Bound To You

Chapter 7

Valeria

I found one of the seemingly endless guestrooms to spend the night in. Fortunately there was no one around to witness our fight or me emerging from a room I wasn't supposed to be in.

I'd received no response when I'd knocked hesitantly on Juan's door, nor did I see any sign of him when I'd opened the door.

I transferred my belongings to the room I'd spent the previous night in. It was adjacent to Juan's room, and I could easily think of at least a dozen excuses if somebody asked why I spent the night in a different room, the easiest one being the most truthful of them all: we'd agreed that we were simply not ready to share a room.

I bathed and dressed, giving my navy blue, buttoned-down overall an appreciative once-over before heading out the door.

I walked into the kitchen to see Gloria and Carlos with mugs of steaming tea before them, their heads close together, voices low. Not wanting to disturb them, I began making my way to the pot of coffee I saw sitting on the counter, but Carlos caught sight of me and straightened, Gloria following his lead. I smiled at them and poured myself coffee, then turned to the door, intending to head back to my room.

"Won't you sit with us, Valeria?" Gloria calls to me sweetly. I turn to look at them in surprise. No one in my family had any time or interest in sitting with each other.

I took a seat at the island, glancing between them hesitantly, unsure of how this worked. Carlos laughed, a warm, rough sound that made his wife smile at him. "Don't worry, Valeria, we don't bite," he chuckled.

I let out a light chuckle of my own, relaxing slightly. "I know, I know. I'm just not used to this," I said, blushing lightly.

"Had a good sleep?" Gloria asked. I nodded. If I was being honest, I'd had better nights, but all said and done, the quality of sleep I had gotten after the whirlwind that was yesterday was fairly decent. Decent enough that, all things considered, I'd deem it good.

"So, uh," I began.

And promptly stalled as I realised I did not know how to ask my question without sounding rude or intrusive. My eyes darted from side to side, trying to ignore their expectant expressions as I attempted to gather my thoughts.

"Just spit it out, love," Gloria said. "You can ask anything, as bluntly as you like."

Alright then. "Well, I was wondering about how, exactly, the wedding is helping with the threat? I mean, you did say last night that we have access to more resources, but just how much are we talking? And what are we . . . doing . . . with it . . ." I trailed off, feeling slightly ashamed of just how prying my questions sounded.

I waited for them to tell me it was none of my business, that I was too young to understand or meddle in these matters and I should just leave it alone and mind my own business. Waited for them to subtly hint that I was too stupid to comprehend anything about this situation, and that in not giving me an answer, they were actually saving me from embarrassing myself.

Waited for the standard response I had received my whole life.

They frowned at me. I braced myself, trying not to curl into myself or wince.

But the dismissal didn't come.

I scanned their faces, but found no irritation or animosity anywhere. They actually . . . they actually seemed to be pondering their answer. As though they were actually compiling one to give me.

I was so shocked that I simply sat and stared at them as they thought it over. Most of me still wasn't expecting an answer, but that small tendril of hope at their expressions held out against the doubt.

Then Carlos said, "Well, as of now we are taking stock of what we do have in our arsenal. And assessing the situation at hand. I won't lie to you, it does not look good. The policia are closing in on us from all sides. A lot of our men have been captured and interrogated already. That new Chief is getting too close for comfort, and we are now gearing up to respond to her aggression."

Grim silence greeted the end of this speech, even on my part. I was too busy mulling it over to have room for any surprise. If the situation was this bad, then I was glad Juan and I had gotten married so quickly.

"I wish I'd had enough time to remove us from this entirely before-" Carlos began agitatedly. Gloria laid a hand on his arm, and he quieted as he looked at her. She was looking at him with such blatant love that I looked away. It felt too private, too personal, too powerful for me to witness.

"Uh," I began again, still staring at the counter. "How would you remove us from a situation like this?" I looked up at them.

They were smiling faintly at me.

"Well, now, that's a bit of a family secret, dearest," Gloria said gently.

Horror washed through me. I'd finally done it. I crossed the line, took advantage of their openness and demanded too much, intruded upon what was a private, personal, family matter.

God, it'd been so easy to forget that they weren't my family. That this marriage won't last forever. That I would have to say goodbye to these wonderful people. I felt my face grow hot and blood rushed through it at breakneck speed. I stared at the counter, not daring to look up lest my eyes start tearing up.

"But," she continued, "since you are now family, I suppose we ought to let you in on said secret."

I was stunned enough that for a moment I didn't comprehend what she had said. Stunned that she hadn't reprimanded me. Stunned that she'd-

I was now family?

It was all I could do to not lift my head and show them the hope and relief on my face, the tears in my eyes, and the furiously red hue of my skin.

"Okay," I said, sending up a prayer of thanks at the stability of my voice, and looked up.

Carlos smiled at me. "I won't bore you with the long-winded, detailed explanation. It is tiring, and rather gruesome."

I nodded.

"Growing up, I found that my ideals were very different to my father's," Carlos rumbled, his gaze trained unseeingly on the counter. "I was horrified when I first learned of my father's business. My horror only grew at the brutality, the violence, the lack of remorse that this 'career path'" he made air quotes with his fingers, "demanded. No matter how much I tried to suppress my horror, disregard my gut that screamed at me to shut it down, I could not. I simply could not ignore the cruelty, the misery that the mafia business caused. So, I've been trying to shut it down. Remove myself and my family from this world of rage, of hate, of crime. Do whatever I have to distance myself and my family from it."

I stared at him.

For long enough that Gloria laughed. Carlos grinned at his wife, then at me. I could only let out a disbelieving chuckle.

Then he added, so casually it was as though he hadn't just amazed me with his explanation, "I developed a keen interest in naval trade as a teenager. That is my other, stronger business aside from mafia," pride glowed on his face, "and I'm happy to say it is flourishing. That is where I make my money. I've cleaned up sixty percent of the mafia business I inherited from my father, and I'm shutting the rest of it down slowly but surely." He rounded it off with a beaming smile at me.

I could only shake my head in admiration. Gloria caught the motion and laughed again, now pink in the face, eyes shining.

"Why do you think I fell in love with him?" she said, laying her head on his shoulder. His smile turned soft as he looked at her, so full of love that I had to look away again.

"Wow," was all I could manage.