The Hustle (Irreparable 4)

I tried Javier and failed. I played on Eduardo’s conscience and failed, but I have one more hand to play. His true weakness. Me.

“Wait!” Vulnerably creeps across his brow as he lowers the gun. “Do you remember the vow I swore to you in Mazatlán?” He nods faintly, his forehead creasing tight as he struggles to maintain my gaze. “I meant it when I told you I would be yours forever. That I’d love you all the days of my life. Every word was true.” He lowers his gaze, but I see the pain sweeping across his features first. “Do you remember what you said to me?”

He lifts his head, his nostrils flaring with irritation. “Yes, but that was before you betrayed me.”

“That wasn’t betrayal. I was trying to fix a mistake and save our family.” I’m pleading with a man who feels nothing more than deception, but the softness of his expression shows me he wants to believe the lie. “I thought Guerra would understand.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does, Cariño. It does, because what you said that day made me realize what kind of man you are in your heart.”

“Maria.”

“You said you would die to protect me. That you’d give your last breath to keep me safe. I believed you. I know you love me that much. Please tell me you meant it. Please help me find a way out of here and back to our son. Don’t allow him to suffer the fate you suffered as a boy. Look what it did to you.”

“I do love you that much, Querido. I do.” We exchange small smiles. Through a moment of complete silence, I wonder if Eduardo’s father had loved his mother as much if he would have taken a different path. His father allowed the cartel to take his mother when she borrowed money she couldn’t pay back. Eduardo was just a boy. His father was trying to protect him, but the wedge between father had son had been firmly cemented.

As gunfire rings out in the mansion, Eduardo grabs my hand and pulls me up from the chair. “Hurry. You must move quickly.” He looks me directly in the eyes. “Maria, tell our boy how much I loved you both. Don’t let him remember the man I used to be.” A tear falls as I squeeze his hand and nod softly. “Go through the side yard by the pool. You can make it to the stables. Ride Shadow through the canyon. I Love you.”

I kiss him softly on the lips. “I love you, too.”

“Go!” he commands.

In the end, Eduardo is a man I love deeply, who sacrificed his life for me. Knowing that will leave a nasty scar, but our boy will know his father died a hero.

I pace the café, waiting for Maria and Javier to show up. With each minute that ticks away, I grow more fearful that I’ll never see them again. I sit with my elbows on the table, covering my face with my hands as I try to calm my thoughts. They race with visions of the unimaginable, that Maria and Javier were caught in the firestorm taking place at the mansion.

As I lift my head and look out the glass entrance, I see my son heading for the door. Marco follows behind him, and then Leticia and Alejandro. Farther back, I see Mr. Torrente getting out of a black Suburban parked at the curb. An overwhelming sense of relief and happiness sweeps through me. They made it. I rise and go to the door to open it for my family.

This is it. The hustle I’ve spent months designing and perfecting has succeeded. Everything I’ve done, good or bad will be justified when Maria steps out of the SUV and walks into my arms. When I can take her home and make love to her. I’m going to marry her and spend my life devoted to her.

As I hold the door, Marco and Javier enter the café and Leticia and Alejandro wait for their father. He helps Guadalupe from the SUV and closes the door. My eyes move to each face, none of them belonging to Maria. I go through the door to the SUV and look inside.

“She’s not with us,” Marco says, startling me.

“Where is she?” I shout in his face. “How the fuck could you leave her behind?

“We weren’t at the mansion. She texted me to bring everyone here to meet the two of you. I assumed she was here. What’s going on?”

“I made a mistake,” I say, although my voice sounds far away. “You should get her father.”

Once Marco brings Mr. Torrente outside, I fill them in on my plan and how it backfired when Maria confronted Mr. Guerra.

“We have to go get her,” Mr. Torrente orders.

“No, it’s too dangerous. She’ll be here,” Marco insists, “give her some time.”

“No, we must go now.” Alejandro looks at me with pleading eyes. “They’ll kill her.”

“I’m going with you,” I say, opening the door to the SUV.

Her father nods, before going inside to tell Guadalupe to stay with the kids. The drive to the mansion is the worst kind of torture. Although the car is full of silence, my maddening thoughts are screaming at me. I can’t turn down the noise. I fucked up. I fucked up so badly. My need for revenge has potentially cost me the one person who I was trying to save.

The driveway seems infinite as we drive, as though we aren’t moving at all, but the trees pass by the window and the mansion comes into view. Marco draws his gun and gives one to Mr. Torrente and myself before we get out of the SUV.

I hate guns. The cold steel in my hand bring

s on a flash of unwelcomed memories. The noise, the smell and the sounds of my family screaming as Sheila crashed to the floor. I was a coward then, slumping against the wall unable to stop what I knew was going to happen. I failed my mother, but I can’t fail Maria. If there’s a chance to save her, I have to try.