Page 14 of Empire of Carnage
It was the stupid pendejo who thought he could trust to shove his dick into the open mouth of a piraña with the expectation that it was somehow going to come out still whole.
I turned to face him, hardening my stare and dropping my voice down to a cold octave. “Nothing happened?”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said in a hushed tone, and César turned the radio off completely, the silence in the car becoming damn near unbearable.
“Then what did you mean? Because you couldn’t even stomach looking at me Santos. You looked away every single time. Why couldn’t you look at me?” I raised my voice to a yell.
He sighed, looking out to the road again, like he couldn’t voice out his reasons.
“Santos?” I shouted and César cleared his throat uncomfortably.
“I couldn’t stand to see you that way. That’s not who you are. I didn’t want to see you like that.” His voice broke and a tear fell down his fucked-up cheek.
He turned completely away from me once he noticed my gaze fixed on the scarring flesh.
“I needed you to see,” I said desperately, and he whipped his head back at me.
Ronan’s grip squeezed around my thigh. His head was still dropped back, eyes closed, but his face was wet.Mateo looked out the window and I couldn’t hear a single breath in the car.
I’d broken all my men.
César’s gaze met mine in the rearview mirror, and with a single look he gave me back the strength of our family. He nodded like he understood the entirety of my experience, and for some reason I felt it in that moment. All of our pain and suffering, it was always unified even when we were far apart.
“I needed you to see that it was my choice. That he wasn’t making me into a victim because I was doing it of my own volition. I was savingus. I don’t regret it, and I’m not ashamed. I’d do it a million times over if it kept his blade away from you,” I spat out, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I’m sorry.” he said, regret being the flavor of his sorrow.
“I did it because I love you, Santos. And I would have done the same for any of you fuckers in this car.” I attempted to keep the bitterness from my tone, but I was tired of being looked at like I was some poor thing who’d been beaten.
I was a fucking survivor. I’d proved it over and over again.
There wasn’t shame in that.
“So what’s the plan, reina?” César asked, changing the mood in the car.
“Guadalajara. If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it right. First we get what’s mine, then we go home hermanito.”
I leaned into Ronan. He let out a low, pained sound and wrapped his arm around me, bringing me into his chest. He dropped his head over mine and I let the comfort of his embrace soothe me for the rest of the ride.
8
Ronan
We were exhausted, broken, and beaten.
But I’d never felt more whole in my life, and in that van, I promised myself I would do whatever it took to make sure that we stayed this way. I wasted too much time before I realized it. She was right. Together we were complete. There was no way out of this without any of them. Well, maybe without fucking Villabolos, but even that pain in the ass was starting to grow on me again.
He was the only family she had left, even with Carolina rising from the fucking dead. She somehow managed to end up a major cunt, which probably meant she was better off dead.
We ended up stopping at a hotel for the night so Celia and Santos could clean themselves up, and Emory could properly look at everyone’s injuries. The Doc insisted on sharing a room with Celia and forced me to stay with César and Santos with Mateo. I wanted nothing more than to sleep with my arms wrapped around my girl again, but she denied the opportunity immediately, and told Celia just how bad the extent of my gunshot wounds were.
She sided with the fucking Doc.
But now it was a new day, and we were in the car ready for whatever would come next. Celia was showered and her hair was brushed silky straight, so black it looked hot to the touch from the sun scorching above us. The scar on the side of her face was red and bright. It looked painful but it wasn’t as deep as Santos’. She untucked her hair from behind her ear to cover it up once she noticed me staring.
I grabbed her chin with one hand and tucked her hair back again. She challenged me with a look, exaggerating those damn lines in the middle of her brows. I placed a gentle kiss on the scar.
“So what will this key open?” I asked while César pulled into a small bank outside the city.
