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Now, he’s focused enough to lie. “That doesn’t matter right now, what matters is that we don’t take any chances. Lady’s a good person, but goodness doesn’t hold up against—”
“Cruelty,” I finish for him. My stomach lurches. “Dante.”
“I’ll make sure she’s freed, but first, I’m taking care of you and Oscar.”
For a brief moment, Angel squeezes my hand and I calm down, but then Oscar squeals awake behind us and the horrifying reality of our position returns with full force.
My baby’s in danger. Before Angel can get to him, I’m by the side of his crib and picking him up in my arms. “Shh. Shh.” I s
ing. The last thing we need right now is a loud baby.
“Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay, buddy.” The panic has gone from Angel’s voice, but I can’t tell if it’s actually gone or he’s just disguising it. Either way, it’s enough to calm Oscar down.
“Dada, boo-boo,” he gurgles.
“Good thinking, bud.” Angel’s immediately in the fridge, pulling out every last ounce of formula. “Is this it?” he sneers at our meager savings.
“Lady was going out for more...”
“We’ll figure it out,” he growls. A split second later, he’s pulled out a gun from behind his belt. I can’t help but flinch away; I don’t want violence anywhere near my baby boy... but I also know that we don’t have much of a choice right now.
“Let’s go!” Angel roars, when he turns back from the doorway and sees that I haven’t budged yet.
“Where are we going?” I ask, almost too afraid to move.
Angel hesitates, and for some reason I know that he doesn’t have a plan.
I follow him anyway.
The tall hillside home is like a collection of every building we passed on the way here. In the slums, most homes are no more than one story high. This one, however is at least three, and it looks like someone just tossed a bunch of singles on top of each other.
Hey, I’m not complaining. It’s above ground and far from the roars of all the mini battles happening in the distance.
“Are we staying here?” I ask Angel as we wait in what looks like an office. It’s hard to tell what anything is here; everything looks so stitched together. There’s a charm to it, but I only really want to know one thing: is it safe?
Oscar shifts in my exhausted arms. He fell back asleep not long after we stopped running and started tip-toeing. Thank goodness. It’s not hard to spot Dante’s men in the slums, and they were everywhere. The last thing we needed was to draw their attention with a crying baby. Luckily, Oscar stayed quiet as Angel led us through the shadows.
For a while there, I don’t think he knew where he was leading us. To him, I don’t think it really mattered, as long as it was away from the one place Lady knew we were.
Poor Lady...
Suddenly, the rickety floorboards of the makeshift mansion creak and a door rattles open. My first instinct is to cover Oscar. Even if Angel has brought us to friends, no one outside of our little circle knows about our son, and the instinct to protect him from everything and anything is strong. It seems to be strong in Angel, too, because his first reaction to the opening door is to step in front of us, blocking Oscar and I from view.
“Ah, Mr. Montoya, how good to see you again.” The voice is old but full of a wise energy. I peak under Angel’s hulking shoulder and get a glimpse of an elderly man with white hair and a bent back. He shuffles over to a big chair in the center of the room; it almost looks like a makeshift throne.
“Wilmar,” Angel nods, respectfully. The panic in his voice is gone, but there’s still an anxiousness there that’s hard to miss.
“I see you’ve brought a guest.” Wilmar pops his head around Angel like a turtle. “Oh, two guests, it seems.”
Angel protectively re-positions himself between us and Wilmar again. “We’re looking for a safe place to stay,” Angel says.
Somehow, Wilmar is able to stretch his turtle-like neck out long enough to see past Angel’s broad shoulders again.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Catalina,” he smiles. “I’ve heard so many wonderful things.”
From who? I want to ask, but I let Angel do the talking. “And who is that peaceful little bundle of joy in your arms?”
Angel ignores his question. “Can we hideout nearby?”
