Page 148 of Unbreakable Thread

He nods, understanding.

I had been waiting for the DNA report from Ancestry to arrive when my heart was ripped out of me once again. It has been hard to grieve so many losses. “I also opened my account online to view my family tree, but I was waiting until I felt ready after losing… Leo.”

“We can read it together,” he says eagerly.

After opening the envelope, I see that I’m sixty percent Mexican, ten percent Italian, and some other small percentages of different ethnicities. It’s a start to finding my identity. One I’ve been waiting for.

“That’s interesting.” Max takes the paper and reads it. “You know. I want to apologize.”

I pick up my iPad from the small table beside me. “For what?” I ask, typing in the website.

He sighs, shoulders dropping. “Everything’s been so chaotic lately. I wanted to be by your side through all this—helping you piece together your memories, helping you learn more about your family—but we kept getting pulled away.” When I glance up, I catch his gaze. “Carlos fucked our lives up.”

Carlos took so much from us—Leo. One thing he didn’t take from us is the love we all have for one another. “You’ve been there when it counted,” I tell him, my voice softening. “Just having you nearby has been enough. Healing doesn’t happen overnight…but I’m making progress.” The twins tumble inside me, and I smooth my hand over the curve of my stomach. “These little ones are my saving grace. This pregnancy came exactly when we needed something to hope for.”

His large palms run along my belly. A smile so wide always happens when they move like crazy, kicking and pushing on my ribs. “Perfect timing.”

The doctor said we might have to do a C-section at 38 weeks if one of the babies doesn’t turn.

Max scoots his chair closer to me so he can view the screen sitting on my belly. I’m amazed. Photos of my mother on her wedding announcement from the local paper, high school photos, one of her winning the best loaf bread competition. She even made it on the paper. She’s so young, like maybe late twenties, I think.

A memory surfaces. My mom worked at the grocery store bakery for some time. I do remember that she was excited to start a new job at a bakery in town. She was always baking at home. Trying to perfect a new bread recipe. I was her taste tester. I don’t recall the rest. Maybe in time, the other pieces will come together. I always thought I got my love for baking from my adoptive mom before I knew I was adopted, but it turns out it was from my birth mom.

I find more information about my dad. Then my grandmother. I click on family members. Aunts, uncles, and cousins.

“She looks a lot like you.” Max points to a woman who lives in California. She’s four years older than me. It seems she’s related to my mom’s older brother. I don’t recall if I’ve met him. I’m sure I might have.

“She does,” I say, my voice coming out shaky, catching on the words. Max’s thumb brushes away the wetness tracking down my cheek. These days, everything makes me cry—blame the twins. But this feeling in my chest isn’t just hormones. Learning about my parents, their history—it’s like finding missing puzzle pieces I didn’t know were lost. For the first time, each detail feels like recovering a fragment of a shattered mirror, slowly revealing the reflection of who I truly am and where I come from. It’s definitely a start. “Should I send her a message?”

“You should.” He plants a kiss on my hairline. “She might just respond. It’s incredible what you can find.”

Indeed, it is. I’d seen commercials in the past before knowing I was adopted. Just imagine if I did send in my DNA, and my whole truth came out. It has made me wonder if they would have told me the truth. I shake my head. Stop overthinking.

“I’ll give you space to write to them.”

I nod, kiss his cheek, and he saunters to the guys, while I, with a nervous hand write to my relatives.

Chapter 44

Max

The nightmares in my dreams haunt me. The click of the gun, the vicious look on Carlos’s face. Leo’s body lying in a pool of blood. It crushes me to think I could have lost Sol. The twins. Leo didn’t think twice. He saved them. A part of me feels guilty for thanking him for taking the bullet. Now he’s gone. He’s not sitting in his office chair with his legs up, waiting for me to enter. He’s not chasing after me, wanting the scoop on the fights. He won’t pester me like a younger brother does. The absence sits heavily in my chest. Leo hid his dark moments with a smile. Since I met him, he had suffered from depression. I thought if I offered him a job, and gave him a home, it would help him. It didn’t. He was hurting. I hope he found peace, and the emptiness in his heart is filled.

I promised him he’d be my best man. Although I intended to have all of them be my best men, one is missing.

“Are you ready?” my dad asks, waiting for me while I adjust my white dress shirt.

I’ve been ready to marry Sol all my life. “More than,” I answer him.

“Then let’s get the show on the road.” Dad claps Drake on the shoulder.

My dad took Leo’s death as hard as we did. Leo grew on him like he did on all of us. Drake and Xander have been training with him. He’s gotten close to them and also made a new friend. Xander brought his dad over, and my dad and his dad hit it off. I think they even planned a fishing trip.

We arrive first at the chapel. Some of our guests have already arrived.

“Sol isn’t here yet,” Drake states the obvious. “She probably got cold feet.”

I glare at him. “She would not.”