Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
In love.
“Baby . . .” Tanner murmured. I smiled as the gravel of his deep voice vibrated against my ear.
“Mmm?”
“There’s something I have to tell you.” His wary tone made me tense.
“Okay.”
I looked up to his face. Tanner’s eyes fell to meet mine. There was apprehension in his gaze. But there was sadness too. I braced myself for whatever it was. “Alfonso . . .” Tanner paused like he didn’t want to say whatever came next. “He wasn’t your father.”
My heart sank. “I know.” Tanner’s face wore a mask of shock. “I found out just before Diego killed him.” I swallowed back the sickness of what I’d discovered. “Tanner . . . they said I was trafficked. That my father got me in some kind of a trade?” My hands shook. “My mother—Quintana’s wife—found out . . . and he killed her.” I took a moment to keep my composure. “He killed her, Tanner.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “I have no idea whose daughter I am. But I know my mother, whoever she is, didn’t want to give me up.” My stomach tightened, and I fought back the urge to cry for woman I didn’t know. “They ripped me from her, Tanner . . . I was stolen and given to my father.”
Tanner held me to his chest. He said, so quietly I almost missed it, “I know who she was.”
I froze. Every muscle in my body stilled. My breathing increased in pace, and I slowly lifted my head. Then a single word Tanner said hit a crescendo in my mind.
Was.
I know who she was.
I couldn’t speak. The swelling of my throat and the fear of hearing more kept me paralyzed at Tanner’s side. Tanner’s finger ran down my cheek. “She was from Texas.” My breath shook on an exhale. “Your father was too.” I hung on every word Tanner said. Every single word. “Sanchez, your father, was Mexican. Your mother . . .” I glanced down at my arm. At my skin. My skin that had always been a touch lighter than that of my friends . . . than that of my father.
I knew what Tanner was going to say before he did. “She was American. A white American.” I closed my eyes.
“I’m Mexican. I’m a proud Mexican.” All my life, I knew who I was. I was Mexican. I knew my heritage, cherished it . . . That heritage was now up in flames.
“You’re still Mexican, princess,” Tanner reassured. “Your father was Mexican. But you have American in you too.” Tanner leaned forward and kissed my lips. He hovered close, so I opened my eyes. “Baby . . . this seems crazy, and I’m still wrapping my fucking head around it myself, but . . .”
“What, mi amor. What?” I didn’t know if I could take anymore.
“Your mama . . .” He braced himself for whatever he was about to divulge. “She was Styx’s mama too.” The world stopped. Everything in the room seemed to freeze as those words filtered into my brain. Styx . . . Styx . . . ? I thought back to him and Mae being in my room. To Mae holding my hand and kissing my head. Telling me we needed to talk . . . Y’all are family . . .
Was. Was Styx’s mama . . .
“She’s dead?” I asked, hopelessly.
“Styx’s papa—the old prez—killed her. He fucking killed her in front of Styx. He was still a kid at the time.” Tears immediately filled my eyes as I tried to imagine such a thing.
Looking at Tanner, I said, “I have a brother . . .” I thought back to Styx’s face. To how he stared like he couldn’t believe I was real. Like he’d never seen me before . . . and now I understood.
“Has he just found out about me too?”
“Yeah.” Tanner shifted so he could pull me close. “You need to talk to him, baby. Soon. When you’re better. I know he has something to show you.” I nodded, because I couldn’t find words. Then Tanner hit me with another bombshell. “You have another brother too. Your biological father’s son.” I tried to breathe, to take it all in. “Chavez. The Prez of the Diablos. They helped us.”
“Chavez . . .” I whispered.
I was silent for so long that Tanner lifted my chin. “You okay, princess?”
“Yes.” And I meant it. I was . . . My head was full to the brim with all the new events and information. But I was lying beside Tanner. And we were alive. After all that we had been through, that was enough. I didn’t need anything else in my life. “I am good, mi amor. I am more than good . . . I have you.”
Tanner smiled, and then raised my left hand to his lips and kissed my wedding ring. “My wife . . .” he murmured as his eyes began to close. Exhaustion was lulling him back to sleep.