Chapter 29

Lilly

I feel like I’ve just taken a punch to the gut. What the fuck did she just say?

“Did she just say brother?” Cessy asks from across the room.

“Selena,” Enterrador whispers. “How? How can this be?” he asks, reaching over to brush her cheek.

When she flinches, he actually has the sense to look hurt.

“Why have you let me think you were dead for all these years? How could you do that to me? To Alex?” he asks, his voice getting louder with each question. “You have no idea what your death did to her,” he yells.

“Do not talk to me about what I’ve done to Alex, Adan. Not when you just watched proof showing you our father was responsible for her death,” Mythic seethes.

“Hold the fuck up. Did she just say father?” Cessy asks again, the only one brave enough to voice her confusion right now. Snoopy simply sits back in his chair damn near in shock, his eyes moving back and forth as he processes everything we just learned.

“Why would Diablo want you dead if you’re his daughter,” I whisper.

When she meets my gaze I see nothing but regret reflecting back at me in her eyes. “I was taken by the Asesino at the behest of my father. A rival had found me and threatened to take me. Diablo beat them to the punch. He doesn’t allow weakness. The minute I became one, I had to be taken care of.”

“He wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t. You weren't there when he came home. He looked for you,” Enterrador exclaims.

Looking to Enterrador, she glares, silencing him. “The night Alex believed I died, I met our father for the first time, Adan. I know what I was told. He left me in that hell hole with his hired killers to do whatever they pleased. I was fifteen, Adan! Fifteen! I spent the next two years begging for my life. Begging to live another day, though I don’t know why. Another day to be beaten, raped, repeatedly. I lived that life, Adan. Me! So, don’t you dare tell me what our father would or wouldn’t do,” she screams as she slowly stands from the table. “Jesus saved me. Stole me away in the night he found out I was pregnant.”

“Pregnant?” he questions.

“Yes, and do you know what happened to my baby girl, Adan? The night you came for revenge on Jesús you took her life. That little girl whose throat you slit was mine.”

He sits back as if she'd slapped him “No.”

“And you ask me why I let you think I was dead? You turned into the man Diablo always wanted you to be. After he took Alex from you. Because he thought she made you weak,” Mythic hisses.

“And look at you now,” she says, gesturing to the man before her. “Buying a woman, hunting her because she looks like Alex. She would be ashamed of the man you’ve become, brother. I know I am.”

Without another word, Mythic walks back to the private room. She disappears inside it before returning with Enterrador’s men, and Dash and Jekyl in tow.

“You will never bother her again,” she says, pointing at Lilly. “ Do you understand me?”

Enterrador cuts his eyes to her, hating that she chose to show her power in front of his men. He nods with a scowl planted firmly on his face.

“Go back to your hotel in Austin. I’ll be there shortly.”

Enterrador’s men look back and forth between the two. Unsure if they should leave or what the fuck they're supposed to do. I doubt they’ve ever seen someone stand up to him, let alone a woman like Mythic.

When he turns to leave without a look in her direction Emily yells, “Sir. Sir. You can’t leave me here. You promised if I helped you, I would get my son back.”

Turning right before he reaches the door, he looks at her and says, “You think this was helping me?” he spits. “Stupid woman, you should’ve known about all of this,” he says, gesturing to the show of force the two clubs met him with. “Your son is gone. You will never see him again. Honestly, you were an idiot to believe I would ever give him up. Caine was our family. His son will be raised with us. You were meant to be killed today, but I'll leave that up to them.”

Looking at Prez, he continues, “If you don’t kill her, we will come for her. She now knows too much about who I am.”

Without another word, he and his men walk out the door as Emily loses it. “You bastard,” she screams to the empty space by the door. When she tries to run past Cessy, Cessy slaps her across the face, gun in hand. “Sit the fuck down. We would’ve helped you, you stupid cunt. But instead, you turned to the enemy and almost cost Lilly her freedom. Don’t think I won't shoot you right here and now for that shit.”

Holding her cheek she laughs. “Like you’ve helped Rose get kids back?”

When Cessy raises her hand ready to strike again, she has the brains to shut the fuck up. Turning to Mythic, Cessy yells, “You better start fucking explaining.”

“Cessy, don’t,” Snoopy snaps.

Glancing at Snoopy, Mythic opens her mouth to speak multiple times but can't seem to find the words. “Ashton,” she whimpers.

“Selena,” he grumbles as he slams his chair back and stands from the table. Without so much as a second look, he walks away.

“Please let me explain,” she pleads to his back, but he never turns around as he storms into the storeroom and out of Blue Bells.

Casting her gaze to the floor, Mythic takes a deep breath before peering up at me. “You’re so much like her, like Alex, that at times it hurts. I understand why he latched on to you like he did. Alex was the best friend I ever had. I wish every day my mother had never moved us into their home. Maybe she’d still be alive if she’d never met us.”

“I don’t understand why you didn’t think you could trust me,” I say quietly.

Shuffling over to me, she reaches up to cup my cheek. “Look around you, Lilly. Look at how your family sees me now. Being the daughter of a cartel boss isn't something to be proud of. I never wanted to have to be that girl, but now…” she says, pushing her shoulders back and taking a deep breath. “Now, I don’t have a choice. He has to be taken down. One way or another my father must pay for what he’s done. I just hope I don’t go down with him.”

“You could run again?” I offer.

“You watched that video just like I did,” she says, pointing to the laptop long forgotten. “I have to know if she’s truly dead, Lilly. She’s still breathing when they take her. I can’t find out if I run again.” Shaking her head, she admits softly, “No, it’s time I stop hiding.”

Glancing to the brothers around the room and finally to Prez, she tells him, “You run a good club. I wouldn’t have helped you if you didn’t. I can’t even begin to thank you for all you’ve done for me this last week. I want you to know if you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask. Hate me or not, Snoopy can always find me.”

Reaching forward, she takes my hand in hers. “You made me realize everything I was missing in life, Lilly. I'll never forget that.” With that, she walks out of Blue Bells, leaving all of us staring as we try to fully understand everything that just happened.

“What the actual fuck,” Cess exclaims, throwing her hands up, drawing our attention to the booth she’s standing at.

Before we can even see it happen, Emily lunges forward and grabs the gun from Cessy’s lax hand. She aims and fires one shot before Cessy is on her, wrestling the gun from her hands.

When I look around, a scream tears from my throat as I see Gunner drop to the ground. Terror grips me as I drop down beside him. I did not go through everything and come out on the other side with my life back only to lose the man I love.

“Gunner,” I whimper before placing my hand on his chest. The liquid pooling there squishes under my fingers, and my hands start to shake. In an instant, Rodeo is beside me, checking for a pulse.

Grabbing both shoulders, he shakes me. “Snap out of it,” he bellows. “No one here can help Gunner more than you, Lilly. What do we do?”

In this moment, I want to crumble, but he’s right. This is what I went to school for. It may not be a children’s hospital but working with the Sons will never be mundane.

“I need his shirt off. I-I don’t know where the entrance wound is,” I stammer.

Rodeo shreds the fabric down the center, and it begins. We spend the next twenty minutes doing everything we can to save the man who owns my heart. I know as soon as he’s in the ambulance that Gunner is fighting with everything he has and my life is forever changed.