Rafael (The Santiago Brothers Book One) (16 page)

“I’ll tell you about my life if you tell me
who hurt you in the past.”

Genie’s
gaze wavered but she nodded.
Fair trade
, she supposed. He had expressed interest in her pain
before and she had managed to avoid discussing Jeff. Genie checked
her watch again. Ten ten p.m. They had plenty of time.

“What do you want to know?” he asked, looking
again at the house.

Genie dragged in an unsteady breath. What was
he willing to share? “Everything?”

“We could be here for a while.”

Genie scanned the area. The dark street
offered no activity. “I don’t think we’re going anywhere.”

Rafa nodded. He reclined his seat, rested the
back of his head on his arm, his dark eyes gazing up at hers. “How
about you ask a specific question and I’ll answer.”

Genie searched his eyes, unsure whether she
could believe he’d answer anything. “You don’t mind?”

“I have nothing to hide.”

Genie nodded and settled back in her seat.
Even when they were in school, he intrigued her. Who he was, what
he liked, why he was such a rebel. Like any other girl, his bad-boy
quality held a certain appeal to her. Now with the chance to
perhaps be more familiar with him than anyone else, her mind
blanked.

A slow grin spread across his brown features.
“Can’t think of anything?”

She laughed briefly and touched a cool hand
to her warm cheek, grateful for the darkness. “I guess I
can’t.”

“Okay, then. You probably already know why I
went to California. I was too much of a punk for my mother and the
influence I had over my baby brother Ricardo was getting to be more
than she could handle. I thought being the king of some group was
everything, until I got to California.”

“Then you were a tiny fish in a big
pond?”

He
flashed those trademark dimples. Goosebumps marked her flesh.
“Something like that. There, my cousin was the king and the court
he held was…” He looked out the window, the moonlight washing over
the tense muscles in his neck. “It was like a bad dream. In
Springfield, I was Danny Zuko in
Grease
, but there, there it was—”

“
Reality,” she finished. Genie couldn’t begin to imagine the
difference. Rafa described the Snakes as a smaller organization
compared to some, but it wasn’t one run by a bunch of high school
misfits. Genie snickered. “I can’t believe you referenced
Grease
.”

He laughed heartily. “I may have been a punk,
but I’m cultured.” His laugh faded and the silence lengthened.
Genie waited, hoping he'd continue. “I was really naïve back then
and it caught up to me.”

Genie leaned closer to the center console.
“What happened?”

Rafa cleared his throat. “Well, me and a few
of the other new recruits were given menial tasks to prove our
loyalty and that we could follow orders. One day, we were
committing petty vandalism, when I just stopped.”

“Stopped?”

“The others were defacing some property and I
just stood there watching them, wondering what I was doing and why
I was there.” His eyes were warm with the tumult of emotions he
felt. “There had to be more to life, right?”

Genie nodded. Her heart pounded, anticipating
Rafa’s next words.

“So when the cops drove up and everyone ran,
my feet were like stone. I couldn’t run. I didn’t want to run. So,
I was arrested.”

“And?”

Rafa narrowed his eyes but the slight smile
on his lips told her he wasn’t upset. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t
you?”

Genie heated. “Not in the way you are
thinking.”

Rafa grinned fully and once again put the
night-vision goggles to his eyes. “It’s okay. My arresting officer
was a Christian. On the way to the station, he told me I could have
a different life, and I had a choice to make. Of course, I acted
like I didn’t listen. I had a reputation to protect.”

“Of course, but your reputation didn’t matter
once you got arrested, right?”

Rafa chuckled. “I suppose not. What
reputation did a punk have worth protecting? But regardless, the
seeds were sown. After being granted probation, I quit the Snakes
and I decided to move away, get a real job, and go to school. I
went to another family member’s house in San Diego and started
college. Not long after, I was contacted by the police and asked if
I wanted to assist them with their investigations in the drug
trade, which the Snakes were a part of, as were other petty gangs.
Apparently, my arresting officer remembered me from the day I got
arrested and passed my name along to narcotics.”

“You agreed.”

“I did, and if I did my job well, I was
promised a potential shot at a seat in the police academy.”

Genie sat back in her seat, stunned. “Wow.
That’s quite a story.” So it wasn’t long after his arrival in
California that Rafa began to turn his life around. He had been a
changed man for some time. Her heart stirred with affection. Genie
picked a spot near Flores’ house and focused on it. She couldn’t
have feelings for him. Jeff taught her a valuable lesson: men were
duplicitous.

“A few years later, I ran into my arresting
officer while working the beat. I could see the gleam of
satisfaction in his eyes as he took in my uniform.”

Genie searched the side of his face. Rafa met
her gaze.

“You don’t know how embarrassing it was for
me then.”

Genie smiled. “Oh, I think I can imagine. In
fact, I wish I could have been there.”

“Officer Mike Jones was his name. He
congratulated me on my changed course and my life has been more
than blessed ever since.”

“Do you have any regrets?” she asked after a
few minutes of silence.

“I do — many, actually. It’s been hard
reconciling my life now with what I was back then. How I’ve treated
my mother…” his voice dropped, heavy with remorse. “She says she
forgives me, but it’s still hard to believe. I want to do what’s
right. I want to do right by people.” She heard him swallow what
she knew had to be a huge lump. “I’d like to forgive myself.”

Genie bit
her lip.
Forgiveness
. A
word she’d heard more than enough times in the last several years.
One she had tried to ignore and thought it was successfully
extinguished from her vocabulary… until Rafa reentered her life.
Genie’s gaze flittered over a man whom she’d never imagined would
have turned out like this. He had her rethinking her whole outlook
on life, the way she treated her coworkers, letting go of the pain
Jeff caused her.

His gaze met hers and held. “I want to move
forward with what the future holds.”

His voice was husky and the breath in Genie’s
lungs stilled. A tingly feeling traveled up her arms. She saw his
eyes drift down to her lips. Before she dared to drop her gaze to
his mouth, Genie settled back into her seat and forced air into her
chest. Then a movement in the darkness caused her to angle forward.
A dark shape darted around the neighbor’s front lawn.

“You see something?”

She snatched the goggles from his fingers and
pointed them in the direction of the target house. “That’s gotta be
Cera!”

HANDS
on their
weapons, Rafa and Genie jogged up to Flores Cera’s residence. “I’ll
take the front; you go around back,” Genie ordered.

Rafa obeyed. Covering the back was a good
plan considering Diego had a habit of running. Right before turning
the corner to the back of the house, a black sedan rolled by at a
speed far lower than the limit. Rafa couldn’t make out the driver
through the heavily tinted windows. From the shadows against the
house, he watched as the car continued down the street, and decided
it was nothing. He had to get to the back door before Genie knocked
on the front. If Diego escaped, they might never have another
chance at him.

He heard Genie shout, “Police, open up.” The
sounds of hurried footsteps across the floorboards grew louder and
Rafa pulled his weapon. The back door opened with a yank.

“Going somewhere, Cera?” Rafa’s voice was
deadly calm.

Diego stopped at the sight of the 9mm.

“We’ve been looking all over for you.” He
peered past Diego to his sister, her eyes wide with fright. “Good
evening, Flores. Why don’t you open the front door for my partner
and we can all have a nice chat.”

Flores nodded. She hurried toward the front
door. Rafa’s gaze came back to Diego’s. He licked his dry lips.
“Diego, are you going to let me in?” With a look of resignation,
Diego backed up. Rafa holstered his weapon and entered the house. A
few minutes later, Diego and his sister were seated on the living
room sofa, with Rafa and Genie standing opposite them, a few feet
away.

“Diego Cera?” Genie asked. The man responded
with a nod, his eyes on the floor. Genie came around the tall back
of an overstuffed chair and sat down. She leaned forward a bit to
try to close the distance between her and the siblings, creating
physical rapport. “You’ve been effectively nonexistent for the past
few days, Mr. Cera, so I can assume you’ve heard about your
girlfriend, Maribol Canales.”

Diego
nodded again, and Rafa detected pain across his downcast
features.
He
didn’t do it.
He wasn’t
part of the Snakes, but he knew something.

“I need you to tell me your whereabouts on
that night between four p.m. and nine p.m.” Diego’s head shot up at
Genie’s assertion he had something to do with her murder. He opened
his mouth but paused before he spoke.

“I didn’t kill her,” his voice cracked. He
put a hand over his eyes and his shoulders shook from emotion.

Flores laid a hand on his back and whispered
encouragement in his ears. Her sharp eyes darted from Genie to
Rafa. “My brother didn’t do anything. Can’t you see he’s in
pain?”

“Ms. Cera, we need to hear from your
brother,” Rafa responded. He reached inside his windbreaker and
pulled out a note. He tossed it onto the table in front of the
siblings. “Did you send this message to Genie?”

He nodded.

“Why?”

“I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt!”

“Please!” Flores interrupted. “He didn’t do
anything!”

“
Ms.
Cera,
por
favor
,” Rafa
replied.

Her gaze wavered and she whispered again to
her brother. Genie tactfully remained silent.

Diego ran a shaky hand through his short,
dark hair. His eyes were pools as he stared up at them. “You don’t
understand.”

“Then explain it to us, Diego,” Genie urged.
“Help us understand. Where were you?”

“I can’t say anything.” He shook his head
vigorously.

“Diego, you aren’t helping matters.”

“Please, I… I can’t!” His wide eyes went from
her to Rafa and then back to Genie. “They will know.” He emphasized
every word.

“Who will know?” Rafa leaned forward.

“Don’t you have to read him his rights?”
Flores stood, her face indignant. “I didn’t hear you say he was
under arrest.”

Genie quickly stepped forward, putting her
hands up. “Ms. Flores…”

“Sit down, Flores,” Diego ordered. “They’re
going to find out one way or the other.”

Rafa heard defeat in his voice. Flores
frowned, taking her seat by his side, her hands wringing her short
jeans skirt.

Diego’s gaze shifted between the three. “I’m
already dead. They know, and I can’t do anything about it.”

“Once again Diego, who knows?” Genie
pressed.

The house suddenly went dark. Flores
screamed.

“Quiet!” Genie said in a loud whisper. Rafa
darted to the front window. He carefully pulled back the shades
just enough to see out.

“Lights are on across the street.” He pulled
his weapon and heard Genie do the same.

“I’ll check out the back.” She darted away
before Rafa could protest.

“What’s happening?” Flores’ shaky voice
filled the silence.

“Are any windows open in this place?” Rafa
crossed the foyer to another window in the dining room. After
making sure it was secured, he returned to the living room.

“No, none. The ones upstairs are closed,”
Flores responded.

“Okay, keep quiet and stay low to the floor,”
Rafa commanded. Both Diego and Flores slid off the sofa and onto
the floor.

“It’s them. The Snakes,” Diego’s muffled
voice came from the floor.

“
¡Dios mío, ayudalos!”
Flores cried.

“
¡Silencio!
” Rafa
ordered. Flores whimpered and Diego whispered in Spanish to soothe
her.

Genie emerged. “I couldn’t see anything out
back. It’s possible the circuit breaker just tripped.”

“No, it’s them,” Diego countered. He raised
his head. “They’ve been following me for days. I would’ve left town
but,” he stared at his sister, who kept her head in her hands on
the floor, “I couldn’t leave my sister.” She shook as his hand
rubbed her back for support.

“I’ll check the circuit breaker.” Rafa moved
from the window. “Flores, where is it?”

She steadied herself and looked up. Her voice
shook. “In the basement.” She raised an unsteady hand and pointed.
“You can get there through the kitchen.”

Rafa pulled a small flashlight from his
jacket and started for the kitchen. He paused in front of Genie,
his eyes searching hers. “Are you going to be alright?”

“Sure,” she whispered back. “But hurry.”

“Not afraid of the dark, are you?” he teased,
and stepped into the kitchen. He turned on the flashlight and
scanned the room for the door leading to the basement. A loud crash
of glass coming from the front of the house stopped his entrance.
Before he could turn back, the back door smashed open. A dark
figure came rushing through and collided with Rafa. They fell hard
to the floor. As he struggled with his attacker, he heard Flores
screaming and Genie shouting. Then he heard the sound of
gunfire.