Chapter 33
Lyse
Matteo stared at me like he was seeing a ghost, and a part of me felt the same way about him. My brother was handsome, almost pretty in a way, but there was a hard look in his eyes now. The aura around him was different.
He looked like a man. That was it: he no longer resembled the little boy that I thought of when I pictured my brother. How had it only been two weeks since I’d last seen him? What was happening at home that made my little brother grow up so quickly?
“Apá told me you were dead,” Matteo said. We had met at the Starbucks just inside the Amtrak station, and he’d been staring at me for the past three minutes, barely blinking, like I would disappear if he looked away. “He said Omar Castillo raped you, killed you, and dumped you.”
The words made me flinch. Omar might be a lot of things — big and almost unforgivably violent, for sure — but he would never harm a woman like that. Of that I was abundantly sure. “Do you believe everything Apá tells you?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Matteo countered, and I scoffed.
“Because I’m sitting right here in front of you,” I said.
I wanted to reach out and touch him. In the past I wouldn’t have hesitated, but I held back.
I didn’t want to believe that Matteo knew about Jesus coming for me, that Apá had been the instigator, but I couldn’t be sure.
He could just be a really convincing actor.
But why would he agree to come without backup? I thought. It wasn’t as if Matteo could kill me himself. Like Omar, I believed to my core that my brother was incapable of actually harming me. I might not be able to trust him entirely anymore, but I did trust that.
“Apá has no reason to lie,” Matteo insisted, but even he didn’t sound like he believed him. “He doesn’t gain anything from it.”
“He sent Jesus after me,” I told him. “He tracked me to the island that Omar was keeping me on, and instead of rescuing me, he tried to kill me.”
“No.” Matteo shook his head hard enough that he could have snapped his own neck.
“He wouldn’t do that. He came back with his face crushed…
he’s the one that found—” He stopped and swallowed hard, like he was trying to stop himself from throwing up.
“He said he found you.” His voice came out softer, more questioning, and I wanted to draw him in for a hug.
It would be what I normally did when we were little and he was upset.
“Well, he’s obviously lying about that,” I said, gesturing to myself. “When I didn’t go with him right away, he got mad, and you know how Jesus is.”
Matteo dipped his head. “He gets mouthy.”
I nodded. “He told me that he was sent to kill me and leave my body somewhere a Castillo could be blamed for it. He wants to start a war because they killed the head of the Rojas family’s precious daughter…except Apá’s the one who told Omar to do whatever he wanted to with me.”
My brother went still. His hands clenched into fists on the top of the graffitied table. “What are you talking about?”
“The night that Angel woke up, Omar tried to negotiate with Apá and Felix.”
Matteo nodded. “I was there.” His cheeks flushed. “Apá sent me out after I told La Bestia that I would gut him for touching you.”
I laughed; I couldn’t help it. “Mijo,” I breathed. “You don’t have to protect me.”
“You’re my sister. Of course, I have to protect you.”
“Older sister,” I pointed out. “Protecting you has been my job since the day you were born…please don’t ever threaten Omar again, okay?
The man could snap you in half if he wanted.
” If I didn’t have him wrapped around my finger, I thought smugly.
There was something utterly empowering about a man like Omar Castillo belonging to me.
He put you on a train alone, I couldn’t help but remind myself. Exactly how does he belong to you?
“Omar Castillo is an idiot for even trying to act like his brother. He doesn’t have the brains for planning.”
“He was trained to be the muscle for most of his life,” I said. “His father obviously educated his sons differently. It doesn’t make Omar stupid.”
Matteo looked shocked. “You’re actually defending him to me! He kept you captive for two weeks!”
“He wanted to trade me for our territory in the nightclub district,” I said, touched by Matteo’s fierceness but certain Omar would flatten my brother in a second…though a few more months in the gym, and Matteo might be a match for him.
“We couldn’t afford to lose that spot, Lyse. It’s an easy front, and we’d be risking more than a failed nightclub.”
“Apá obviously felt the same way,” I said. My voice went cold. “After you were sent out, he told Omar to ‘do what he had to do,’ in regard to me. Felix said the same, apparently.”
“They…they wouldn’t.”
“They gave me up for dead,” I said forcefully. “If Omar and I hadn’t already—”
Matteo caught on quickly. “If you hadn’t what?”
“Nothing. Never mind.”
He looked horrified. “Did you actually let that man touch you? After what he did to our family?”
“You mean, his response to what Apá did to his family? Should any of us be surprised that Omar chose my engagement party to exact vengeance?”
Matteo stared at me. “You love him.”
It was a statement, not a question, but I answered anyway.
“Yes.” Matteo looked like he’d argue. Tell me I was wrong to have those feelings.
“On a tiny, very isolated island, Omar gave me more freedom in a week than I’ve ever had in my entire life living under Apá’s rule,” I said.
Despite the anger that I felt, I smiled; it was easy to do when I thought of Omar.
“He gave me a studio to paint in and supplies…and that was because he saw me drawing with a stick in the sand.”
“What about Felix?” Matteo asked.
“What about him? When he figured out I'd been with Omar, his infatuation with me disappeared. I wish I’d had the courage to fuck someone years ago. Then I wouldn’t have had to go through that farce of an engagement.”
“Lyse!” Matteo looked scandalized. “Where has my sweet sister gone?”
I gave him a hard look. “She’s dead,” I told him.
“That you can be damn sure of.” He stared at me for a long while.
“Omar allows me to be myself,” I said. “He doesn’t make me live in fear of what may come out of my mouth; he doesn’t care if I’m perfectly pleasant.
Hell, I think he likes it when I’m a little mean to him. ”
Matteo shook his head, and I suspected he was trying to erase the images he now had in there. He surprised me when he asked, “He’s good to you, then?”
I nodded. “He is.”
“And he…loves you too?”
I shrugged. I wanted to say unequivocally yes, but…could I say that when he’d left me here? “I think he does,” I said after a moment.
“So, why did you call me?” Matteo asked.
“I want to know what’s going on at home. Why is Apá obsessed with this war with the Castillos?”
Matteo’s face went hard. “I shouldn’t be telling you anything if you’re in love with a Castillo,” he said, guarded, but then he softened. “Shit’s gone pear-shaped, but Apá’s going to work it out. Don’t worry about us.”
Us, I thought, but I wasn’t a part of the us anymore. It was clear in the way that he was talking. “I won’t,” I assured him. “I think…this is where we part ways, mijo. I need to figure out what the hell to do next.”
He gave me a stricken look. “I might be able to…point you in the right direction.” He swallowed hard. “Apá sent Jesus back out to collect La Bestia’s head. He’s not supposed to come home until he succeeds or dies trying.”
My chest seized. Omar wouldn’t be expecting another attack. “I don’t have a way to warn him. I don’t have a way to contact him.” My throat felt tight, like I couldn’t get a full breath.
Stop hyperventilating, I commanded, but it was nearly impossible now that I’d started. Matteo reached across the table and grabbed my hands. “I can help,” he said, gripping me.
“What?”
He dug into his pocket, pulled out his phone and tapped on it for a second.
Then he turned it around: Lili Castillo was in his contacts.
“You still have her number?” I asked. “After all this time?” Not that he needed to save her number, given his memory, but the fact that he did spoke volumes, even if he wouldn’t.
Matteo’s face shuttered. “We aren’t talking about her,” he said. “Not now.”
Not ever, more like, I thought. Lili didn’t even want to acknowledge that she knew my brother, let alone that they were…whatever they were in high school. Neither of them would ever admit to the full extent of it, I was sure. “I don’t have my phone.”
Matteo pulled a pen out of his pocket and wrote the number down on a napkin. “Here.” He pushed it into my hand. “That’s as far as I can go without betraying the Rojas, understand?”’
I nodded. He meant that we were done here. “Thank you.”
“Will I see you again?”
I didn’t want to lie to him. “Do you think you could be around Omar and Angel without trying to kill them?”
His expression soured. “Probably not.”
“That’s your answer, then.” We stood together, and Matteo hugged me hard. “You’re going to be fine, mijo. Just keep being the apple of Apá’s eye.”
“I don’t see Apá much,” he muttered.
“What?”
“I’ve been working for Felix,” he said but refused to explain anything further when I pressed. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” he said. “Te quiero.”
“Te quiero mucho.”
Then my brother was gone, and my chest ached, even as I hunted down the bank of payphones again. I used the phone card and dialed Lili Castillo’s number, praying that she hadn’t changed it.
“Hola?”
“Lili.”
“Who is this?”
“It’s Lyse.” There was a flurry of movement on the other end of the line. “Wait! Omar is in trouble! Please, don’t hang up!”
Lili sighed in my ear. “You have ten seconds.”
“My father sent someone after him; he’s supposed to bring proof that he’s dead. I don’t have any way to warn him. Please, I need you to do something.”
“Mierda!”
My sentiments exactly, I thought. “You have to tell Omar. Warn him.”
Lili made a wounded sound deep in her throat. “I can try…but Angel sent Omar back to the island as a test of his loyalty. He can’t fail.”
I was really over all of this stupid family nonsense. “So, Angel won’t help him when he’s in danger? How is my family coming after him a failure?”
“He told us to trust you,” Lili said. “And now the Rojas are coming for him. Angel is going to see this as just one more thing that Omar failed to prevent from happening in the first place.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose to stave off the headache that was building behind my eyes. “Can you call the island? Give him a heads up?”
“I’ll call,” she promised, and for a moment, my shoulders relaxed. Omar was fully capable of taking care of himself. With a little warning, he would be fine. “I just wish –” Lili cut herself off.
“What? You wish what?”
She sighed. I could almost picture her chewing on her nail. “Before he left, Angel had Omar beaten as punishment. Mauricio was…thorough.”
Dread pooled in my belly. Omar’s body had been through the ringer. How much more could he possibly withstand? Even with prior warning? The need to see him screamed through me: I needed to see him whole and safe. “I need to get out there.”
“To the island? Are you crazy?”
“Can you make it happen? Please?”
She was quiet for a long moment, and I worried that she hung up on me. Finally, she asked, “Can you get to the marina?”
I would have to call for a rideshare, but Omar did leave his credit card. “Yeah, I should be able to.”
“Head that way,” Lili said. “I’ll have a boat waiting for you.”
I snorted, briefly imagining myself trying to figure out how to drive a speedboat without killing myself. “That’s great…I can’t drive one.”
“I can get you a ride,” she said snippily. “He’s one of Omar’s favorite cousins, so he’ll do just about anything for him…but he hates your family more than anything else on the planet.”
Fantastic. “It’ll be fine,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Just…prove Angel wrong, okay? Prove to all of us that you are worth all of this.”
“I will,” I promised. And I meant it. I would do whatever it took to be with Omar, come Hell, high water, or both of our cartels.