Page 63 of Dina's Favorite Mistake

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“A little, but that’s not the problem.”

“Are you at the ruins? How close?”

“I’m here. But Ama! Please! Listen!”

“I’m listening, Camila. I’m listening!”

“It’s not—.”

Something cold and hard pressed into the back of her neck. She froze, her breath catching in her throat.

“Give me the phone.”

Camila trembled as the muzzle of the gun jammed harder into her head. She raised the phone up, hearing her mother shouting and wishing she could scream for help. Her mouth refused to work, her throat suddenly dry and her tongue heavy.

“You shouldn’t have come here, Camila. This would have been so much easier if you’d stayed home.”

This is it.

This is how I die.

Chapter Twenty

“Camila? Camila!” Dina shrieked her daughter’s name. Overcome with panic and fear, she checked the phone’s screen to see if the call had dropped. It was still active. “Camila?”

She pressed the phone against her ear so hard that she could feel her earring post earring digging into her skin. In the background, she heard a familiar voice.

“You shouldn’t have come here, Camila. It would have been so much easier if you’d stayed home.”

The call ended, and Dina felt a surge of bile in her throat. Her stomach pitched, and she frantically fought against the terror threatening to paralyze her. “Steve.”

“Dina?” He had eased off the accelerator when it became clear she was talking to Camila. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Jose.”

Steve frowned as he navigated around a deep pot hole in the muddy road. “What about him?”

“He’s there. With Camila.”

“There? At the ruins?” Steve glanced at her with obvious confusion. “How did he know she was there?”

“Why did Chavela target my daughter? How did those two men get onto our estate and take shots at you and Beto? How did the men Beverly hired know where to find Rafa and Sky that night?”

“Wait. You think your family’s oldest bodyguard, a man who has been taking care of you since you were a teenager, is working with Diego? Or for himself?”

“I don’t know what to think, Steve. All I know is that my daughter is in danger.”

“Yeah, she is.” Steve punched the accelerator, tearing up the road as the Jeep surged forward. “He must have left straight from your mother-in-law's place to get to the ruins before Camila and us.”

“He wasn’t with Mama?”

“I didn’t see. As soon as I heard her voice, Lola ran off to run interference and I headed straight to you.” Steve grimaced. “I should have checked. I should have made sure—.”

“Steve, you couldn’t have known.”But I should have.What had she missed? How could she have been so blind?

“Do you think Camila was working with him? Maybe they had a secret they were keeping from you?” Steve clearly didn’t want to ask that question. “The phone makes me worry. She lied to us both about it.”

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