His Ruthless Pursuit

"Lola, welcome." I uttered as she stepped over the threshold. She smiled down at me before glaring ahead of her. She silently sized me up from head to toe before walking past me and I awkwardly pressed my lips together. 

"Hola, Martín." I greeted and he smiled at me before entering the house. 

Aurellia blankly stared at me before walking past me. "Hello to you too, Aurellia." I tiredly muttered under my breath before I looked down at Mila who was holding onto my hand. 

"She seems mad at you, Mommy." Mila said and I nodded at her. 

"She does, doesn't she?" I asked Mila and she nodded at me. 

"Here comes Uncle Tiago." Mila excitedly told me. I saw Tiago walking toward us while holding something behind his back. 

"Tiago. The man, the myth, the legend." I joked and he laughed before hugging me. 

"In the flesh, baby." He cheesed and I laughed at him. 

"Hola, Mila." He said before pinching her cheeks and she smiled up at him. 

"What do you have behind your back?" Mila curiously asked him and he frowned at her. 

"What do I have behind my back? Let's see," He said before he narrowed his eyes on her. I think Santa left this at my house for you. It has your name on it." He said before he held a beautifully wrapped gift out to Mila. 

"For me?" She asked and he nodded at her. Mila took the gift from him and I smiled at the excitement on her face.

"Open it." Tiago told her and she nodded before she started opening the gift. She took out a beautiful snow globe with a little white house inside of it. She gasped in awe and Tiago smiled at her reaction. 

"Do you like it?" He asked her and she looked up at him in shock. 

"I love it! Thank you, Uncle Tiago!" She excitedly yelled at him and he scooped her up into a hug. "Thank you, Uncle Tiago!" She repeated before she ran inside the house. Probably on her way to show her new gift to anyone who cares.

"Thank you." I told him and he pulled me into a side hug. 

"Let's go inside I'm freezing out here." He told me and I nodded at him. 

"Come on, hang up your coat." I told Tiago and he quietly followed my instructions before we headed into the dining room. I nervously held onto his arm. 

I sat down on Mateo's left. His chair still empty. Tiago took his seat next to me and we quietly waited with the rest of the family for Mateo to arrive. 

After a few more minutes of waiting Mateo and Rafe came walking into the dining room and it dawned in silence. The scraping sound of an unknown chair was the last thing I heard. 

Mateo angrily looked at Tiago before his eyes rested on me and I uncomfortably looked down to my hands. I could feel his eyes on me they were burning into my skin like a thousand suns were smiling down on me.

I cleared my throat as a signal to him and a few curious glances came my way.

Mateo took his seat and only then did I look up. I put my hands together in front of me to pray and everyone followed my league. We closed our eyes before waiting for Mateo to pray for us.

"Santa Maria. Bendice esta mesa y a todos en esta casa. Gracias por unirme a mi esposa y a mi hija. Te pido que tengas misericordia de todos nosotros. Amén." Mateo prayed. 

(Bless this table and everyone in this house. Thank you for uniting me with my wife and daughter. I pray you show mercy on all of us. Amen.)

"Amen." Everyone around the table uttered in one voice. 

I looked over at Mila who was sitting between Lola and Martín. She was smiling from ear to ear and that truly made me ease up a bit more.

Mateo took hold of my hand and I looked up into his eyes. "You look beautiful." He told me and I smiled at him.

"Thank you." I uttered softly. "Where were you all day?" I asked him. 

"I had to get rid of someone who was becoming a pain in the ass for me." He blankly told me and Rafe laughed at his words before arrogantly leaning back in his seat.

"Mila asked for you and I didn't know what to tell her." I told him, ignoring Rafe and Mateo shifted his chair so that he could face me. 

"You could always tell her the truth." He told me and Rafe smirked at his words. I clenched my jaw in anger before pursing my lips together in a thin line.

I removed my gaze from his before staring down at the empty plate in front of me and Tiago shot me a comforting smile.

Lola got up from her chair before gently hitting her champagne glass with a spoon. 

"Family, friends, children, and grandchildren. Welcome to the annual Delacruz christmas dinner party." She proudly uttered, her Spanish accent lightly coming through as she spoke. 

"I am proud to call you my family and I am proud to say that through it all, you have been loyal to my son. Many have given up, disappeared, or ran away out of fear. But you stayed." She hinted and I looked at her in disbelief. 

Tiago lightly hit me with his elbow while holding back his laughter and I just shook my head at him in disbelief. She's obviously talking about me. 

"Thank you for honoring the oath that you took. And for being so loyal to my son because that is what life is really about." She smiled at the family and they clapped their hands as she sat back down. 

"I would also like to say something." Martín stated before standing up. Everyone quieted down before placing their focus on him. 

"We've had a long year. Things were not always easy but we got through it by standing together as a family. Thank you to Mateo, Mi Salvador." He proudly uttered. 

"Your father would have been proud of you." He said while looking into Mateo's eyes. "You're the glue of our family and recently you brought back our most important piece. Hera and little Mila." Martín stated. 

"Welcome back, Hera. You are loved and appreciated and we will cherish you and little Mila as much as we can. That is the family's promise to you and the don." Martín told me. I smiled at him in appreciation as he looked at me in concern. 

"Let us raise our glasses to new beginnings." Martín said. Everyone raised their champagne glasses to a toast.

Martín is a father figure to many. Mateo liked him from the moment they met because Martín is kind, wise, and loyal. He used to be a sniper for the Italian mafia that's how he met Leonardo Delacruz, Mateo's father. They were good friends when they were younger. I don't know how it came that Lola fell in love with him, but she did and then they got married. 

It's good that she found him when she did. He's been good to her.

I looked at Mateo and as I did so he placed his hand on mine. He leaned closer to me while I continued staring at our interlocked fingers.

"Merry Christmas, Hera." He whispered into my ear. He pulled back from me and looked deep into my eyes. For some reason I couldn't look away because it felt like I was in a trance.

"What?" I softly asked him.

"Merry Christmas." He repeated himself.

Why is he suddenly being nice to me? There's got to be a catch. He was acting so smug just a few minutes ago, now he's wishing me a merry christmas?

"Thanks." I shortly responded before frowning at him. "Merry Christmas to you too, Mateo." I softly told him and he smirked at me. 

"You know, I did a lot of thinking after I left last night." He said while narrowing his eyes on me. "And I came to the conclusion that you will never stop disrespecting me. Not until I set some ground rules." He added and I frowned at him. 

"Rules?" I asked him in confusion and he clenched his jaw in anger. 

"Every house has rules, Hera. Would you like to hear ours?" He asked me and I just silently looked at him. 

"Number 1, no male friends. Number 2, no having guests over when I'm not home. Number 3, I'm the only person you're allowed to speak to until I tell you otherwise. Number 4, you will fully be my wife again. Number 5, you will never question me and you will never talk back to me. Number 6, never ask me about your father again. Number 7, you will honor the deal that we made. If you break any of these rules, I will have no other choice but to take my daughter away from you. That will be your punishment, Hera." He blankly stated and my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. 

"Why are you doing this, Mateo?" I softly asked him. 

"Because this is the only language that you understand, Hera. You brought this on yourself. And you brought this on Mila. Things will be different from now on." He angrily uttered in a promising tone before he got up and walked away from our table.