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Another buzz sounded.
I set my purse and bag on the floor and then reluctantly pressed the button for the speaker. “Yes?”
“Let me in, Catalina.” Teresa adjusted the position of her purse strap on her shoulder. “We need to talk.”
She could have just called. It still stung that she was the only one who hadn’t. “About what?”
“You know what.” A heavy exhale. “Give me five minutes. Please.”
It was the shakypleasethat got me. She was obviously here on behalf of Jorge and knew that she’d suffer if she wasn’t successful at speaking to me. “Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
I sighed and unlocked the main door of the building with the press of a button.
Hopefully she’d be gone before Danton arrived as I didn’t foresee a conversation between them going well. Though he sympathized with her situation and understood it was complicated, he still felt that she could have at least tried to protect me from Jorge’s machinations over the years, especially since I’d always done my best to protect her. And when he learned from Duke that she was here—which he would, since my guard was a total tattle-tale—he’d hasten to arrive.
No more than a minute later, she stood on the other side of my front door, her smile brittle. “Hello, Catalina.”
I waved her inside the apartment. “Dad sent you, I’m guessing.”
She nervously rubbed her hands together, heading straight for the living area. “You won’t speak to him or Julian, so …”
At least she wasn’t denying it. Trailing behind her, I folded my arms. “And what is it they asked you to say to me?”
She gingerly sat on the sofa, her posture as perfect as always, and placed her hands in her lap. “They want you to call them; to hear them out. They have both sworn to me that they played no part in what happened to you in the parking lot. I didn’t hear about it until I walked in on them discussing it yesterday.Youdidn’t tell me about it either.”
Taking the armchair, I unfolded my arms and shrugged. “I figured you would have learned about it pretty much straight after it happened.” I wasn’t so convinced that she hadn’t. “In anycase, I would not have called you as I couldn’t have trusted that you wouldn’t have relayed every word I said to Jorge.”
She bristled, color rising in her cheeks. But then she let out a noisy breath, her shoulders drooping as the defensiveness leached from her body. Yes, she knew she would have blabbed to him if he’d put enough pressure on her.
“Is that all they asked you to say to me?” I highly doubted it.
Seeming to visibly gather herself, Teresa righted her posture and cleared her throat. “No. No, they wanted me to tell you that they believe Danton Quintero lied.”
“Lied? About what?”
“They feel certain that the man who tried to kidnap you never received a text message from anyone. Jorge is sure that Quintero made that up.”
I felt my brow pinch. “Why would he do that?”
“To make you distrust and turn against your family. To isolate you from us so that he can exert full control over you as a, in your father’s words, ‘fuck you’ to him.”
“It’s honestly insulting that Jorge thinks I’m so gullible as to believe that.” I studied her expression. “What about you? Are you naïve enough to believe it?”
Teresa looked down at her hands. “I want to believe it. I can’t bear to think that Jorge and Julian would do what Danton accused them of.” She returned her gaze to mine. “You’re theirblood, even if they see no real value in you. But …” She trailed off, as if not wanting to voice the rest.
“But?” I prodded after a few moments.
She closed her eyes. “Your father’s only true loyalty is to himself. There is very little he isn’t capable of. And he raised my son to be the same way. Julian rarely stands up to him. So I simply don’t know.”
It was hard for her to admit that, I knew. She found it easier to ignore those facts. Teresa had always enjoyed the bliss of ignorance. Always glossed over things she saw or heard that she didn’t wish to confront.
Opening her eyes, she went on, “Which is why I won’t do as they wish and insist you come with me. I will tell them that I couldn’t get you to agree to leave. Much as it pains me to say it, you are likely far safer with Danton Quintero than you are with your own father.”
Downright floored that she’d in any way defy Jorge—even if he wouldn’t be aware that she’d actually defied him—I could only stare at her. Suspiciousness rose up inside me. I honestly wasn’t sure she cared for me enough to put me first. But I couldn’t see what angle she might have.
“Is he good to you?” she asked me. “Danton, I mean. Is he a man who would be loyal to you? Who would never cause you harm?”
