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“Plenty of times. I’m just waiting for the perfect time to propose, blue eyes.” He lifted my hand and kissed my ring finger without taking his eyes off the road. “And then there’s the whole fear that you might say no…”
There was a hint of real fear in his voice that tugged at my heartstrings. Turning my head toward the side window, I hid my smile. “Guess you will just have to ask and find out, huh?”
He was quiet for a few miles before blowing out a long exhale. “Yeah, I guess I will.”
Cali
After dinner, Felicity and Nova went up to bed. I was glad that they didn’t wait around, because I wasn’t sure if I could have kept Garret’s surprise a secret from either of them if they had.
I was tired but restless. With all the time I’d been cooped up in the hospital both personally and then watching over Justice, I wanted fresh air. While Garret went into the office to handle something that had come up with work, I stepped out into the garden. Before she’d gotten sick, this had been my mother’s favorite place, especially in the evening with the sun setting in the distance, casting a beautiful kaleidoscope of oranges, yellows, and reds across the horizon.
Stopping at her favorite bench, I sat and watched as the day turned to twilight. The temperature was in the high sixties, but it was quickly starting to lower, turning the air crisp. I loved this time of year the most. The chill in the air had always meant Christmas was just around the corner. My wish was that the following year, Justice would be home—happy and healthy—and we would start decorating for the holiday. She might not be walking by then, but she could sit and watch the lights while Garret put the star on top of the tree. Her sweet giggles would fill the entire house, and I wouldn’t have a worry in the world…
“Little one?”
Pulled from my fantasy, I looked up to find Guzman standing a few feet away. His stance was tense and unsure. Seeing the vulnerability in him had me sitting up a little straighter. “Guzman, did something happen? The hospital—”
“Hasn’t called,” he rushed to assure me. “I was hoping… Do you have time for our chat?”
The faded memory that had been haunting me flashed before my eyes, and I lowered my gaze to the flowers on the ground in front of me. “Yes,” I responded. “If you need to speak to me, now is as good a time as any.”
I heard him shuffle his weight from one foot to the other several times before he walked over to the bench and sat beside me. I’d only known Guzman a short time before I’d gone to the States with Manuel that last time and then ran away. Back then, and in the months since I’d returned, I hadn’t witnessed him being anything but confident. I’d quickly put my trust in him and appointed him the head of security, but the truth was, I barely knew him.
“Your mother always loved those flowers.”
“Heliconia, the false bird of paradise,” I murmured, smiling at the beautiful flower that Matias had planted throughout the garden for my mother. “She would sit here and just look at them for hours.”
But then a realization hit me, causing me to snap my head up and around to look at him. “How did you know that?” I demanded. “You didn’t work here when my mother was alive. It was only a few years ago that you were hired.”
He grimaced and clasped his hands together. It took him several moments before he finally answered, and it only left me with more questions. “Before I came to work here, I was in prison… In America.”
“What for?” I asked, curious about his past.
“Matias Ramirez set me up,” he said with a casual shrug, while the air around us seemed to snap and crackle with the emotions that vibrated off him. “He’d seen your mother and me at a party, and he fell for her on sight. But she was my wife. Loyal and in love with me. At least, I thought she was. When she got pregnant with you, she’d given up her entire life in the States to come back to Colombia with me.”
The oxygen in my lungs whooshed out, and for a moment, I felt light-headed. “You…and…my…m-mother?” I whispered, unable to formulate a full sentence all at once.
“She was the love of my life. My wife. The mother of my child.” There was pain in his voice, but his eyes bored into mine, demanding I believe him. Oddly enough, I did. “And Matias stole her from me. He stole you both. I was in New York on business. My family didn’t have the money that Ramirez did, but we weren’t poor. I had to travel regularly. The last time, he had one of his people plant drugs in my luggage. As I got off the plane, the police were already waiting to search my things. There was enough cocaine in my checked bag to put me away for a decade.”
I jumped to my feet, needing to pace, to think. He’d just dumped a lot on me, but he wasn’t done.
“My family spent a lot of money to get me released, but they ended up bankrupting their company for nothing. By the time I accepted that I would be in prison for years, your mother had filed for divorce. I didn’t want to lose her, but not signing would have denied her the freedom she deserved. My family hadn’t liked her to begin with, and they were making her miserable. I agreed to the divorce, thinking she would return to America and her family.”
Leaning forward, he rested his forearms on his thighs. His face tightened in anger. “But I was wrong. Two years later, a lawyer brought me adoption papers. Matias Ramirez wanted to adopt my little girl.” His voice changed, turning colder. “I was told if I didn’t sign them, Ramirez would arrange for one of the inmates to kill me in my sleep and my signature wouldn’t be needed. I signed, but I didn’t sleep for more than a week, thinking he would still arrange to have me murdered.”
“Matias was ruthless when it came to getting what he wanted,” I admitted. “But…he was good to me.”
“No, little one, he wasn’t,” Guzman denied hoarsely. “He didn’t protect you. He didn’t pay attention when you needed him the most. He might have given you material things, said he loved you, left his billions to you. But where was he when you were being harmed by his sadistic son?”
I flinched and turned my head away, shame staining my cheeks.
“It wasn’t your fault, Calista. The adults in your life failed you.”
“I-I know,” I agreed weakly, but a part of me still felt like if I had only been stronger, braver, then I could have stopped Manuel myself.
“When I got out of prison, I was angry. I returned to Colombia, determined to confront your mother. If nothing else, I at least wanted to have custodial rights to you. But I learned right away that she had died, and when Ramirez found out I was trying to see you, he gave orders to kill me on sight.”
I stopped pacing to look down at him. “Then how did you get a job here?”
