Chapter 68 – remi
Sixty-Eight
remi
Walking into a room full of my family feels intimidating instead of comforting.
Just a few weeks ago, I stood in this same spot defending my decision to be with Thiago. I asked them to believe in his character despite their suspicions because I believed in him.
Now I have to tell them I was wrong.
I take in the room. My parents stand behind the large desk, Papá’s hand resting at the small of Mamá’s back. Uncle Derek and Aunt Eva sit shoulder to shoulder across from Uncle Silas and Aunt Leni, with Santino beside them. Matteo, Gio, and Madden linger by the window.
On a television mounted to the wall, Val and Maksim watch from Moscow. Every pair of eyes settles on me, but I don’t find anger or disappointment on a single face.
That almost makes it worse.
I lower myself into the empty chair and stare down at my hands.
“I’m sorry.”
No one says anything.
I wait for someone to question me, or remind me that they warned me about him and I refused to listen, but none of it comes.
They just give me the time I need to continue.
“I trusted someone I shouldn’t have.” I lift my head, even though meeting their gazes is harder than I expected. “I told him more than I ever should have. About myself…and our family.”
The shame I’ve been carrying since last night weighs even heavier.
“I can’t stop thinking about that.” I take a slow breath and steady myself. I didn’t come here to cry. I’ve done enough of that. “I don’t know what else to say except that I’m sorry for all of it.”
“Remi.” Aunt Leni is the first to speak. “Look at me.”
I lift my head.
“You made a mistake,” she says. “A painful one. But that’s all it was. It is not a measure of your intelligence, your strength, or your worth.”
My eyes start to burn, and I blink hard.
“You trusted someone you loved. That doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human.”
“I should have known.”
“Why?” Her question catches me off guard. “Because you’re always supposed to know when someone is lying to you? Because loving someone should come with a special ability to see every secret they’re keeping?”
I don’t have an answer.
“Thiago deceived you. That belongs to him. You don’t get to turn his actions into a reason to punish yourself.”
A tear makes its way down my cheek.
“Listen to me, Remi. You’ve always walked into a room with your head high.
You speak your mind and you fight like hell for the people you love.
You don’t apologize for taking up space.
” She pauses until I’m looking at her again.
“Don’t let one man’s betrayal make you believe any of that disappeared overnight. ”
Around me, no one says a word.
“Nothing that happened changes who you are to us. You’re still our Remi, and you’re still fiercely loved.”
Reaching across the table, she extends her hand to me.
“So lift your chin, sweetheart. Don’t let him take that from you, too.”
I take her offered hand, and she gives mine a squeeze. “Thank you.”
Papá waits until I look at him. “A mistake, princesa. That’s where this ends.” His voice leaves no room for argument. “Now we deal with those responsible.”
I push to my feet, and everyone turns toward me, but being the center attention of the doesn’t carry the same weight it did when I walked in. “I called you all here for a reason.”
My eyes find Aunt Leni first, then Aunt Eva and finally Valentina on the screen. Val gives me a small smile, and I hold on to the reminder that I’m not standing here alone.
“Thiago Braga is part of an organization called Helios.”
Saying his name still hurts, but I continue.
“According to the file I was given, Helios is some kind of covert operation. I don’t know exactly where they fall or who they answer to, but they have access to information and resources they shouldn’t have.
” I look toward Uncle Derek. “The best way I can explain it is that they’re the antithesis of The Six. Have you ever heard of them?”
“No.”
Aunt Eva shakes her head. “I’ve never seen that name in any report or database.”
“Neither had I until that woman gave me that file. Helios compiled a full dossier on me, including every one of you except the Leones.” I rub my palms against my thighs before continuing. “Thiago was sent to learn what we know and retrieve any intelligence we have.”
The next part is harder to say.
“If he couldn’t or if he learned we were still active, he was supposed to eliminate me.”
Mamá goes still.
There’s one more thing I’ve kept from her, and after everything that happened with Thiago, the last thing I want is another secret between me and my family.
“Mamá, there’s something you don’t know. I asked Aunt Athena to let me be the one to tell you.”
She steps closer. “What is it?”
“You met Thiago’s father. You were with him the night he died.”
Mamá takes a moment.
“The detective from Miami?”
She goes quiet before realizing, “Oh. The little boy.”
“That was him.”
Santino gives me a small nod from across the room. Aunt Athena must have told him.
“Thiago is also the officer who saved Zara at the bank.”
He saved and comforted Zara, someone who means everything to all of us.
I think that was the day I started seeing him differently.
Knowing he’d put his own life on the line for her affected me more than I knew how to admit at the time.
I believed it showed me exactly who he was.
Even now, I don’t know if I was wrong about that part. And that’s what scares me.
“If Helios knows as much about this family as that file suggests, then they know about Zara too.” I turn toward Santino. “Things are already getting dangerous, and she’s too young to be anywhere near this.”
“Agreed.” Santino pulls out his phone. “Athena’s already on her way. Zara won’t leave our sight.”
“We don’t know what Helios is planning or how far they’re willing to go. We have contingency plans and safe houses for this very reason.” I look around the room. “I think it’s time we use them.”
“Remi.”
I turn toward Matteo as he rises from his chair. “What about Thiago?”
I knew someone would ask eventually. I’m still not ready to answer.
In this family, we don’t go looking for trouble, but when someone comes for one of us, we make sure they never get another chance to do it again.
And Thiago came for me.
Back on that rooftop, I wanted him dead. I hated him enough to believe that pulling the trigger would be easy. But I couldn’t do it. And now the thought of anyone else hurting him, of his life ending because of me, makes me sick.
“I’ll deal with Thiago when the time comes.”
“Remi.” Uncle Derek looks to his brother.
I understand what he’s asking without hearing the words. Uncle Derek has loved me like a daughter for as long as I can remember. If my father gave the order, there would be nothing left for me to deal with.
I’ve never lost sleep over what the men who raised me are capable of. But I would if the man on the receiving end had Thiago’s face.
“Please.” I look between them. “Give me that.”
Uncle Derek’s jaw tightens, but after a moment, he gives me a reluctant nod.
Voices rise around the room as phones come out and everyone starts making plans. Mamá comes around the desk and wraps her arms around me.
“Mi amor, I’m proud of you.” She kisses my temple. “And I’m sorry.”
I don’t trust myself to answer, so I hold on to her.
All my life, I’ve watched my mother walk into situations that would terrify most people and take control. I used to wonder if I’d ever be able to do the same.
Maybe I already have more of her in me than I realized.
I stood before the people I love most, admitted one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made, and offered them a path forward even as my heart was still breaking.
For today, that’s enough.
Chairs scrape against the floor around me, and phones begin to ring.
Uncle Derek is already issuing orders as Aunt Eva falls into step behind him on the way out.
Santino leaves next, focused on getting back to his family.
Papá pauses beside me long enough to rest a hand on my shoulder before following them.
“Remi?” Valentina’s voice carries through the room, and I turn toward the television. After our last conversation, part of me was afraid of what I might find on her face once she knew how wrong I’d been.
I should’ve known better. Val has always been my person. She smiles at me through the screen, her eyes already glistening.
“Call me when this is over, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I love you.”
I manage a frail smile. “I love you too.”