Page 62 of Brandishing Betrayals

“Fuck you, man.” Nico walked toward the apartment door. “Believe what you want, but I’m fucking telling you, she was terrified when I mentioned Hillcrest and Trish. He’s threatening her. I guarantee it.”

The door closed softly behind Nico, leaving me in the small quiet apartment, alone with my thoughts while Luke slept in the other room.

Marcos

I slowly smoked my joint while I dialed my sister’s phone number and pressed the phone to my ear.

“Hey, Marquitos,” Kara answered the phone.

“Hola, Manita.” I smiled immediately upon hearing my little sister’s voice.

“Uh oh, I know that tone. What’s going on?” Kara asked, getting right to business.

“Have you talked to Maya at all lately?”

“No, I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy with the baby and the case with my dad, I haven’t reached out. Is she ok?”

I sighed and ran a hand over my buzzed head. The fucking case with Vincent Carmichael was still on going—directly impacted by the fucking Las Serpientes—another thing weighing on my mind. “I don’t know. I think she’s in trouble,” I admitted.

“What do you mean?”

“I walked in her house tonight and Dax fucking Hillcrest of Las Serpientes had her pressed against the wall, fucking making out and shit.”

“Whaa?” Kara’s shocked tone had me wondering if Nico was right. The more people thought Maya’s behavior was unusual, the more confident I grew in agreeing with Nic.

“Yeah, it was strange. And like Luke mentioned last weekend that someone was leaving Maya flowers and whenever she found them, she became super upset. He said she was seeing a therapist for it.”

“Damn. You think it’s Hillcrest?”

“I don’t know what to think,” I admitted. “Nico confronted her this weekend while Stone and I were away with Luke, and he said that she immediately began freaking out when he asked her outright about Hillcrest and Trish—his girlfriend from ten years ago that came into the clubhouse. Nic said Maya became inconsolable or some shit.”

Kara gasped.

“Nico couldn’t get a straight answer out of her, he said she refused to answer, but he seemed pretty convinced that Hillcrest has been threatening her all this time and that’s the reason she left.”

“Holy shit,” Kara breathed the words softly.

“Has she said anything to you?” I needed answers.

“No,” Kara sighed. “I haven’t really been pressing to be friends with her again, though. It hurt me too, when she left you. Even though back then, me and her weren’t really talking that often, because I wasn’t really talking to you at the time so it put a strain on our relationship too.”

“Yeah.” I huffed out a breath. The past was fucking filled with drama.

“I can reach out to Slade, I know she still talks to Maya. I could ask her what she knows?” Kara offered.

“Nico already went to Slade. It’s why he’s so adamant. Slade knows something, said to look deeper with Maya, and said something along the lines of ‘why would someone like Maya need to see a therapist if there wasn’t something going on?’ Then told him to look deeper.”

Kara gasped again. “Yeah, that sounds like there’s something going on.”

“I took Luke home with me.” I changed the subject. “I was supposed to drop him off after my weekend with him, but that fucking scum bag was there and I left with Luke still in the truck.”

“Fuck, Marcos.” Kara sighed. “You can’t keep him, not permanently.”

“Why? He’s my fucking son,” I snapped. I hung my head and puffed on my forgotten joint. It had already burned down halfway. I took a long drag and held in the smoke while I listened to Kara hand me my ass.

“Because you said your name isn’t on his birth certificate. Because you don’t have parental rights established. She could call the police and have you arrested for kidnapping her child! Marcos, you need to bring him home.”

Slowly blowing out the smoke I thought about what she said, knowing she was right. “What are my options for custody?”

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