"How can I believe anything you tell me?" I turn my back to her and shake my head. "How can I believe any of what you're telling me now is even true?"
"Because she told me so herself!" Mercedes shouts.
"When you were beating it out of her?"
A long silence follows my question and then a shaky breath. "It wasn't like that. I was fighting for my life. I didn't mean to kill her, but I had no choice. It was either her or me."
When I collapse into the chair, Mercedes starts to sniffle again.
"Would you rather it was me? Is that it? Do you wish it were me who was dead on that floor?"
"What I would have rathered was that you never lied to me at all!" I roar. "You betrayed me. You schemed. You nearly fucking killed me. My own sister. Do you understand that?"
She sucks in a sharp breath, a fresh wave of tears falling as she watches me pleadingly. "I would rather die than hurt you, brother. Please believe that. If nothing else."
My throat is tight, stomach tied up in knots when I look at the girl who used to follow me around constantly as a child. The one person in my life I thought I could always trust without question. But right now, her every word, every tear is just salt in the wound. It feels like I’m being torn in half by this decision, her betrayal. It’s an agony unlike any I’ve ever known.
I know what I need to do for both our sakes. At this late stage, my harsh words will be of no benefit to Mercedes. I could verbally eviscerate her, and it would make no difference because this is the monster I've allowed her to become. I've watched it happen. She's been coming unglued since the deaths of our father, Leandro, and subsequently, our mother. Lost to her grief, she has turned into a shallow, manipulative, hateful shell of a woman. A reflection of myself, if I'm being honest. And while I can accept that I am who I am, I can't accept that fate for her.
I won't allow her to destroy her life or anyone else's any longer.
"Get in bed and try to get some sleep," I tell her.
"What's going to happen now?" she croaks.
"Now, you are going to sleep," I answer flatly. "And when you wake up, you will start fresh."
She looks relieved but hesitant. Regardless, her exhaustion wins out, and she does as I ask, pulling back the covers and curling up to sleep. For a long while, I remain in the chair, unmoving. Frozen by the understanding of what it is I must do. I can't have her in my house any longer. I can't have her under the same roof as my wife and my future children because it will be impossible to protect them both. Mercedes has made her bed, and now she must lie in it.
It is the hardest decision I have ever had to make when I drag my phone from my pocket and dial a familiar number.
He answers on the third ring, greeting me by my first name.
"I'm ready," I tell him. "I need it to happen now.”
Three hours later, Mercedes stirs from her sleep, gasping for air as she bolts upright, clutching the blankets to her chest. She seems to sense the danger lurking in the corner of the room, and her eyes move to the dark figure sitting opposite me in the shadows. Watching. Waiting for her.
“Santi?” she whispers, her eyes moving back to me. “What’s going on?”
I rise from my seat on rigid legs, steeled by my retreat back into numbness.
“You are dangerous,” I tell her. “And you have proven that I can’t trust you. Not in my home. Not in my life. And now, there is only one solution that can save you.”
Her eyes move to the figure again, widening with fear as she begins to shake her head. “No. You can’t send me away. You can’t!”
“It’s done.” I tear my gaze away from her, breathing fire into my lungs as I nod to Judge.
He steps forward from the shadows, and Mercedes scrambles from the bed, prepared to fight. To flee. But for one split second, her eyes connect with his, and she pauses, almost… relieved. It doesn’t last. She’s bolting for me when Judge intercepts her, capturing her around the waist. Within seconds, he has her arms pinned behind her back as she screams for me, her desperation clawing at the last shred of my sanity.
“Santi, please don’t do this!”
“Go,” Judge tells me. “Leave, Santiago. I will handle this.”
I look at him and then at my sister. Our eyes connect for one last fleeting glance. In mine, she can see the anguish I tried to avoid, and even now, after everything, she tries to exploit it.
“You won’t do this to me. I know you won’t.”
“It’s already done.”
My stomach sinks, and I walk out the door.
28 Ivy
I clean up in the bathroom attached to the study, then return to the now empty room and look around. I’m pretty sure that was Marco on the line, and I know I heard Mercedes’s name. It must be big given the urgency with which Santiago ran out of here.
It feels strange being in here without him. Feels like I’m not supposed to be
