Page 121 of Unbreakable Thread

“The day after I came back, and we brought your dad. He threatened to hurt my unborn child and Leo if I said anything to you.” Out of habit, she fiddles with the hem of her dress. “The fire.” Her hands tremble. “I think.”

My knuckles turn white, gripping the end of the cushion on the sofa. He tried to fucking kill her. Why would he just burn the building? He must have thought she was in there. The pieces are coming together. The fear in her eyes makes me want to find Carlos and do something I know I shouldn’t.

“Max, you will need to speak with your dad because there is more you don’t know.”

“Like?”

The front door creaks open, and my dad walks in from his first day of training at my company. He looks between Sol and me. His face says he already knows which conversation we are having.

My mind is spiraling. I feel stupid. Betrayed. Years of calling that man a father figure, only for him to use me and threaten the woman I love and my unborn children. He’s fucking evil, and he will fucking pay.

“Hector, I told Max about Carlos.”

My dad’s eyes widen. He knew everything and kept it between them. At least he was here the day Carlos showed up.

“Umm, I didn’t tell him the conversation you and Carlos had. I figured it was your story to tell your son.”

Pops drops his binder on the coffee table.

“I’m glad you told him, mija. He needed to know.” My dad looks to me. “Max, I’ve known Carlos for a very long time, so did your mother. I didn’t know Carlos had been training you since you were sixteen. Not until I saw you on TV, when they announced your fight during the interview, and they mentioned Carlos. I had thought he adopted you. Of course, I was drunk and didn’t know what to do about it. I thought he was okay, a blowhard but not a bad man, and I was happy you had someone to look out for you.” He points to Sol. “She told me what he’s said to her.”

It feels like the air has been knocked out of me. Carlos never mentioned knowing my dad. On the other hand, he acted as if he knew nothing about my past.

“Tell me everything.”

He starts by informing me who Luis Gonzalez and Oscar Cano are. “It’s on me, Max. You were too young to know any of this. And, well…” He sighs. “I let them take you from me. I didn’t care for you as a father should have, and I led you into the hands of a monster.”

Carlos was in love with my mom? What the fuck?

He continues.

“I stopped fighting because it was important to your mom. She grew up in the world of boxing.”

I frown. I didn’t know this. I was too young to understand and remember any of it when she passed.

“Your grandfather on your mother’s side, Luis, was a sought-after boxer, and your great-grandfather on my side as well.”

“I know who they are. I just…didn’t know I was related to them.”

“Of course you didn’t.”

My fingers press into my face, dragging my hands upward. Blood pulses rushing to my ears, drowning everything but the need to connect my fist to Carlos’s face. My respect went out the door when I watched those videos of him praising Annette for messing with my phone and meddling in my and Sol’s lives. But now…I’m out for blood.

“Carlos sees you as a money pit. It’s in your genes, Max. After all, you ended up at the boxing gym that belonged to him.”

“What I don’t understand is why in the hell he’s been pushing Sol away and threatening her?”

“Because after what happened to your grandfather, your mom was terrified of something happening to me. Boxing was a sport I loved, but not a career choice for me. Sure, if I wanted to pursue a career in it, your mom would have supported me. But I knew deep down she was terrified, and she meant more to me, so I stopped amateur fights. Carlos is afraid Sol would have you quit fighting, and he would lose you as his meal ticket. Now, the stuck-up brat of Annette would have been a perfect match in the eyes of Carlos and her dad, Rico. She’s a skilled fighter, and when they revealed your family history, the media and fans would go crazy.” He pauses. “And you’re Marabel’s son. Maybe in his mind, he wanted something that belonged to her. You. To feel he had a son with her.”

Luis Gonzalez and Oscar Cano are boxers who made history, but honestly, I never researched them.

“Wait…so Carlos and Rico know each other?” Rico had asked me about Carlos years ago. He failed to mention that they had met years prior. No wonder he handed Annette over for Carlos to train.

“They were never friends that I know of, but they had met back in Tahoe,” my dad says, sitting on the sofa, ankles crossed. “When Annette moved to Vegas to train with Carlos, I knew it wasn’t a coincidence.”

He’s right.

A rumble of anger vibrates within me. I stand and peer out the window, running fingers through my hair. Today was a day to celebrate with my girl, finding out the gender of our kids, not one but two, and now I have to deal with this asshole. I can’t sit and ignore it.