I feel as though thousands of needles are being pressed into my chest at once, and the knot in my throat becomes physically painful to swallow against.
With the last gram of strength I have left to keep from breaking down in front of her, I put a smile on my face and look at her.
“Thank you.”
I don’t hear whether she says anything else. I don’t know how many steps I took to reach the bus stop, or whether I checked the road before crossing.
Which is why I don’t notice the car parked in front of our house, or the unusual quiet, until Lupe comes toward me.
“Amalia,por fin.I need you to delete some surveillance footage.”
I’m still in shock, but I force the organ in my chest to stop making noise so I can hear my own brain.
“Footage? What’s the reason?” I ask, and that’s when my eyes find another pair of brown ones. He’s leaning against the kitchen counter.
“Amalia.” Alek’s voice fills the house, and I feel my uncle step in behind us.
“Alek, I didn’t know you were coming to visit.”
“I wanted to spend a little time with Lupe before my next trip.”
It’s the only explanation he offers, and my twin has hearts in place of eyes.Was I that obvious too? Was it that easy to see that the center of my world had shifted to him?
“Why do you need the footage deleted?”
He opens his jacket slightly and steps slowly toward us, as if not wanting to startle anyone.
My mood is sour, and something about him has always felt wrong to me, so I don’t lower my guard, no matter how intimidating his presence is.
“I’m an important man, Amalia. I wouldn’t want my enemies to put Lupe on their radar because of a few cameras that picked me up around the neighborhood.”
It makes logical sense, but there’s something underneath it, something he’s not telling us. When I look at my sister, though, I already know I’ll do it without asking more.
“It’ll take fifteen minutes,” I tell them and try to swallow the bitterness sitting on the tip of my tongue and in my chest.
I try to block the voices whispering in my head that they warned me, that someone like Silas Vaughn couldn’t possibly be drawn to me. The whispers saying I didn’t listen to reason, that I let my heart carry me away.
I work in silence untiltíoFelipe comes up behind me, his voice low. “Go with her, Amalia. I don’t like that man, and I have a bad feeling.”
I don’t have the strength to argue, don’t have the energy to explain why I’d prefer to lock myself in my room for at least a decade, so I just nod.
When all the footage is deleted and we’re ready to walk out the door, I catch the irritation on Alek’s face, which involuntarily puts a small smile on mine.
Before I leave the house,tíoFelipe pulls me into a hug and says quietly, “Swallow that knot in your throat,mi niña,and keep your head up. He isn’t worth your worry, and he isn’t worth your heart.”
My eyes go wide immediately, but he only smiles gently. Somehow he knew. He knew that all those late nights away from home were spent with someone.
“How?” I murmur, embarrassed.
“You’ve been glowing these past few months in a way you never have before.”
“I was glowing for nothing,” I tell him, only half out loud, not looking at him.
Señor Newton, couldn’t you make gravity swallow me whole right now?
I feel him take my hand, and then, without fully processing it, I look at him.
“Be good to yourself,mi niña.”
