Chapter 54 – Alana
Chapter
Fifty-Four
ALANA
Iwake with the sun streaming through the balcony doors and feel great until I move. As soon as I stretch my arms, I wince at the pain in my shoulders and ribs.
“Morning, princesa.” I hear the soft, low rumble of Alejandro’s voice beside me. Despite the pain I’m in, I feel a rush of familiar heat between my thighs.
I groan as I roll over to find him sitting up in bed, fully dressed, with his laptop resting on his legs.
“Morning. What time is it?”
“Half-past eleven.”
“What? I’ve slept for over twelve hours straight. I need to get up.” I try to sit but my body has other ideas.
He puts his computer on the bed beside him. “The doc gave you some strong pain meds. They’ll make you drowsy. And no, you do not need to get up. You need to stay in bed and rest, just like the doctor told you to.”
“But I need to check on Lucia.”
“She is fine. She’s downstairs with Magda. Now, take these.” He reaches over to the nightstand before handing me a glass of water and three pills.
“What are these?” I ask.
“For the pain,” he says as he drops them into my hand.
I swallow the pills with a long gulp of water and hand the glass back to him. I lie back against the pillows with a sigh. Even if I want to argue with him about getting out of bed, I don’t have the energy. That doesn’t mean I can’t have fun though.
“You look so hot when you’re being bossy,” I smile up at him.
“Stop it!” he warns.
“What? The doctor never said no sex, did he? I’m sure we could find a way to work around my injuries.”
“Don’t tempt me, princesa. Do you know how hard it’s been lying next to you all night without being able to touch you the way I want to?” he growls.
“Well, yes, I felt it pressing against my ass in the night and it was very hard,” I say and then start to giggle before the effort hurts my ribs. “Ouch.” I wince. Deserved, I guess.
He leans down, brushing my hair back from my face, and kisses me softly before pulling back.
“Rest for a few days. Because you are going to need it. As soon as you’re fully healed, I am going to fuck you harder and longer than we have ever fucked before.
You won’t even be able to tell me what your own name is by the time I’m done with you.
That’s a promise,” he growls against my ear. I clench my thighs, feeling a throb.
“Your filthy talk really isn’t helping matters here,” I reply.
“Are your panties wet?”
“Soaking,” I nod.
“Fuck!” he hisses as he palms his cock through his sweatpants.
We’re disturbed by a soft knocking at the door, and Alejandro jumps up. “That will be Lucia. She’s been checking in every fifteen minutes or so.”
I nod. “She must have so many questions.” As do I, now I come to think of it.
“Come in,” Alejandro says and a few seconds later, Lucia’s head pops through the doorway.
“You’re awake,” she says softly. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” I say as I shift myself carefully up into a seated position. “Come here, sweetheart.”
She smiles at me and walks across the room before sitting on the bed, taking Alejandro’s place beside me.
So much happened last night. So much was said that neither Lucia nor I understood.
We both have many questions. But last night was about coming home, getting checked out by the doctor, and processing the shock of being free from that terrible basement.
She snakes her hand into mine, and I squeeze it.
“Thank you,” I say simply. “For helping me get through all of that.”
She shrugs. “I didn’t do much. You were the one with all the fight in you.”
“You gave me more to fight for.”
Alejandro smiles as he listens to our conversation, then pulls up the chair from the dresser and sits down by us.
“I suppose you have a lot of questions, Lucia?” he asks.
“Yeah. You said…You said Carlos was my father?” She almost chokes on the words.
He nods. “It’s true, I’m sorry. Did you have any idea at all that Miguel Ramos might not be your real father?”
She shakes her head. “No. None at all. I mean, I always felt different to them, but I thought that was just because I was a girl, and you know, not a psycho like him. But he was my father. He would have told me if he wasn’t—wouldn’t he?”
Alejandro rubs a hand across his jaw. “I don’t think so.
He wouldn’t have wanted to lose face. I knew that my Uncle Carlos and your mother had an affair.
It lasted almost a year, and it ended a few months before you were born.
It seems that your mother chose Miguel over him, and my uncle didn’t take it well.
He was always a liability. But after your mother ended things, he completely lost it.
We never knew what caused it. Now we do.
He ended up in a mental health facility for over a year.
And since then, I suppose things have been building in his mind.
His paranoias, his delusions. He convinced himself the only reason he wasn’t with your mom was because of my father banning him from having a family.
And I know for sure that’s not true. My Papa has said to me many times he always wished Carlos had found love. ”
Lucia thinks it over, her eyes wide. It’s a lot to take in.
“Do you think they were happy? Him and my mom? Because she sure wasn’t happy with my dad…or the man I thought was my dad.”
“Who can say?” Alejandro replies, spreading his hands. “Sadly. we cannot ask her.”
“But you really think Carlos was my father?” she asks.
“Yes. And he certainly believed so too. As did your mother. At least according to her old friend, Crystal.”
Lucia smiles faintly at the mention of Crystal’s name. “She was always good to me,” she says softly. “Until the drugs really took hold of her anyway.”
“So is that why Carlos took us?” I ask. “Because he thought Lucia was his daughter?”
Alejandro clears his throat. “No. It was slightly more complicated than that. He knew that my father was getting ready to hand everything over to me. He resented the fact that it would be me taking over the family business, rather than him. So he tried to kill him instead, presumably to get in the way of that process and throw me into grief. Causing chaos so he could take control. Who knows? The man was crazy.”
I open my mouth in shock. “He had your father shot? His own brother?”
Alejandro nods. “He wanted to destroy our family as it is. He wanted to ruin me so that he could legitimately take my father’s place. He knew that I would burn this city to the ground to find you. He counted on me getting myself killed, or just being so lost without you that I’d self-destruct.
I nod while Lucia sits beside me in stunned silence. It is all so much to take in, especially for her.
“Perhaps he would have eventually used your freedom as a bargaining chip? Who knows what was going through his mind. He was loco.”
“I’m not sure,” I tell him. “His men…they seemed to think that once Carlos had achieved his goal, they’d be free to do whatever they wanted to me. They kept saying that. That Carlos would eventually get you right where he wanted you.”
“Again, who knows? But he was right. The easiest way to get to me was through you. Then when Lucia came into our lives, that just added more fuel to his jealousy. I honestly think he would have never harmed you, Lucia. I think he wanted to try and be a father, at least in the only way he knew how,” Alejandro finishes.
“So that was why they treated me okay?” Lucia asks. “Well, compared to Alana, anyway?”
“Yes, it would seem so,” he nods, looking at me and frowning slightly, as though he’s thinking about what I endured at his uncle’s hands.
“Do you think it was him who killed Blake?” she asks.
“Probably. My uncle was the kind of man who could make things like that happen. And once I knew what to look for, I discovered that one of the foremen at that building firm in Philadelphia, Lambert and Hall, had a gambling problem. And debts that went away very suddenly, coinciding with transfers from one of my uncle’s accounts. Jax made the connection.”
“But why?” she asks.
“Again, in his own messed up way, I think he wanted to protect you. Step into the role of being your father.”
She shudders slightly. “So, I’m not a Ramos after all, then?”
Alejandro shakes his head. “No. A Montoya through and through.” He smiles at her.
She smiles back. “Well, I suppose I’ve had crap luck with fathers, but I won’t complain about being a Montoya. Not when you’re one too. I suppose you’re not all that bad.”
Alex rolls his eyes, doing a decent imitation of her teenaged exasperation, and it warms my heart to see them like this.
“What are your plans now, Lucia?” I ask her, wanting to focus on something positive. “Now that Blake is gone and you’re not running from anyone. What are your dreams, sweetheart?”
“I guess I still need to apply for emancipation,” she shrugs.
“Unless you’re happy to stay with us until you’re eighteen?” Alejandro suggests. “It’s only one more year. If that’s something you want.”
“What?” She sits up straighter. “Really? You’d both be okay with that?”
“Of course,” I reply. “More than okay.”
“You’re family now, kid,” Alejandro adds. “And you were even before I knew about Carlos.”
“What about your future, though? What would you see yourself doing in an ideal world?” I ask.
Lucia leans back against the pillows, her hand resting on her bump, and sighs.
“I always wanted to go to college. I’d have to work my ass off and get a scholarship, but my grades are good even despite the school I’ve missed.
I figured I could put the little man here in daycare, and then I could pick up some shifts at the shelter. He could come with me.”
I lift my arm, wincing at the pain, and wrap it around her. “Sounds perfect,” I say as I feel a wave of tiredness washing over me. I suspect she doesn’t need to worry about earning money for college, not now she’s part of this family, but I admire her work ethic.
“Do you mind if I stay in here with you guys for a while?” Lucia asks softly as my eyelids flutter. Suddenly, they feel very heavy indeed.