Page 39 of Tammaro DeLuca

“Liar. You’re going to grow up and be exactly like him.” I grabbed her by the throat and squeezed until she was wheezing. “I’ll ask you again. Where the fuck is your father?”

“France,” she croaked out.

“Why did he leave you here?” I asked her.

“It’s only a business trip. He’ll be back in a couple of days.” Her hand clutched mine as she tried to pry it away. Guilty of something internally enjoying that, if she could breathe or not, was up to me. I held on to those feelings and continued to question her.

“With all his clothes gone, do you think I believe you?”

“I can’t breathe.” She mouthed.

I pushed more until her eyes widened right before she passed out cold. I let her go and watched her limp body as it remained proof that I could control them. Even if it was one at a time. She’d wake up, but I doubt that she’d ever lie to me again.

It was time to go.

Next stop, Martina DeLuca.

TAMMARO

Isat at the airport waiting for my plane to arrive, but I could have stayed home until it was time to go. I didn’t want to mope around, knowing I was leaving my family behind. However, I tried eating and nothing looked tasty. I settled for coffee, but it wasn’t as good as when I had it with Yolanda.

I sat down, looking out the window as a storm rolled in. The clouds darkened the sky, and soon after, lightning lit it up. Rain came twenty minutes later and once it began; it didn’t let up. My phone rang, and I was surprised to see Yolanda’s name on the caller ID.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” I don’t know why but I could feel it immediately when I hit the accept button. Something happened.

“It’s Asmaria. Cruz found her passed out in her room, and he rushed her to the hospital. I’m on my way, but…”

“Cara angelo, breathe.” I picked up my things and made my way to the exit. Outside, I got into a cab and quickly realized I did not know where I was going. “What hospital?”

“Miami Emergency.” She sniffled.

“I’ll meet you there. You’re going to talk to me, though.” I communicated that information to the driver, and he worked on getting me to my daughter. The two one hundred-dollar bills were more than enough motivation.

“Why did you remove all the security from the house?” She asked me.

“I didn’t.”

“Cruz said that when he got there, nobody was there. I didn’t like it, so I told Asmaria to leave. She promised to be quick to get her overnight bag and go, but she never came back out of the room.”

“Did you tell anybody that I was leaving?”

“No. After you left, she went to school, and I went to work. I’ve been there until now.”

“So nobody knew I was gone.”

“Not that I know of. Ro, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“You don’t think it’s weird that this happened right after I left?”

“I do.”

“What aren’t you telling me, Yolanda?”

“Nothing. I told nobody. Do you think I’d broadcast that my husband left me to go back home?”

But somebody knew and took advantage of the information. I was going to figure out who it was and then they were going to wish that they’d never known.

At the hospital, I got there before Yolanda did. She was only a few minutes behind me and when she got there, we stormed the desk together. When we got back there, I was pissed when I saw her face. Her cheek was swollen and there was a cut next to her eye. I waited for the doctor to confirm that she was okay and left the room before I started asking her questions.

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