Into the Light (University of Isles #2)

33. Chapter 33

Chapter thirty-three

The next afternoon, I was so fucking nervous because while everything went according to plan and Mr. Ortiz was on his way here to meet at the diner, I knew confronting him was going to ultimately change the way our entire life would be—the map of my present and future.

“Does this look okay?” I fussed with the sweater, annoyed with how itchy it felt against my skin.

We were standing in Ember’s apartment in Isles, but she’d packed a lot of my stuff in boxes already, getting ready to move to the house in the countryside after graduation. I was standing in her little bedroom staring at the floor-to-ceiling mirror in the corner.

“Just wear a shirt, Rain. This looks so uncomfortable,” Ember said sweetly as she pulled on one of her dresses and a blazer, opting to look more professional for this meeting, claiming that it gave her more of a leg to stand on.

“I want to look like you.” I gestured to what she was wearing before she laughed, walking out of the room.

“It’s not you. Just be you,” she encouraged. I fumbled with the sleeves of the sweater, ultimately deciding she was right and taking it off, replacing it with one of my long-sleeve black shirts.

I came out of the bedroom before she shoved a piece of toast in her mouth.

“SeeItoldyou,” she said with food in her mouth.

“Chew your food,” I grumbled before she flipped me the bird. I laughed in her wake, grabbing the envelope and the letters along with a copy of Ash’s will that I had the lawyer fax over with his signature on the bottom, confirming it was all legitimate. I also had bank information on Ember’s account on it.

“Why did you and your brother decide the diner was the best place to meet?” I asked again.

“I told you. He rented the whole thing out. It is on the very edge of town and in neutral territory.”

“The irony.” I interjected, and she huffed.

“You ready?” I asked her, grabbing the bag with all the documents and our helmets.

“Wait. One thing,” she said, disappearing back into the bedroom.

“We’re going to be late,” I called out, looking at the clock as it counted down the hours to three. I knew I was being an asshole, but my shaky leg told me that my anxiety was taking over. I didn’t want to go into a panic attack again, so I did exactly what my therapist suggested.

I allowed the panic to wash over me, for I had learned that denying it only intensified its grip. The push and pull of a panic attack often fed the fear, so I welcomed it in.

“Come in, you little fucker,” I murmured, punctuating my invitation with several deep, grounding breaths.

“I think I should add this to the envelope.” I snapped out of my thoughts as Ember circled back toward the door where I was standing.

“What is it?” I asked her, looking down at a folded black piece of paper in her hand.

“Just something, in case.” There was a knock at the door that I ignored.

“I’m not in the mood for surprises, Ember. I’m fucking anxious as shit,” I grumbled before her expression contorted to something I couldn’t recognize.

“It was stupid,” she balked before turning around. I grabbed her elbow.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, feeling like a total asshole. “I am just trying not to have a panic attack and lashed out.”

Her eyes looked down, still clutching onto the piece of paper. “I’d love to know what it is, and of course you can bring it.”

“I-I just think that maybe appealing to the very little human side that he had would help.”

“It absolutely would,” I said, feeling like a dick for snapping at her.

There was another knock at the door.

“Hold on,” I yelled. Better to yell at whoever the fuck demanded our attention than my sweet beautiful . . . girlfriend? Although, honestly, that word seemed so trivial for what she meant to me. Still, now was not the time to debate what she meant.

“What is this, mi pareja?” I looked at her trembling hand and dropped the backpack to the floor and grabbed her wrists. “What’s wrong?”

Frantically scanning her face, she handed me the piece of black paper. Slowly unfolding it, a lone tear dropped from the corner of her eye, tracing its path down her cheek. I diverted my gaze downward to see what I had unfurled.

I swallowed when I realized what it was.

“Is-is this . . .?”

She nodded.

“Sol,” I said so softly before pulling her tightly into my chest. I inspected the little ultrasound. It was crazy how realistic and clear it was.

“She has Ash’s curls.” I pointed at the little hair atop her head floating around in little ringlets. There was so much hair, too. I laughed when I realized she had the fucker’s big nose,too. “His large nose too.”

“Hey,” She slapped my chest, and we let out a small chuckle together.

“I think this is perfect and if you are ready, then you should bring it.”

“I’m ready.”

“Does anyone know?” I asked.

“Aside from Santiago, no.”

I scanned her face before dropping down to give her a small kiss on her lips. “I’m so proud of you.”

The door immediately pounded open, and there was Santiago on the other side.

“I was getting worried,” he said before seeing Ember in my arms in tears. “What’s wrong?”

He scanned the room before looking at the paper in my hand, immediately recognizing what it was.

“You told him?” he asked.

“I did.”

He gave my shoulder a quick squeeze before bending down to look at her in my face as she buried her body in my chest.

“Good, mija. You need to talk about it. She needs to be talked about.” It reminded me how grateful I was for him and how happy I was for hiring him.

“Are you guys ready?” he asked. It was my idea to have Santiago come with us to the diner. I’d informed him this morning of the plan. He would wait for us outside in case anything went astray, then he’d be able to remove Ember from whatever fight broke out.

“I still don’t agree with this,” she argued. “I don’t need protecting. It’s my family.”

“Just in case,” Santiago encouraged as he grabbed her in his arms, laying a brotherly kiss atop her head.

As we took the elevator outside, opting to use the Jeep instead of my bike, we went to the parking garage.

“So, does this mean I am out of a job now?” Santiago asked as we rounded the corner to our Jeep.

“What?!” Ember screamed, her voice echoing in the concrete parking garage. “Why would you say that? You cannot leave me.”

Sensing the panic in her voice, I wanted to alleviate some of it for her.

“Not unless you want to be. We have a lot of property out in the countryside. In fact, so much property we might need you to stay in the guesthouse, if you wanted.” I gave him a little wink.

“Of course, I am staying with you guys now.” He laughed before jabbing her in the side. “Maybe now I won’t have to play Uno until one in the morning with you while you cry over Swiftie music.”

“ Hey . She is a lyrical genius. Don’t tell me you didn’t love her new album.” She puckered her lips at him, and he only chortled before getting in his car.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked when we pulled up to the little parking lot behind the diner, not wanting to alert anyone we were coming. The plan was that I was meeting with Mr. Ortiz, and when Ember’s dad came through, Walsh would guide him inside. Ember would be with me at all times.

“No, but let’s get this over with,” I said as we walked in the front door. The front sign was losing even more coverage and now only the D was lit up welcoming us in. The bell jingled and we walked toward the back booth. Sue was behind the counter today. We’d bought her entire day out, and I tipped her generously to come by only when needed.

Mr. Ortiz didn’t know that the diner was bought out, because who would expect a shithole like this in the middle of the day to be full of patrons, especially if it was a meeting requested by his stepson.

We piled into the back booth and gave Sue a wave. I let Ember climb in first because I wanted to be able to protect her if something were to happen.

Sue brought us two chocolate milkshakes and gave a quick wink before making herself scarce.

“We got this . . . together,” Ember said as she wrapped her puffy, pink lips over the straw, taking a sip. Her mouth let out a little whimper, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Make that noise again and I’m calling this meeting off so I can fuck you over this table.”

The shock on Ember’s face only made me laugh when the bell of the door caught both of our attention.

I stood up.

“Sir,” I said, nodding at him, my body blocking Ember, at least until I moved aside and he had a full view of her smiling right up at him.

“Mr. Ortiz,” she said so confidently, her voice not shaking even an ounce, and even I was impressed because my own tone couldn’t say the same. Just as he was about to say something, she gestured to the other side of the table. “Please sit down.”

He looked between us, and I shrugged before sitting next to her, giving her thigh a little squeeze underneath the table. She took her hands off the table and crossed them.

“We have some things we need to discuss about your son.”

“Why is she here?” He directed the question to me, ignoring Ember completely.

“Ember can tell you.” I snidely remarked so the conversation could go back to her. She deserved a voice, maybe even more than I did.

“No,” Mr. Ortiz simply responded. “I have nothing to say to the woman who used my son so that her brother could kill him.”

“Ah, now that is where you are completely incorrect, and we cannot wait to show you today,” a new voice chimed in, and we all snapped our heads up. I was impressed that Walsh walked in here so stealthily, he must’ve come through the kitchen entrance.

“What the fuck?” Mr. Ortiz barked out as I stood and slipped next to him while Walsh piled in next to Ember.

“We’re here to show you our innocence.” Walsh took out the photos of the woods the day that he was there. “There is clearly one set of tracks on the rock based on the mud prints.”

“That proves nothing. You could’ve washed your own footprints out.” Mr. Ortiz made a swipe motion with his hand as if he didn’t want to hear anything else.

“It does though,” I encouraged, probing him so I didn’t have to whip out the other paperwork, even though that was a far cry from what would happen, with his track record.

“Come on, Rain.” Mr. Ortiz tsked. “I should have given you more lessons because your leadership skills are atrocious.”

He said it in such a smug way that for a moment, I even believed it.

“No,” Ember said, and Walsh placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her, but nothing would deter her from speaking her mind now. “You don’t get to say that about Rain. He has spent the last year tirelessly working to find out what happened to Ash. So you don’t get to call him a bad leader.”

“Why are these peasants here?” Mr. Ortiz looked at Ember and Walsh and scoffed.

“Sir,” Walsh began. “I am trying to tell you—”

“Ash killed himself.” I straightened up. It was time for me to stand up for Ember—for myself. “Whether or not you want to believe it and you want to acknowledge your role in his mental health struggles that’s up to you, but I will not have you speaking to Ember like that.”

Mr. Ortiz narrowed his eyes at me before the corner of his lip twisted and he huffed in anger. “I see what is happening here.”

“Which is?” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at his fucking disgusting face, grateful that he will no longer be in power for that much longer.

“You are fucking the whore. She wants to know what two stepbrothers feel like, so she took you—” Still sitting, I pounded him in the face—consequences be damned.

Mr. Ortiz stood up, the table in the center of us went flying toward Ember and Walsh. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Walsh jump over to shield her body.

“Stop,” another powerful voice with a deep low timbre echoed from the other side of the diner. “Sit down, Ortiz.”

“Dad?” Ember said from beneath Walsh’s body.

“Get up, Walsh,” Mr. Solis demanded, and he jumped off Ember, who exploded out of the booth.

“I didn’t need you to do that.” She huffed, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“We will not be referring to the children as whores, especially mine,” Mr. Solis barked at Mr. Ortiz, and I couldn’t help but to see how immediately the attitude shifted on him . . . like he was scared?

Seemed so impossible because his entire life Mr. Ortiz made everyone cower around him. He was tall, broad-shouldered and his strong jawline that looked like it could literally eat anyone who walked his way only added to his menacing presence.

“Sit down.” Mr. Solis pointed to a table in the center of the diner.

“What’re you doing here?” Mr. Ortiz demanded before Mr. Solis held the chair out again. Ember walked toward the table where she sat next to her brother. I sat on the other side of her and only squeezed her thigh, making sure she was okay.

She gave me a quick nod, as if confirmation that everything was all right between us—with her.

“Please listen to him,” I begged, and Mr. Ortiz glanced at all of us before obliging and sitting in the empty chair next to Mr. Solis.

“You are in on this little reunion?” Mr. Ortiz asked.

Mr. Solis shook his head. “I had no idea that this was happening. I was told to come here to meet my children for dinner, but I suppose that isn’t happening.” He glanced around at the empty restaurant. Even Sue had scurried away from us.

“What is this about?” Mr. Solis asked, looking between both of his children before landing on me. I could have sworn he lifted his chin at me, a gesture that looked so similar to the one I gave Ember. I responded with a nod.

“It’s time,” Walsh told me.

I reached into my backpack to grab the infamous paperwork before I first laid out the bank statements on the table. Knowing I was presenting this in front of Ember’s dad would make it worse for him because someone bore witness to what was happening, his enemy, nonetheless.

“What are you showing me?” Mr. Ortiz grabbed the papers and looked at them. Walsh, Ember, and I all remained silent as Mr. Solis picked up another document.

The large clock behind the waitress stood tick-tick-tick as the noise seemed to somehow grow as the silence did in the room. Seconds passed before realization washed over Mr. Ortiz’s face. His mouth attempted to remain in an unscathed flat line, but his jaw kept ticking.

“Ortiz,” Ember’s dad warned as soon as he realized what he was looking at. “Mexico is going to fucking kill you if they find out about this shit.”

Mr. Ortiz coughed as if he was trying to clear his throat. “Where did you find these?”

“I didn’t.” I laughed because Ash had set this all up for us. This was exactly what he predicted would happen, and it was all coming to fruition. “Your son did.”

“What?” Mr. Ortiz balked.

“When he died, he wanted me to keep this paperwork safe. I didn’t know what it was until they found letters that Ash had left behind.” I noted that Walsh left out that he wasn’t there that day, keeping that for Ember and me.

Ember pulled out copies of our notes that Ash had left before Mr. Solis quickly looked them over and then back at his daughter.

“Ember,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t—”

She held up her hand. “Now is not the time for apologies. I just want to get this over with.”

I understood her, so I quickly said the last piece of information. “You’re skimming the business. After graduation, Pico will be taking over. None of us are going to say anything outside of this table, but you will step down.”

“The hell I will.” He scoffed, and I pulled out the rest of the evidence I had in my bag.

“I know you don’t value human life or relationships much, but this is evidence you’ve been fucking around on my mom. To make matters even worse, you’re discussing sensitive business information at a fucking strip club with strippers. I don’t think anyone will appreciate what you’ve been doing.”

There it was. The utter wrecking ball I served him like it was a cold sandwich on a platter. A pure slap in the face without ever hitting him. She was right. Words could somehow resolve so much more than brutal force.

“H-how?” His voice shook, knowing I had the power in my hand. It felt so fucking good to play my cards, too.

“Ash,” I said slyly as the grin exploded on Ember’s face.

“If I do this, he is going to say something. Why would I trust him of all people?” He scoffed, putting the papers of his indiscretions down before slowly taking a deep breath and looking up at us.

“Dad?” Ember asked Mr. Solis.

“What’re you asking for, Rain?” He looked over his daughter’s shoulders.

“I want Pico to take over for the US operations instead of me. You were right about one thing, Mr. Ortiz, but it’s not because I am not cut out to be a leader, I am choosing not to be one.”

“Pico?”

“Yes.”

“And I am to step down?” I nodded again at Mr. Ortiz’s question.

“I don’t know, Ember . . .” Mr. Solis started to say.

“Well,” Walsh chimed in, “we will also be removing the spring bonfire ritual. We both agreed it causes more pain than pleasure, especially after Ash’s death.”

The two older gentlemen looked between each other, knowing their parents’ generation created this neutral territory.

“Okay,” they said at the same time.

“I just don’t know if I can keep this a secret, Walsh. This is some serious shit, and his leaders have a right to know.” Mr. Solis told him.

Ember’s body vibrated next to me. I could feel the frustration pulsating off her.

“No.” She stood up, her chair flying behind her. She pulled out the photo in her bag before I held my breath.

“You don’t have to,” I leaned over to whisper in her ear.

She shook her head. “No, I want to.”