“Wait!”
But Lo couldn’t stop.She flew down the stairs, fueled by pure adrenaline.The edges of her vision blurred, and her pulse drummed wildly.The parlor was the fastest way out.She rushed in but skidded to a stop.
Her father blocked the doorway.“Lorena.”
How could her very own name bring about such a panic in her?Outside the window, the sun sank closer to the horizon, turning the room into a scarlet inferno.
The parlor may have been the biggest room in the hacienda, but at that moment, it felt tiny.Suffocating.She was trapped.
“You don’t care about this family, do you?”Her father took a step closer, then another and another.“How could youabandonyour sisters?Did you see how upset they were?”He backed Lo into a wall.
It wasn’t abandonment if she was coming back for them.Because she would win Fortune’s Kiss and use her riches to fix everything.Anything else wasn’t an option.“I—”
“How could you leaveme?After everything I’ve provided for you.Everything I’ve done to secure a future for you.”He smashed his fist into the wall.Lo jumped.Tears sprang into her eyes.
Her father shook his head with a bitter chuckle.“I shouldn’t be surprised.You really are just like your wretch of a mother.”He pulled a crumpled sheet of paper from his breast pocket and held it up.
Lo’s heart stopped.
It didn’t matter that the paper was faded and tattered with age.She recognized the golden calavera.It hadn’t changed in the last ten years.Fortune’s Kiss.
“Juan Felipe told me about your fascination with Fortune’s Kiss.How you asked about the entry fee, and when contestants would be chosen.”Her father spat the words as if they were acid in his mouth.
No.Lo gripped the couch’s plush backrest.Of course he’d told her father everything.How could she have been so foolish?
“Not that he needed to.I’m no imbecile.I knew that’s where my greedy wife ran off to, and now that the Dios-forsaken abomination is back, it’s only natural it would seduce you too.You have that same look in your eye as she did back then.”Everything inside her screamed to run, but she couldn’t move.“Eres una maldita egoísta!”He grabbed her by the shoulders and violently shook her.“You’ll lose everything.Do you realize that?Leave here and you’ll never return!”With every word, his booming voice beat into her skull like hot irons.
“I’D RATHER DIE THAN STAY HERE!”There.The unspoken truth hung between them.It was enough to get her father to stop shaking her, but she instantly regretted it.Now what would he do?She braced herself for his rage.
But it didn’t come.Instead, her father burst out laughing.“Your mother said the same exact thing.”He ripped the comb out of her hair.“This used to be hers.I remember her wearing something like this.”How easily his large fingers could crack it in half.
Lo reached for it, but her father grabbed her wrist.Hard.Harder than he’d ever grabbed her before.She screamed.
“Why am I the villain?”he demanded, eyes wide.“You have things all mixed up in your little head.I did everything for yourmother.She’s the hateful one who left you and your sisters.One day you’ll understand it was all her.She’s the sinner.Not me.”Snarling, he dragged her across the room.
“Stop!Let me go!”Lo screamed and struggled.“You’rehurtingme!”But it was useless.Her pain meant nothing to him.
“I should’ve broken her legs.Then she wouldn’t have been able to run.And I could’ve taught her how to be a proper wife and mother.”
Where he failed with Mamá, he would try to succeed with Lo.
“P-Papá,” Lo whimpered.“I’m sorry.I wasn’t thinking.I’m sorry.”She managed a wobbly smile.“I’m just a stupid little girl.”
But her father’s eyes only darkened.“Oh, don’t worry, Lorena.After I’m finished with you, Juan Felipe will keep you very good company.I’ve decided he’s the one you’ll marry.He’s the only one who will be able to handle you.”
The charade was over.The masks were off.There was no use in pretending.He was going to hurt her, badly, and then he was going to deliver her into the arms of someone who would do the same, or worse.
With a scream, she kicked his shin.Her father yowled in agony, loosening his grip.She shoved him as hard as she could.
He fell back into the shelf of vases, head smacking against the sharp corner.Glass rained down on him and shattered into pieces.He hit the floor.Blood pooled from his head.
Lo screamed and covered her mouth.
More and more blood flowed, oddly beautiful and rich like liquefied roses.For several seconds, she stood frozen, but everything inside her told her to move.She knelt, careful not to get any blood or glass on her dress.She plucked the comb from her father’s still hand and slipped it into her pocket.
Her father gurgled, weak and pathetic.The life drained from his face along with his blood.Lo’s heart rammed against her chest.
But what if he somehow survived?Then what would happen?What would he do to her sisters?To her?
