6-Javier

Mom: Are you still coming to dinner on Sunday?

Mom: Please don't do this. We need to talk.

Mom: I'm sorry. It's not how I wanted you to find out.

I've been in a shitty mood since Mom dropped a bomb on me during our weekly family dinner. Actually, it was more of me walking into a heated argument between my parents.

Parents. What a crock of shit.

My father taught me how to ride a bike, change a flat tire, shoot a gun, and be a good man. Only he's not my biological father. Dad found out at the same time I did. Dad gave me a devastated look and said, "No matter what, you are my son."

When the elevator stopped on my floor, I moved toward my office, ignoring every person I saw on the way. I unlocked the door, tossing my keys and phone on the desk, and stood before the window. The great thing about this space is the view and the amount of natural light that beams in. There was never a reason to turn on the light switch.

My phone vibrated on the desk.

I sighed in frustration and roughly ran my hands down my face. I grabbed the phone and typed in the code to unlock the screen.

Dad: It's not your mother's fault. Give her a chance to explain, son.

"Sup, man." I glanced over my shoulder to see my partner and best friend, Derek Rossi. We'd known each other since kindergarten and joined the FBI together.

I nodded in greeting and plopped my ass on the chair behind the desk.

"Bad night?" he asked as he walked further into the room and sat in the chair across from me.

I leaned back and interlocked my fingers, resting my hands on my stomach.

"You could say that."

He smirked, not buying my bullshit, but didn't ask any more questions. He tossed a case file that we've been working on for some time onto my desk.

"Read it." He pointed to the folder. "Two more bodies were found by the river."

"Same MO?" I asked, grabbing the folder and looking at the photos.

"Yeah. Fucker's getting careless. He left a cigarette butt at the scene."

"Did you run the prints?"

"Yeah, the team is on it."

We were investigating the country"s most notorious and dangerous drug lords. The Romano brothers ran a lucrative drug and gambling ring. The men they hired to eliminate the "evidence" were getting sloppy. More bodies had been found in the last few months, and all the victims were linked to the Romano brothers. The two most recent victims stole over 250k from the brothers after some sports betting went south. After twenty-four hours, they were reported missing. Two days later, I was staring at pictures of their lifeless bodies, each one riddled with bullets and with their hands chopped off.

I had been working overtime to put these bastards behind bars, or better yet, a bullet between their eyes. Once I closed this case, I was taking an extended vacation away from the city.

There was a knock at the door.

"Yeah," I called out, studying the case file before me.

"The boss wants to see you both," Lydia, Derek's latest bedmate, said from the doorway.

"Thanks," I muttered under my breath.

"Well!" Derek smacked the armchair and lifted himself to his feet. "I'll meet you in there, brother."

I said nothing and stared at the damn file.

After he left the office, my phone vibrated. With a heavy sigh, I set the folder down and glanced at the screen.

It was a text message.

Boss: Check your email.

I typed on the keyboard and entered my login credentials, but nothing happened. The screen was frozen.

I hit several buttons to restart the damn thing.

"Stupid piece of shit," I grunted, smashing the buttons again. When the screen went black, I was tempted to grab the thing and throw it against the wall, but a voice stopped me.

"Special Agent Delgado."

"What?" I snapped, slamming the screen closed.

"Boss wants you to check your email. It's a new development to the case," a newbie said with a slight tremor in his voice. The kid looked like he was fresh out of high school.

"Well, I would if I could get into my email, but as you can see, my computer is not cooperating with me," I said through gritted teeth, already over the BS.

Fuck this day.

"Um…" I looked up to see the kid ready to make a run for it based on the way he nervously looked behind his shoulder.

"Just go," I exhaled on a long breath.

The kid didn't have to be told twice. He ran out of here like he had to take a shit.

After five more minutes of trying to get my laptop to work, I called IT. Twenty minutes later, I was up and running again.

When I clicked on the blue envelope icon, I searched for the email from the boss. There was a link in the message. I clicked on it, and a picture of Ricardo Ramirez appeared on my screen.

Holy shit.

My bio dad—the same face on the picture Mom showed me.

How was he tied to the case? As I read through his profile, I discovered he was a wife-beater, a raging alcoholic, and had a gambling addiction. In the last ten years, he was arrested several times for disorderly conduct and domestic violence. I ran a search for any listed relatives. His parents died when he was twenty years old. No siblings. He's married to Claudia Ramirez, and they had two children: Josiah Ramirez and Mercedes Ramirez. Josiah is a few years younger than me, and Mercedes is still in high school.

Holy shit! They were my brother and sister.

The contents in my stomach were ready to make an exit after reading what this bastard had done to his family.

Jesus.

Years of abuse, and no one saved them. Someone should"ve stepped in when a kid showed up to school with bruises or had to be out for over a week after being beaten nearly to death!

And this was the part where it got interesting.

It said that dear old Dad was a regular at one of Romano's gambling operations.. They were smart enough to do their work through legit establishments. And with everyone knowing how ruthless they were, no one dared to cross them.

Curious, I typed Josiah's name into the database, and an alert caught my attention. The report said he was being processed for assault and battery for…what the hell?

"Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ramirez was beaten by her boyfriend at a house party. Josiah Ramirez, the victim's brother, rescued his sister."

I couldn't read any more of this shit. My bio father was a complete bastard. Who the fuck beats his wife and kids? I dodged a bullet with him, but my siblings didn't share the same fate.

After slamming the screen down again, I stood up, grabbed my keys, and went to the door. I had somewhere to be.

"I'm here to see Josiah Ramirez." I flashed my badge to the officer behind the desk.

"Sign here," she said coolly.

I followed the correctional officer to the visitor lounge and waited for Josiah to enter. After ten minutes, the secure door opened.

Josiah, dressed in a blue jumpsuit, walked before the jailer. He was built like Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. His face was clear—no signs that he was in a fight. I wondered how the other guy looked.

"Who are you?" Josiah asked, eyeing me carefully.

"You can remove the cuffs," I instructed the jailer.

He nodded and uncuffed Josiah.

Josiah rubbed his wrists, and I gestured for Josiah to sit on the chair.

"You don't look like a lawyer. Again, who are you?" Josiah asked as he took a seat across from me.

"My name is Javier Delgado, Special Agent with the FBI."

"FBI?" He leaned back in the chair.

"I'm looking into a case that involves your father."

He stiffened.

"What do you mean?"

I went into only the need-to-know details of the case. Josiah sat patiently and listened intently. Not once did he interrupt me. Patience, a trait we shared. The more I looked at him, the more he reminded me of myself at that age. Damn. It hit me that I had a brother and a sister who was currently fighting for her life.

I pulled out a folder with the information I printed before I left the office. It proved how deep his father was in with the Romano brothers… and that we shared the same father.

Josiah grabbed the folder, scanning the documents and pictures. He settled on one document longer than the others.

Josiah scooted closer to the table, holding the document in his hands. When he finally raised his head to me, I could see the longing in his eyes that kept him from asking the one question I knew was on his mind.

"Is this for real? Are you my brother?"

"Yeah, I'm your half-brother. Long story short, but your dad—"

"Fucked your mom," he finished.

I cocked my head to the side, not surprised by his reaction. "Sorry, I meant no disrespect. I know my dad cheated on my mom. I followed him one day on my bike and saw him kiss a woman—your mom, I take it."

There was no malice in his tone, just him confirming the suspicions he had probably had for years.

"I never met him," I said.

"Pft. You lucked out because there's nothing special there." He forced a smile, but he wasn't fooling anybody. I could sense the searing pain in his words.

"I'm sorry for what he did to you, your mom, and your sister. I would never wish that upon anyone."

"Yeah, well, I don't need your fucking pity. I've been looking out for my mom and sister since I was six. The bastard doesn't scare me, and I'm not afraid to lay his ass down." Josiah leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms across his chest.

"I don't pity you."

"Then what the fuck do you want? To tell me I have a long-lost brother who's had a better life? Did you come here to rub it in my face?"

I sighed. "I wanted to tell you that your sister is not safe."

That got his attention, so I continued.

"Your father often bets in one of the Romano brother's businesses. His association with them puts you and your family at risk. We also have reason to believe that Christian, Sadie's boyfriend—"

"Ex," Josiah corrected me.

"Ex-boyfriend and his cousin were working for the Romano brothers."

"Fuck," Josiah breathed. He leaned forward and ran his hands down his face, resting his elbows on his knees.

"How do Christian and Hector fit into all this?" Josiah looked up at me.

"We don't know yet. We're still looking into it," I replied honestly.

Josiah exhaled and rested his hands on top of his head.

"What do you need from me?"

I smiled. That's what I was talking about.

"I need to transfer you to a psychiatric hospital and get you back on your meds. Because I will need you to be stable when you get out."

"A hospital?"

"Yes, a hospital. It's better than staying in here, don't you think?"

"Ok, I'll bite." He dropped his hands to his lap. "What happens when I leave the hospital? Am I going to become your informant?" He chuckled.

"Yes," I deadpanned.

"Bro, I'm kidding."

"I'm not."

His eyes widened.

"You're serious?"

"Yes, I am." This time I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table. "I need you to keep our sister safe. If and when Christian will be released from jail, the first thing he's going to do is go after Sadie. In exchange, your record will be wiped clean."

He seemed to ponder that for a minute before he spoke.

"Ok, I'll do it. But I need you to watch her while I'm locked up."

"I'll make sure to have an agent with her at all times."

"No, it has to be you. I don't trust anyone else. You're family, and we look out for one another." He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world.

I nodded in agreement.

"One more thing, Mercedes can never find out about me."

"Sadie. She goes by Sadie. And why wouldn't you want her to know? There was sincerity in his tone.

"The best way to maintain her safety is to hide my identity. For now."

I would do everything in my power to keep them both safe.

"Time's up," the jailer announced as he approached us.

Josiah stood up and held his wrists out without putting up a fight as the jailor cuffed him.

"I'll start the paperwork and have you transferred within the next two hours," I said as I tucked the folder underneath my arm.

Josiah nodded and started to walk away. Once he reached the door, he glanced over his shoulder and said, "When all this is over, we should shoot hoops."

I couldn't help but feel a warm sensation in my belly at the thought of shooting hoops with my brother.

"Yeah, man. I'll hold you to that."

Josiah's laugh was genuine. "Yeah, and I'll beat your ass too."

He smiled and walked through the door when it buzzed open. I watched him disappear with the worry floating in the back of my mind that I might fail him. As I walked outside to the parking lot, I tried telling myself everything would work out. Josiah, Sadie, and their mom would be safe, which was all that mattered right now.

Unfortunately, we never got that happy ending. My brother is gone, and he didn't get the chance to beat my ass in that game.