Page 10 of Echoes and Oaths (Guardian Security Dynasty #4)

She stared at him, heart pounding. His words didn’t register. Not at first. “So, I was nothing?” she asked, her voice cracking. “I was a diversion? A part of your mission?”

“No.” His answer came sharp and quick. “You were not part of that. You were never part of the mission. That’s why I kept everything, my work, the cartel, separate from you.”

He looked at Teo, now asleep again in her arms, and gently reached out, tracing the curve of the baby’s round cheek with his finger.

“What did you name her?” he asked softly.

Her ?

“Him,” Eira corrected sharply. “I named him Teo. After his father.”

Mateo’s eyes snapped up to hers. His lips parted, and then a smile, soft, broken, and reverent, spread across his face.

“A son,” he whispered. “ My son. ”

Eira’s expression turned cold. “You gave up any right to me, or to this baby, when you left us here.”

Mateo sank to the floor, crossing his arms over his knees. He steepled his fingers, a familiar gesture she remembered from long ago. It was something he always did when he was trying to choose his words carefully.

“Eira,” he said, voice low and even. “When I left you, I did it because I loved you. I thought I would bring nothing but danger into your life. I thought I’d cause you more pain. I realize now … I was probably wrong.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “ Probably ? Mateo, I’m going to say this very clearly.

I loved you with everything I had. I gave you all of me.

And now, after almost three years of silence.

Years during which I thought you could be dead !

You show up and tell me you left me because you loved me?

” She let out a hollow laugh. “Do you have any idea how insane that sounds?”

Mateo scrubbed his hands down his face and sighed deeply. “I’m beginning to,” he admitted. “At the time, it made sense. If I’d come back, if the war had followed me, it would’ve found you. It would’ve found your mother. It would’ve found our unborn child. ”

“Bullshit.” She snapped at him.

“You didn’t know about who I was, Eira. You had no idea what I was involved in.

The evil that moved in my wake would have consumed you.

I couldn’t risk coming back. I couldn’t risk anyone knowing about you and how damned important you are to me.

” His voice cracked as he continued. “You know as well as I do the factions in this war don’t care about collateral damage.

They don’t care about women. Or children.

They would’ve burned this place down with you inside. ”

Eira’s mouth dropped open. She snapped it shut again, eyes narrowing.

“Or conversely, Mateo … you could’ve come and gotten us. Taken my mother and me and left with us. But you didn’t.”

He dropped his head and nodded slowly. “That was an option.”

“One you didn’t choose,” she whispered. “You left. You made the decision for all of us.”

Mateo’s voice was quiet. “Yes. I did. I own that. That’s on me.”

She stared at him, holding Teo closer. “So, why are you back?” she asked, her voice hard now. “It isn’t for me, is it? It isn’t for Teo?”

He hesitated. “No,” he said. “My employers sent me back. I’ve been tasked with eliminating the Ghost … and, if possible, Ortega.”

Eira flinched like he’d slapped her. She blinked in disbelief, her heart lurching as his words settled over her. She’d said it to hurt him. Had thrown the accusation like a dagger, praying, begging him to deny it.

But he didn’t.

Her voice broke. “Did you ever love me?”

Mateo’s head shot up, his eyes locking on hers. “With all my heart,” he said fiercely. “And I still do. ”

“And yet …” Her voice trembled. “You left us here. Alone. While you went where? Back to America? What kind of life did you live, Mateo?” Her voice was rising now, bitter and raw.

“Do you live in a nice house? Do you have air conditioning? Do you walk into a grocery store and buy anything you want? Do you have neighbors you can talk to without worrying the cartel will gun you down in the road? Do you sleep safely in your bed at night?”

She paused.

“Did you feel safe … in America?”

Mateo stared at her for a long, heavy moment, his eyes searching her face for some crack in the wall she’d raised.

“I don’t know how else to tell you that I’m sorry,” he said finally, his voice hoarse with emotion. “I made the wrong decision. Every accusation, every truth you’ve thrown at me tonight, all of it , is on me.”

He struck his chest once, hard, as his eyes filled with unshed tears.

“I made the mistake. I ’m the one who screwed up, Eira.

I should’ve brought you and your mother back with me.

I should’ve taken you out of this hell. I thought I was protecting you …

but I was only doing what I thought was best. And I was wrong. ”

Eira let out a bitter laugh and gently hushed Teo, who squirmed in her arms. The baby let out a soft cry, picking up on the tension in the room.

“You tell me you’re back here because of a mission,” she said, her voice tight.

“Not because of us . You say you love me and that you left me because of that love. What kind of twisted logic is that? What kind of organization employs a man to kill others?” She looked at him, accusing and exhausted.

“Are you part of another cartel? A rival faction?”

Mateo shook his head quickly. “No. No, nothing like that. My government sent me. Not just mine. Multiple governments. I’m tasked with finding and eliminating high-level threats.

Montoya was one of them. Now, the Ghost and Ortega are next.

I’ve never told anyone that truth. It would seal my death if it got out, but you deserve to know.

” He looked at her, and the honesty in his eyes shocked her.

“I’ve never stopped loving you. I left because of what I do.

I thought it would be safer for you. I thought I was protecting you. ”

She stared at him, stunned. His eyes dropped to the child in her arms, and his expression softened.

“I didn’t know about Teo,” he whispered. “Not until thirty minutes ago when your mother brought him to you. That’s when I saw him.”

Eira’s brows drew together. “Then why were you even here?”

“I saw Ortega’s convoy heading in this direction,” he said. “I followed them. I was worried.” He hesitated, then added quietly, “I heard what you said to his enforcer.” He paused for a moment. “Is Ortega protecting you?” he asked. “Are you … involved with him?”

Eira’s expression twisted in disgust. Her words came like blades, and the thought he could believe that sickened her. “How dare you ask me that?” she spat. “How could I ever be involved with a monster like him? Did you never know me at all?”

Mateo flinched. He looked around the clinic as if searching for something solid to hold onto. “And yet … he’s protecting you,” he said softly.

She lifted her chin. “Yes. He’s protecting me. Because he wants me. The only reason he hasn’t taken me, hasn’t ripped all this away from me, is because I told him Teo and I are yours.”

Her eyes narrowed as she locked her gaze to his.

“I saw the fear in his eyes, Mateo. I saw it. At that moment, I knew what my uncles told me was true. That you were an enforcer. A killer.” She exhaled a shaky breath. “Which you’ve confirmed tonight.”

“I will make this right, Eira,” Mateo said, his voice steady but pleading. “If you give me the chance, I’ll make all of it right. Please allow me to do this.”

Eira shook her head, overwhelmed didn’t even come close to what she was feeling.

“Don’t ask me to make a decision. Not now.

Don’t ask me to process the shock of you being alive, the fact that you’re back and that you’re after the Ghost and Ortega…

and decide what to do based on what we had versus what we have now. ”

Mateo nodded. “I understand the shock.”

“No,” she snapped, laughing bitterly. “No, you don’t .

You have no concept of what I’m going through right now.

You should leave .” She wanted him gone as much as she wanted him to pull her into his arms and swear he’d never leave them again.

God, how could he be alive? How could he just drop all this on her lap ?

He looked between her and the sleeping child, then nodded slowly.

“I will leave,” he said quietly. “But I’m back .

And I will return for both of you. I’ll come back in a way that doesn’t bring danger to you, him, or your family.

I will protect you as I do what I need to do to get rid of the men who prey on this country.

” Mateo stood and looked down at her. “I know I’ve told you a lot tonight,” he said.

“And you can go to Ortega. You can tell him everything I said. That’s your right.

” He paused. “But I will take out Ortega. I will find the Ghost. I will kill them both.”

His voice dropped, quiet and absolute.

“Then I will return. For you. For my son. For your mother.”

Eira stared up at him, her breath caught in her throat. “I would never warn Ortega. But what makes you think we’d go with you?”

Mateo met her eyes, unwavering. “Then I’ll stay . I’ll stay with you. I’ll protect you. I’ll give you a life you can be proud of. A husband you can be proud of. A father he can be proud of.”

He didn’t give her a chance to respond. He turned and walked to the door, pausing only to look at her one last time before quietly closing it behind him.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Eira leaned back in the chair, still holding her sleeping son, and closed her eyes as the tears finally fell… hot, silent, and unrelenting.

She’d begged for this in her dreams. For him to come back. And he had. But now, with the weight of truth pressing down on her chest like a stone, she couldn’t help but wonder …

Had her dreams turned into a nightmare?