I park my car on the driveway of my parents’ huge mansion and climb out before helping Matthias out of his seat. He looks up at me, his huge brown eyes shining and I ruffle his thick dark hair. This kid is my whole world. Thankfully he looks nothing like his father, Blake.
Blake Fielding was a friend of my older brother, Luca. I hated Luca, and most of his friends were assholes just like him, but Blake had always been kind of sweet. So, at the age of fourteen, when I had to flee my home after watching the man I thought was my father, and my two older brothers murdered, I turned to him for help.
I soon learned he was an even bigger asshole than my brothers. He was six years older than me but that didn’t stop him from taking advantage of me in every way. He took every single cent I had.
Of course, he pretended to be all concerned and caring at first and he was even smart enough to wait until I was sixteen before he had sex with me. I even believed that I loved him, that was until the day I found out I was pregnant and came home from my shift at the diner early to find him screwing one of the other waitresses, all while he was telling her how stupid and naïve I was and how my name was the only thing that had any value to him.
Back in Chicago, I was a Ramos, and that name once had some meaning there, before Miguel Ramos upset some very bad people, anyway. At the time, I had no clue why Blake had thought the Ramos name could be any use to him, but now I wonder if he had discovered that Miguel wasn’t my biological father and I was actually a Montoya.
I jumped on the first bus I saw, which happened to be headed to LA, and fate, or something else, brought me to the shelter where my mom worked. The rest is history.
“Are we having Nana’s burgers, Momma?” Matthias snaps me from my thoughts of his father.
“I sure hope so,” I say with a grin as I take hold of his hand. My mom makes the best bacon cheeseburgers ever.
The door is opened before we reach it by my parents’ housekeeper, Magda, who ushers us inside. She presses a piece of candy into Matthias’ hand and he squirrels it away in his pocket as though I won’t see. It’s a ritual the two of them have and it makes me smile every time. Magda is a woman of few words and she can come across as stern, but she actually has a heart of gold and is one of the kindest women I’ve ever known. She says that having Matthias and my twin brothers around makes her feel young again and she spoils all three of them.
“The boys are with your papa in the garden,” she says to him as she cups his chin in her hand. “They have been waiting for you all day.”
“Can I go play, Momma?” he asks me.
“Of course, munchkin. I’ll be right out,” I say and watch as he scampers off down the hallway.
“My father is home?” I ask.
Magda nods. “Jackson is here too.”
I wonder why she says that with a smile on her face and then I remember that Magda sees and knows all.
“And Mom?”
“In the kitchen fussing over dinner,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “As if I cannot be trusted to make some burgers.”
I laugh because Magda and my mom have a wonderful relationship. My mom doesn’t speak to her own parents for many reasons, and Magda has taken on something of a maternal figure in her life. She has worked for the Montoya family since my father was a child and she is much a part of the family as Jax is.
“I’ll go find her. Are you joining us for dinner?”
“Not tonight.” She shakes her head. “I’m going to watch a movie with Jacob.”
“Oh?” I waggle my eyebrows at her. Jacob works here too. He operates the gate and sometimes drives my father.
“It’s nothing like that,” she admonishes me, but I see the twinkle in her eye. “We simply need a break before you move back home for a week.”
I open my mouth in feigned indignation and she walks away, chuckling to herself.
I walk down the hallway to the kitchen to find my mom. She is drying her hands on a towel when I walk into the room, having just finished prepping dinner.
“Hey, sweetheart,” she says with a huge smile as she crosses the floor and wraps me in a warm hug.
I lean into her and feel the weight of guilt overwhelming me because I am about to break her heart. I wrap my arms around her and hold onto her a little longer than usual. She always smells so beautiful and she gives the best hugs ever. She is without a doubt the best person I know and I should be honored to work by her side in her organization. I know that’s what she wants and what she’s hoping for, particularly as I once needed one of those women’s shelters myself, but that life just doesn’t feel right to me. I am a Montoya through and through.
“Is everything okay, sweetheart?” she asks as I hold her tight.
“Sure. I’m going to miss you is all,” I say.
She pulls back from me and brushes my hair back from my face. “I’m going to miss you too. Are you sure you’ll be okay with the boys?”
“Yes, Mom,” I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “We’re all going to be fine. Besides Magda and Jacob are here too.”
“I know. I’ve just never been away from you all for so long before.”
“You have a whole week with Papi in London ahead of you,” I remind her.
She blushes and I can’t help but smile. My parents still act like love-struck teenagers around each other and it is both embarrassing and wonderful. “Not to mention a fabulous wedding to attend.”
“Yes, there is that,” she replies with a smile. “And I’m looking forward to meeting your father’s cousin, Lauren.”
“There’s my two favorite girls,” my father’s voice booms across the kitchen as he walks into the room with Jax close behind him.
“Where are the boys?” I ask.
“Hugo is teaching them the fine art of wrestling,” he replies.
“Alex!” my mom admonishes him. Hugo is another pseudo family member. He is my mom’s and the twins’ bodyguard and my little brothers adore him. He also teaches my mom and me some Krav Maga and self-defense once a week, and he practically lives in my parents’ pool house.
“What?” My father shrugs as he slips an arm around her waist. “You are never too young to learn how to pin an opponent.”
She shakes her head in exasperation but then she stares up at him adoringly until he kisses her. I look across at Jax who rolls his eyes at me.
“Lucia,” my father says when they finally remember that there are other people in the room. “Did you have something you wanted to discuss?”
I swallow hard. I was at least going to wait until after dinner until everyone was too full of food and maybe a few glasses of wine to argue, but I suppose the sooner I do this, the sooner my mom can come to terms with it.
“Yes, I do.” I sit on one of the stools at the kitchen island.
“What is it, sweetheart?” my mom asks.
My father winks at me and it is all the encouragement I need. “I want to work with Papi.”
“What?” she looks between him and me, blinking in shock.
“I appreciate you offering me a position in the charity and I love you for it, Mom, but I want to work for Montoya Inc.”
She licks her lips and we all wait with bated breath for her to speak. “You mean like managing the hotel or something?”
I look at my father and then at Jax, but neither of them are meeting my eyes.
“No. Like with Papi and Jax,” I reply.
“No,” she shakes her head before I’ve even finished speaking. “You can’t.”
“It’s what I want, Mom.”
“But, Lucia, you just finished college. You have your degree. You’re so smart. You don’t have to work with me in the charity, you can do anything you want to.”
“I know that. That’s why I want to work with Papi.”
“Alejandro.” She glares at him and he knows he’s in trouble because she only gives him his full name when he is. “Did you know about this?”
“Yes, but Lucia only told me earlier today,” he replies.
“Surely you told her that it is out of the question?” she snaps.
He sighs deeply as he wraps her in his arms. She tries to pull away but he holds her in place. “She is a grown woman, Alana. As her parents we have to let her make her own decisions. Just because we don’t agree with them, it doesn’t make them wrong.”
“Even if those decisions might get her killed.”
“Alana!” he warns and I realize this discussion no longer involves me. Only he has the power to refuse me and she expects him to use it.
“How the hell can you even consider this? It’s madness.”
“Do you think that Lucia shouldn’t take over the Montoya family business one day? Is she any less deserving than our sons?”
Wow! He went straight for jugular, using the fact that I’m adopted and that she’s a huge feminist in one fell swoop.
“No.” She pulls back from him but she glares up at him, all five feet four inches of her full of anger. “How dare you suggest that’s what this is about?”
“Then what is it? Because you know I want to hand over my legacy to my children. This is what I do, Alana. If Lucia wants to be a part of it, then I won’t stop her. The fact that she doesn’t want to be a spoiled rich kid who lives off her parents makes me proud of her.”
“A spoiled rich kid like me? Is that it?”
“I never said that,” he growls and the tension in the room becomes so thick I could cut it with a knife. My mom was never a spoiled rich kid, but my father believed that she was when he married her. It’s why he calls her princess. It started as an insult but became a term of affection.
I look at Jax hoping that he has some magical way to deal with what’s going on here but he shakes his head at me, as if to tell me to stay out of it. He knows my parents better than anyone. But I feel awful. I have started a huge fight between them the night before they leave for their first vacation in two years.
“Daddy.” I hear one of the twins shouting from outside the room.
He turns to the door momentarily and then he looks at me. “Lucia, can you see to your brother, please?” he snarls before he turns back to my mom who continues to glare at him.
“Sure.” I swallow, relieved to have an excuse to get out of the room. My parents rarely argue, but when they do it’s epic. Why the hell did I do this tonight?
“I’ll come help you,” Jax mumbles and the two of us walk out of the room and into the hallway.
“Luch-ee,” my little brother Dario says with a huge smile when he sees me.
“Hey, kiddo,” I scoop him into my arms. “What’s up?”
“Tomás said I can’t whistle,” he pouts and I can’t help but smile at him.
“And can you whistle?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. “No.”
Jax laughs too and he ruffles Dario’s hair. “Go tell Tomás that I’ll teach you both to whistle as soon as you’re old enough.”
“Okay,” he grins and then clambers down out of my arms before running off down the hallway back to his brother.
“I hope you know what you’re letting yourself in for,” Jax smiles at me.
“A whole week with the three of them.” I shake my head. “I feel exhausted just thinking about it.”
“I feel exhausted for you.”
“You are the twins’ godfather though, and you are Matthias’ second favorite person after his Papa, so I think that means you’re contractually obliged to help me out this week,” I remind him.
He arches an eyebrow at me. “Is that so?”
“It most definitely is.” I feel the heat flush unexpectedly over my cheeks. Being in his company never used to be this awkward. “You think they’re okay?” I look back toward the kitchen where we left my parents arguing.
“Well, I haven’t heard a gunshot or anything breaking yet so that’s a good sign, right?” he laughs.
“Don’t, Jax,” I shake my head. “I feel so bad for causing this.”
He wraps an arm around my shoulder and gives me a quick squeeze before dropping it back to his side. “There’s no need to, Lucia. Your mom is just worried about you.”
“I know. What if I spoil their vacation though?”
Jax laughs out loud as we head out to the garden to the kids. “Are you kidding me?” he checks his watch. “Those two will be make-up fucking already.”
“Jax,” I nudge him in the ribs. “They’re my parents.”
“Yeah, I know. You’ve lived in the same house as them so you know I speak the truth.”
“Ugh,” I groan. “I do and it’s gross.”
“People in their thirties still fuck, you know?” He grins at me and my pulse starts to thrum against my skin. “A lot!”
Then he walks into the garden and scoops the nearest shrieking toddler into his arms and I stare after him wishing he would give me a practical demonstration.
By the time dinner is served almost an hour later, we are all ravenous with hunger and my parents are no longer glaring at each other, making me wonder if Jax was right earlier. I shudder at the thought. It has nothing to do with their age though, simply the fact that they are my parents.
As my mom places the bowl of salad onto the dining table, she takes hold of my arm and pulls me to one side. “I will be just as angry when the boys decide to work for your father too. But they’re still so young. I thought I had more time with you, that’s all,” she says as her eyes fill with tears.
“Mom,” I say as she makes me want to cry now too. “You will always be my best friend,” I whisper. Because that is how we started out and how we will always be. I was almost seventeen when I first met her. Pregnant and scared and alone, and she was the person who rescued me, convincing my father to take me in when I had nowhere else to go. I owe her everything.
“And you will always be my favorite daughter,” she says with a smile. “I love you, sweetheart.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
