Page 39 of Dina's Favorite Mistake

“In Dallas? No.” Dina shook her head. “Not at first.”

“He said he didn’t recognize you, that he wasn’t using you as bait to catch my dad. Do you believe him?”

“I do.”

Camila seemed to relax. “I don’t think he’s a bad person.”

“Who? Steve?” Dina clarified.

“Yes. Steve.”

“He’s not.”

“He wants justice.”

“I’m sure he does.”

“He wants to protect us.” Camila leaned her cheek against her knees and stared at her mother. “I think he actually cares.”

“Yes, he does seem to care about protecting us,” Dina agreed. Like her daughter, she was bewildered it. The man barely knew them, after all.

“Ama?”

“Yes?” Dina reached over and trailed her fingers along Camila’s silky hair.

“I did something really stupid again.”

Dina’s hand froze. She swallowed hard and tried to remain calm. “What did you do?”

Camila’s lower lip wobbled, and she began to cry as she spilled the truth about her counselor. With each new revelation, Dina’s ire increased until it was a swirling firestorm in her chest.

I’m going to throttle that stupid, meddling—.

“Ama?”

Seeing how scared her daughter was broke Dina’s heart. “Come here.” She gathered Camila in her arms and embraced her tightly. “It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make such a mess.”

“I know that.” It would be so easy to rail at her daughter, to scream and chastise, but that wouldn’t help. It wouldn’t change anything.

“I’m just so angry. All the time. I don’t like it when people lie to me, and you’re all lying to me all the time.”

“Camila,” she said tenderly, her heart shattering all over again. She was right, of course. Everyone lied to Camila about her father. Everyone kept secrets to protect her.

“I just wanted to know him. I wanted to know where I came from. I wanted to know what he was like and if he really was the monster everyone said. And then Señora Campos gave me that letter fromWelaMirta, and I needed to know. I needed to meet her, and I wanted to meet her. Señora Campos made it happen, and it was so nice to meet her, to find this new part of my family.”

“Camila, it’s okay.” Dina let go of the fury that threatened to consume her and focused solely on her daughter. Chavela Campos could wait. “Everything you’re feeling is normal, and I should have done more to give you the answers you wanted. I shouldn’t have kept so many secrets. I thought I was protecting you, but I put you at risk. It’s my fault this is happening.”

“It’s not! It’s not your fault. It’s mine.”

“It’s not your fault, either.” She refused to let her daughter take responsibility for being manipulated by adults. “Diego running free is the fault of the police. Neither side should have let him out or even considered offering him an extradition deal.”

“Is he going to hurt us again?” Camila asked, her eyes wide with terror. “Do you think he wants to kill us?”

Dina wanted to lie. She wanted to spare Camila the ugly truth, but after seeing how secrets had put her daughter at risk, she couldn’t do it again. She combed the damp hair from Camila’s face and wiped away the tears with her thumbs. Holding her daughter’s gaze, she admitted, “Diego wants to kill me. He’ll never stop wanting to kill me.”

Camila’s lip wobbled. “What are we going to do?”

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