Page 57 of Dina's Favorite Mistake

“I’m sorry, Dina.” Lola started to cry. “I thought she was sleeping in—.”

“What? Who?” Her heart thundered so quickly in her chest she could barely breathe. “No. Not Camila.”

“I’m sorry, Dina,” Lola repeated, her voice breaking. “We thought maybe she went out to the gardens or the stables. I didn’t realize she was gone until—.”

“Gone? GONE?” Panic saturated her voice.

“Dina.” Steve placed his hands on her shoulders, grounding her in the moment. “Lola, tell us everything from the beginning.”

“You two left. I fed Jasper, went through my usual morning routine of emails and phone calls. We went back upstairs. I got him dressed. I changed into my coveralls. I went by Camila’s room to see if she wanted to come with us, but she wasn’t in there. I remembered she was sleeping in Dina’s room so I went there. She was gone.”

“Lola came back down to see if Camila was having breakfast with me,” Jovita interjected, taking over the story. “I hadn’t seen her either. We realized something was wrong and had security start looking for her.”

“It took a little bit,” Antonio said, stepping forward. “Camila knows the camera angles better than we thought.”

Dina scoffed. “Of course, she does.”

Steve gently squeezed her shoulder, silently urging her to keep it together. “Where did she go?”

“She took a truck from the maintenance shed. The key ring has all the RFID tags for opening the gates. We tracked it. She went out through the back roads, all the way to edges of the property. Once she left the perimeter, we lost her.”

Dina shrugged off Steve’s hands and strode out of the room. She’d never experienced a panic attack, but she felt certain one was building in her body right now. A tightening of her chest. Her rib cage unable to expand. Heart burning. Face tingling. Ears pounding.

Camila, where are you? Where did you go?

She ran upstairs, taking two at a time, and raced to her bedroom where she had left Camila sleeping only hours ago. She found Camila’s pajamas piled on the floor and picked them up, bringing them to her chest and hugging them. As she did, something heavy fell to the floor.

A cellphone.

She crouched down and snatched it up off the rug. She stumbled backward and sat on the edge of the bed, clutchingthe phone in her hands. The black phone had a keypad and was still powered on. It had been years since she’d handled a phone without a touchscreen, and it felt strange to click the buttons.

“Is that a burner phone?” Steve asked, crossing the room with powerful strides.

“Yes.” Dina navigated the small screen and discovered the inbox. “There are dozens of texts between Diego and Camila.”

Her gaze lingered on one in particular.

My mom has a real man now. He’s a Texas Ranger, and he’s going to catch you and throw you back in prison where you belong.

“Any recent?”

“Uh...yes.” She scrolled through messages. “This morning.” She read the last message in a long string with Diego. “She wanted him to go away. He said he would if he had money.”

“She’s going to bring him cash?” Steve asked, reaching for the phone. “How much money can she get her hands on, Dina?”

“Not that much,” she said, sickened with fear. “She always has cash on her, and a credit card. She can get a few thousand but—.”

“From an ATM in the tourist areas?”

“That’s where I would go if I was a teenager who needed cash.” She twisted her hands together. “Should I cancel the card?”

“No. It could be used to track her. We might need that, especially if he—.”

“If he takes her?” She grasped Steve’s arm. “That’s what you’re worried about, isn’t it?”

“He needs to disappear. He isn’t sure if he can get money from his mother, but he knows for damn sure you’ll give him whatever he wants if he has your daughter.” Steve grimaced as he laid bare her greatest fear. “If he gets her out of the country, Dina...”

“We can’t let him.”

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