"So, where is it?"
We've been sitting in the driveway of the house for about fifteen minutes now. I don't trust him to go into the house first. For all I know it's a trap to keep me from getting back to Kaz. He could have a team of armed men ready to blow my head off as soon as I set foot in there.
"I need to tell you something and I don't know if you're ready to hear it."
I roll my eyes and rest my hands behind my head. "You know I'm getting a little impatient, hermano. Whatever you're going to say make it quick, I don't think I can control myself for much longer." I pat the gun tucked into my waistband.
He sits all the way up in his seat and sighs. "Your mother...She's alive."
I grab his collar and slam his head against the car window. "No te atrevas a hablar de ella."
(Don't you dare talk about her.)
I speak through my teeth, my hands grow tighter around his throat as he gasp for air. "¡No me importa sobre qué mientas, pero no la mencionarás!"
(I don't care what you're lying about, but you won't mention her!)
He grabs weakly at my hands and wheezes. "I'm not...She's here." I release his neck and he coughs as he sucks in air. "Mierda Ricky." He rubs his throat. "I was just telling you the truth. I'd never lie to you, especially not about this."
I get out of the car and hurry into the house. I instantly see several people in scrubs and my old assistant all talking but they grow silent as they notice me. "Where is she? Take me to her!" No one moves. No one says anything. It's as if someone had froze time completely. "What is wrong with you people?! Take me to see her damnit!" I feel my eye twitch as I begin to panic. What's with all the somber stares? Why won't anyone move?
"Mr. H, I-"
"It's okay Nando. I'll handle this." I turn towards the door and see Carlos. "In fact, everyone can take twenty. I can take care of everything else from here on out." I watch as the group slowly disperses, all except Fernando.
"You said you were telling me the truth. Where is she? Where is my mother?"
"She's resting. Upstairs, third door on the right."
Without a second thought I hurry up the stairs, skipping two or three at a time until I make it to the hallway. I count three doors down and pause when I reach the room she's said to be in. My stomach is doing flips and my heart is racing. I can feel the sweat forming on the back of my neck. Why the hell am I waiting? Just open the damn door!
I watch in slow motion as my hand lowers onto the doorknob. I slowly turn it and push it open. I take hesitant steps into the room and my breath gets caught in my throat.
"Mijo."
Long black hair. Smooth skin, accompanied by a few gentle wrinkles. And hazel, almost golden eyes.
"It really is you mijo!" She moves from her seat and draws near. I back away until I hit the wall behind me.
"No. You're- You died. I watched that bastard kill you...How is this-" I can't finish my sentence because the woman hugs me. Her small frame compared to mine, the scent of her perfume, her gentle heart shaped face. It was all too nostalgic. This can't be real. Was I dreaming? Maybe Carlos had got the best of me and killed me? Was this my personal hell?
"Mi hermoso chico. Siento mucho haberme olvidado de ti después de todos estos años."
(My beautiful boy. I'm so sorry that I forgot about you after all these years.)
She looks up at me with tears in her eyes. "Recibir un disparo me robó la memoria. No fue hasta que el hombre de abajo me trajo aquí que pude recordar."
(Getting shot stole my memory. It wasn't until the man below brought me here that I could remember.)
I pry her arms off of my waist and gaze down at her. "Don't. Don't you dare fucking lie to me! My mother died when I was 16!" I grab her collar and glare. "You tell me right now, did that asshole hire you to fuck with my head? Huh?!"
I expected her to panic, beg for me to let her go, to apologize, something. But she didn't. She just put her hand on top of mine and smiled.
"I'm sorry mijo. I never mean to hurt you like this."
Damnit. Whoever this faker was even nailed her accent. It makes me livid.
"I know I was bad mother, but I did what I had to make you stronger."
"Liar. You damn liar! My mother loved me! She never would hurt me!" My eyes burned as they fill with tears. "She loved me..." I release her shirt and fall to the floor.
"No mijo, I hurt you. I lost my mind when Manuel left us. I hurt you because he hurt me."
"No. What you did to me, it was evil. But I dealt with it because I loved you! You were supposed to be my mother, you were supposed to love me and treat me like a mother would... But you did the opposite."
I use the wall to steady myself as I lift up from the floor. "It's your fault that I am like this." The same red that clouded my eyesight that day was gradually returning. Pure rage like no other was being to take hold of every muscle in my body. "You said that you loved me, but that wasn't love. It was twisted and sick."
"Please, Ricardo I-"
"Don't call me that. You don't have the right." My breathing turns into angered panting. "I don't like lairs, and you, you're the worst fucking kind. You hurt me, you told me it was all for my own benefit but that was a lie to let you keep hurting me."
"Mijo, por favor..."
"No. Don't beg me now, it's far too late for that." I scoff as her eyes water. "I thought I loved you mama, but now I know...I just tolerated you because I felt it was my fault. Truth is, I hate you. You're no good to me now. Not too sure you ever were."
The red I was seeing had finally swallowed me whole. Much like the last time, my brain had gone completely blank and I was no longer in control of my body. I can feel myself moving but I couldn't tell exactly what it was doing.
I remember this feeling. Feeling myself slowly slip away, deeper into the red as is grows darker until everything goes black. Bit by bit my vision comes back and my senses return. I feel a strange pressure on my body. When my eyesight completely goes back to normal, I notice that I'm on the floor and holding me down is Carlos, the assistant and a few people from before.
"Carlos? What are you doing? Get off."
My he stares at me in a fierce way that I've never seen before. It's enough to make me get chills.
"What the fuck Ricky?! What have you done?! She's your mother!"
"My mother?" I lift my head up and look around the room Everything has been totally destroyed. The bed has been turned over, the small table now in pieces, as well as the chairs. Books and broken shards of glass are scatter all over the floor, and beside the door a group of the people from before have gathered in a crowd.
Why are they kneeling? Why is everyone moving so frantically and why am I being restrained? Did I do this? Is that why Carlos is so upset with me?
"Boss," The small blond woman turns from whatever's on the ground and looks at Carlos. "We should call an ambulance, we're losing her."