Chapter 42 Thalia
It’s been two days. Two days since I saw my little gremlin. I bring her favorite doll to my chest. Her little smell clings to it the way I had clung to the doll all night. I am on the verge of insanity, bargaining with my desperation. A mother who goes mad over the well-being of their children is one of the most dangerous weapons societies will ever go against. When I find out who took my daughter, I won’t give them the mercy of a short death.
Silas walks into the bedroom of his hotel suite where we’ve been staying. I couldn’t go back to the penthouse. I couldn’t see her toys on the floor or her empty bed. He stares down at the white of my knuckles squeezing the doll.
“Your tears won’t help us find her. Our enemies aren’t afraid of your tears,” he reminds me.
To anyone else, his words would come off as harsh, but Silas isn’t the type to coddle me. He held me all night while I cried. He let me yell, scream, and curse at him. He let me feel through what I needed to, but he’s right. My tears are not getting me anywhere.
That’s why he went toe to toe with my family, refusing to let them come near me. Their commentaries to “rest more” or “it will be alright” did nothing but made me restless and fueled by the fear that it would never be alright. They mean well, but I don’t need comfort. I need my daughter .
“I want them all dead.” The words fall like a plea. Silas drops to his haunches in front of me. He slowly unravels my fingers’ tight grip around the doll.
“I’ll kill every last one of them,” he says, grabbing my hand in his. He opens my fist. Slowly, he brings the scar from the inside of my palm to his lips and gently places a kiss on it.
“Do you trust me?” he asks.
Before I can answer him, I hear the loud knocking at the door. Silas drops my hand and moves to open it.
“Where the hell is my sister?” Adrian shouts. I hear his anger and can already imagine the expression on his face. We have the same “fuck you” glare, courtesy of our sperm donor.
“MY WIFE is resting. What the fuck do you want?” Silas shouts back.
Their voices raise, each trying to outdo the other. Men and their testosterone. I sigh and make my way to the door, opening it wider until I see Adrian standing in front of me.
“Let’s go,” Adrian says, grabbing my wrist and yanking me toward him. Silas pulls out his gun and aims it at Adrian.
“Over my dead body,” Silas growls.
“That can easily be arranged,” Adrian replies. I wiggle free from Adrian’s embrace and stand between them.
“Ya basta!” I scream. Silas drops the gun, and Adrian’s eyes are apologetic.
“Thalia. Are you okay?” Adrian asks, and I nod.
“We need to talk. In private,” he says to me.
I catch his quick glance at Silas. Adrian is still not letting up on the fact that Silas kidnapped me. He has mentioned several times to Mireya his concern that I have Stockholm syndrome.
“Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of Silas,” I chide him while finding my place next to Silas and threading my fingers through his, my eyes locked on Adrian’s.
“I had some men go by the old auto repair place. They located Claudia there. She’s only there in the early morning, so if we want to stop her, we need to move in at dawn. She has an army of men protecting her,” he says.
“Have they seen Lucia? Is she alright?” I ask in desperation.
“They haven’t seen her,” he replies.
That doesn’t mean she isn’t there. I allow the morsel of information to seep in. Hope calms the fears that have been rattling the cage of my heart. I could feel her. She is close. She is alive, and soon she will be in my arms. I rub my hand over the cage tattoo. Hold on, Lucia. Mommy’s coming.
It only made sense to wear red bottom heels and black lipstick. I look up to see Silas staring straight at me. His expression is blank, but those midnight eyes speak to me. I got you. While Lucia is the light that guides me, Silas is the darkness that comforts me. He’s never once expected or wanted me to be anything but who I am.
“We’ll enter through the back forest and wait there until the snipers with Osiel and Ricky start shooting. We’ll rush in and attack from the front,” Adrian explains to Efren. It is the same plan we went over the night before. I have one request in all of this. Claudia is mine.
“Why are you two going first?” Silas questions.
“Because I trust him with my life. I don’t fucking know you,” Adrian says.
“Hey, fool. Silas isn’t going to let anything happen to Thalia,” Efren says in an attempt to bridge the tension. Adrian and Silas don’t miss an opportunity to insult each other.
“No, he’ll just kidnap her and make her believe he was dead for seven years,” Adrian replies. Ouch.
Even I felt that sting. Silas glares at him. I ignore them and continue loading my guns and attaching the silencers in the back seat. When we are a mile away from the auto repair shop, Adrian stops the van. He and Silas are still arguing while Efren and I start through the backwoods.
“Come on, Thali, their egos are too big for us,” Efren says, placing an arm around me. Within seconds, Silas removes it, pulling me to his side.
“It’s Thalia,” Silas says, and Efren laughs.
“See, I told you,” Efren says to Adrian. “He wouldn’t let anything happen to your sister.”
“I don’t have to prove shit to him. I’m here to find my daughter,” Silas says, looking back at them.
“You don’t have to prove shit to me, but don’t for one second think I’m gonna let you brainwash my sister,” Adrian says, unwilling to let the argument die.
I groan. We won’t last a minute inside if I have to worry about these two killing each other first. Silas releases his grip on me and stalks toward Adrian. I throw myself in front of Adrian as Efren rushes to guard Silas.
“Can we stop with the fucking show of testosterone? Adrian and I will go first, and you and Efren will follow.” I push Adrian forward through the trees.
“Can you calm the fuck down?” I say, looking back at Silas and Efren, who wait for enough distance before starting behind us.
“You really want to be married to a guy like that?” Adrian whispers as we crouch behind a tree.
“It doesn’t matter what I want. I’m already married to him,” I whisper back. I motion to Efren and Silas that the view is clear, and we move forward.
“He fucking lied to you and let you think he was dead. Is he threatening you right now? Blink twice if you’re in danger.” I roll my eyes and keep walking.
We walk in silence until we see the auto repair shop coming into clear view. I crouch behind a large tree and wait for Efren and Silas. The distance allows me to see the front of the building. I know our snipers are hiding somewhere on the opposite side, on a large hill. Osiel and Ricky have a handful of men with them that will flood to the back to help us after they ambush the front.
It doesn’t take long before the shots ring out. I look above, at the opposite hill, and see our two snipers rushing down toward the building entrance. Adrian and I launch forward, my feet hitting the ground below as I rush toward the back. We’re met with open fire, but several of my men rush in from the sides to guard Adrian and me. Efren and Silas are shooting behind me, and bullets continue to fly. I watch as bodies drop around me, but I don’t stop until I reach the side of the building. The shots ringing out become fewer and farther between.
Several of our own men crowd beside me as we make our way to the back entrance. A few of them look injured, but they are persistent in following us. Loyal to the mission and loyal to my family. Silas and Efren stay behind in the yard, shooting down the remaining armed men Claudia had placed surrounding the property.
“We’ll go in front of you. Stay close,” one of the men says to me, and I nod.
I let them pass in front of us, moving like a human shield. I turn to look at Adrian. A moment of hesitation passes over him before he follows behind me. It’s the familiar smell of gasoline that triggers me. It is likely the same thing triggering Adrian. The last time we were here was when we saved Mireya. I had taken a bullet to the arm trying to protect her. I’d take a bullet to the heart if it meant saving my daughter.
I creep forward behind my men. Adrenaline and anxiety stir within me. I need to find her. My speed feels like slow motion. I can’t get to her fast enough. As I move farther inside, I see the massacre left in the place. I see all the bloodshed around me. The bodies on the floor.
“Thalia!” I hear Adrian scream behind me. He pushes me to the side to dodge a bullet coming toward me. I slam into an air compressor and fall to my knees. I watch as the man who attempted to kill me falls to the floor, and I gasp. I pick myself up and look around the repair shop.
Most of the bodies on the ground belong to Claudia’s small army. Some I recognize as members of Los Bandoleros. I keep moving until I recognize the body by the entrance. His thick frame and shaved head. Suddenly, the smells around me seem overwhelming. I stand frozen.
“Ricky!” I scream. I scream his name over and over as I run to him and fall to my knees beside him. His eyes are closed and blood surrounds him. I find the wound on his stomach. I place my hands to the wound and watch as his chest slowly rises and falls. It’s shallow, but he’s still breathing.
“Help! Adrian! Help me!” I scream out. I continue to scream until Adrian finds me.
“Fuck!” he says.
“Ayuda!” Adrian screams, and several of our men rush over to help him pick up Ricky.
“Take him. Go,” I say, and Adrian stares at me. He shakes his head.
“I’m not leaving you,” he says.
“Take him!” I cry. Adrian hesitates and looks around. Almost all of Claudia’s men lay dead in the auto repair shop.
“Please, Adrian. Take him now!” I plead. He follows behind the men and jumps into the van with Ricky.
It takes everything in me to pull myself up from the ground. I wipe my eyes and search for my crew, for my husband, Osiel, and Efren. All I see is bodies. I step over them and make my way to the back, where I find Osiel loading injured men into the back of another van.
“Are you okay?” Osiel says. He looks at the blood covering me.
I’m not okay. But I can’t make the words out. My body is exhausted.
“Did you find her? Did you find Lucia?” I ask.
“No, but they’re checking the outskirts of the property,” he says, waiting for me to join him.
“I’ll wait for them,” I reply.
I watch the van take off and return inside. Fear and defeat wash over me as I take in the blood-stained building. This can’t have all been for nothing. Where are you, Lucia? My eyes roam over the large sign still intact at the front: Primos Auto Repair. I scan over the tires and empty lifts above me. Then I remember the office. The one hidden up the stairs, in the left corner. It’s where Diana was hiding out the day they attempted to kill Mireya.
I fly up the stairs until I find the large metal door. I try the handle, but it’s locked. I bang on it several times. I take a few steps back, then I rush forward and ram all my weight into the door. Pain erupts in my shoulder from the forceful impact, but I don’t stop. I rush back and slam into the door with more force. On my fourth attempt, as I rush toward the door again, it opens right before the impact. I fall forward, and my gun flies from my hand as I catch myself on the concrete. The first sound I hear is the door slamming behind me. Then the lock. And then a click of a gun sounds at the crown of my head.
“The infamous Viuda. I thought you’d never come.”