Climbing out of bed, I rushed to my toy chest, and ripped off the lid. Confused, I stared down at perfectly placed soldiers, still in the box where I left them before bed.
Pashew Pashew Pashew.
My fingers tightened around my toy box as screams tore through the house, followed by men yelling words I didn’t understand. I started crying because the noise scared me, then I cried harder because I knew I wasn’t being a brave soldier.
Mamá needed a brave solider.
Reaching into my toy box, I grabbed the general and held him tight. He would protect me. The general protected all the army in battle. He would protect Mamá.
Opening my door, I rubbed my eyes as I walked down the hall. Men still shouted and I thought I heard Tía Pilar scream, but I couldn’t be sure.
That was, until I walked into the living room.
At least five men in black held guns just like my army men, only their guns lit up my house. Tía Pilar lay sleeping on the floor in a puddle of red Jell-O.
I liked Jell-O.
I took two steps forward when Mamá screamed.
“Valentin! Be a fireman, Valentin! Do as I say! Five alarm fire! Be a fireman now!”
I didn’t want to move. The man had Mamá pinned down on her back. They looked like they were wrestling. I liked wrestling.
“Valentin! Go!”
I didn’t like disobeying Mamá’s orders. Nodding, I turned when I saw one of the other men in black pick up one of the guns and start to chase me. A funny feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Something didn’t feel right.
“Valentin! Please! Be a fireman, now!” Mamá screamed again, and something in her voice made me run. I ran fast as the man chased me.
My house was big. There were twists and turns and awesome places to hide. There was also a pipe that ran down the side of it. I’d gotten in trouble many times for climbing down it like a fireman. I liked to pretend I got called in the middle of the night to a huge blaze and was the only hero who could put it out. I’d open the window, wrap my legs around it and slide down, then hide out in the cellar until the ‘fire’ was over.
Or until Papá stopped being angry.
Tonight, the fire was real.
Somewhere along the way, I’d lost the man in black. Opening the window, I heard Mamá scream again then a loud blast. I wanted to cover my ears, but I couldn’t and hold the window too. So, I focused on jumping to the pipe and closing it behind me.
Once inside the cellar, I pulled my knees against my chest and covered my ears, drowning out the last of the screams until I fell asleep.
Chapter Twenty-Five
PRESENT DAY
EDEN
HOUSTON, TEXAS
Tears rolleddown my cheeks faster than I could wipe them. He’d painted a picture I’d never be able to erase from memory. My heart bled for the little boy, waiting in a dirty cellar for a mother who’d never come for him.
I fought to find my voice. “You mentioned a baby…Ana. What happened to her?”
“No one ever found my sister’s body. I can’t think about that, Eden. I never have.”
Releasing the tear-stained pillow, I rolled over to face him, taking his hand in mine. “Why did you turn to cartel life after knowing what happened to your family, Val?”
Dropping his chin, the skin around his eyes bunched in a pained stare. “Why’d you not leave with your father after known criminals killed your brother in front of you?”
The question took me by surprise, as did the intensity of his gaze. In that instant, I understood him more than probably anyone ever had. The wall I’d built between us crumbled as the abomination I’d created in my mind of Valentin Carrera—La Muerte—fell away, revealing only a man who’d loved and lost.
