looms overhead, and I look up. Ariadne wraps her hair in a ponytail and prepares for our visitors. I don’t know how she’ll take it, but Attila has given me a heads up that The Jekyll is joining him on this trip. I know she understands the reasons that he did what he did, but I don’t know how she’ll react to the memory of seeing him again.
But she surprises me as she greets the men, stoic in her resolve, as though nothing ever happened. I watch as she nods towards them both. Attila moves forward and lifts her off the ground in a bear hug, causing a small giggle to escape her lips. I can’t help the growl that forms deep in the pits of my stomach then travels up my throat, threatening to erupt.
Attila shoots me a boyish grin, his intention clear. He wants to rile me up and he succeeds.
“Just testing my theory,” Attila smirks.
“What theory would that be?”
“That you’re absolutely pussy whipped.”
I aim but I don’t get to Attila in time before Ariadne slaps at his arm and fixes him with a look that tells him to watch his mouth. The Jekyll stands by watching, still a man of not so many words. I realize that I don’t even know his real name, and I wonder if there’s a need to know.
“We can’t stay long,” Attila says, as we walk to the salon after Ariadne takes her leave to do some writing.
“I thought you’d be staying a few days.” I frown; I know he didn’t come all this way to stay only a few hours.
“Something’s come up,” he says. “We have to make a quick detour to Arizona.”
“What’s in Arizona?”
When Attila flicks his eyes to The Jekyll, I notice the look that passes between them. Like they’re unsure they should be talking about what we’re about to discuss. The Jekyll gives him a short nod then nestles his big frame into the bench seat.
“We’ve got a lead on the man who killed Marden’s sister,” Attila tells me.
I shrug, letting him know I don’t understand what that has to do with them.
“Marden’s sister Sisely also happened to be married to The Jekyll.”
My eyes go to the Jekyll in surprise. So many things make sense now. The anger humming inside the man. His willingness to do anything and everything to bring the cartel to justice, his own personal brand of vigilante justice.
Yet so many things still didn’t make sense. Like when Attila and The Jekyll started working together. I thought when I saw him in Guatemala, that would be the last interaction I would ever have with The Jekyll. Obviously not. So I decide to just throw it out there.
“I don’t understand. When did you two start working together?” I ask him.
“When I realized that we have a common enemy. Coyin Castillo.”
* * *
Coyin Castillo. The name falls like a mantra from Attila’s lips.
The bastard lives invisibly in the darkest shadows, emerging every few years to cause mischief and then going back underground. Reputedly responsible for at least two dozen murders, two of which happen to be my parents. And now, The Jekyll is on board because his wife was also killed by the cartel that can’t be touched. Coyin and his brother Miguel are as untouchable as the air swirling around us.
I’ve tried for years to find him, but I’ve had no luck. Every time I came within a hair of him, he would slip and slide like a snake until he slithered back into his wretched shadows. My hands have been itching for years to get a hold of him, ever since I turned eighteen and Durian Accardi handed me the file documenting everything he’d been able to find out about my parents’ murders. One name kept popping up. And that name was Coyin Castillo. The trigger man. He was a street punk then, doing the bidding for others. And he is a cartel leader now.
“What makes you think he’s in Arizona?” I ask.
“He isn’t,” Attila tells me. “But his daughter is.”
“His daughter?”
I give him an uncertain look. We’re not in the habit of hurting women.
“Relax Caleph,” he tells me. “She’s only the bait. The bait that will get us to Coyin Castillo.”
* * *
Thank you for reading Vicious Hearts, the 2nd book in the Sinners of Seattle series. If you enjoyed the book, it would mean the world to me if you could leave me a quick review.