Page 92 of Keepsake

“You have to stop.”

“What are you doing here?” he asked David.

“You’re going to kill him,” I pleaded.

This time it was Alvaro’s turn to smile. His eyes were full of rage, the smile without a trace of the wholesome man I knew.

“I am.”

David’s smile disappeared at the same second. I knew that was the moment he understood Alvaro wasn’t joking. He wanted to kill David and the man just delivered himself on a silver platter.

As much as I wanted David gone from this earth, Alvaro wasn’t a murderer.

I touched his arm again. “The kids are upstairs. Just make him leave.”

Alvaro’s arm relaxed under my touch and a second later, he dropped David, who fell in a disgraceful heap on the floor.

“Out,” Alvaro said coldly, not leaving room for discussion.

David got up, narrowing his eyes from me to Alvaro. He wiped blood from the back of his neck and finally left.

“We have to leave a picture of him with the doorman,” I said the second the doors pinged closed.

It felt crazy to let him leave like that. Just walking out like he was our guest.

I watched the elevator when Alvaro turned me to him. “Are you ok?” He checked me from top to bottom, looking for invisible injuries.

Nodding, I tried to swallow down the lump lodged in my throat when the three kids raced downstairs.

Vienna and Lachlan were crying. I kneeled and had them both in my arms in a flash. Each one took a side of my neck as they cried. I looked up to Dash hovering above us, brushing his hair out of his face.

“I called tío,” he told me. “You said you were always alone, and that’s not true. You’re always with tío, so I thought that was a code for me to call him.”

I nodded, happy he understood my meaning. “You did good.”

Dash let out a breath, nodding to himself.

I moved to sit on the couch, Vienna still on my side and Lachlan on my lap. Alvaro remained standing, and Dash took the place in front of us in an armchair.

“What happened?”

Dash swallowed. “He was waiting for me when I got off the bus. Said he was watching us and wanted to have a word with you. I… I didn’t know what to do.”

“I can’t believe he came up here,” Alvaro said.

“I’m sorry.” Dash’s shoulders went down. “He said I had to do it. I didn’t know what to do. Mom always said to just follow because it gets worse when we say no.”

Dash broke my heart in a million ways. And even though he was taller than me, and told me to be out of his way, I couldn’t stop seeing him as that little boy Sofia once held in her arms.

He looked young today, confused and hurt. I put Lachlan to the side, and I went to him. Sitting on the arm of his chair, I just took him in a hug.

“You did great. You called Alvaro. You protected your siblings.”

“Dumbass,”Alvaro whispered.

I shot him a sharp look, but he sighed and shook his head finding Dash’s eyes. “Vienna once said you only got a black eye when you were being a dumbass.”

Dash winced, and I rubbed his back until he started to talk. “He was always mean to mom. He called her names, and he changed the house rules all the time. She told me to just go with it. It was better not to fight.” He swallowed a lump, looking away from his uncle. “Sometimes I fought back.”

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