Page 18 of To Have and To Hold

“Emiliano,” Viviana called. “I made one too many beef sandwiches.” She smiled. “Could you be so kind as to take one off my hands?”

Shaking my head, I walked to the long kitchen island. “If you make it to-go.El Patr?nhas my afternoon scheduled.”

She handed me a small paper bag and a bottle of water. “You men must eat to stay strong. It is easier to attract thedamas bonitas.”

Pretty ladies.

My Adam’s apple bobbed as I smiled. “Me mataría si mirara a Mia.”

“Sí, he would. I don’t think that’s who you were looking at.”

I lifted my finger to my lips. “Can you keep a secret, Viviana?”

“How do you think I’ve worked for the Roríguezes for so long?”

“Gracias.”

Taking my homemade lunch—a hell of a lot better than what I usually picked up from a food truck—I went in search of Horace.

Chapter

Eight

Isabella

“Ipromise I’m fine,” I said to my sister. Holding the phone tightly to my ear, I walked around the bedroom Mia assigned me. “This house is unbelievable. I’m currently standing at the bedroom window and looking out at the Pacific Ocean.”

“Aren’t you scared?”

I inhaled. “I’m nervous.”

“What aboutel Patr?n?”

“I haven’t seen him. He’s been in his office all day. Mia told me to ignore it or him.” I scoffed. “She seems different than she was back in Kansas City.”

“Different how?”

“You know how we said Jasmine seemed different, like she was no longer a stray?”

“Mia’s never been a stray,” Noemi said. “She was the daughter of the capo…before Dario.”

“I don’t know how to explain it. And she showed me the program she wants me to work with at the apartments. As she was explaining it, she would go off on stories about the different women.”

“The whores?”

I pressed my lips together. “Mia sounds like she knows them and even respects them. I think I could have been wrong—no, I’m sure I was wrong that the women were trafficked. According to Mia, besides their job?—”

“Having sex,” Noemi interjected.

“It’s their choice of profession. No one is making them work there. And now they have other options. Mia started an incentive for education. She said nearly ten of the women have completed their GED, and two are enrolled at an online community college.”

“Izzy,” Noemi said in a hushed tone. “You almost sound like you will like working with them.”

“Maybe I will. On the airplane, I was trying to figure out why the capo thought it was a good idea to send me out here. Forgive me for not having a high opinion of him, but if he sent me out here to fail, I want to prove him wrong.”

“Have you met that other girl yet, the one who married Catalina’s uncle?”

“Liliana. Not yet. She’s coming over tonight for dinner so I can meet her before work tomorrow morning.”

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