Page 59 of Bratva Bastard

I smiled, placing my hand on his arm. “Thank you—really. I so,soappreciate everything you’ve done for me. You could’ve turned me away, but you invited me in, and helped me when I needed it the most. Thank you.”

His cheeks flushed, and he cleared his throat. “Of course, Cris. Just because we aren’t a couple, it doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Which is why I’m so wary of taking you home.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said with a flick of the hand. “Mama will be there, so don’t worry. She takes care of me just as much as I take care of her.”

Being there with Luiz, the guilt hit me full force, like a swift punch to the gut. He really was a great guy, and I’d fallen in love with someone else, slept with them, and gotten pregnant. I couldn’t tell him. Not because of the shame that consumed me, but I knew that if Luiz found out the truth, it would break his heart. And after everything he’d done for me, he didn’t deserve that.

So, I kept my guilt and shame tucked away in the back corners of my mind, to torment myself another day.

We neared the house and a sudden thought hit me—What if Andrei had hurt my mother?

My heart stopped, a dread hitting my gut so hard I thought I’d throw up. If anything happened to my mother, I didn’t know what I’d do. She was my world, and the thought of her kidnapped, or worse, had me overcome with an entirely different type of fear. The fear I’d felt at the clinic, or in the woods, was a primal fear based on survival.

But the fear of something happening to my mother… I was more worried for her life than I was my own. I still had no idea how long I’d been gone. Did she take her medicine while I was gone? What if she fell or got trapped under something heavy? A million scenarios ran through my mind, each more gruesome than the last.

“Luiz, have you spoken to my mother?”

“Yes, she called me a few days ago after you didn’t return home from the hotel, worried sick that you were missing.”

My jaw dropped, astonished that my mother had spoken to Luiz. Honestly, I’d expected him to tell me he hadn’t heard from her. “When was that?”

“Three or four days ago,” he answered, the worry growing on his face again.

So, I’d been gone for several days. “She’s been alone all this time,” I muttered.

Luiz placed a hand over mine, his focus on the road. “I stopped by yesterday to make sure she was alright. She seems more sick than the last time I saw her.”

I pulled my hand from his touch, turning to face the window. My mother had been getting worse that past month. I didn’t want to admit that her health had declined after I broke up with Luiz. Maybe it added stress to her life worrying about her daughter, but I wish she would stop worrying. I could take care of myself, and she didn’t need to risk her health like that.

We pulled up at the house, my mother bursting through the front door before we even parked. Tears poured down her face as she waited on the front stoop for me, her arms outstretched wider than I knew she could stretch them.

I hopped out of Luiz’s car, running to my mother like a child, nearly jumping into her arms. “Mama!” She squeezed me tight—how could such a fragile person have such a tight grip? But I was filled with so much happiness to be reunited with her, and relief that she was okay, that I welcomed the embrace.

“Oh, my god, mija! When you didn’t come home the other night, I was so worried.”

“I know, Mama.”

Luiz stepped up beside us, waiting patiently as I held my mother like I hadn’t seen her in years. “Hello, Sandra,” he waved to my mother.

She released me and pulled him in for a hug. “Thank you, Luiz. Thank you for bringing her back to me.”

Luiz turned to leave, telling me he’d see me around. But after everything he’d done for us, I couldn’t just let him leave without saying something more.

“Hey, Luiz,” I called out. “We’ll be going to Arraial d’Ajuda if you need us.”

“We are?” my mother asked, apprehension clear on her face. Because what waited for us in Arraial d’Ajuda was what my mother had been running from for years. But right now, we had to get out of here, and that was the safest place for us.

“I’ll explain everything inside, Mama.”

Luiz left and I instantly started grabbing clothes and necessities for us, packing our bags for a long term stay. “What’s going on, Cristiana?” my mother asked as I packed her medicine.

I explained about the men who kidnapped me, and that they might be back for us. I left out everything relating to pregnancy and Maxim, worried it might be too much for her. All I really said was that these men who’d been staying at the hotel had kidnapped me, but I escaped, and they might come back for us. Enough to let her know that leaving was imperative.

After packing everything we could squeeze into our bags, I called a taxi—my car still at the hotel—and we headed about 13 miles outside of Trancoso, to a neighboring town.

To my mother’s birthplace.

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