“Go on, Belinda. Don’t make him wait.” My eyes shift to Thiago’s, and he’s amused by this. Smirking at Jadiel. “Is she usually a liar? Does she sleep with everyone you meet?”
“She loves me,” is Mr. Rojas weak reply and for a very quick second, I pity him.
Anyone with two fingers’ worth of common sense can smell the deceit. I noticed it when she first approached me, how envy dominated her features, and then the desperation to gain my approval as a friend. What she failed to do in her research of me is take notice of how small my inner circle is. How I don’t trust easily.
Belinda looks at my husband, widening her eyes while trying to appear pathetic. “I beg of you...please, anything else. Spare me this embarrassment.”
Another strike for her and whoever did their homework on us; we don’t respect those who beg. And while I might not be as ruthless as the man I love, I do stand by the rules of my family always coming first.
“You have two minutes to explain.” Silence ensues, and I can’t help but look over at Andy after showing so much concern for her. Head down and hands twitching, his body is moving slightly away from his business associate. My husband notices this too and nods at Ivan. “Sixty seconds.”
“I slept with Andres.”
There’s a choking sound from the man she married. “You did what?”
“And?” This came from Ivan while the facial expressions of those around us are of distaste.
“And, they promised to let me walk away and disappear after all was said and done. That my husband and father-in-law would be dead, and the money they’d earned would become mine to start over again.”
“What’s your motivation for this?” I asked a few seconds later. “Why betray your husband?”
“Because he’s been my abuser since the day we met. He’s cheated and beat me for years, and this was my only way out. I’m desperate to end it all.”
Out of all the things she could have said, those were the only ones that could pull at my heart strings. Belinda could’ve been my mother a few years down the road. My mother could’ve pulled a crazy stunt like this to escape my father, and would I have condemned her for this?
The answer is no.
No, I wouldn’t have.
“Can you prove this?” Because if it were true, I’d plead her case, and by the small squeeze of my husband’s hand, he knows it too.
“She already did when she gave me a recording of Jadiel and his father discussing her, a whore they frequently used to entertain themselves and guests, and then their plans.”
“Okay.” I nod, my eyes quickly shifting to a guard. “Find her a chair and get her something to drink.”
Jadiel spits at the ground as soon as the last word leaves my lips, his breathing harsh as he stares down his wife with so much hatred. This is who he is. The dynamic between the two is unfolding within a few simple words. It’s all in the way she flinches—the nervous wringing of hands and the way she looks down.
This is how my mother would act when...
How did we miss this? Or did Thiago know?
“That puta doesn’t deserve—”
“Silence.” Thiago’s tone is enough for him to remember his place and lower his head, but not before glaring at Andy and then Belinda one last time. Jadiel’s hands are clenching open and closed in front of him, his head shaking from side to side. His body language is one of rising rage, but it’s his muttering a few seconds later that catches our attention. Especially once Belinda is given a small chair and bottle of Coke. “Louder. Let everyone here hear you.” Jadiel’s lips quit moving, but I notice the slight leaning toward the man beside him. How his muscles coil. “Final warning. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“She cheated!” Mr. Rojas yells out in rage and tackles Andres, banging his head on the asphalt hard. It bounces, the sound reverberating through those present, and Andy stiffens. Knocked out and unable to defend himself, Rojas continues to attack the unconscious man until blood pools beneath his head.
And then he chokes him. Without honor. Without letting Andres fight back.
It’s over within minutes. Very anticlimactic, and Ivan and Thiago wait for him to fall beside Cruz, breathing hard and now choking on a sob. Reality is smacking him in the face while humiliation cloaks his features.
“Very few men are able to take a life, Jadiel.” Thiago releases my hand and walks over to a guard holding a gun on a tray. My husband picks it up, checks the magazine, and then walks back to the two bodies on the ground.
One dead. One alive.
“She cheated.”
“And you’ve done worse.” Without pause, he puts a bullet between Andy’s dead eyes and then points it at Jadiel. “You played a dangerous game by trying to cross me. You put yourself in this position when you thought to harm a single hair on my wife’s head.” Kneeling, Thiago presses the muzzle against his lips, rubbing the tip against them and pushing it deep enough that Rojas gags. “You hurt those around you. You lied and stole.” Tilting his head, he tsks. “Here’s a life lesson for you that is useless now, but if there is a next life, I suggest you carry it with you.”
Jadiel makes a gurgling sound while his wife whimpers. “Can I please leave? This is—”
“Necessary,” I answer for him and pin her with a cold stare. “Not another word.”
“Thank you, Beauty.” He looks back at me and winks before returning to the
