Page 304 of Vicious Temptation

“And you don’t get to decide that.”

“No, but I can tell you when you’re wrong.”

I finally look at him.

“Elena came after you because of something I did long before you were born. Thiago gave her a way into your life, but if it hadn’t been him, she would’ve found someone else.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I trusted him.”

“Maybe not.”

“Or that I gave him information that could’ve gotten all of you killed.”

“You told the man you loved the truth about who you are.”

“And he lied to me about who he was.”

“He did,” Papá says with a sigh.

There’s no attempt to defend him, and I’m grateful for that as I turn my attention back to Mamá’s room.

“I saw Elena’s face when she was talking about Gloria.”

He doesn’t respond for a moment.

“I did too.”

“She watched you kill her mother.”

His jaw flexes, but he doesn’t look away from the window.

“Yes. I killed Gloria for money, Remi, and countless others after her. I didn’t know her daughter was there until after it was done, but that doesn’t change what she saw or what I took from her that day.”

I think about the little girl, Elena or Hannah, described standing beside that fountain after making a birthday wish. It’s hard to reconcile that child with the woman who put a bullet in my mother, yet part of me understands the hatred that grew from it. I’d kill for mine, too.

“Elena had decades to decide what to do with that pain, and she chose to come after my family. She chose to use Thiago and to shoot your mother.” His gaze returns to me. “Those choices belong to her.”

“And Thiago’s?”

“Belong to him.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. “Papi, I still love him.”

“I know.”

“But I’m still so fucking angry.”

“I know that too.”

When I look at him again, a small smile touches his mouth.

“I don’t know what that says about me after everything he did.”

“Loving someone doesn’t mean you have to excuse the ways they hurt you. Don’t let his mistake be another reason to punish yourself.”

I rest my head against his shoulder, and his arm wraps around me.

“You really think she’s going to be okay?” I ask, needing to talk about anything else.