Page 12 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

“Sofi! Sofi! Mama, what are you doing?” her mom yelled from the screen.

“I’m packing,” Sofi responded, dragging her maleta behind her. She tossed it on the bed next to the computer. “I’m coming home. Right now.”

“Sofi, calm down,” Mami begged.

“I can’t calm down. You just told me that Leo was shot and that he coded during surgery. How the hell do you expect me to calm down?” Sofi went to her dresser and scooped out a bunch of stuff. She didn’t even know what it was, but she dropped it in the suitcase.

“Sofia Maria Rosario Santana, cálmate o te calmo,” her mother barked in her no-nonsense voice. It was the voice Sofi heard moments before she got an ass whooping.

Sofi froze.

“Now breathe,” Mami commanded. “Deep breaths.”

Sofi breathed.

“Now listen to me.”

Sofi listened.

“He is going to be okay,” her mom said. “There is some significant nerve damage in his shoulder, but he’s alive and he’s pretty much out of the woods.”

“I need to be there,” Sofi said. Sofi could feel the emotion clogging her throat. “I need to see him.”

“Ay, mi nena.” Mami let out on a breath. The sympathy in her voice was what made Sofi crack.

Tears clouded her vision and streamed down her face. “I... I...” She couldn’t talk.

“It’s okay. I know,” her mom said. She did know. Her mother was the only one who knew about Sofi and Leo’s relationship and Sofi’s feelings for him. She was the only one Sofi trusted with that information. She stayed on the video call with Sofi, murmuring comforting words to her while Sofi cried.

She was so scared. What if something else happened to him and she wasn’t there. What if he died? What if she never got to see him again?

Sofi had no idea how long she sat there blubbering on her bedroom floor half a world away, but eventually she calmed down enough to pick herself up off the floor. “I’m going to get on the next flight,” she told her mom. “I’ll send you my arrival information when I have it.”

“Sofi.” Her mom’s voice was soft. “What about your presentation tomorrow?”

“Fuck that presentation,” Sofi exclaimed.

“No. Not fuck it.” Her mom’s voice was stronger. “You’ve worked your ass off for this opportunity. You’re finally living your dream. I’m not going to let you sabotage that.”

“But, Mami.”

“‘But, Mami’ nothing. I know how you feel about him, but you told me yourself that you were done with him, with that whole family, and you were going to leave to find yourself. This is your time, Sofia. Do not throw that away for him.”

“He was shot. He’s in the hospital.”

“And he’s okay. He’s alive, surrounded by his family, and he will get better every day. I will personally make sure of that. I’ll do whatever I have to do to make sure he recovers, but you will NOT come back. You will stay there. You will give that presentation tomorrow despite how nervous I know you’ll be. You will blow them all away. And then you will continue to kick ass while living your best life because you are MY daughter and my daughter is not going to throw her future away for a man. Do you understand me?”

“Mom,” Sofi began.

“I said, ‘Do you understand me?’”

There was nothing she could say to that besides, “Yes, ma’am.” She was right. Sofi had worked too hard and sacrificed too much to leave now. Not when she was finally where she wanted to be. This was her chance to prove to herself that she actually liked her chosen career in marketing. That she hadn’t made a terrible mistake by accepting her father’s deal all those years ago. Because if she still felt empty while living her dream life, well, then, she didn’t know what she’d do.

Plus, Sofi knew her mom. If her mom said that she was going to make sure Leo recovered, she would. As long as Leo was safe, Sofi could rest easy. Or at least that’s what she told herself as she told her mom she was right and that she’d stay put. She hung up with her mom. Then she looked at her phone. She knew that she wasn’t leaving Paris, but she had to reach out to him. She had to hear his voice for herself.

She reached for her phone and then stopped. Fuck. She’d gotten a new phone and number before she left and she’d purposefully told her carrier not to transfer over her contacts. The only numbers in her new phone beyond her immediate family were those of her new coworkers. She didn’t know Leo’s phone number by heart or any of the Vegas’. She didn’t even know her mom’s.

Double fuck, she said to herself as a thought occurred to her. There was one number she had memorized. It was the number she’d called at least once a day from ages twelve to sixteen—when Kamilah’s parents had finally gotten her a cell phone for her birthday. Taking a deep breath, Sofi typed the number into her phone and hit the call button. As it rang she told herself to calm down. There was a good chance that someone she didn’t know would answer, because there was no chance that the entire Vega family was not at the hospital with Leo.

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