Chapter 10 - The Back Seat
Marina ran barefoot across the front hall.
Through the glass doors, she saw Beatrice’s silver car pulling away from the side entrance.
Gabriel was in the back seat.
His palm pressed against the window.
“Stop the gate,” Dante snapped into his phone.
The iron gates ahead began to close.
Beatrice braked so hard the car lurched.
Marina reached the passenger side as Nico blocked the drive with a security vehicle.
Dante approached the driver’s door.
“Open it.”
Beatrice rolled down her window an inch.
“You’re frightening them.”
“Open the door.”
“She said you told her to take us,” Gabriel called from inside.
Marina bent toward the rear window.
“Look at me.
You’re okay.”
Rafael was crying.
Miguel sat rigid between his brothers, clutching the dinosaur.
Beatrice’s eyes moved from Dante to Nico.
Then to the closed gate.
Finally, the locks clicked.
Marina opened the back door.
“Come on.”
All three boys climbed toward her at once.
She held them as best she could while Rosa hurried outside.
Dante stayed beside the driver’s door.
“You don’t take my children anywhere without asking me.”
“They needed to get away from all this.”
“You mean from questions?”
Beatrice looked past him at Marina.
“She’s doing this for your money.”
Marina’s wet socks from the first day had cost more dignity than she wanted to remember.
The rent notices had made her feel stripped bare.
Now, with Miguel shaking against her, embarrassment burned away.
“Yes,” she said.
“I took this job for money.
That’s how jobs work.”
Beatrice’s mouth opened.
“I stayed because your nephews think love is something they can lose by being difficult.”
Dante stepped aside.
“Nico will walk you in to collect what you need.
Then you leave.”
“You can’t erase me.”
“No.
But you don’t get unsupervised access to them again.”
That night, the boys refused to sleep apart.
Marina made a nest of blankets on the nursery floor.
Dante sat with them.
When Miguel finally drifted off, Gabriel whispered, “She said Marina would leave if we told.”
Dante looked at him.
“Told what?”
Gabriel’s eyes filled.
“The alarm.
Aunt Bea showed us which switch to use.”
May you like
Across the room, Marina felt the air leave her lungs.
The prank hadn’t belonged entirely to the boys.
