Chapter 1 - THE DOOR I CLOSED BEHIND US
I led Isabella through the villa without looking back at Beatriz.
My daughter’s hand felt impossibly small inside mine.
Every few steps, she glanced over her shoulder as though she expected Beatriz to follow us and order her back outside.
I took her directly to the downstairs guest bathroom.
“Sit here for me.”
Isabella perched on the edge of the closed toilet seat.
She immediately tucked her hands beneath her dress.
I crouched in front of her.
“You don’t have to hide anything from me.”
Her eyes dropped.
“I made a mess.”
“No.”
“The bag broke.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
She looked at me with the cautious expression of someone waiting for the second half of the sentence.
There wasn’t one.
I filled the sink with warm water and helped her clean the dirt from her hands.
I didn’t ask more questions.
Not yet.
I had spent years negotiating acquisitions and hostile contracts.
I knew frightened people rarely told the truth when they believed the truth would make the danger worse.
Beatriz appeared in the doorway.
“This is ridiculous.”
I turned.
She had changed out of her silk robe.
Now she wore cream trousers and a pale blue blouse.
The transformation would have impressed me if I hadn’t heard her laughing twenty minutes earlier.
“She’s fine,” Beatriz said.
Isabella’s shoulders tightened.
I noticed.
Beatriz noticed me noticing.
Her expression changed.
“She was helping.”
“You already said that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Leave.”
Her mouth opened.
“What?”
“Leave the room.”
“This is my house too.”
I stood slowly.
“That conversation comes later.”
Beatriz looked toward Isabella.
“Tell your father you wanted to help.”
Isabella stared at the floor.
Beatriz’s tone sharpened.
“Isabella.”
I stepped between them.
“Don’t speak to her.”
Beatriz laughed once.
It was short and nervous.
“You’ve been gone for three months, and suddenly you think you understand everything.”
“No.”
I looked directly at her.
“That’s why I’m going to understand everything before this night is over.”
For the first time, she had no immediate answer.
I closed the bathroom door.
Isabella looked up at me.
“Is she mad?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Her eyes widened slightly.
I realized she had probably never heard an adult say that before.
I handed her a clean towel.
“What matters is whether you’re safe.”
She stared at me for several seconds.
Then she whispered.
May you like
“I don’t know.”
Those three words changed the entire night.
