My gaze sweeps the room. Madeline, Florencia, and Anneliese appear horrified but not because they believe him. Catalina, Matáis, Luciana, Luis, Margherita, Enrique, and Elle appear disgusted and enraged.
Catalina joins me, standing on the opposite side of Elle. She leans in to whisper directly in my ear.
“That is absolute bullshit. If my son had a child, there’s no way in hell he’d ever deny the child. He’d abandon this family before abandoning a son.”
“Did you come up with that lie on your own, Yuri? Or is your niece that good at manipulating you? Alejandro has no children.”
“Look at the image I sent you.”
My phone buzzes with a text message. I look at the screen and tap the text icon. I pull it up and tap on the image to enlarge it. It’s a paternity result saying Alejandro’s ninety-nine-point-nine percent likely to be the child’s father.
“All this proves is you have a computer and a printer.”
“Give up Alejandro,Señora. He has a family, and there’s no room for you.”
“This is the most poorly concocted lie. Why are you making things so much worse for yourself? Does Rurik know what you’re doing? Does he know what you’re claiming about his sister?”
Yuri’s other nephew, Rurik, is nowpakhan. He’s close to his twin sister, and he’d have beaten down Alejandro’s door years ago if this were true.
“Who do you think got the DNA test done?”
“How did you get any of Alejandro’s DNA to test it?”
“You assumed the fire eliminated all traces of you being in that warehouse.”
I’ve watched Enrique since my gaze landed on him right after Catalina denied Yuri’s claim. He rolls his eyes. I’m certain this isn’t true. The Diaz family wouldn’t be that careless. They had their men drive up there as soon as they learned where we were. The team swept the place and got Zorzi’s and myzia’sremainsout before the authorities could inspect the scene. There’s no way they left anything on the metal that cut Alejandro—assuming it hadn’t melted.
“Señora, pass along the message. Alejandro stays away from Boston and pays all the child support he owes my daughter.”
The line goes dead.
“¡Esto es ridículo! ¡Mi hijo jamás lo haría!” This is ridiculous! My son would never.
Catalina’s tone strikes a chord of fear in me. Her expression drives it home. The woman is ready to go on a rampage. I’m not far behind her. She turns to me and clenches her jaw before she takes a breath and speaks.
“Toria, those are lies. Alejandro would never do something so irresponsible. And if he had been careless, he would’ve taken responsibility.”
“I know, Catalina. Alejandro wouldneverignore his child regardless of how the child came about. I never believed any of it.”
Catalina turns toward Matáis, and his expression matches his wife’s. Enrique steps forward and puts a staying hand on his sister’s arm.
“Hermanita, we’ll handle it.” Little sister.
He gestures toward Luis. The woman’s at least eight inches shorter than her brothers, but in that moment, she’s more intimidating than either of them could ever be. She ignores Enrique and keeps her attention on her husband. He slides his arms around her waist, and Enrique steps back.
“Mi amor, confía en nosotros. Lo solucionaremos.” My love, trust us. We’ll make it right.
Alejandro’s mother narrows her eyes at her husband before she glances at Luciana. My gaze shifts to my future aunt-in-law. What I see passing between the women makes me want to run and take cover. There’s a storm brewing, and I’m about to be in the eye. I shift my focus to Madeline, Florencia, and Anneliese. They look as wary as I feel.
“Yuri is not only trying to destroy Alejandro, he’s trying to take our daughter with him. I want him gone.”
Daughter?
She’s accepted me into the family, and Alejandro and I aren’t even engaged.
I mean, we pretty much are.
I force myself not to look down at my ring finger. It’s feeling naked right now. Alejandro hinted he’d change that when he returns.
