He doesn’t answer, and his silence pisses me off.
I square up against him, all five-foot-three of me facing down his six-foot frame.“Tell me something, Marco.If I’m so desperate to get away from this man that I walked for hours in the freezing cold just to escape him, why do you still let Mamá do this to me?I will never marry Luis.Never.”My voice gets louder, years of resentment pouring out.“I worked my ass off for everything I have, unlike everyone else in this family.”
Marco flinches, and I see him open his mouth to protest.
“Don't you dare say that’s not true,” I snap.“Your entire education was funded by Mamá.Yours, Antonio’s, Daniel’s, Miguel’s, and even his!”I point towards Rafael.“All you boys got your choice of colleges.Mamá used the insurance money from Dad’s death on you, covered every expense so you could focus on your studies.But I had to wait tables just to eat one meal a day in college and pay my own tuition.While I was half-starving in college, trying to build a life for myself because Mamá didn’t want me to study any further, she was giving you the down payment for your restaurant.”
Marco’s face has gone pale, but I’m not done.
“Nobody offered me money.Nobody worried about me.I killed myself to get to this point, and I will never let anybody take this away from me.”I step closer, my eyes cold as I meet his own.“Even if it means walking away from my family forever, I will hold onto this life because I poured all my sweat and blood into building it.”
The silence that follows is deafening.Marco stares at me, and I can see the truth of my words hitting him.
Finally, he speaks, his voice quiet.“I’ll talk to Luis.Tell him to leave you alone.”
I’m about to say something else when Rafael gets between us.“Marco, you should head back.Elena’s probably wondering where you are.”
“I’m not leaving until?—”
“Yes, you are.”Rafael jerks his head towards me.“Eve’s tired, you’re pissed, and nothing good is going to come from continuing this tonight.”
Marco looks like he wants to argue, but his shoulders slump.He walks over to me, pulling me into one of his bear hugs that always made me feel small and protected when I was little.
“I know I let you down sometimes,” he whispers against my hair.“I’m sorry for that.But I’m very proud of everything you’ve achieved,hermanita.Everything.”
My throat tightens, and I hug him back fiercely.“I know.”
After he leaves, Rafael flops onto my couch.“Alright, what happened?”
I settle on the armchair across from him.“I walked home, Rafael.Luis followed me in his car about two hours later, trying to force me to get in and go to his apartment to ‘talk.’”
Rafael’s face darkens.“No wonder he was in a hurry to leave and didn’t even stay for drinks.He seemed to be in bad shape, though.”
I bare my teeth at him.“Do you think I’m going to let anybody push me around that easily?His balls are going to need icing tonight.”
“That’s my girl.”My brother looks impressed.He stretches his arms, folding them behind his head.“You look pretty alive to have walked several hours in this weather.Guess you’re not hitting the gym tomorrow.”
I kick him, but he moves fast enough to avoid it.
“Mamá tried to send me after you when she realized you left.She panicked.But Luis said he saw you get in a car and leave.He convinced everyone not to go looking.”
I freeze.“He said what?”
“Said you called a friend, and you’d be fine.”
Cold fury washes over me.“He was deliberately trying to punish me.That’s so typical of him.He’s always been like this.This is one of the reasons I said I didn’t want to depend on him financially when he told me to quit the job after we got married.”
My younger brother watches me.“I always got the feeling your job made him feel insecure.You’ve always been so much more ambitious than him.”
“His ambition doesn’t matter to me, Raf.It never did.If he was a halfway-decent person, I wouldn’t have cared.But he’s petty and cruel and likes to punish me to break me.I’m not going to tie myself to a man like that.If it was bad when we were dating, imagine how much worse it would be once he had me quit my job and be completely financially dependent on him.”
Rafael’s dark eyes tighten around the corners.“I never liked him.Neither does Daniel.Mom’s the one who’s got it in her head that because you two grew up together, you just have to marry him.Guy’s a jerk.”
“Mom likes him because he’s always sweet-talking her,” I scowl.
Rafael suddenly grins.“He was telling Mamá that he wanted to have white roses for the wedding, and Elena told him you hated white roses, and he was like, ‘Well, she’ll have to get used to liking them once I’m the man of the house.’He thought he really said something there.Marco looked like he wanted to punch him in the throat.”
“What did Mamá say?”I ask, leaning forward.
