Page 94 of Play for Power (Central Sparks #3)

“Miguel, for the love of God, calm down.” My father sighs, with a hand wipe down his face.

“I don’t take orders from you boy. Leave and have your tantrum elsewhere.

Our business is clearly concluded.” My father, the usually rageful monster, the manipulating and calculating billionaire just stands there, assured, confident, and seeming otherwise completely unbothered.

It makes me shift only slightly, in unease at how well he seems to be handling the loss of this deal, the future loss of all the money being connected to the Castillos would bring… until it hits me.

“Oh…you think I’ll come crawling back.”

“Oh, I’m sure of it.” He smiles smugly while Mickey decides to take that moment, uttering a range of Spanish curses, storming from my father’s office. I hear the slam of the office door behind me, and then the front door as he goes.

I laugh again, this time freely, feeling like the entire weight of the world has finally lifted from my shoulders.

Because my father is so blinded by his own arrogance that he truly believes I will come crawling back.

He believes I’ll see what it’s like having to buy from the Target sale rack instead of being the first to wear off the runway and I’ll simply sign my life away.

I laugh harder, cackling and wiping little tears from the corner of my eyes as I turn and head for the office door, because this arrogant mother fucker is still standing there confidently, like there is nothing I could say or do that would convince him that this is goodbye.

I pause only when I’m at the door. With it open, I stand at the threshold and look back over my shoulder at the smug and self-assured old man.

There is something bittersweet about this moment.

Because I’m cutting ties with the life I grew up with, with people who are meant to be my family.

Who are meant to love me, unconditionally and without prejudice, and I’m weirdly happy about it.

I feel no pain or sadness at losing them, and it only solidifies that this was the right decision.

The pain I thought I would feel, I felt when I thought I’d lost Caleb.

How I would feel if I were to ever lose my real family; Addison and Casey.

Now that would break me in two. I never realized until this very moment that those girls, Caleb, Carmela, Halle, Jasper, and the rest of our crew, they truly were all that I will need, and all that I have ever needed.

“Goodbye, Antonio. I won’t be seeing you around.

” With one last wink, I let the door close behind me, walking on air once again through the house.

I can feel the tears drip down my cheeks despite the small smile I can feel pushing through the weird numbness coating my body.

When I enter the living room, I find my mother seated at the bar in the back corner that overlooks the city below.

She sits, facing me with a whiskey glass half filled with a clear liquid I can only assume is vodka.

“Quite the drama you seem to have caused. As usual.” She mutters under her breath, not meeting my eyes as she takes a rather large drink from her glass.

Taking a centering breath, I turn to face her, “I truly hope you find the power to make your own decisions one day, Maria. Living like this, under him, with no freedom and no joy? I know you don’t know any other way, but this isn’t it.

And you do have the power to choose, you just have to be brave enough to do it.

” Her eyes raise to meet mine, one corner of her lips turned up ever so slightly as one long second turns into five.

She huffs a breath, swirling her glass as she breaks eye contact and peers down into the liquid.

I don’t know what emotions she seems to cycle through, but something passes over her as she stands from her seat at the bar, frowning down at her glass and, almost reluctantly, places it down on the bar top.

Quietly, without another word or look in my direction, she heads in the direction of her room.

“Goodbye, Mom,” I whisper to myself as I turn and head for the front door, leaving everything about this world, about the Garcia life, behind me for good.

And though I feel an immense amount of relief and joy at knowing I get to leave here today and finally live the life I have been trying to escape into, that I get to run into Caleb’s arms and know everything will be okay, I can’t shake the feeling of anticipation, like I’m missing something and that the proverbial other shoe is just about to drop.

But then I’m on the ground level, I’m walking through the entryway, and the fresh air hits me.

I step onto the street and I see him there, pacing across the road a few steps before he notices me and stops.

I can feel every bit of my old self slip away in that moment.

The masks I held on to, the walls I put up?

They’ve crumbled, they’ve been peeled away, and I can’t help but run.

I race across the street and launch myself into his wide-open arms, feeling them wrap around me firmly as he holds me, and I melt into him on instinct.

“Take me home, carino .” I feel him sigh and hug me tighter.

He wouldn’t really need to take me anywhere though.

Because home? It’s wherever he is.