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He stopped and spun toward me. “Then don’t be like Papá, Thio. Prepare me. Teach me.”

“You are too innocent for this life. I don’t want to destroy you, hermoso.” I stood, but he took a step back, away from me. “Please don’t pull away.”

He chuckled, but it didn’t sound right, not like the Manny I knew. “When are you going to stop treating me like a child?” He did move forward then, until our chests nearly touched. Leaning in until his mouth hovered near mine, he laid a hand on my right pec and chewed on his bottom lip. “I’m not a child anymore, Thio. Please don’t treat me like I can’t be trusted.”

I winced and sighed. “I can’t tell you everything.”

“Tell me enough. Tell me what my father did,” he begged, looking up into my eyes with a sad frown.

“I’ll tell you some things.” I grabbed his hand on my chest and squeezed it gently, the warmth of his skin comforting. He was here, with me, and that’s all that mattered now. “Your father blamed Papá for your mother’s death. They… got into bed with the wrong men, so to speak. The drug trade is a dangerous business, which you know, and your father was aware of what he was getting into when he joined Papá.”

Manny stiffened. “Mamá?”

I nodded, the comfortable mood quickly slipping away. “Your mamá was an amazing lady, hermoso. She was kind and smart and beautiful. Our fathers’ enemies decided to take her out as a warning to stay away from their territory.”

He stumbled back, and I straightened but didn’t follow him because I knew he’d push me away.

“Papá warned Don Antonio to have your mother protected at all times, especially since they were still living in Baja, but he told Papá that she’d be fine. He did send you to us, so I have to wonder how much he believed what he was saying. The plane wasn’t an accident, Manny. They killed her.”

He gasped and slapped a hand over his mouth, his chest rising and falling fast.

“Don Antonio blamed Papá, though it took a few years for him to say that outright, and then he broke ties with him. He wanted to go out on his own. Papá warned him to be careful, that he’d find himself indebted to the wrong men, but he didn’t listen. He made deals with the devil.” I shook my head and stared at my hands. “We tried to get him out of it. Papá tried to pay off these men who your father owed investment money to, but it was too late. Your father couldn’t get stable supply lines into the US set up. He kept getting his shipments taken down. The men who put money into his business owned him. They still do. He hasn’t been able to pay them off.”

He let out a harsh breath and fell to the floor on his knees. His shoulders trembled. I moved forward and bent down to sit beside him, resting my arm around his shoulder.

“We tried. That’s why he had you locked away, if I had to guess. He thought he was protecting you from the same men who killed your mamá.”

Manny raised his gaze but stopped on the scar that ran from below my right ear. He couldn’t see where it disappeared into my shirt and stopped just above my nipple, but I supposed he’d seen that when I got out of the shower. It was thin and healed, but it would be a mark I’d have for the rest of my life. He reached up and traced the scar on my neck. “How did you get this?”

I winced and shook my head. “I think that’s enough truths for today.” I went to get up, but Manny grabbed my wrist, staring at me pleadingly.

“How did you get it, Thio? Tell me.” His voice shook, but I didn’t know if it was in shock or anger. Maybe both.

I sighed again. “I went to Bolivia with the intention of paying off these men who had your papá in a bind. Instead, they took our money and slit me from here—” I touched below my ear. “—to here.” I ran my finger down where I knew the scar ended under my shirt. “To prove a point to my father. They couldn’t be bought once someone had made a deal with them. They made me walk fifty miles before Papá’s men found me, bleeding.”

He gasped and leaned his forehead against my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing, hermoso? This is the life I prepared for.”

“We could leave it,” he said suddenly, making me frown when he stared into my eyes intently. “We could pack up our stuff and go on the run. America is a big place. They wouldn’t find us.”

I shook my head. “No, we can’t. I won’t leave my family, you know that.”

“But, Thio—”

I grabbed his chin and slanted my mouth over his. He leaned into my kiss, eyes slipping shut. With a final peck at the corner of his lips, I smiled. “You are my life, Emmanuel Miguel Méndez-Beltrán, but this is my papá’s legacy. I can’t abandon it. It’s my career.”

“But you abandoned me,” he spat, shoving away and to his feet. I followed him up onto mine and reached for him, but he turned his back on me, shoulders shaking. “You left me there. Alone. I had no one. I thought you’d moved on, and I was right. You have.”

“What? That’s ridiculous.” I grabbed his right arm and spun him around, staring down into his sad eyes. “I have not moved on.”

He shoved at my chest and I only fell back a few steps because I was surprised. “You fucked other people. You think I didn’t notice how that doctor stared at you? You fucked him, didn’t you?”

I cringed. I didn’t want to lie to him.

He laughed and shook his head. “You’re a maldito hijo de puta. Fucking son of a bitch. You should have left me at Papá’s.”

“Manny—” I reached for him but he slapped away my hand.