Page 86 of Redemption in the Dark (The Righteous 5)
“Yes, he was…he was maybe eighteen or nineteen. It’s hard to judge I was young. I think five or six…shit, this is so hard to understand. He called me Isabella Alvarez, and he didn’t go by the name Dean. His name was Mercurio Ramirez.”
Wolf sucked in a deep breath and leaned back against the counter. She stared at his face, and he suddenly looked worried, which did nothing to settle the knot in her stomach.
“Does any of that make sense to you? Please tell me, Waya, I can’t take any more secrets. Wait…” She turned the photo around so he could look at it. “Did you know? Did you know all this time and not say anything to me? Have you been playing me? I mean, you were sent to kill me.”
She took a step back from Wolf, and his face morphed into one of pain as if she’d punched him.
“No, of course not. Do you really think I’d hurt you like that?” His voice was as hurt as his expression. “Have I given you any reason to think I’d ever do something like that?”
Maeve nibbled on her lip, her shoulders slumping as her heart and mind kicked her and told her to stop being stupid.
“No, I don’t. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.” She rubbed at her face as more questions floated to the surface. She had so many now she didn’t even know which one to tackle first. “Just tell me what you do know, and don’t tell me you don’t because I can see it all over your face.”
He shook his head as his eyes searched her face. “Walela, I…”
“Waya, please. You’re the one person that I trust with my life, but also my heart. If you know something, then you need to tell me. No secrets between us.”
He nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. “The Ramirez and the Alvarez families are the two largest cartels currently in Mexico. They’ve been at war with one another for years and have been on The Righteous’s radar for as long as I’ve been involved. Dean is the son of Carlos Ramirez, one of the most feared men alive today. He ran from that life when he was eighteen. He ran and never looked back.”
She stumbled back, her ass finding a seat as she stared into Wolf’s eyes. “My mother called my father, Diego. Is he…?”
Wolf nodded. “Yes, he’s the leader of the Alvarez Cartel.”
She covered her face as pieces of her past continued to flutter into her brain like little puzzle pieces that didn’t want to fit together.
“He ran. Mercurio ran, and he took me with him. Oh my god…Morry.” She clenched her fist. “She had to have known. How could she….” She stormed to her feet.
Wolf grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “Hey, we don’t know anything yet. Dean was very private about his past. The only reason I know his real name is because we all thought we were going to die. We started doing this thing where we’d share stories of our past at night. It kept us sane to talk about who we were and what we wanted to change when we got home. So don’t jump to conclusions.”
She gently pulled away from Wolf to pace. “I need the answers, Waya. I need the answers to what the hell happened to me and why. I mean, how did I end up with the Ramirez Cartel, to begin with, and if Dean took me, then how did we get separated?”
“Walela, I know you want answers, and we will get them, but we can’t run off half-cocked either. If we do, those men will catch us, and as you’ve seen, whoever is sending them, they’re not our friends.”
She was shaking and didn’t see Wolf move until he wrapped his arms around her. The warmth of his body was comforting, and the scent of his skin settled her pulse.
“We’ll get the answers, Walela. I’ll help you find what you need to know. We’ll go to Morry and start with what she knows, but even if she has no answers, we won’t stop until we get to the bottom of this.”
Turning in his hold, she hugged him hard. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
Maeve lay awake, her mind as restless as her body. Wolf had done his best to take her mind off the troubling memory, and for a short time, she’d dozed in the comfort of his hold, but her mind just wouldn’t shut up. The minutes on the glowing red clock slowly ticked on, and with each flip of the number, she became more antsy.
She slowly got up from bed, careful not to disturb Wolf, and she pulled on one of his hoodies that made her feel safe. Duke was lying by the door as if he was guarding against anyone getting inside. She had to step over him to get out into the hall, and he lifted his head and looked at her.
“I’m just getting some water, I swear,” she said to the dog that always seemed to be interrogating her.
It didn’t matter what she said. The moment she got a few strides away from the bedroom, he followed like a shadow. Going to the sink, she poured herself a glass of water and turned to stare at the box that had just turned her life upside down once more.
Unable to help the urge, she glanced at the block of knives on the counter and could feel what it would be like to drag the blade across her skin. She hated that her mind went there. Pushing away from the counter, she went and sat at the table. She was never doing that again. The pain was short-lived, but the scars lasted forever. She was thankful for too much, and going backward was not part of that plan.
Setting the glass down, she grabbed the rest of the discarded photographs and began flipping through them. She didn’t know what she was hoping to accomplish by doing this, but she searched through the images until she found another one of Dean. She didn’t know what to call him. Her mind called him Mercurio, but she’d chosen his new name, and obviously, everyone still thought of him as that. It was messing with her mind.
She held the photo in both hands and stared at the man, who was like a polaroid image in her mind. All she could remember was that one moment, but where was the rest? What else was she not remembering?
“Speak to me, Dean. Tell me what I need to know,” she said to the picture. The man in the image was shirtless and flexing for the camera as he laughed. Maeve brought the picture closer to her face and stared at his arm. The spider tattoo was familiar.
“Oh shit.” She grabbed for her temple as her eyes shut.
