Own You

Chapter 35

"There's no need to fret, honey. I did you a favor; no matter what she said, in the end she only cared about herself," Griselda says, pulling out a stack of fresh papers, she had folded and stuffed in her bra. "This is all the proof I need to know she wasn't shit," she says as she throws the papers down.

I'm too stuck in my head to care about anything else happening. All I can see is my dead lover on the floor, her skin going paler by the second. The only person I loved outside of my kids was dead, and now I was alone. Until I can get back to Borya, I'll be on my own in that house of nightmares. I let go of Sylvia's stiff hand and lay her head gently on the floor. As I shed more tears from my tired eyes, I plant a soft kiss on her forehead.

I stand to my feet and DJ is by my side in no time at all, helping me to my feet carefully. As he helps me up, I hear other footsteps entering the room.

"What the fuck is going on?" I hear a man ask.

I turn to my left to see one of Emilio's male cousins and his youngest brother enter, guns drawn. They look around the room confused and alarmed as they ask Griselda, in Spanish, what happened? Griselda tells them we've gotten rid of traitors. I scowl at her, and she smiles a toothy grin, blood staining her lip from where I smacked her. Her youngest son asks her to explain what that means, and she does. As I listen, DJ helps me walk over to my seat, his right-arm around my waist and his left hand holding my left hand in comfort.

I take my seat and DJ attempts to let my hand go, but I squeeze it gently, in a silent plea for him not to let go. As he rubs his thumb on the back of my hand, I feel his eyes on me. I know he won't let go now and I can be secure in his touch. I keep my eyes on the floor, lost in thought, as Griselda speaks.

"Sylvia had plans to have that baby in Mya's stomach taken from her. Those papers right there are forged birth documents. While here in Colombia, she planned to have Mya kidnapped, and while she was gone, she would've had an induced birth or a c-section. These two dead fucks on the ground we're planning on helping kidnap Mya," As her son and nephew approach behind her to see the documents, Griselda picks up the other papers with the marriage certificate and will, putting them in her bra quickly. "Sylvia already had a name picked out for the baby and a new identity for herself. She also wrote a heart-felt note to Mya explaining her reasoning.

"She had always wanted a child with Emilio, and she figured you would be happy with just Fern, I guess. Sylvia would have her child and a new future. Not to mention, enough money to make her and the baby disappear from us for a long time. She might've even gotten away forever. Thankfully, I never trusted her, I told you both that Emilio's death was too convenient," Griselda says as she lights her cigar again.

Her son, Benito, looks at the papers and curses in Spanish. Benito's cousin, Victor, looks just as shocked and shakes his head in frustration, loosening the grip on his gun as he lowers it from mine and DJ's direction. I'm not surprised she didn't give me up in this situation, and the info about Sylvia makes it seem more like everything that has happened was her fault. Although what Sylvia was going to do was unspeakable, I still can't find it in me to hate her, when I know what Emilio did to her. Sylvia had fought for me, and she got hurt because of it.

From that day forward, Sylvia had been a mess; a pale shadow of her formerly fabulous self. It took a lot for her to get to that point where she could be confident and deal with Emilio better, before she met me. After she did, though, her life spiraled into what it was those last few years. More pain and misery, caused on my behalf, because she tried to protect me. Now she's gone and there's nothing I can do to bring her back.

Sylvia's mind wasn't right for a long time, maybe now she will have some peace.

***

"You may hate me now, but you know ai was right to kill her," Griselda says as we sit out on her private balcony.