Page 60 of Trapped

“Wela!” she says excitedly as she runs to my mother. Josefina greets her with a hug and kiss. She whispers something into Lucia’s ear, and Lucia turns around to face me. Her scowl is serious. I laugh at the way her brows bunch together.

“Who is he?” she asks, one hand on her hip and the other pointing at me.

“Lucia,” Patricio says and smiles at her.

“Hi, Tio,” she says, still taking in the room. Her eyes narrow back to Thalia and me. Thalia’s pinky finger squeezes mine.

“So, you’re the Prince?” she says, rolling her eyes.

“Lucia.” I smile at the way her name sounds. I couldn’t name her myself, but there is no better name.Light.The same light that is cracking through that darkest parts of me. Her little smile pulls that soft side from me.

A mixture of feelings is attacking me. I want to love her, protect her, and I’ll kill anyone who stands in the way of her happiness. I let go of Thalia and walk toward the little angel in front of me. I drop to my knees before her. I bring her to me, and she hugs me tight. When I finally release her, she looks up at Thalia.

“Is he my father?” she asks Thalia. Thalia’s tears are silent, running down her cheek.

“Yes, Lucia, he’s your father.” Patricio confirms, offering us a tight smile.

I spend the rest of the day getting to know my child. Her favorite color: pink, her favorite movie: Encanto, and her favorite person: Ariella Reyes. I would have to persuade her otherwise. The entire Reyes family is at the top of my shit list.

Lucia shows me all over the hotel and introduces me to everyone she knows as her dad.

“He’s a Prince,” she says. The looks I get are far from the ones royalty get. Most people are scared. I likely gave them the gossip of the year with my return. They can all fuck off.

“Do you want to meet Guapo?” she asks.

“Sure,” I say, letting her drag me back to the top floor. She stops at a door and knocks. The door opens, and Ariella stands there, her eyes narrowing on me before she looks down at Lucia.

“Hi, Lucy Loo,” she says with a smile.

“This is my dad. He’s a Prince,” Lucia says, trying to peer around Ariella.

“Is Guapo here? Guapo!” Lucia calls out, and I hear the tinkering of a bell moving toward us. Ariella opens the door wider, just in time for an oversized rat to run into Lucia’s arms. I stand there trying to figure out what kind of animal it is as he licks her cheek.

“Hi, Guapo,” Lucia says, scratching the top of the ugly dog’s head. This is the torture my child has been exposed to.

Thalia

I don’t get much work done as I pace around the office. I let Silas spend the day with Lucia, getting to know her, but I am filled with anxiety. She took better to him being her father than she did to me being her mother. She is still resistant to me, but she ran straight into his arms like he is some knight in shining armor.

“She’s fine,” Olivia says, opening up a takeout container on my desk.

“I brought you some albondigas for your nerves.”

I don’t feel like eating, but I take the container, anyway. The smell alone is my favorite. It reminds me of my grandmother and the way her wrinkled hands would hold mine. Her smile was the safest place I had ever known. I need her right now. I know Silas would never take our daughter from me, but something isstirring in me. That intuitive nagging in my ear that something bad is going to happen.

“We’ve had her for six years, Thalia. He can have a few moments to himself with her.” I smile and push back the nagging feeling.

“What are we going to do?” I ask.

It’s a question we both have been avoiding. I watch as she tries to fight the sadness from showing. We’ve been each other’s rocks for years, but I was stupid to not think about what the future would hold for me and Silas. A conversation we will need to have sooner rather than later. My heart shatters at the thought of separating Lucia and Luca. She is his voice. His other half. They may not be real twins, but they operate as a team.

Olivia returns to the hotel restaurant. I eat alone in the office and try to focus my attention back on work. That nagging shadow still lingers, but I am convinced it’s just the nerves at having to face Silas. Is this what it would be like if we were co-parents? Weekends with him and weekdays with me? The thought makes me sick. I don’t want to be separated from Lucia.

I also don’t want to be separated from him. This man has already torn through the years of steel metal interior I had placed around my heart. The door to my office opens, and Lucia strolls in. I can already tell she’s in her Diva mood. Silas appears behind her, laughing at her expression.

“Can I go with Ariella and Genesis to the dog park?” she asks.

“Hmmmm,” I say, pretending to think. She pulls her hands together in a prayer.

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