Chapter 49 – Alejandro
Chapter
Forty-Nine
ALEJANDRO
Iwalk into my father’s hospital room. He’s sitting up in bed and looks much better than when I saw him three days ago. There’s color in his cheeks now, and he isn’t attached to so many machines. The doctors said he may even be able to go home in a few days.
My mother sits beside him in the large wingback chair.
She’s holding onto his hand and smiling at him, devoted as ever.
I wish that the scene could bring me some comfort.
A few days ago, it would have. Seeing my father on the mend seemed like the most wonderful thing I could hope for.
Now? Now I take no comfort in anything. Not while Alana and Lucia are still missing.
“Alejandro?” they both say in unison as they look up.
“Hola, Mama. Papa,” I nod.
“What is wrong, hijo? Have you found Alana and the girl?” my father asks, his face suddenly full of concern.
“No. Not yet. But I’m close,” I say as I stare at him. I need to ask him difficult questions, and it fills me with dread.
My mom is well accustomed to the lives my father and I lead, and she can read a room like nobody else I know—expect maybe for Alana.
The sudden thought of her makes my heart constrict in my chest, as though someone has thrust their hand inside and is squeezing it with their fist.
“I’ll leave you two alone for a while,” she says as she stands. “I’ll fetch us all some fresh coffee. If you can call it that.”
She walks toward me and wraps her arms around my neck. “She will be home with you soon, hijo. I feel it,” she says softly. “You know I’m never wrong. Have faith.”
“Gracias, Mama,” I say as I give her a soft kiss on the cheek. Having faith is one thing. Having answers is even better.
I wait for her to leave and then I sit on the seat she just vacated. It’s still warm and I wonder how long she had been sitting there, alone with him. I feel a pang of guilt. “I’m sorry I haven’t visited much, Papa.”
He shakes his head and frowns. “You have more pressing matters to attend to. I don’t expect you here visiting an old man when you should be out there finding your wife.”
I suck in a deep lungful of air.
“What is it, hijo?” my father asks.
Fuck! What I am about to tell him is unthinkable, but I have gone over and over the information in my head dozens of times. This is the only explanation that makes sense. Perhaps my desperation to find Alana and Lucia has clouded my judgment. But I have nothing else, and I can’t ignore it.
“I think I know who ordered the hit on you, Papa. And I think he is responsible for taking Alana and Lucia too.”
He frowns at me as he sits up straighter in his bed, shuffling his body, wincing at the effort and the obvious pain in his chest. I realize in that moment that he will never be the man he once was ever again. It’s all on me now, and that includes making the tough decisions.
“Who?” he demands, snapping me from my thoughts. Maybe he’s not that weak. I puff out a breath and tell him my theory.
Ten minutes later, my father knows as much as I do about Lucia and Philadelphia, as well as everything I’ve pieced together in the last twenty-four hours..
He stares at me, tears in his eyes, his face a picture of shock and horror.
But I see something else there, too. Much as he does not want to, I think he believes me.
I lean forward, placing my hands on his bed and resting my forehead on them.
I’m so damn tired. I feel his rough hand on the back of my head as he strokes my hair.
“I’m sorry, Papa,” I murmur.
“Don’t be, Alejandro. I wish this wasn’t true, mi hijo, but I fear that it is. You are a smart boy. That’s why I chose you to take over instead of one of your uncles. You know what must be done now.”
I look up at him and for the first time in my life, I see my father crying. “I do, Papa. I do.”