Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Nero chuckled and grabbed his phone to take a picture of the little parachuter. He showed it to Miguel with a wide grin. “Happiest moment of our lives.”
Miguel shook his head. “I thought I was gonna die… but at least for a minute I lived in the moment.”
Nero grinned. “It was good. That’s where we really started, right? Maybe I could give you this one permanently?”
Miguel nodded and ran his hand over the date tattooed on his neck, but with the other, he already took hold of his phone. “You could cover this one if I am to no longer be a dead man walking.”
Warmth bloomed in Nero’s chest, and he hugged Miguel, watching him choose a number.
All would be well. Somehow.
A male voice answered the call. “Miguel?”
Miguel frowned. “Where’s my mother?”
The man sighed so deeply the line crackled. “I’m sorry, Miguel. She was killed.”
Chapter 26
Miguel
“What?” Miguel uttered with his mind plunged into an ocean of tar.
“A message was left by her body,” Paz, Mother’s right hand, continued in a grim tone. “It said: ‘Next time, check if the man you’re trying to kill is actually dead - C.’ And a phone number.” Paz recited the digits, but Miguel’s mind still rang with the terrible news.
Cano. Fucking Cano!
His heart twisted as acid replaced his blood.
“Did she know? What I did?” Miguel rasped, hoping that at least she died knowing the man who’d ruined her life had been put down.
“She did. We found out a day before the attack. She was proud of you.”
Miguel had to bite his cheek because his eyes stung and filled with tears, and he’d already shown his weakness to Nero too many times tonight.
The bad news transported his mind to Giro, but when warm fingers stroked his shoulder, he was back with Nero, whose weight in Miguel’s lap seemed featherlight in comparison to the burden that had fallen on his shoulders.
Nero didn’t speak, just rubbed his palms in soothing circles wherever he could reach.
Paz cleared his throat. “I’ll send you a photo of the message. But there’s also… another disturbing thing I think you should know about. To lay your mother to rest, we opened the family tomb, and one of the guys accidentally pushed Elisa’s coffin. It was so light we decided to look in, and it was empty. No body, just a doll dressed in a pink dress. I’ve been looking into it, but so far no one could tell me anything.”
Miguel frowned, fighting his instinct to flinch from Nero’s touch. He was no longer alone, but old habits died hard. “It makes no sense. Did someone move her? Paz… I need to go, but I’ll be in touch.”
“We couldn’t get in touch with you so… the funeral was yesterday. If you’d like to pay your respects and consider what to do with your legacy, I will prepare everything for your arrival.”
Miguel got too choked up to speak, so he sat still, hugging Nero, his soul stripped raw.
Nero rested his mouth at the top of his head and gave it a kiss, but reality was like a blanket of thorns that made every breath hurt.
Paz was still waiting at the other end of the line, but Miguel could not bring himself to make decisions and, after the briefest of goodbyes, hung up.
Nero exhaled. “I’m so sorry.”
Miguel pulled him close, bit down on his trembling bottom lip, and tightened the hug until his muscles ached.
“Cano…” he rasped out after painful seconds.
Nero slid out of his arms and kneeled to cup his face in a gesture so tender Miguel had to bite through the meat of his cheek to keep himself from crying.
The tentative plans of showing his mother who he truly was and come back as a hero, ruined before he could have even planned his return.
“Are you sure?” Nero asked.
Miguel grabbed Nero’s sides while pressing his face to Nero’s shoulder. There would be no time to grieve for as long as Cano breathed. “Yes. The smug motherfucker! He hit his head when the car crashed, he was covered in blood, didn’t move, I couldn’t hear him breathe. I was sure he was dead, and was so worried the Axe might catch up to us that I didn’t properly check.”
Nero’s arms locked around Miguel, holding him close as he shook, overtaken by grief. He remained silent for a very long time, but eventually spoke in a soft voice. “I’ll do whatever you feel is right.”
“He needs to die. He needs to fucking die for this! She was the only family I had left,” Miguel added as sorrow came to him in waves of fury and bloodthirst.
Nero went stiff in Miguel’s arms but kept stroking him. “I… I have something to tell you.”
Miguel’s eyes snapped up to him. He didn’t want to be wary of Nero, not after all they’ve been through, but the low tone in his voice made Miguel stiffen with worry. “What is it?”