Chapter 3

I reached the airport with forty-one minutes to spare.

My hands shook so badly the ticket agent had to tell me to breathe.

Marcus had bought the ticket.

First class.

I nearly cried when I saw it.

Not because of the seat.

Because someone in Daniel’s family had acted fast enough to help me.

My phone kept buzzing.

Daniel.

Linda.

Daniel.

Linda.

Then an unknown number.

I ignored all of them until the nurse from Miami called.

“Mrs. Carter?”

“Yes.”

“Your mother is awake, but weak. She keeps asking for you.”

My knees nearly gave out.

“I’m coming.”

On the plane, I sat by the window and stared at my reflection.

One cheek red.

Eyes swollen.

Passport clutched in both hands.

I should have felt relief.

Instead, rage pulsed through me.

Linda had not only hidden my passport.

She had listened to me beg.

She had heard me say my mother might die.

And she chose control.

When I landed in Miami, my cousin Sofia was waiting.

She hugged me so hard I almost broke.

“What happened to your face?”

I touched my cheek.

“Linda.”

Sofia’s eyes went dark.

“I knew that woman was poison.”

We drove straight to the hospital.

My mother looked smaller than I remembered.

Tubes.

Monitors.

White blankets.

But her eyes opened when I entered.

“Mija,” she whispered.

I fell apart.

I pressed my face to her hand and cried like I was five years old again.

“I’m here.”

Her fingers moved weakly through my hair.

“I knew you’d come.”

The guilt nearly crushed me.

“I almost didn’t.”

Her eyes sharpened.

“What happened?”

I did not want to tell her.

She was sick.

She needed peace.

But my mother had raised me on truth.

So I told her.

The passport.

The slap.

The torn ticket.

Daniel’s silence.

Mom listened without interrupting.

When I finished, she closed her eyes.

Then she whispered, “Come home.”

“I am home.”

“No,” she said. “Not for a visit.”

My breath caught.

“Mom.”

“You have been lonely in that marriage.”

Tears filled my eyes again.

She knew.

Of course she knew.

Mothers hear what daughters do not say.

My phone rang again.

Daniel.

This time, I answered.

His voice was rough.

“Elena, I’m outside the hospital.”

I froze.

“What?”

“I took the next flight.”

Sofia stood.

Her face hardened.

I looked at my mother.

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She squeezed my hand.

“Let him speak,” she whispered. “Then decide.”