30. Valerio
VALERIO
Rafael walks into the garden with his hands raised and blood still crusted on his mouth.
Mateo turns toward him, and that gives me the first opening.
I move through the trees with Tito on my left, Bruno on my right, my men spread behind us. I see Federica on the platform, blood on her hands, robe torn, chin high despite the blade near her throat.
I feel pride and terror at the same time.
Rafael keeps talking.
“You came all this way for me, big brother. I’m touched.”
Mateo points the machete at him. “Yeah, to shut your big mouth.”
I frown. Mateo wanted Rafael back just to kill him? What the hell? Weren’t they brothers?
Rafael doesn’t seem surprised, though. “I’m hurt,” he says theatrically. “You don’t trust me?”
“Not a chance in hell.”
“Pops will get mad.”
“Pops will hear the Italians cut off your head and played soccer with it.”
“Ouch. Graphic.”
Mateo grins, all teeth. “You’re a liability, baby brother. Worse, you got caught. Our cartel has no need for losers.”
“Weird, since you still have a job.”
Mateo’s eyes narrow. “Cocky.”
“Always.” Rafael widens his arms. “So? Why haven’t you finished me off yet?”
“Because something reeks here.” Mateo’s eyes narrow. He starts scanning the trees. “I smell rat on you, baby bro. And my nose is never, ever wrong.”
He knows.
A second later, he fires into the trees.
The bullet grazes my cheek.
I step out before he adjusts his aim.
Mateo grins. “I knew it. Mira el rato.”
Federica’s eyes find mine.
Everything in me steadies.
Mateo grabs her and hauls her against him, blade at her throat. “One more step and she opens.”
I stop.
My gun is raised. My hand is steady. My heart is not.
“Let her go.”
“Give me Rafael.”
“No,” Federica says, breathless and furious. “Don’t, Rio. He’ll just kill us all!”
Even now, she fights me.
God, I love her.
A noise among the trees distracts Mateo and I fire twice.
One for my mother. One for my father.
Across the split-second the bullets take to travel from my gun to my target, Mateo’s eyes widen. It’s the face of a predator who’s never felt what it meant to be prey, not once in his fucking life.
Watch and learn, motherfucker.
Both bullets hit him in the throat.
Mateo Rubio doesn’t even get to scream.
He falls back on his own execution platform and chokes on his own blood.
Good. Let it be slow. Let it hurt.
He deserves no mercy.
As soon as his writhing body hits the platform, the garden erupts with motion.
My men emerge from the trees. Cartel soldiers drop their weapons or die holding them.
In the commotion, no one thinks to keep an eye on the younger, still-breathing Rubio brother.
Rafael bolts. He grabs Mateo’s motorcycle near the path and kicks it alive.
“Rafael!” Valentina screams.
He turns once.
Only once. Toward her.
Their eyes lock. For a second, an emotion flashes across Rafael Rubio’s face that I didn’t think he was capable of.
Sadness.
Then he revs the engine.
I raise my gun at the back wheel.
“No!” Valentina’s hand closes around my wrist. “Let him go.”
“He’s the enemy.”
“He saved my life!” Valentina grabs my whole arm.
“When I was captive, he—he snuck me extra food and water. And—and he convinced Mateo to keep us alive. Mom and Dad and me.” She chokes on a sob.
“He’s the only reason we lasted this long.
I wouldn’t be alive without him.” Her eyes fill with tears. “Please, Rio.”
“Listen to her,” another voice says. One I’ve missed terribly. “She’s your sister. Brothers should always listen to their sisters.”
I lower the gun.
Rafael disappears through the trees.
I lock eyes with Federica.
Then I’m running.
My wife meets me halfway, and I pull her into my arms so hard she gasps. I loosen my hold immediately, terrified I’ve hurt her.
“I’m okay,” she says into my shirt. “I’m okay.”
But she almost wasn’t. If I’d been even a second later, she wouldn’t have been.
“You were so brave,” I rasp into her hair. With another hand, I draw Valentina into a warm hug. All three of us. United. It feels surreal.
Tito appears behind me, with Alessio by his side. The young boy had insisted he wanted to come along and I let him.
I can still see what remains of his earlier fear, in his eyes, as he turns to Federica.
“She’s safe now,” I assure him, pulling him up, into my arms, and right into a warm embrace. This is my family now, I remind myself. I have a family.