“The dick should meet you, is all I’m saying. Ugh.” She sends an emoji with its tongue out, then adds, “Anyway, text me when you land. I’ll meet you at your mom’s loft with a bottle of vino and we can catch up!”
“Can’t wait!” I reply, grinning at the screen.
Just before I stow it back in my pocket, I notice an unread message from Barnaby. I tap it and am faced with a nonsensical string of emojis. I smile at first, because a few of them are low-key sexual innuendo.
This is a first for him since we got engaged, but it’s cute, so I text back a set of lips, then, “Coming in tonight. Want to meet me and we can act that out?”
Three dots appear at the bottom of the screen, then disappear. I don’t have time to wait around for an answer, so I slip the phone back into my pocket and head to my next patient.
5 Mason
Under no circumstance can I let my dad set eyes on me, so while the lovely doctor is distracted, I slip out at a brisk walk, leaving the ward behind. A few paces down the hall, past the door to the ICU, I see an empty patient room and step into it, shutting the door and peering out the window to wait.
Security enters the door to the ICU ward, then returns a few seconds later, dragging my struggling asshole of a father. A moment later, Maddox appears. I open the door and grab his arm, hauling him in after me before he has a chance to object.
“You didn’t fucking tell me it was trauma-related, asshole,” I snap. “Flores is right—Dad’s the reason she’s lying there with a goddamn tube down her throat.”
Maddox closes his eyes and inhales, going still for a few heartbeats. He’s been a different man after his discharge from the Navy four years ago. When we were teenagers, he earned his “Mad Dog” nickname by being the first to fly off the handle when someone threatened the people he loved. He was always the first to stand up to Dad too, which was why our father tended to strike when Maddox wasn’t around, leaving Mom to be the shield. The rest of us had no chance of standing up to the bastard ourselves, and as his namesake, I became his whipping boy for not living up to the name. I admire Maddox’s newfound enlightenment, but I don’t want to be alone in my rage right now.
“We aren’t having this discussion now,” he says, taking out his phone and tapping a message before sliding it back into his pocket. “I’m doing my best to keep him away from her until his next assignment. He’ll be out of our hair in another week. What I need is to know you’re not going to do anything crazy to get yourself killed for real. How’s the assignment going? ‘It’s complicated’ isn’t exactly useful information. So if there’s anything you can’t tell Flores, give it to me now, because you have about two minutes until he gets here.”
My mind churns over all the things I wanted to say while I was on the drive up, and before I realize it, it’s all spilling out.
“I’m in some complicated shit with this assignment. I’m not even sure where to start, but I don’t give a fuck about me right now. I want to know how that bastard is getting away with putting Mom in the hospital. I would’ve hoped after three years and with all us kids out of the house, she’d have finally left him. So tell me, why the fuck does she stay?”
I pace to the window and back, fists clenched as I stare at my older brother. He’s leaning against the wall beside the door, thumbs hooked in the front pockets of his jeans and a deep frown on his face.
“Why she stays . . .” He trails off with a pained look and shakes his head. “Why she stays is complicated.”
I take a step closer. “Did she tell you why? Actually give you a reason?”
He glances to the door and then back at me and nods. “She’s trying to protect him from Arturo. Apparently Arturo promised her when she married Dad that as long as they were together, Dad was safe, but the second she left him, Arturo was prepared to kill him.”
“We should be so goddamn lucky.” I shake my head. “Why doesn’t he just fucking do it? He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty, I know that much.”
“You don’t, really,” Maddox says. “Arturo’s the most calculating motherfucker I’ve ever met. He doesn’t do anything without knowing it will benefit him or his family somehow.”
“You’re his family now, in case you haven’t noticed, or doesn’t he count the fact that you’re fucking the two people closest to him? And what about Elle? She’s his goddamn daughter. Surely he’d want to protect her?”
“You and I both know Dad never laid a finger on Elle. I think he’s known she wasn’t his for a long time and that if he touched her, Arturo would end him. But Elle hasn’t stayed in our old house in two years, brother. She and Sam both live in San Diego full-time now. I usually take Mom to visit them, but they came up for Christmas because Mom wants us all together this time of year.”
He pauses and gives me a more direct, pointed look. “It isn’t just Christmas for her, you know. December 17th is the anniversary of her second son’s death. Your death. Having her family together—even Dad—means everything to her. And, trust me, Arturo has his watchdogs looking out for Elle, probably a little too closely, if you ask me.”
I sit back, dazed by the revelations. I knew
