Unraveling Secrets

Chapter 29

Nova

He has to be joking... right?

I let out a nervous chuckle. Leave it up to him to pull some sick fucking joke like that. I mean out of all the people in New York, he is trying to tell me its one of my own brothers?

"Very funny Perez." I say. But as I look into his eyes I don't see  hint of playfulness. I can feel my face lose all pigment. This cannot be happening. The amusement dancing around in his eyes lets me know he is enjoying my discomfort.

How did we miss this? I knew they where fighters, why didn't I dig further and find out who they were? 

But the one question that keeps circling back to me is which brother? Which brother would I be fighting next month... My own supposed blood was going to be standing opposite of me, fighting for the official number one spot. Whichever one of them doesn't know he will be fighting his own younger sister, but what would change if he did know?

The chances are he will know by the morning if Andres doesn't hear me out. But I just have to know which brother I was fighting. 

"Which one?" I ask.

"I think I get to have some answers first." He says. I still cannot believe he would actually give me that entail in the first place. Isn't that betraying my brothers in some way? I don't know, and at this point I only want to know which brother is Cage. 

"Fine. Ask away pretty boy." 

"Oh I will cariño." He says as he takes a step closer. "Tell me. How did Rose get so high up in the rankings?" 

Well this question is easy enough. Definitely not what I was expecting. "Training. You train enough, put your mind into it, and dedicate enough time then it will pay off." That, and if your kidnappers beat you enough your pain tolerance will easily grow. Now that helps when your opponent gets a few hits in. 

"Hm." He hums, thinking about my answer. "And what got you into this type of fighting, this side of things? You could have chose the legal route.. but you didn't." I have a feeling his questions are going to get harder for me to answer without giving to much away, but I know I can't let him tell my brothers the truth. If they don't trust me with their secrets, then why should I trust them with mine? And on top of that who knows how they would react. They could easily send me away, even though some of it was out of my control.

"Well when I met my 'couch,' he is actually who got me into this side. He has a legal business, he teaches self defense and even little kids. He couldn't have an illegal one without being questioned so it was a good cover. But when he met me, he introduced me to this side of things knowing I would be a good fit. Can't say I am mad at him for it." So far so good, no lying yet. Maybe the full truth isn't being revealed, but a good portion was be.    

"And would he happen to have a name?" He asks.

"Not one that concerns you. You can ask what you want, but I will not answer questions that do not have to do with why we are here right now." I tell him. No was I going to give him that information. I don't know what he and my brothers would do to him. 

"And me telling you who Cage is just happens to be your business?" The fucking prick asks.

"You know that is completely different. You didn't have to say anything about it in general, and we could have both gone on with our days. Me not caring about that, and you full on knowing." 

"True.... but I wouldn't be able to see you hanging on by just a thread." He says with a smirk.

"Do you have any other questions? Or are you going to tell me which brother?" I say, already fed up with this conversation.

"Why fighting?" 

It was that one question that threw me off. That one question I was dreading and hoping he wouldn't ask. That one question that could alter everything if the truth was told. 

"What do you mean why fighting?"

"I mean what drew you in? Out of all the sports, all the things you could have done... why fighting?" 

"Well I already told you about-"

"I am not talking about him. Before that. He wouldn't have just saw you walking on the street and thought you were going to be an underground fighter." He says before taking another step closer. "What got you into fighting cariño." 

"I didn't live on the safest part of tow-" He cuts me off.

"Okay so you take a few self defense classes.. try again." He says with another step closer. I have to tilt my head further up to hold his gaze. The one that will not release me. Like his eyes or holding me in place paralyzing me from moving away from him. His scent filling my airway, and warmth radiating off his body keeping me warm from the night air. 

"Jax and I thought it would be fun. I became more serious with it-"

"Try again." He says. His eyes darkening as he stands right in front of me. Our bodies not inches apart. I hadn't even noticed that my back had hit one of the walls on the side of the structure. Andres towering over me. 

Why does he keep saying that? Its almost like he knows the truth, the flare in his eyes confusing me. Why can't he just believe the lie? Everyone else always did. And no one believed the truth when I was in second grade. So why can't he just believe it?

I glare up at him, slightly angered by that fact. "What do you mean try-" he cut me off for the third fucking time. My anger building up as my patients wares. 

"Stop lying to me." He says his face suddenly too close to mine for me to focus. His eye flicker from mine to my lips. 

"Stop cutting me off." I say breathlessly. 

"Then stop fucking lying." 

"Why do you keep saying that!" I say while shoving him, finally snapping out of my trans.

"Because you fucking are!" He snaps. He looks at me in the eyes taking  a deep breath before running a hand through his hair. "Just tell me the truth."

"Why? Hm? Why the fuck does it matter what the truth is? You don't fucking know me!" 

"Because-" He cuts himself off taking another step towards me. "We are here because you don't want me to rat you out to your brothers. I need the truth not some fucking lies. How am I supposed to allow some random girl back into their home when she only feeds me lies? For all I know you could be a fucking killer."

Fucking hypocrite. I really want to laugh in his face right now. 

"Some random girl huh? Yeah well this random girl had know idea she had brothers. This random girl didn't ask to be here. This random fucking girl thought that those ..people were her fucking parents!-" I take a breath before my eyes go wide. I was so furious I wasn't even paying attention to the words spilling out of my mouth.

"Those people?" He questions. "Now we are getting somewhere. Tell me cariño, why 'those people."  He says, and I curse myself when my eyes drop to his mouth when his tongue runs over his bottom lip.

"Well they obviously knew I wasn't there kid. They just had me do more chores then necessary around the house. I found it annoying." I say with a shrug. 

I know I can be a good liar, I have been doing it for most of my life. But for some reason in his presence, I apparently suck at it, and he can see right through me. 

"Hmmm. Right. We will go with that for tonight because its late, and I have somewhere to be in the morning. But don't just think this conversation is over." He says. "I won't tell your brothers today." He says while turning around. 

As I was about to ask which brother he seems to read my mind.

"Antonio." Is all he says before leaving me standing there losing my mind. 

Of course. I mean out of all brothers it was going to be him.

But I can't lie saying that part of me isn't excited to put him in his place.

Word Count: 1434