Breaking Point

Chapter Thirty-Four

Welcome Home

Illianna

Another week went by and there still hasn't been any word from Santiago, and I was at my wits end. I was pacing up and down the length of the small living room in front of Antonia and Sébastian, my thoughts in a complete wreck.

"Should we just call him?" Antonia asked, following my pacing with her eyes.

"No, he said if he calls we come. He knows what he's doing." Sébastian argued.

"But it's been too long, what if something happened?" I said in rebuttal, stopping my feet to look at them. I dug my hands into my hair, "Christ what if he's-"

"Illianna don't go there." Sébastian warned.

But I couldn't think of any other explanation, how long did it take to kill a mafia? Surely not two weeks, and even if it did, Santiago would have called to check or something. My feet began their pacing again, and if it were possible I would've left burn tracks in my wake.

"How much longer are we going to stay here for? Another week? Another month?" Antonia questioned, subconsciously holding her stomach, she does that a lot more often now, and I'm not sure if she realized that or not.

Séby placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "Antonia I don't know the answer to that yet. You just have to trust him, you know he wouldn't put either of you in danger."

"But it's not me I'm worried about Sébastian, I'm worried about him." I pressed, stopping again to look at him. He pushed himself off the couch and cautiously came to stand in front of me, his hands raised in surrender.

"I know that look Lily, you're losing your mind with worry."

"Well can you blame me?" Sighing he put his hand on my head, bending to meet my eyes he said, "I can't, but just like I told Antonia, you have to trust him." I nodded and let him pull me to sit on the couch next to Antonia.

Just as my butt hit the chair, there was a jangle of keys at the door and we all froze. The twins and my mother were still sleeping in their rooms and we knew no one out here. Nobody with a set of keys to the house.

"Don't move." Sébastian hissed quietly. I placed myself in front of Antonia as he moved to the table where his gun lay in one of the drawers, he pulled it out and waited for the door to open. Once it opened, his arm dropped and both me and Antonia turned to see who was at the door.

"Ramirez?" Sébastian questioned, putting his gun down on the desk.

I knew something was wrong form Ramirez's look, his usual smiling eyes looked lifeless, his hair that was always kept was in disarray, his suit was untucked and it looked like he hasn't shaved in a week. My heart plummeted to my stomach, that means something was wrong with Santiago.

"It's safe for you guys to come home now, but there's something you should know." He looked at me when he said it, and immediately a wave of denial washed over me.

"Don't say it, please don't say it Ramirez." He came over and knelt in front of me, he looked so tired, so unbelievably tired.

Grabbing my shaking hands he looked up at me. "He's not dead, but he's in bad shape, really bad shape. We thought it was best to wait until he woke before we called you back but-" He choked on his words. Antonia let out a strangled cry, covering her mouth.

"What do you mean 'wake up'?" I asked.

"He's been in a coma for the past two weeks, I've been in charge, trying to get rid of the rest of the Americans-"