Punished (Calavera Hotels #1)

Chapter Thirty-Eight Mireya

When I awake again, I see the white walls and smell that familiar scent. I’m lying in a hospital bed. I look around and find Adrian sleeping next to me. I’m okay. He’s okay. I touch his face, and his eyes open.

“Diosa.” He pulls me into him, kissing the top of my head, and I start to cry again. I swallow and my voice cracks. He has on a clean white undershirt, and I take in that familiar scent of jasmine and chrysanthemum.

“I thought I would never see you again.”

He kisses my forehead, and he wipes the tears away. My body is trembling, and I can’t stop. It’s as if the wall I put up to hold it in all these years has broken and every hurt flows through, finally finding their own peace.

“I would never let anything happen to you.” We lay there like that, embracing each other as we drift back to sleep. When the sun pours in through the windows, I open my eyes and take a moment to adjust to the light. I search for the clock. It’s a little after seven in the morning, and I hear the sound of heels moving toward the door and a woman’s voice.

Adrian must have set guards outside my room. I hadn’t seen one nurse or doctor enter the room. I listen to the voices in the hall and recognize one.

“You will let me in this room immediately!” As I suspected, she gets her way, and I look up to see Tia Vicky walk through the door. Adrian jumps up right away and reaches for his gun.

“Tia,” I say, pulling Adrian back. He lowers the weapon, and my tia gives him an ear to ear smile as she moves towards me.

“How are you doing, mija?” I start to cry again, and it’s really out of my control at this point.

“I’m good. Just emotional,” I say and wipe at the tears. I have never been so happy to see her. She’s dressed more casually than yesterday. A black lace blouse and jeans. As beautiful as she has always been.

“It’s the hormones, mija.” She moves to grab my hand, and I look at Adrian. His face remains unphased. If he knows, he hasn’t said anything. I haven’t had time to tell him anything since he rescued me. And I’m not sure right now is a good time.

“Adrian, could you give me a moment alone with Mireya?”

“I’m not fucking leaving this room unless it’s with her,” he growls. I give him a glare, and she lets out a brief laugh.

“Very well.” She walks to the side of the bed and reaches for me. She squeezes my hand, and I smile up at her. She had saved Adrian. The sight of Julian Nunez’ brain splattering in front of me makes my stomach queasy, and I swallow down the bile rising.

“Mija, I am glad you are awake.”

“What are you doing here?” I am more than happy to see her, but I’m not sure how she found out about everything. How she was there at the auto repair shop. For a moment, I thought I had dreamt it. She had always come to my every cry and call, but I had never imagined her shooting a man in cold blood the way she had.

“There are some things we need to discuss.”

“Not now,” Adrian growls and panic takes over me. Immediately, my hands move to my stomach.

“Is it the baby?”

“No. No. The baby is just fine.” I sneak a quick glance at Adrian before I look back at her.

“Our baby is okay.” His hand reaches to overlap mine on my stomach .

“But your mother is dead.” I feel pressure in my chest. “Several men on motorcycles rode in and gunned her down. They took her body with them.”

“I told you to wait!” Adrian stands, and my chest tightens. I zone their argument out and focus my mind on my mother. The way she threatened me at the apartment. The cruel and careless way she spoke to me.

“I’m so sorry, mija.” She strokes my hair, and I search for the tears. I am still so angry at her. Sadness envelops me. I want to find a good memory to hold on to, but I can’t. That doesn’t mean I wanted her to die.

“Why would they do that?”

“I am assuming it was her son, Cassiel.”

“Cassiel?” My brother? I had never heard the name. I never knew she had any children besides me.

“Our brother,” Adrian interrupts, and my eyes search his.

They both began to fill me in on the events that had led to my mother’s death. My mother had been another victim of Ivan Consuelo. A young girl, madly in love with a man who would use and extort her. She would carry his child and be forced to give the baby up to a kingpin, whose wife could not bear children, in exchange for an alliance.

“Did you know about him?” I look to Adrian, and he shakes his head .

“I had no idea.”

“Did you?” I ask my tia, and she lets out a deep sigh.

“Not at first. When I met your mother, she was working at the hotel in Arizona. As soon as she found out my ex-husband and your father were a part of Los Peregrinos, she saw it as a way to find her son. She used Joaquin to find her way into the club. Joaquin was smarter than she thought, but when she got pregnant with you, she had something valuable to hang over his head. He loved you more than anything on this earth, Mireya.” I knew my parents did not love each other. I saw how much my father put up with, the belittling and lack of love. She was cold, but he never seemed bothered by it. Now, I can see the sacrifices he made to stay close to me. He endured her hostility, as long as I was okay. It is sad to think he never experienced love the way he deserved.

“We didn’t realize how far she was willing to go to find the child, but she had been stalking Ivan’s every move. When she found out about Adrian, she became out of control. Hyper-obsessing over her son being the rightful heir to the Consuelo Legacy.” I knew she disliked the Consuelo family, but I summed it up to jealousy. It made sense now, her desperate need to mock and belittle the family. The lengths she went to hurt Adrian. The lengths she was willing to go to hurt my child .

“Do you know where he is? Cassiel?” I look to Adrian before I try to make sense of it. “Our brother?” There was someone out there–half me, half Adrian–and he was connected to us. He was our family. I couldn’t help but worry about his life.

“Yes. But he does not want to be found, Mireya. He sent a message to her once, to warn her to stop looking for him, and her death was the final warning to all of us not to continue trying. He’s dangerous.”

He had her killed. The woman who had suffered in her attempts to find him had been killed in his name. He made a spectacle out of her death. While she had never been a good mother, she didn’t deserve to die like that.

“Adrian, can you get me something to eat?” He looks at me, debating if he’ll fight me on it, but I soften my eyes.

“I need to talk to my tia in private. As of today, she’s all I have left.”

He looks hurt, but gets up and walks to the door, looking back to check on me once more before exiting the room. My tia moves to the bed and hugs me tight.

“That man loves you.” She runs her hand over my hair, the way she did when I was little.

“You think so?”

“Oh, I know so, mija. A man looked at me like that once, and I never forgot. Love like that is rare. You may not agree with his lifestyle, but he will always protect you and your baby.” Her hand caresses my stomach.

“Do you know him?” I whisper, and she knows who I’m talking about. She stays quiet, searching my eyes, that are pleading with her to tell me about Cassiel. I, at least, deserve to know about the man who killed my mother. What if he is a threat to me and my child?

“In this life, you will need alliances, and those alliances are built from secrets. Secrets are the most powerful thing you can keep. I don’t want to keep you from your brother, but he does not want to be found.”

“Will he hurt me?”

“No. He will not harm you. He has his reasons for what he does, and I don’t question him. Let him live his life, and he will let you live yours.”

“She was going to kill my baby,” I say, needing to get it off my chest. I know she’s gone, but my tia had witnessed the way she emotionally broke me down. She presses her forehead to mine.

“It will be a cold day in Hell before I let anyone hurt you or this baby.”