Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Flora
“Mamá?”
“Hola, nina. Estoy en la sala. Ya voy.” Hi, little girl. I’m in the living room. I’ll be right there.
Mamá’s always called me that. Her greeting has nowhere near the same connotation as when Pablo calls me little girl. Thinking that makes my toes curl in my shoes.
My mom has a basket of folded laundry in her arms. Her smile drops the moment she sees Pablo with me.
She marches forward, putting the basket on the entryway table.
I reach to give her a hug, but when I move, it allows her to see the line of black SUVs outside the gate.
There’s one in the driveway. I barely convinced the guard to let it in.
Apparently, the Diaz men are very recognizable.
“What are they doing here? How could you bring these men to my home?”
“Mamá, can we sit down? There’s a lot to tell you.”
“No. No Diaz man is welcome here. I want them gone.”
“Mamá—”
Luis interrupts me. “Magdalena, Alejandro and I will wait in the car, but you need to speak to my son. It’s the only way to ensure your daughter is safe.”
It’s weird to hear Luis call my mother by her first name. It shouldn’t surprise me they know each other, but it does. I don’t know how they do, but I guess once upon a time, they floated in similar social circles. That or he knew my father cheated on his sister with my mother.
“Why would I ever trust a Diaz with my daughter’s safety?”
“Because no one means more to my son than Florencia.”
Mamá’s eyes widen before she scowls at me. Her gaze darts to Pablo, and I step in front of him as though I could protect him. Perhaps from Mamá I can, but he’s a shield at my back for everything else.
“No, I refuse to hear any of this. Florencia, come inside. Tell them to leave.”
“Mamá, I won’t do that. Luis is right. You need to hear what Pablo and I have to say. It’s not safe for me here, but I couldn’t leave without seeing you.”
“You couldn’t leave?” She crosses her arms and cants her head to the side.
“Yes, I can’t leave without seeing you.”
“But you already did. You left Bogotá and went somewhere without telling me where. Your grandfather had to tell me you’d run away with a Diaz, and now you show up with his family on my front doorstep. How could you betray our family like that?”
“Mamá, please let us come inside and have this conversation in private. Your guards don’t need to hear all of this.”
“They need to hear me when I tell them to kick out Luis Diaz.”
“Magdalena, always a pleasure to see you.”
I watch Luis nudge Alejandro as I glance back over my shoulder.
The men turn around and walk down the steps.
No one speaks until they’re in the SUV. The vehicle doesn’t go anywhere, but now, with the windows so tinted, Luis and Alejandro are out of sight.
I step farther into the entryway. Mamá tries to stand her ground, but I shift to the right and make room for Pablo to come inside.
He reaches for the door and shuts it softly.
“No, I didn’t say he’s welcome here, Florencia. Whatever is going on ends right now. Send him away.”
“Mamá, the only person who’s kept me alive for the past two and a half weeks is Pablo. He’s the only one who’s risked his life to make sure I’m okay. It certainly wasn’t Abuelo. He’s the reason I needed Pablo’s help in the first place.”
“He’s just manipulating you, nina. That’s what his family does.”
“While ours murders.”
The words fly from my lips before I realize what I’m going to say. My mother’s expression darkens, and her laugh crackles in the air, so shrill and brittle.
“Los Diaz have murdered more people than you and I could ever imagine. That’s how they maintain control. They kill anybody who looks in their direction.”
“They defend their own. Why did Enrique and Luis come down here all those years ago? It was because their uncle murdered their father. They were reacting. Why did my father die? Because he tried to hurt Luciana. Esteban was only reacting. Why did Luciana do what she did after Esteban’s death?
Because she was reacting to his murder. Why did Pablo take me away from the city?
Because Humberto put a hit on me, and Abuelo did nothing to stop it.
He was just reacting. It’s easy to blame los Diaz for everything because they have so much power.
But Mamá, you and I both know our family isn’t innocent in this.
That our family instigated everything. You and I are lucky we even have family left after the way ours has hurt Pablo’s.
That my grandparents are alive is nothing short of a miracle, perhaps an act of God. ”
“Yes, because that’s how Enrique Diaz sees himself. He is God, and everyone else must bow to him.”
“Mamá, I’d be dead right now if Enrique Diaz said Pablo couldn’t help me.”
I glance over at Pablo, and I know without a doubt, Pablo would’ve defied his uncle—would’ve defied anybody in his family—to help me. But that’s not the point I want to make right now. I want Mamá to see Pablo’s family is on my side.
“You ran away when your Abuelo could’ve helped you. He could’ve protected you.”
I fist my hands as I control my temper. I don’t want to blurt anything else out.
“Mamá, it was Abuelo who brought me to Humberto’s attention.
He’s the one who suggested I work for Humberto.
He claimed he’d use shares of the profit from the drugs my formula makes to pay down my student loans.
You and I both know he’d never do that. He could’ve prevented my having that burden, but he didn’t.
And that’s fine because I never wanted to accept money from him, and I sure as hell don’t want it now.
But he wasn’t really going to spend that money on me.
He wanted to put a hit out on Pablo’s primos.
Killing their father didn’t satisfy him.
Now he wants to go after more los Diaz.”
“That’s your Abuelo’s decision. It has nothing to do with us.”
She’s pushing me to the edge with her obstinance. I guess I know where I get it from. I want to shake her.
“It has everything to do with us because we’re caught in the middle. I think you knew Abuelo was the one who suggested me to Humberto. I think you knew it wasn’t the other way around.”
“So what if it was? There was nothing either of us could’ve done to stop your abuelo or Humberto. It was better for you not to know.”
“How can you think that?”
“Because I knew you would’ve held it against your abuelo, and you would’ve been uncooperative. It would’ve angered Humberto and risked your life.”
“Even if I pissed Humberto off, it was Abuelo’s responsibility to protect me.”
I stretch my fingers out, realizing my nails had dug into my palms. When I slide my hand into Pablo’s, I think my mother’s head might explode. Right now, I need to feel his solid presence. I know the only way to get that is for us to be touching.
His arm around me would be more than Mamá could stand.
She’s having a hard enough time accepting our clasped hands.
I’m tired of standing in the foyer, so I lead Pablo into the living room.
Mamá can come if she wants. I know she will because there’s still more she wants to say.
I’m certain of that. There’s nothing I want to hear, but walking away now won’t make peace between us.
“Mamá, I know how you feel about los Diaz. I felt the same way too when I first met Pablo. I didn’t trust him.
I didn’t want to be anywhere near him.” I glance over at him.
“I told him to fuck off twice, but despite my rudeness, when he found out I was in danger, he came to help me. He could’ve turned his back.
He could’ve ignored discovering there was a hit put on me.
Instead, he risked his life to intervene. ”
“He just wants you to work for his family instead.”
I ignore that comment. I won’t share that it crossed my mind, but only for a hot second.
“It cost his family a fortune to get the hit called off. It wasn’t Abuelo who took care of it. He didn’t want to, and he didn’t have the means to.”
“You exaggerate. Men followed you home. You didn’t give your abuelo a chance to help.”
“Mamá, it wasn’t just some men. There was a quarter million-dollar bounty on my head. It cost los Diaz two and a half million dollars to end that.”
Mamá scoffs, but her expression changes when her gaze meets Pablo’s. I look up at him. He’s steadfast in his attention to me. His expression is relaxed, yet it’s intense. It’s loving.
“Two and a half million?”
“Yes, Mamá.”
“Why were they willing to spend all that money?”
That question hurts. I know she isn’t asking in general why anyone would spend that much. I know she’s asking specifically about Pablo’s family. But that’s how it feels.
“Because your daughter is my future.”
I didn’t expect Pablo to admit that. At least not so early in the conversation.
Actually, it feels like Mamá and I have been going around in circles for hours, but it’s the first time he’s spoken up.
I sit back from where I perched on the edge of the sofa.
I lean against him, and his arm comes around my shoulders.
“And how do I know you’re not manipulating Florencia any more than Humberto or Ernesto?”
“Because what do I have to gain? There’s nothing Ernesto has that I want, and Humberto’s no longer a problem. Neither is Néstor.”
I suck in a breath when Pablo mentions Mamá’s ex-boyfriend. I know she attacked him the last time she saw him, but they were together for nearly fifteen years.
“Thank heaven for small mercies.”
Sarcasm drips from her words while she glowers at Pablo. I want to snap at her for being ungrateful. But she’s hated Pablo’s family far longer than she hasn’t. Three and a half decades of hate won’t disappear in half an hour.
“How much do I owe you for that favor?”
“Nothing. I did it for Florencia’s sake.”
My elbow pokes into his ribs. I don’t enjoy hearing my full name from him. It feels so distant even though I get he’s trying not to antagonize my mother even more than he already has.
“Mamá, there’s so much Abuelo could’ve done, and he did none of it.
Hating Pablo and his family doesn’t change what our family didn’t do to protect me.
Doesn’t change how Abuelo started this whole mess.
He did it for himself. He didn’t care about me and the dangers it put me in.
He didn’t care about you and how it would’ve hurt you if something happened to me.
He did it all for himself. We’ve never been part of his family.
Not really. He never really accepted me because he wouldn’t do this to my primos. ”
“He wouldn’t do it to your primos because they’re useless. They have no skills that benefit him. They’re idiotas.”
“And I’m supposed to be proud that I’m well educated enough for him to risk my life? To sell me like a sack of potatoes to a man who had no conscience? A man who had his own brother killed. A man who could do that would’ve just as easily murdered me.”
“He wouldn’t have gotten his hands dirty.” Pablo mutters his comment, but Mamá and I both hear him.
“What Pablo said is true. That’s why Humberto put a bounty on me. It wasn’t dead or alive. I’m certain he only would’ve paid if I were dead.”
Mamá just won’t relent. “You’re distracted by his good looks and charm. Those will wear off, and then where will you be? Probably in the same position I am.”
“I am not Domingo. No man in my family is anything like him. I would never abandon Flora.”
“Flora, is it? How long did it take before you slept together? An hour? Two hours?”
“Mamá!”
My cheeks are radiating heat. This isn’t something she and I have ever talked about. I can’t believe she’s bringing up something so private with Pablo here. I can’t believe she’s talking about my sex life at all. We’ve never ever done that.
Pablo’s thumb rubs against the base of my neck. It soothes me.
“I care about your daughter more than I do anyone else in the world. I understand you don’t believe me.
Perhaps with time I can show you. But whether you believe me doesn’t change the fact that I’ll protect Flora from any threat.
It doesn’t matter if they’re her family.
Anyone who threatens Flora will discover just how protective los Diaz is about family—by blood or by choice. ”
“Oh, so now she’s part of your family. She’s my daughter.”
“And that will never change, Senora Bautista. But she will be my wife.”
I force myself not to react. It’s been a foregone conclusion, but it’s still a lot to take in to hear him say that.
It’s one thing to think it—even imagine it—but it’s altogether different when it’s said aloud, especially with the conviction Mamá and I hear in Pablo’s voice. My hesitation is slipping away.
It’s not just hearing that; it’s his reassuring presence.
He was silently supporting me by being beside me, but now he’s ready to declare himself.
It feels like he and his family are the only ones on my side.
Despite how much Mamá loathes los Diaz, she should at least acknowledge how they’ve protected me so far.
I understand she doesn’t want me to have a future with them, but she should acknowledge they’re part of my present and not as a threat.
“Mamá, if you won’t believe me about Abuelo and you won’t accept that Pablo’s the one who’s been protecting me, then there’s really nothing more to say. I wish it weren’t this way, but I can’t reason with you if you insist upon denying the truth.”
“The truth is los Diaz are manipulating you. Blood is thicker than water, mija.” My daughter.
“Not in this case, Mamá. I know there’re limits to what you can do, but you’re still my mother. Even if you couldn’t have stopped Abuelo, you could’ve warned me. You didn’t.”
My voice cracks as I repeat the refrain that’s run through my head on a loop every time I think about what’s going on. I want to think I can get over that—that I can reason it away—that I can forgive her—but I don’t know that I can. It feels like such a betrayal.
The only way I can stomach thinking about it is knowing how little power Mamá has. I don’t doubt she did what she thought was best for me. However, she couldn’t have been more wrong.