“Nova?” he repeated. “No.” He shook his head in denial. “You’re dead. I saw you.”
“Did you, though?” I asked with a raised brow, but then realized it was still too dark in the room for him to see my expression. Leaning over, I flipped on the bedside lamp. “Do I look dead to you, big brother?”
He sat straight up in bed, and I dropped down on the other side of him so I wasn’t sitting on his lap. His fingers trembled as he touched my face and hair before grabbing my wrist and turning it so he could see Ryan’s name there.
“But I saw you,” he muttered again. “Even the necklace.”
I pulled my hand free and reached under the top of my hoodie. “This necklace?”
His fingers wrapped around the chain, his thumb skimming over the two Russian rings. “Yeah, this necklace. It was…” His green gaze lifted to mine. “She played us?”
“You would have known that already if you had just talked to me when I tried to contact you,” I complained.
Anger filled his handsome face. “Why the fuck haven’t you come home before now? Do you know what we’ve gone through? Mom and Dad…” His voice broke with emotion. “Mom ran away, Nova. She couldn’t handle what happened, and she just up and disappeared. We’ve been looking everywhere for her.”
“Not everywhere,” I assured him. “And she didn’t run away. I needed her help, so she came with me to Colombia to talk sense into Cali and—”
“Cali?” He choked out her name, cutting me off. “Did you…say…Cali?”
I pressed my lips together but nodded.
“Lis is alive?” He was panting hard, his hand pressed against his chest as if he was struggling to breathe.
I cupped his face in both hands. “Garret, look at me,” I commanded. His eyes snapped to mine. “Take a deep breath, okay? You can’t pass out on me. Not now, not ever. We have to get back, and I can’t carry your ass out of here on my own.”
“B-back?” Tears glazed his eyes, but he seemed dazed.
“To Cali,” I told him with a small smile, figuring I should wait until we got on the plane before I mentioned Justice. “She’s waiting on you.”
“You aren’t playing with me, are you, Nova?” His eyes pleaded with me. “I don’t know if I can survive this if you’re not being real right now.”
“I wouldn’t play that kind of game with you or anyone else,” I promised softly. “When you came down with Dad and the MC, they told you she was dead, right?” He nodded, a single tear spilling down his cheek. “Well, they lied, Garret. They thought it would be safer for everyone to think she was dead, but she’s not. Now, get your ass out of this bed and grab a few things. We have to hurry.”
My foot felt as if it were the size of a watermelon as we walked to where I’d left the Jeep. Garret moved like his ass was on fire, and when he realized I was slowing him down, he grumbled something under his breath and tossed me over his shoulder.
“Why didn’t you just stay back at the apartment?” he snipped, increasing his pace toward the Jeep. “You should have at least woken Ryan and had him come with us. Do you realize what he’s been through?”
“I don’t need a lecture right now,” I bit out. “I’ll come back for Ryan, but right now, there’s not enough time to handle all that.”
He set me on my feet outside the vehicle and took the keys from my hand. “The only reason I’m not pressing the issue is because it will only keep me away from Lis longer. Get in. I’m driving.”
My foot wouldn’t allow me to drive, so I couldn’t argue. Instead, I climbed into the passenger seat and gave him directions to the airport. It wasn’t until we were in the air that I explained everything to him, ending with Justice’s sudden entrance into the world.
“Wait,” he choked out. “I have a daughter?”
“Come on, Garret,” I chided. “You knew she was pregnant.”
“No, I didn’t,” he denied. “I swear to you, I had no idea.”
“She told you,” I reminded him angrily. “The night she explained who she was, she said she told you everything. And after she confessed she was pregnant, you just left.”
“Oh God,” he groaned, burying his face in his hands. “I turned everything off that night. All I remember was her saying who she really was, and I kept replaying in my head over and over again all the fucked-up things I’d said to her over the years on social media. Then I left, got wasted, and the next thing I knew, you were slapping me across the face, trying to knock some sense into my dumb ass.”
“Well, you know now,” I said, giving him an encouraging smile when he dropped his hands. “Justice is just as dramatic as you are, by the way. She came into this world in a rush, demanding everyone sit up and pay attention to her. That includes you, so don’t disappoint her.”
“I won’t,” he vowed reverently. “From this moment forward, my only goal is to protect her and Lis.”
“Yeah?” I bit my lip. “Have you ever been to Colombia before? I mean, other than when you came with Dad?”
“Yeah, a few times. We control the biggest coke pipeline into the US, Nova. Once Matias died, we took over the fields he owned. I had to go down once or twice just to make sure everything was moving smoothly.”
I leaned in closer to my brother. “I own half of the Ramirez business now. The legit business.” His eyes nearly popped out of his head. “But if I go back to New York, I won’t be able to run the business as I have been. Would you maybe…want to take half of my half—”
“I’ll do it for free,” he rushed out. “For you and Cali. I owe you both.”
“I wouldn’t feel right unless you took a portion of mine.”
“Whatever. I’ll do anything you want as long as it gives me a reason to stay close to my girls.” He slumped back in his chair. “I have a feeling she’s going to try her hardest to keep me away. Running the business gives me an excuse to stay close.” He shifted his gaze back to me. “And what the hell do you mean, if you go back to New York. There is no if, Nova. Ryan needs you.”
“When did he get the tattoo?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“You saw that, huh?” He smirked when I merely shrugged. “The week after we buried you, he had Lyric slap it on him. Said he needed to have a piece of you with him so he didn’t lose what was left of his sanity. And, trust me, there isn’t much left. The fighting helped at first, but lately, he’s been letting them beat on him more and more before he finishes them.”
My mouth fell open. “Fighting? What are you talking about?”
“The twins convinced us to go to some underground cage fight a while back,” Garret explained. “Some idiot who was sitting in front of us kept running his mouth. Acting like a big shot. Considered himself important and trashing people left and right. He must have been living under a rock all his life, because he had no idea who Ryan was. Every time the asshole opened his mouth, I could see Ryan getting more and more agitated. And then suddenly, the guy was on the ground, and Ryan was beating the fuck out of him. It took two of us to peel him off. The guy was unconscious by then, and Ryan had blood all over him.”