Alejandro
Ihave a half-brother.
A half-brother Eduardo knew about.
He also fucking knew who El Diablo is, and by the same fucking token, I should know.
Jesus Christ. The fucking plot just thickens, and even though I have some answers, I’m more confused than before on what to do.
Tonight’s shit keeps cycling around in my head. It stuck there on my journey home. I can barely concentrate as I park my car and walk up the steps to get into the house.
The retinal scan checks me, and the doors open.
I walk inside like a zombie knowing I should head straight to my bed, but I need a drink.
Bernardo said Eduardo had evidence of El Diablo. If he did, that meant he was checking things out. What did he find?
His and Priscilla’s things are in a storage facility in the countryside. I didn’t have the time to sort anything out after they were killed. To be quite honest, I didn’t want to. It was hard enough to lose my brother. I didn’t want to throw his things away, too.
Now I’m pushed to look through them to get answers.
Before Eduardo died, I knew nothing of El Diablo. Why the fuck didn’t he say anything to me if he knew about him? He would have known whoever he is and our half-brother were dangerous.
He would have known El Diablo was a relative who staged their death.
Fuck.
I walk into the hallway and stop in my tracks when I see Estelle coming out of the kitchen. She’s dressed in a robe with her white hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun.
When she sees me, her mouth drops open. I can imagine the sight I must be with Bernardo’s blood on me and the bruise on my face. It’s been a while since she saw me come home like this.
“What happened to you?” She rushes up to me, her face contorted with worry and her eyes brimming with it. In these moments, she feels more like a mother to me.
“You don’t want to know.” I continue into the living room, and she follows. I pour myself some whiskey then return my focus to her.
As I look at her, I wonder what family she might know that I don’t. Like this half-brother of mine. Whose child is he?
Who the fuck is he?
Is he one of my men?
“Alejandro, I’m asking because I want to know.”
“Did you know I have a half-brother?”
Her lips part in sheer surprise, and she shakes her head. “No. I had no idea.”
“You swear to me you didn’t know?”
She nods rapidly. I pray she’s telling the truth because I know she knows things from the past people wanted hidden forever. She kept my mother’s secrets.
“Alejandro, it’s of no use to lie to you now. None whatsoever. I will only tell you something that’s useful to you, and I will never lie to you. I swear I didn’t know.” She places a hand on her heart as if that should make me believe her more. “Now, please tell me what’s happening.”
I release a haggard breath and down the rest of the whiskey. She knows about El Diablo, but I’ll give her the latest updates. Apart from Cristiano, she’s the only person I can trust, and right now, I need to talk.
As I tell her, her skin turns alabaster, and I swear she looks older than her eighty-eight years.
“My God, Alejandro. I don’t know what to make of it.”