Page 14 of Carlos

Carlos’s head snapped around towards his brother. “What?”

Bulldog tipped his beer bottle in the same direction. “Clara. There’s a reason she ran, and it wasn’t from embarrassment about getting up close and personal with your nuts.”

Carlos’s eyes narrowed. He had the distinct feeling his brother was trying to tell him something without telling him anything. “I thought she’d left Steel and Jenna’s. I figured she went back home.”

“She did leave.” Bulldog took a sip of his beer. “But she didn’t go back home.”

That made no sense. Other than the houses in the Pentagon and the apartments in the clubhouse, there were no other living spaces on the club’s property… Right?

Bulldog scratched his long beard. “I saw the way you looked at her.”

Carlos looked down at the unopened beer bottle in his hand. Condensation dripped down the dark glass. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

After a long moment of silence, Carlos looked up to see his brother assessing him. It had been a while since the two of them sat and talked. Carlos had been keeping his distance, knowing he’d let his brother down. Bulldog had needed his support and Carlos had let his morals get in the way. But what choice did he have? If he let the monster loose…

Their mom had fought her second battle with cancer during the last two years of Bulldog’s military service. During that time, Louisa had wanted to get in touch with her Italian roots. Her sons wanted to give her a reason to keep fighting, so they made her a promise: kick cancer’s ass a second time and they would take her to Italy. All three of them had studied Italian and Carlos had discovered that a second cousin of their mom’s owned a vineyard in Italy. Eventually, their mom had been declared in remission and her sons took her to Italy for almost four months.

Almost eight years later, the three Santiagos still continued to speak Italian around each other. Louisa wanted to go back. She’d been in the process of researching another trip when Abby had come back into their lives, along with four kids. Now Louisa wouldn’t go back unless it was with the entire family. At this time, though, neither Abby nor Cassie were able to travel. Louisa claimed she was fine waiting.

Lila had picked up on Italian rather quickly. To the point where, in the six months since she’d become Bulldog’s daughter, she was able to hold nearly an entire conversation in Italian. The kid was smart and Carlos was a bit jealous that she was learning so quickly.

Generally, the brothers only held conversations in Italian around their mom to keep their language skills up. They still intended to take their mom back to Italy and didn’t want to lose the progress they’d made in the language between now and then.

So for Bulldog to start speaking in Italian when it was just the two of them around, it made Carlos pay attention. “Cassie’s been cooped up in the house a lot this week. Why don’t you see if she and Bree want to take a stroll with you?” He stood up. “Maybe follow the new walking path we had put in that circles the property.”

Carlos tried to keep the suspicion off of his face. Clara had been headed in the direction of the walking path too. “Am I looking for anything while on this casual stroll?”

Bulldog just shrugged and then walked away.

It took nearly an hour before his balls felt well enough for him to ditch the icepack and walk towards his niece and Bree. He left both the icepack and the unopened beer on the table.

Carlos would never forget the sight of Cassie, Abby, and Lila in that rusted old minivan six months ago. The utter fear in Cassie’s eyes. He’d been thirteen years old the last time he’d seen Abby, but he’d known her immediately. Too thin and very pregnant. He’d remembered.

It had taken her some time to remember.

“Oh God! Carlos. You’re all grown up. Where is he, Carlos? Where’s my José?”

The monster had roared. Abby had been like a big sister to him. Who could have hurt her in such a heinous way?

And not just her. Cassie too.

Carlos did not fault Cassie her agoraphobia in the slightest. If he’d suffered what she had, he wouldn’t want to go outside either. Cassie couldn’t see her strength, but her adopted parents could. Carlos could.

Looking at the two teenage girls, Carlos felt for both of them. Bree had been kidnapped and abused for over two years by a pedophile who might be a cop. Then he’d sold her to a pornographer who made snuff films as a way to dispose of people for profit.

The monster demanded vengeance for both these innocent girls.

Pushing aside his inner-turmoil, Carlos tried not to wince as he walked up the stairs to his brother’s back porch.

“Afternoon, ladies.”

“Hi, Uncle Carlos,” they both said to him. Bree smiled widely at him, happy to see him. Cassie, though, just looked sad.

Carlos leaned forward conspiratorially. “What do you two say about going for a walk? We won’t go far,” he assured Cassie. She’d stiffened at his offer. “I’ll be with you the whole time, sweetheart. You’ll be safe. I promise.”

Bree pushed her wheelchair forward enough to tap her feet against Cassie’s leg. “Please, Cass? We’ll come right back if you need to. Let’s get some exercise.”

As much as Carlos was doing this because he was curious about his brother’s cryptic behavior, Carlos also wanted to help Cassie. If she felt better about leaving the house to go for a walk with him by her side, then he’d gladly go for that walk with her. Regardless of what he may or may not find.