Page 32 of Dina's Favorite Mistake

Stomach filled with dread, Dina took the folder from her daughter and thumbed through the papers inside. With each flick, her throat tightened. She turned another page—and froze.

She scanned the page over and over, trying to convince herself she had misread the words printed there.

But when she glanced at Steve, she saw the truth written across his face.

Liar.

Chapter Ten

Not like this.

Steve had wanted to tell her everything when the time was right.

But not like this.

Never like this.

And, shit, did Camila look mad!

That kid is never going to trust me now.

“Dina, I can explain.”

“Can you?” She shook the folder at him. The one he’d explicitly told her assistant Ximena to leave in the safe for him to retrieve later. “What is this?”

“They’re case files related to Diego,” he answered simply.

“I can see that,” Dina replied, obviously irritated. “I mean this one specifically! This one with your name on it!”

Steve swallowed hard as the memories of his grandparents’ gruesome deaths assailed him. “My grandmother was a state judge. My grandfather was a prosecutor. They’d bothindependently been involved in cases connected to the cartel. Neither would back down, and they weren’t easily frightened so the cartel sent their best killer to handle them.”

Dina looked absolutely sickened. “Diego.”

Steve nodded and glanced at Camila who had tears streaming down her face. Her expression was a mix of fury and shock and fear and betrayal. He ached for her. He couldn’t imagine how hard it was to see with her own eyes what her father had done.

“Were you there?” Dina asked, her voice breaking. “When he killed them?”

Steve shook his head. “I was coming down to spend spring break with them at the cabin. They'd gone two days earlier to settle in, and I had a cross-country race to run.” Regret soured his gut. “I should have left as soon as I was finished, but I had this girlfriend at the time. She was going off to Ruidoso to ski, and we had a few hours before we were expected by our families.”

“Oh.” Dina didn’t need him to draw her a picture.

“I didn’t make it to the cabin until it was too late.” The admission left him heartbroken all over again. “My grandmother was still alive for a few hours after Diego...” Steve’s voice trailed off as he noticed the way Camila flinched. “I might have been able to save her if I’d left when I was supposed to, but I was a stupid seventeen-year-old kid.”

“Steve,” Dina said gently, “it wasn’t your fault.”

“No, it was my dad’s!” Camila screeched. “Heisa killer! And worse!”

Camila ripped the folder from her mother’s hands and started rifling through it again. Papers and photographs fell onto the floor. Steve knew exactly what Camila was looking for, and he rushed to intervene, desperate to stop her from locating them.

“No, Camila, don’t.” Steve tried to get hold of the folder, but Camila moved too quickly. Dina frowned at him, probablywondering why he was chasing her daughter. He shot her a pleading look, but it was too late.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Camila demanded angrily before flashing a printout with images of Dina’s battered face all over them. “Why didn’t you tell me he was a monster?”

The blood drained from Dina’s face. She looked so pale, almost as white as the laundry baskets lining the wall behind her. She swayed on her feet and reached out to steady herself on a washer. “Camila, please, I never meant for you to find out like this.”

“You should have told me!” Camila sobbed hysterically. “You should have told me he did this to you.”

“Camila,” Dina begged.

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