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The fact that he no longer knows the menow.
He knew me as the odd little girl who needed guidance to face the world. He knew me as the grief-stricken woman who wanted to die with her lover. And then he knew me as the person I wished I were all along, the one I'd constructed when I'd buried my most painful memories—the blameless, innocent one.
But he never knew the person I becamethere. The person capable ofanythingto survive.
Cisco only wants this so he can assuage his guilt—well, not even his. My brother would never be capable of such advanced feelings as guilt.
A sardonic smile pulls at my lips as I realize it's not even for himself that he's doing this.
It's for her. For Yuyu.
He's trying to make amends for her.
"No," I tell her firmly, moving backward to put some distance between us. "The past is in the past. I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work."
"Raf has a right to know…"
"So now you're doing this for him?" I raise a brow.
"You don't understand, Noelle," Yuyu takes a deep breath. "Your brother never wanted things to degenerate this badly. But Sergio had our hands tied."
"My brother? With his hands tied? As if I believe that," I scoff.
"He kidnapped our son," she suddenly confesses. "He kidnapped Val when he was just a few months old because Cisco hadn't married Camilla as he'd promised. And to get Val back…"
I blink, surprised at this new information.
"Sergio made sure the contract was signed in blood. But for a while we didn't think he would ask us to honor the contract. You were so young, and he got married to someone else…" Yuyu takes a deep breath. "When his last wife died, he demanded Cisco honor his deal. You were around fifteen at the time. You'd just had those issues at school and we knew we couldn't do that to you. So Cisco tried to get out of it. He ordered a hit on Sergio. Somehow it failed…" she shakes her head. "That only made matters worse. Sergio was determined to see this through, and he was ready to wage a bloody war if not. He was determined to have you—dead, or alive."
"I see," I nod, pursing my lips.
While the story does at least give my brothersomemotivation for what he did, it doesn't move me as Yuyu undoubtedly thought it would.
"So let me get this straight. My brother only wants what's best of me, he feels bad for the past and now wants to dictate the present and the future so he can absolve himself of his sins? It doesn't work like that Yuyu. And it will certainly not help if he ever dares to tell Rafaelo anything," I tell her, my tone absolutely bleak and not leaving any room for interpretation.
"Noelle…"
"The moment Raf knows, it's game over, Yuyu. For me, for him, for everyone."
"It doesn't have to be like that…"
"No," I interrupt. "That's exactly how it will be. And one thing both you and my brother should know about me is that I don't lose. Ineverintend to lose this game," I add as I stand up, straightening my back and heading for the door.
Yet before I leave, I need to make sure of something.
"Ortega's potential locations," I turn, making eye contact. "Are they real?"
She nods, her face drawn up in worry.
"They are," she confirms, rising to her feet and coming closer to me. "Noelle, I know you don't like me. But know that I do care for you. I see you as my child, my daughter and I love you."
I swallow painfully, her words touching me despite not wanting to be touched. Yet the mention of a mother figure has a way of doing that, especially when mine had been more an enemy than an ally. For all the grudges I've ever held against my brother for what he's done, I must admit that I've also seen Yuyu like that.
Since young I blamed her for my misfortunes, yet I've never been able to hate her.
My body acts before my mind can, and I find myself swiveling towards her and putting one foot in front of the other until I'm in front of her—huggingher.
"Thank you," I whisper, my tone echoing the ghost of a farewell. "I care for you, too, Yuyu. But I can't let you, nor Cisco, interfere like that in my life. I'm fine as I am now, and I will continue to be fine."
