Chapter 20
“There is one rule best friends try not to break.
Go after each other’s siblings.
Because falling for one might ruin everything.
When there is a side to choose…
Most will choose their family.
The problem is…
What if both of them belong to your family?
What choice do you make then?”
Santiago
Florian
The sun beams brightly, casting a glow on the ocean around me as I park the car near the shore and get out. My boots tap on the wooden deck. Santiago stands in the distance near his yacht.
He wears jeans and a T-shirt. The wind whooshes over him, billowing his jacket backward while his back faces me as seagulls fly high in the air and fish perform in the water. Its navy-blue color invites you to take a deep dive, which is mesmerizing and should be anyone’s first warning.
Everything vivid and gorgeous in nature is deadly, as it doesn’t need to be invisible to hide.
“An island in the middle of nowhere. It has Grandpa Atlas written all over it. I never knew you had an island, but considering you used it to kidnap my sister here, I can see why.” His cold tone paints his current mood quite clearly, and I tense inwardly because apparently, he came to fight.
After going radio silent and Octavius reporting to me that Santiago was surprisingly calm during our absence, I expected him to maybe…deal with all this.
“I’ve never hidden the fact. You just never asked.” Hooking my thumbs into my pockets, I walk toward him just as he spins around, and our eyes connect. The mask of indifference settles over his features while he crosses his arms, and I stop several feet away from him. “Hi, Santiago. What brings you here?”
“Octavius and Remi knew, I assume? But you don’t have to worry. Your best friends didn’t tell me anything. I found it all on my own.”
“They are your best friends too.”
“Didn’t feel that way when you crashed my sister’s wedding and then held a gun to my head while kidnapping her. They stood there and did nothing.” A beat passes, and he swallows. “They chose a side in our war.”
“Yeah, hers. Not mine.”
Fucking hell, leave it to Santiago to make everything sound dramatic, but he’s kind of right.
Not that I feel bad about it.
I’ve spent the last week in heaven, finally able to freely express my love, possessiveness, and obsession toward my woman, who’s the center of my universe.
I won’t apologize for it, and if her brother has a problem with that?
Fuck him.
I’m done dancing my life to their tune. I paid all my dues.
“Are you going to punch me in the face again? Because let me warn you. You have no punching credit left when it comes to me.”
He gives me a long stare, then goes back to gazing at the ocean and pondering something. I notice the dark circles under his eyes, and the guilty part of me rears its head. I can’t hate him for loving Jimena because I love her madly, but he has to know his limits.
They might never accept me, and that’s their right, but I won’t allow him and his dad to start fistfights to prove a point or upset my woman. Especially not while she’s carrying my baby.
A smile shapes my mouth at the thought. My heart always melts whenever the baby kicks me, and it feels surreal to think I’ve created something beautiful that I love so much already even though he’s not even here.
The manifestation of our love.
“How is she?”
“Happy and glowing, or at least she was until she found out you’re here. She wanted to come, but I told her not to.” I expect many things, but his curt nod isn’t one of them. “What do you want, Santiago?”
Engaging in a verbal sparring match doesn’t seem like a good strategy to travel all this way for.
“Remember the trip we took together to the park when we were six years old?”
My brow furrows at this. “Yeah. Remi and Octavius couldn’t join us, so we went alone.”
We took many trips like this as kids, enjoying each other’s company and not needing anyone else, but somehow, that last trip…it forever shifted everything for us.
It felt wrong. We missed the guys and, for the first time ever, had no secrets to share with each other.
Because we found better secret keepers who understood us on a different level.
“We were running around, playing tag, and then sat down to drink water. Where we had our talk, as we called it.”
A memory from twenty-five years ago flashes in my head.
Santiago puts away his water bottle and sighs. “I need to tell you something, Florian.”
My heart beats wildly in my chest, and I ask, “Yes?”
“I can’t be your best friend anymore.” My heart plummets, and I squeeze the water bottle harder until it cracks a little. He finally saw how broken I am? How dirty and scarred under this mask I show to the world. And he hates it. “I think Remi needs me more. He has no one but me.” Santiago sighs and half turns to me while I do my best to blink away the tears because he’s right, of course.
Remi likes us but adores Santiago, and he opens up to him way more than to any of us.
Still, why does he have to turn his back on me?
“Octavius needs love too. We can help them, Florian.” He places his palm above my free one, and our gazes collide. “You’ll always be my close friend. I’ll just spend more time with Remi.”
Forcing a grin, I nod. “Yes. I understand. It’s the right thing to do.” Even if my heart is crushed and it’s hard to breathe, as losing Santiago proves irrevocably that Death changed me.
The old Florian is gone, and I’m not sure who will like this new Florian.
“I hurt you on that day. I’ll never forget the pain flicking in your eyes before you covered it up.” Santiago’s voice pulls me back to the present, and I focus on him. He exhales heavily and looks at me again. “It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Pushing you away for your own good.”
“Because you connected with Remi more.”
One of the reasons we never really got along despite our close bond. Santiago’s choice stood between us, and Remi felt my resentment that slowly transformed into his own.
He shakes his head. “No. It’s because you needed Octavius more than anyone else.” A hollow chuckle escapes him as seagulls chirp loudly, circling around us. “Your kindness, empathy, love, gentleness…it grew in his company, and you showered him with these emotions. Protected him in any way, and while you did all that…you temporarily forgot about your own pain.” I swallow hard, bitterness filling my mouth because I understand now that he knows about what happened to me.
I should have expected that. We always know everything about each other, even if we never talk about it. Still, I hate it.
I hate anyone knowing about my pain that should have always been mine to bear.
“Something bothered you, but I didn’t know what it was back then. I couldn’t help you, but around Octavius…I could see traces of the old Florian. And as much as it broke my heart, I had to let you go.” My chest grows tight as the meaning of his words registers in my brain.
He gave up our friendship…to save me?
“Octavius would have survived without you. His home life was hell, but he’d hold on because he had Estella. He’d have found the will to live for her, even if he didn’t have your support.” Several seconds pass, interrupted only by the seagulls and the waves crashing against the rocks in the distance. “Remi would have survived without me because his revenge and desire to find his mom was stronger than anything else. I would have survived, as I had no other choice. I needed to avenge myself and my family.”
I inhale the ocean air into my lungs, wishing to cover my ears and not hear whatever he has to say next, but I don’t do that.
I can’t run from the truth forever.
“You wouldn’t have survived without Octavius. He was one thing keeping you sane and grounded in this world. Protecting him soothed the darkness slowly spreading through your veins. He gave you something Remi and I would have never given you.”
“There is no need to justify your choice, Santiago. You were right. Things worked out for the best this way.”
He ignores me, and continues, “And then Jimena was born. You bonded with her because you could give her what no one else did at the time.”
Instant anger washes over me. “If you’re implying…”
“No. I’m saying when you love, you protect. You stood by my family when I was gone. Took care of them emotionally and then watched over Jimena and made her feel loved. For that, I thank you. I forgot about that.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Our families were one. You’d have done the same thing for me.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “What?”
“How easy it is for you to devalue your character. No, Florian. Not everyone would have done what you did. How many seven-year-olds do you know who’d go to their godparents’ house to feed his godmother every single day because she wouldn’t eat otherwise?”
“You, Remi, Octavius.”
“Yeah, us. The Four Dark Horsemen.”
So many feelings twist inside me, and while I accepted my love for my woman, I don’t know how to process all this, especially with his constant mood swings. Hardening my words, I snap, “What do you want, Santiago? I highly doubt you came all the way here to talk about our past. Whatever happened, happened.” Then a thought hits me. “If you thought this speech would make me feel guilty and give up Jimena, then you have another think coming. I will never do that. She’s mine, whether you like it or not. I’ll burn the world, but no one is going to take her away from me. Even you.”
We have a long stare-off as the wind swirls around us, intensifying, and the sky darkens while clouds gather. If we keep this shit up any longer, the rain will soak us because the storms here are brutal.
You cannot be outside when they are raging.
“I’m standing in front of you right now as a brother who loves his little sister very much. She’s a ray of sunshine—hope—a beautiful and innocent creature who should have never fallen for a serial killer like you.” I tense and straighten up. The insults are back. “She deserves a prince who would adore her and bask her in light and happiness without any darkness tainting her. You’re a villain and you always will be one because these desires rule your soul. You’re much older than her, and she’s pregnant at the age of twenty. Not to mention your past. Who would have been happy with such a choice? As a brother, I’d never pick you if I had any say.”
I stay silent at this, allowing him to let it all out while pain mixes with rage within me because he’s a hypocrite.
Such a fucking hypocrite who kidnapped his own wife, but I guess it’s all good since she has no brother?
“Well, if this is your stance on the matter, I can’t do anything about it. You’re welcome to stay on the island until the storm passes under one condition. You will not upset Jimena, because if you do? You can fend for your-fucking-self in the storm.” I turn around, ready to march back to my car, but he grabs my arm, halting my movements, and spins me around to face him once again. “What?” I free myself from his hold as he steps closer, and we both scowl at each other. “You have some other bullshit to tell me? Spoiler alert: I’m not interested in hearing it.”
“I’m not just her brother. I’m your best friend too.” An odd note coats his tone, and an emotion flickers in his gaze that I cannot name because I’ve never seen it before. “And as your best friend, I’d say to any brother out there…anyone’s sister will be lucky to be loved by you.” My eyes widen at this. “A man who’d sacrifice everything if it meant protecting his family. A man with integrity and loyalty. A man who’d go against his friends for the one he loves because she’s the most important thing to him. A man who values his friends even when they are not around and keeps his promises. And finally, a man who has one compass, obsession, and madness in this world that controls his darkness, and that’s his woman.” He exhales a heavy breath as if saying all this hurts him on some level too. Part of me wishes for him to shut up so he won’t open up all these feelings we don’t know how to deal with. “We are a brotherhood because of you. You’re the glue that kept us all together through the years, and you made a lot of sacrifices for us without asking for anything in return. You risked your life for ours. You gave your all to us…and it’s our turn now, Florian.”
“Enough, Santiago. Stop it.” He needs to shut up because it’s becoming hard to breathe.
He continues, though. “So as a brother…I’m warning you that if you ever hurt my sister in any way, I’ll kill you. But as your friend, I know you’ll never do that. You’re one of the people I trust the most, so how can I not trust you with her?” Our gazes clash. “Te amo, Florian. Gracias por todo.”
Something inside me snaps because for years, I thought choosing Jimena meant losing him, and as sappy as it sounds…I never wanted to lose one of my best friends.
I wrap my arms around him, and he does the same, both of us trapping each other in a fierce hug that heals the broken pieces around us and puts them back together, forming that special bond once again while thunder rocks the sky and everything around us darkens even further.
That’s the theme of our friendship, though, isn’t it?
Darkness connected us all because we never turned our backs on each other and instead embraced each other’s vices.
“I’m sorry for lying to you all this time. I shouldn’t have.”
“Yeah. And if you kiss her in front of me, I’m going to punch you.”
I laugh. “Then prepare to meet your sister’s wrath because she quite likes this face of mine.”
“Do you want to make up or not?” There is not much heat behind his words, though. “You’re walking on thin ice.”
“Yo también te amo, Santiago,” I say this time, seriously.“Thank you for being a great brother and friend. Or should I say…future brother-in-law?”
Loud whistles echo in the air, followed by a boom in the sky, and we both swing our heads to his yacht. I grin when I see Octavius and Remi leaving the captain’s cabin. “Look at you two being all lovely with each other.” Remi elbows Octavius. “Let’s hug too.”
“No.”
“But you still love me, right?”
“Yes.”
He sighs. “I guess that’s enough.”
Of course they are here.
They’d never allow Santiago to go alone and potentially do something to me.
My best friends. My family. My brothers who’ll always have my back even if I screw up.
They jump on the deck and reach us in five strides, smashing into us from both sides and creating the familiar circle that we used to do as kids, our arms tangled together. “The Four Dark Horsemen are back.”
Collective groans meet Remi’s statement. “Would you stop being so corny? It gives us a bad reputation.”
“Fuck you, Florian. What gives us a bad reputation is our enemies thinking we’re weak because we aren’t a unity. So I’m allowed to be happy.” A beat passes. “We stood like this for the first time twenty-six years ago after successfully playing a make-believe game together. We decided to be best friends forever. Now look at us.”
Years of friendship flash in a blur through my mind, happy and sad moments that shaped our characters and taught us to always stick together and count on each other.
Twenty-six years and counting.
“If he starts crying, I’m out of here,” Octavius deadpans, and Santiago snickers. “On a serious note…as Santiago said earlier, we all would have survived without each other, but what a lonely existence it would’ve been. Can’t imagine life without any of you.”
“Hey! How is that not corny?”
“It came from the heart.”
“And my sentiment, what…came from my ass?”
The familiar bickering cements once and for all that the storm that swept over our friendships when I fell for Jimena is truly over, and maybe I should have never doubted our brotherhood.
However, the wind whistling around us warns of the impending storm, so we really need to haul our asses. “As much as I enjoy this rather weird, sweet, and disturbing moment,” I say, and they roll their eyes, “let’s go to my house. In an hour, it will be impossible to drive.”
My phone vibrates in my pocket. Stepping back from the group hug, I quickly take it out because my Jimena is at home, only to freeze as coldness and fear penetrate every cell in my body.
My friends read my expression at once, the tension polluting the air as they focus all their attention on me. Octavius asks, “What is it, Florian?”
“He has her.”
We’re in the middle of the storm, and this psychopath who just kidnapped my pregnant woman sent me a picture with a long text describing what he intends to do to her.
The remaining chains on my sanity snap, setting free the madness residing in me.
Madness with one goal in mind.
Extinguish the evil before it takes away what I love the most.