47. Attila
47
ATTILA
I race through the house like a madman. To find Luna standing there holding a gun at her side, Nestor Gamboa’s brains splattered all over the ground. Once again, she stands with the blood of another staining her skin. Her father’s blood, and now Nestor’s blood. I hate to say it, but she looks so damn hot.
I walk towards her slowly. I think she may be in shock, but it looks more like Cesar is the traumatized one. This may be just the cleansing she needed, because she looks up at me and gives me a small, tight smile, before she twirls the gun dangerously around her finger then hands it to me.
“He deserved it,” she says, before she turns and walks toward the house. I turn and watch her brush past Dante and Caleph, who seem to have developed a new found respect for the girl.
“She really did it,” Caleph breathes. He’s awestruck.
“Damn,” Dante whistles, before he turns amused eyes my way. “That girl’s going to give you a run for your money, brother.”
* * *
I stalk through the house until I get to her room. The cleaning crew is already here, clearing out the bodies and fixing any damage around the house. Once they’re done, there’ll be no trace left of what happened here today. We have barely hours to spare before we get on a plane back to the States and I still haven’t discussed our plans with Luna.
“When were you going to tell me that you’re leaving?” she asks, when she opens the door for me. She’s fresh out of the shower and she has a towel to her head as she dries the strands.
“It hasn’t exactly been time efficiency around here,” I point out. “TJ told you?”
She nods and a low rumble starts in my throat as I bite back the curse that threatens to erupt. Either she or TJ — one or the other will be the death of me.
“In his defense, it came up in conversation, and he didn’t lie when I probed him. He’s not the lying type.”
“And I am?”
“I didn’t say that, Attila. You may not lie to me, but you do a great job of keeping things from me.”
“I tell you what you need to know.”
“Exactly.”
“There’s nothing left for you here,” I tell her. I need to get her on that plane. There really is nothing left for her here.
“I need to find my brothers.”
I sigh and lift a hand to her dark blond hair, brushing a wet strand back over her shoulder. “You’re not going to find your brothers here, princess,” I tell her. “If we couldn’t find them, you won’t.”
“I can’t just pretend they never existed, Attila.”
The vulnerability in her voice destroys me. Her brothers are the last remnants of a family that no longer exists. I can understand and appreciate that she would want to hold on to that with everything in her.
“I’m not asking you to pretend. I’m asking you to let me find them — my way. Without you endangering yourself.”
“Why? Why do you care?”
I regard her for the longest time, my jaw locking back and forth. Her innocence fractures my heart. We haven’t spoken about what happened between us back in Arizona. It was something that happened that got us through that day, but it’s something that’s burrowed in my brain in a way that’s foreign to me.
“I’m not leaving you here, Luna.”
I can come right out and say that. But I can’t tell her why. I can’t form the words. My brain can’t process what it is that I ultimately want from her. I just know that I don’t want to be away from her. I need to protect her. Firstly from herself, because she’s headstrong and stubborn, and all the things the world can’t handle right now.
“I need to find my brothers.”
“We will find them,” I assure her. “But not while we’re here. It’s too dangerous for us to be here right now.”
* * *
Gabriel sits at the outdoor table, his leg bandaged all the way up to the hem of his shorts. He got the long end of a shard of glass that shattered through his skin and left a gash running along the length of his right leg.
“How’s the battle scar?” I ask him, as I sit opposite him.
He grins and in this moment, I see the similarity between him and Luna. They have the same grin.
“I’ll live,” he tells me.
I nod and tell him I’m glad he’s okay. Before I launch into what I need from him. His eyes widen in surprise; I’ve done a 180 from my request yesterday not to tell Luna that he’s her brother.
“She’s worried about her missing brothers. But I’m worried about her. I can’t stay here, and I won’t leave her behind.”
He looks at me curiously, and immediately I know that he’s wondering what his sister means to me. But he believes it’s not his place to ask. Not when he hasn’t been in her life for the past twenty five years. As far as she knows, he’s a stranger who offered her a protein bar and water when she was imprisoned in a dungeon by her own father.
“You want her to leave Mexico?”
“It’s not that I want her to leave you, Gabriel. It’s what’s best for her under the circumstances.”
He nods slowly, swallowing back the lump that’s formed in his throat. He doesn’t want to lose his sister just when he’s found her.
“This is an open ended invitation, Gabriel. I want to keep Luna safe, and that extends to her family. She needs you in her life, so you should come with us.”
He looks up in surprise then frowns.
“She doesn’t even know that I’m her brother.”
“We have to tell her, Gabriel. She may be more willing to leave if she knows and you’re willing to travel with her. It’s the only way.”