Page 38 of Chris

“Have fun.”

The first thing Valeria noticed when she arrived back at the stables after a quick ride to the cliffs—Jorge didn’t say how long she had to stay out, after all—was the line of her husband’s men walking the road as though they were meeting someone.

Maybe they were.

No one entered the gate before going through the guards.

The second thing Valeria noticed was that despite Jorge saying he would keep Maria with him, her daughter wasn’t anywhere to be seen as she steered the horse toward the stables. She tried to keep the panic at a manageable level, but it was hard.

Jorge’s threats lingered …

She didn’t doubt that, if needed, he would take her daughter away, and there would be nothing she could do about it. It’s why she shut her mouth, behaved, and did as Jorge told her to do.

Who would protect Maria?

It had to be her.

Even if she sacrificed to do it.

The panic didn’t last for too long, however. She had just steered the horse to the stable’s entrance when across the ranch, the front door of their home flew open, and little Maria came flying down the steps, running in her mother’s direction.

It made Val smile.

Fuck Jorge.

He thought he could control the amount of love her daughter had for her by pitting the two against each other, but there was a lot he didn’t know about Maria. And even her, in a way. He thought he was aware of everything about Valeria, but she kept a lot to herself.

Like her daughter.

Next to her friend, Haven, the only person Maria had for the last few years was her mother. It was Valeria who taught her to speak, to read, and to sing; her who spent long nights holding her child when she was sick.

She loved her unconditionally.

And no matter what Jorge tried to do, he couldn’t erase those memories for Maria. Instead, every single time he raised his hand to strike the girl’s mother, he was simply adding to the reasons she distrusted and disliked him.

He would have to figure that out on his own time, though. Valeria didn’t plan to help him out in that regard.

“Mamá!” Maria shouted, still coming her way.

Valeria’s smile dropped when a woman stepped out of the house. Maria was already halfway across the property. The nanny—Carla Nunez. Or, a nanny was what Jorge liked to call the woman he kept around to make sure his bed was warm with a variety when he felt the need to change scenery from raping Valeria.

According to Abril, Carla—a year younger than Valeria in age—had come around after Valeria took off years ago and had stuck around. Now, Jorge used the woman to keep an eye on Maria, and her, too. She took great satisfaction in refusing to allow Valeria choices regarding her daughter, and more.

On the ranch, Carla was always nearby.

It drove her crazy.

The woman was a rat, reporting back on her behavior, and the things she did with her daughter. Little was private when someone was always waiting to listen in, and that left her unsettled.

Valeria jumped down from the horse, grabbing the reins to steer the animal into the stables while Maria was still running to catch up with her mom. Abril came out of the stable entrance with leather gloves in one hand, and her riding boots already on.

“I would have waited for you,” Valeria told her, “had I known you were going out.”

Abril shrugged. “I wasn’t going to, but then I heard we’ll have a visitor, and I don’t feel like being nice with Jorge while he plays with his friends.”

“What?”

“The Canadians are back,” Abril explained. “Or the one is—the younger one.”