46. Cruz
CRUZ
Robin’s fingers are warm around mine as she leads me deeper into the Bellamy house. I hold on, knowing this is my second—and last—chance with her.
I won’t waste it.
I’ll earn it if it takes the rest of my life. Her trust. Her respect. Her love, if she ever decides to give it.
Because she looked at everything I’ve done and still decided I was worth one final chance.
One.
I know exactly how much one chance is worth.
The sound reaches me before the room does.
Voices. Plates. Cutlery. The air smells of roasted meat, corn tortillas, chiles, chocolate, cilantro, lime. A home-cooked meal rich enough to make my empty stomach twist.
Then Robin turns the corner, and the room goes silent.
Every face turns toward us.
An icy sea of frowns.
I recognize some of them from files. From surveillance.
Falcon Bellamy stands near the far side of the room, tall and controlled, his eyes going flat the moment they land on me. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t need to. Every inch of him says he knows how to become violence without warning.
Hawk is closer, of course. He must have circled back from the entryway, because he’s already there with his arms crossed, body angled toward Robin, gaze fixed on me like he’s reconsidering his earlier decision not to break my jaw.
Daniela stands beside him. She’s clearly who kept him from barreling back to the front door and smashing me into tomorrow.
Does the rest of the family know about me yet? Doubtful.
Daniela must have told Hawk to let Robin deal with me.
A woman who can only be Robin’s twin, Raven, stands next to Vincent Gallo, Jr.
Him I know from Vega’s files as well. He’s already assessing me with dark eyes. Different from Hawk. Hawk wants to punch me. Vinnie? He’s calculating how to rid the world of me without getting his hands dirty.
Savannah Gallo, who’s engaged to Falcon. She’s Vinnie’s sister. And of course Daniela, and little Belinda, Declan McAllister’s daughter.
I know them all.
Star Bellamy stands near the table with a serving spoon in one hand, her face going from curiosity to alarm to something polished yet brittle.
I’ve wronged all of them by taking Robin from them. And by hurting Eagle.
“Everyone,” Robin says, “this is Cruz Moreno.”
Vinnie’s gaze sharpens.
Falcon’s eyes narrow.
Raven inhales softly.
Star blinks. “Who?”
“The man responsible for what happened to Robbie,” Hawk says through clenched teeth. “And it’s only because of my beautiful bride-to-be that he’s even breathing right now.”
“Hawk,” Daniela says quietly.
“I’m being generous.”
Robin steps forward, pulling me with her. “Cruz saved my life. He’s the only reason I’m breathing right now.”
Star’s hand tightens around the serving spoon.
Falcon’s gaze cuts to Vinnie.
Vinnie doesn’t look away from me. “He’s why you were taken in the first place.”
“But he got me out,” Robin continues. “He risked everything to do it. He turned against Vega. He brought me to people who helped me get to the embassy.”
“And what does he want?” Falcon asks.
I answer before Robin can. “Nothing.”
Several faces turn fully to me.
Good.
“I came to warn you,” I say. “And to tell the truth.”
Hawk scoffs. “That’ll be a first.”
I can see it in his anger. Robin told him about Eagle.
Robin lifts her chin. “What Cruz did when he was allied with Vega is not nothing. I’m not pretending it is. But the fact that he saved me—that he’s the only reason I made it home—is enough for me to give him this chance.”
“Enough for you,” Hawk says.
“Yes,” she says. “For me.”
“You don’t get to decide for all of us.”
“No. But you don’t get to decide for me.”
Hawk grits his teeth. He loves her. That much is obvious. He also wants to lock her away from anything that might hurt her.
So do I.
Vinnie steps forward. “Cruz Moreno.”
“Yes.”
“Vega employee.”
“Yes.”
He furrows his brow. “Former?”
“Yes.”
He learns forward. “You’ll forgive us if we don’t take that at face value.”
“I don’t expect you to.”
“Smart.”
“I have information,” I say.
“And what’s that?” Vinnie asks.
“Nothing I can talk about now,” I say, subtly nodding to Star and Belinda.
Vinnie nods. “Understood.”
The room goes quiet again.
Until Raven exhales.
“Well,” she says, “he’s not exactly the first former member of a crime family to be welcomed by a Bellamy sister.”
Vinnie raises an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
Raven turns to him with a look that is far too innocent to be innocent. “What?”
“I purposefully left,” he says. “I spent years escaping my grandfather in Europe.”
Raven smiles. “I know. But then you went back to him.”
“Only so I could destroy his business from within. I earned his trust so I could betray him.”
Robin tilts her head. “Isn’t that what Cruz is doing right now?”
“Hardly,” Vinnie says. “I came back for Savannah. To save her from having to marry Miles McAllister. It’s not the same thing at all.”
“Isn’t it?” Raven licks her lips. “Cruz came to save Robin. You came to save Savannah.”
Hawk makes a sound of disgust. “This is not the same thing. Vinnie wasn’t a part of the crime. He left to get away from it. He only came back because—”
“Enough!” Robin clenches her fists. “Who cares? Maybe the pieces don’t line up exactly the same. But Vinnie showed us his loyalty. And now, so has Cruz.”
I should stay silent.
I don’t.
“I was an employee. Useful to Vega. Taken in by him, yes. Trained by him. Used by him. And I know his weaknesses.”
The second I say it, something crawls up the back of my neck.
I don’t know why.
Maybe because I’ve spent years telling myself I owed Vega a life of service for what he did.
Vinnie studies me. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Before he can respond, a phone rings.
Not a cell.
A landline.
For one second, no one moves.
Then Falcon turns toward the small table near the wall where the phone sits. “Unknown caller,” he says. He picks up the receiver. “Bellamy residence.”
Silence.
Then his gaze moves slowly to me.
The back of my neck goes colder.
“It’s for you.”
Every face turns.
Robin’s hand finds mine again.
I look at the phone.
I know who it is before I take it.
I cross the room.
No one stops me.
I take the phone from Falcon. “Moreno,” I say.
A soft breath on the other end.
Then the voice I have known for half my life slides into my ear.
Vega.
The room seems to shrink.
Robin steps closer.
Vinnie’s hand moves toward his pocket.
Raven takes Belinda’s hand and leads her out of the dining room, nodding to Star and Daniela. “Come on, Mom. Dani. Sav. Please. This doesn’t concern us.”
It does, but I understand what she’s doing. She wants her brothers and Robin to be able to speak freely.
They follow her without argument.
Falcon is already gesturing. “Record it.”
Vega chuckles. “Yes,” he says. “I heard that. Record the call. I’d expect nothing less from the Bellamys.”
My stomach turns.
He knows exactly where I am. Exactly who I’m standing with.
He probably figured out that I got on an international flight out of Colombia to the US. It couldn’t have been that difficult to pinpoint my first stop.
I had no doubt he’d find me quickly. Maybe he even let me come here. I knew the risks. But I had to come. Had to…
Had to protect Robin?
No. She has all the protection she needs. I’ve been through that.
I came because I love her. And I’m pretty sure she loves me, too.
Vega continues, “You may put me on speaker if you like. It’s best they all hear this.”
I press the speaker button with my thumb.
Vega’s voice fills the room. “Good evening, Bellamys.”
No one responds.
He laughs. “Such manners. I expected more from Texas royalty.”
“Say what you called to say.” Falcon’s voice is ice.
“Are you there, Vinnie?” Vega asks. “I know you ordered my death. But I’m not Jacinto Agudelo. You’ll have to try a little harder than a poisoned pastry at a football game.”
Vinnie says nothing, but his jaw is tense and his eyes are sharp. He’s holding it together. He has to.
“You called for me, Vega,” I say. “Do as Falcon says and say what you want to say.”
“Cruz,” he says. “why do you want to protect people who would never protect you if they knew the truth.”
I stare at the phone. “What truth?”
A pause.
Then, “Did you never wonder, Cruz?”
My skin goes cold. “Wonder what?”
“Why I chose you.”
The room stills. Robin looks at me, her eyes wide and confused.
Vega sighs. “Poor Esperanza. Beautiful girl. Too trusting, maybe, but beautiful. She never told you, did she?”
I tighten my grip on the receiver.
Do not react.
Do not give him the satisfaction.
But my pulse begins to roar. Because I already know what Vega is about to reveal. In a way, I’ve known it all along. I just never let myself think it.
“Tell me what?” I grit out.
“I took her one night.” Vega’s voice is smooth as snake oil. “Feisty little thing. She fought me, which made it all the better.”
Robin’s fingers go rigid around mine.
No one else moves.
“One night,” Vega continues. “But we all know that sometimes, once is all it takes.”
My mother.
My mother.
My mother.
“You’re lying,” I say, my veins turning to ice.
“Am I? I took you in after she died. Why would I do that? Because you were mine. My bastard. My blood.”
The receiver nearly slips from my hand. Robin catches my wrist.
“I’ve been training you all these years for a reason. Not because I enjoy charity. Not because Adriana found a pretty orphan and thought he might be useful.”
Adriana.
Did she know?
Of course she knew.
“You were my failsafe,” Vega says. “In the event something happened to my son.”
Diego Vega Junior.
The corpse in the barn.
The body I exhumed with my own hands and brought back to him.
Hawk curses under his breath.
I can’t speak.
“And now, thanks to the corpse you so faithfully returned, I’ve verified through dental records what I long suspected. My legitimate heir is dead. Diego Junior is dead. You brought me my son’s body, Cruz.”
My vision tunnels.
The old barn.
The dirt.
The remains.
The smell of death and earth.
And he sent me.
Me.
My stomach lurches.
“Cruz.” Robin’s voice is barely audible.
I can’t look at her.
If I look at her, something in me may split open.
“I’ve lost my only legitimate heir,” he says. “Daniela could have given me another, but Vinnie stole her from me.”
“She was a fucking child,” Vinnie growls.
Hawk punches the wall. Again.
“She was mine,” Vega says. “But you took her, and then you attempted to take care of me. I don’t look kindly on that.”
“Fuck you,” Vinnie snarls.
Vega chuckles. “Fuck you too, Gallo. You’re a young man still. I’m not. But I’m still here. And I haven’t lost everything. I still have my bastard son.”
Robin doesn’t move.
Her hands are still on me.
Still holding me.
Even now.
Even after hearing that Diego Vega’s blood runs through my veins. That the body I dug up was the corpse of my brother. My fucking brother.
I look at the Bellamys.
One by one.
The family I hurt.
The family I came to warn.
The family of the woman I love.
Then I look at the phone.
Then back at the Bellamys.
Vega waits.
I feel him waiting.
The man who took my mother for a night. The man who took my grief and shaped it into obedience.
My mouth opens.
No words come.
“Cruz?” Vega’s voice is low, almost menacing. “Will you come home and join your father?”
Thank you for reading Forbidden Fate!