Her voice trailed off and in spite of the matter-of-fact tone she used, pain and anger tormented her face. “My mother never asked him for anything. She didn’t press charges, although he wasn’t nearly as strong or well known then. But at least she put his name on the birth certificate or I would not have known.”
“When you spoke to him, that first time—”
“He decided he would rape me, too, when I refused his kind offer of fifty dollars.”
AJ flinched. Towers had made it clear that he expected sex from her, but he’d never tried to force himself on her. Resentment flared. Did he think he could pick and choose his victims by their apparent circumstance in life? She felt sick. “How did you stop him?”
“I had a knife. And a copy of the birth certificate,” Rosa said calmly.
“You’ve worked here for so long.”
Rosa walked back over to the window, looking out as she had earlier, then turned around, facing AJ, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
“AJ, I planned on killing him when I started. I had this big idea of revenge, gaining vengeance and peace. Then Gina came here, and as I saw her struggle to change him, as I saw her sweetness and determination at the beginning—I don’t know. I knew my mother couldn’t gain anything from me going to prison for killing another human being. She died three years ago, right around the time I met Gina. I kept planning on leaving, but he pays me well, my college was paid. No one knows. Gina did, and now I have told you—but I have not even told Chance. I am ashamed not that he is my father—I could not help that. I am ashamed that I have stayed here. But I told myself at the right time, I would do something. And then—” Her face lost its darkness. “Then there was Gordito. And I am happy you have come, but sad that soon I will lose him, too.”
Tears threatened. “Rosa, if you help take Robbie out of here—”
She shook her head, anticipating. “I cannot come back. But I don’t need to. I would never leave Robbie alone here. But I will never come back. Towers doesn’t consider me his daughter. He would hate nothing worse than if my existence became public. He knows that I have given a copy of my birth certificate to family members. I never told him who, but the threat of being exposed has kept him in line.”
“But if he isn’t Robbie’s father—” Just saying the words felt like a betrayal. Gina would never have betrayed her husband. Not even a monster like Mike Towers.
“I wish I knew what Mike’s game is with Robbie. He has told us all, even during the earliest weeks of Gina’s pregnancy, that he was not the father. Gina told me that he was, that she had never been with another man after she met Mike.”
“She wouldn’t have been,” AJ agreed, “but why wouldn’t he recognize Robbie?”
Rosa snorted. “He used the pregnancy, and then the baby, to keep Gina from leaving him for months. I don’t know who left his name off the birth certificate—him or Gina. But I think it was to have more hold over her, and to deny Robbie anything as he grew older. He would tell Gina in front of María and me that he would never legally divorce her because she would not get a penny of his money.”
Oh, Gina! And my pride kept me from even wondering why you didn’t write more often, before that last letter. How could I not have known you were hiding something?
Tears seeped out of her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Rosa came over, picking up a napkin from her side of the table and handing it to her.
AJ dabbed her cheeks and stood up. “I guess Towers used Rebel as a weapon, too,” she mused. “Before Gina had Robbie to worry about, he probably kept her from contacting us or leaving us because she wouldn’t have gone home without Rebel.” New tears stung, but she refused to give in to her gut-wrenching sorrow. “And all the while, Chance stood by and did nothing! Nothing!”
“How dare you?” Rosa’s voice shook with rage. “Listen to me, AJ. I did not know of Rebel until Chance found out who you were. I liked you before I knew, and I like you now. I loved Gina. But don’t you dare blame Chance for any of this!”
“He’s the head of security—”
Rosa gripped one of AJ’s arms and shook it. “He’s a man whose family was destroyed by Mike Towers. Like mine. Like yours. He came here as I did, to avenge his uncle’s destruction. He didn’t owe any of us anything, but he gave more than was safe. He gave me friendship. He loves Robbie like a son. And he helped Gina when he could, though he believed her to be a cheat and user like his ex-wife.”
She let go of AJ’s arm. “As much as I like you, AJ, I will tell you that you are a fool if you do not look at Chance Landin and see a real man. A man whom most women would give their hearts to for far less than what he’s done for you!”
AJ closed her eyes and nodded. “I won’t question him again in front of you, Rosa. He has done a lot. But—”
“Would it help you to know that he could have lost everything the last time he helped Gina? He could have been kicked off Towers’s properties. Mike could have had him killed. I still do not know how he convinced Mike that he had no part—”
Dread replaced the sorrow, but she hoped Rosa would tell her. “What? What did he do, Rosa?”
“One of Mike’s accountants took an interest in Gina. Not physical. He wanted to help her because he knew she wasn’t happy, that she was virtually a prisoner here. He asked Chance not to tell Mike, to clear the way for him to get her out of the place, and to keep Robbie safe until she could get an attorney and come back for him.”
Rosa paused, letting her words sink in. “Chance helped Gina get out the night she left. He put the dogs up and changed some of the guards’ patrols. He kept Mike busy in his study with a made-up threat. But then Gina died in the crash.”
• • •
Neither of them bothered trying to stem the tears the memory induced and they exchanged brief hugs. Then Rosa drew away. “I sometimes think he didn’t move against Chance because—I’m sorry, AJ, but—”
“He got rid of Gina without paying a penny,” AJ finished, flatly.
Rosa didn’t answer; she didn’t need to.
“Who was driving?” AJ whispered, after a minute.
“The police said that she was—that she was driving full out.”
“Do you think … ” AJ scrubbed her bare arms, trying to get the question out. “Do you think she planned on crashing? Since I heard the news, I—I just knew that she’d taken her own life. That’s one reason I wanted Mike to—to pay somehow.”
Rosa shook her head slowly. “I don’t believe she did. She told me that she was not La Llorona, that she would live on the street rather than give up Robbie.”
“She had us. She would never have been without what she needed.”
“She knew,” Rosa said gently. “She blamed herself for the fight you two had, and said she wished she’d listened to you. She was planning on taking Robbie to you and your mother. I have to go.” She patted AJ as she started picking up the leftover food. “Trust Chance. He’s our best hope.”
She reached the door, then turned back, a look of sudden recognition in her face. “AJ, I just remembered. When I was going through Gina’s things, I found one of those large mailing envelopes. It had a paper with your address inside it. So I mailed it to the address in Philadelphia I found a few days before Chance told me who you really were. Keep your eyes open, when you get back.”
She slipped out of the room and the roller coaster of emotions climbed back in. Gina had tried to reach out. She had lost Gina, but not her sister’s love.
She glanced at the clock on the dresser. She’d napped longer than she realized. Time to get ready to meet Chance. To hear him tell his version of Gina’s last hours. To thank him for what he had done, and try to ignore what he might not have done. And to make it perfectly clear that she wouldn’t leave without Rebel. No matter the risk. Risks be damned—she’d take her nephew and her horse home.
• • •
Chance walked along the fence of bougainvillea, its rustle no different than on any other summer evening
, when only a slight breeze moved the air at all. This evening, though, the creaking and scratching of leaves and branches raised the hair on his forearms and the back of his neck. And that brought AJ to mind—face white, green eyes wide, insisting that she’d heard and felt something otherworldly. Messages from a dead sister, manifesting themselves in touches and moans. Masquerading as a demented wraith from centuries of storytelling. La Llorona.
He didn’t believe in ghosts. He clucked at the pair of Dobermans accompanying him and cut across the yard toward the stable. AJ wouldn’t have come yet, but he’d look at the appointment book again. Go through—what? He’d found nothing in the almost three years he’d worked for Mike Towers. No proof that Mike had paid to have Bone destroy those magnificent animals. The insurance company had whined, but hadn’t really investigated thoroughly. Kind of like the way Alydar’s wealthy owner had not suffered consequences for his stallion’s death. He sighed and reached for his phone.
“Santos,” he said, when the man answered, “will you come get the dogs? Look, Ms. AJ asked me if she could visit the horses. She’s thinking she might leave soon, with Mike sort of disappearing and all.”
The man agreed, and in a minute or two appeared from his post.
The man whistled the dogs over, lifting a hand and immediately retracing his steps, keeping the guard dogs close. Chance nodded in unseen approval. Too bad all of Towers’s employees weren’t so agreeable.
Chance looked around one more time. Nothing unusual, but the anxiety clenching his gut and increasing his pulse warned him of some unknown menace. He didn’t believe in ghosts, but he believed in feelings like the one gripping him.
He’d had the same feeling on the night Gina died. He’d handed her the keys upstairs, on his way down to engage Mike. “He’ll be safe,” he’d said, and she’d nodded, knowing he meant Robbie.
Gina had gone back to hug Robbie and Rosa one last time. He’d gone downstairs, passing Lenny, the accountant, on his way out the door, pretending that he was merely finished for the day.
And then he cornered Mike in the study, doing everything possible to make a new threat seem real. They were still together when Jaime called his boss, telling him that Gina had been in a car crash.
Chance ducked into the stallion barn and headed toward the office, ignoring Rebel’s snort and Incendido’s usual frenzied behavior. Halfway down the aisle, the suspicion hit him.
What if Gina’s death had been murder?
He swallowed hard. Impossible. Mike hadn’t had time to act. Police at the scene said that Gina was flying, even though she hadn’t driven in—he couldn’t remember her leaving the Nuevo Laredo ranch. He’d seldom seen her drive even in Laredo.
He slammed the wall nearest him. The plan had come together so easily, with Lenny and Gina begging him for help. He hadn’t really known Lenny, an affable, unmarried man who served as a liaison between Mike’s accountants in two countries. Mike had accused Lenny of being “after” Gina, but hadn’t kept him away. The accountant had even met with Mike right before the escape attempt.
So convenient. Mike had raised hell but not done any of the things Chance expected. Suddenly, it all seemed clear. Lenny had been another of Mike’s unknowing victims. Chance had bought into the lover accusation so easily. Hell, Mike even insisted Robbie was the accountant’s kid, after Gina and Lenny died. AJ had berated him for not doing more. Suddenly, he saw his actions through her eyes.
He walked into the office and sank into the chair, swamped by guilt and despair. He couldn’t forget the way she’d looked when he told her she couldn’t have Rebel back. He’d appeal to her tonight. Without Rebel, he didn’t have a shot at proving Towers wanted the horse killed for insurance reasons.
If he even survived getting Robbie across. He’d have to go into town on some visible and verifiable errand, letting AJ and Rosa spirit the baby across the bridge. He couldn’t be in a position where he seemed to have known. Towers might not buy that again, but if he could make it all seem plausible enough, he could go to the police station. He would report a threat on Mike Towers to them. That would create a paper trail. Although what if someone called and told Mike? They all knew him, and if they thought he might reward them for the tip—
He sensed movement and looked up. AJ leaned against the doorjamb.
“You’re early,” he said.
She shrugged and pushed off the frame, coming into the office She ignored the chairs, propping herself on the corner of the desk and swinging her leg back and forth.
He wished she’d stop.
“Rosa verified what we’re doing with Robbie.”
“I can’t think of a safer way, AJ. We can’t wait and risk Mike coming back early. You can’t take much with Robbie. Rosa was going to try to fit as much as she could in one bag, and I’ll try to put another one in the trunk. But if they check the car at the bridge, I don’t want it to look like you’re moving him from one country to the other.” He paused. “Where’s his birth certificate?”
“Hidden. But I won’t forget it.”
He nodded, but couldn’t look away from her leg, still swinging like a rhythmic pendulum. The urge to reach out and capture her ankle, stopping the hypnotic movement, was overwhelming, so he stood up and moved to shut the door she’d left open.
“So, did she fill you in well enough? As long as you get to the border, everything will be fine, so I’m really not worried.”
“But … when Mike finds out, you’ll have problems?”
He rubbed his face and nodded. “Yes,” he admitted slowly. “I’m hoping that I can deal with them, though, as long as I’m not here when you leave.”
“You’re banking on a lot going your way,” she pointed out tartly.
“I’m open to other choices. Do you want to fight Mike for custody? Because I’m willing to bet he’d claim he’s Robbie’s daddy if he had to, to spite you. He’d claim Gina didn’t list him because she was cheating on him and wanted to cut him out of the picture.”
“If he could prove paternity,” AJ retorted, and realized what she’d said when Chance’s eyebrows raised.
“Even Rosa doesn’t believe Gina cheated,” AJ muttered. “It’s just—”
“I know. Look, once you’re on the U.S. side, just go to Emily’s. Wait there to hear from me. Don’t call the ranch.”
“How long do we wait?”
“Two or three days.” He didn’t think AJ got the finality of leaving the ranch. “Because if I don’t call you by then, I’m sure I’ll make the news. Dead.”
Chapter Eighteen
Dead? She hadn’t considered how different Chance’s position was from hers. As long as Mike didn’t come back from Austin early, she didn’t foresee any problems other than convincing Chance to give her Rebel back. Putting Robbie in a car and leaving him on the Laredo side was nothing major. No one was here who would stop them. With any luck, if María were somewhere other than the front rooms that looked out over the driveway, they might get away without being missed for hours.
But Chance’s job as head of security was to keep the baby from leaving. Towers would know that he hadn’t done that.
She closed her eyes briefly. Please, God. Not this man. Not for Robbie and me.
Aloud, she tried to press home her need to get Rebel out, too. “I’m only going to have a day or two after I get Rosa and Robbie settled at your aunt’s. When Mike comes back, he won’t let me near this place. You see why you can’t keep Rebel, right, Chance?”
He shook his head. “AJ, be fair. You’re getting Robbie. You have to understand about needing to take him out first.”
“Of course.”
“I’m trying to manufacture an excuse Towers will believe. If I manage, everything will be fine. And if I don’t … well, there’s just no point borrowing trouble.”
Silence fell between them, broken only by the sounds of the horses in their stalls outside.
He finally broke the silence. “So, why did you really bring Goof, AJ?”
She led the way, hugging the horse’s chestnut head as he greeted her. “He’s almost as big a baby as his brother.” She leaned against the gate, laughing when Rebel blew wisps of her hair around. “He’s a big ham. You should have seen him with a blanket of flowers on his neck.”
“Must have been quite a thrill. How were you getting Goof here, AJ?”
“At first, I thought maybe I’d be lucky and that Rebel would be on the Texas side.”
“I’m not sure you could have gotten a strange horse there, either,” Chance pointed out. “So how were you going to do it?”
She colored, and turned back to fidget with Rebel’s forelock, while he stood there as docilely as a pony. “Ride Goof across the river, sneak him into Rebel’s stall, and ride Rebel back across.” She glanced at him. “The Goof part’s gone, but it’s still what I plan to do.”
He gaped at her. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No!” She looked away. “Okay, we’ve established I’m not a CIA operative. Not all my plans make sense maybe, but when I met my ex-husband—”
“You hid that pretty well.” Chance laughed shortly. “Why should it surprise me? Guess we’re all married here—or divorced, anyway.”
“Why would I have told you?” AJ demanded. “None of your business. And I certainly couldn’t have told Mike.”
“Certainly not.” He leaned on the gate with her, their shoulders touching in the narrow opening. “And the fiancé you kept mentioning to Mike and me—real? I mean, I know you’re not engaged now, but was there someone?”
“Of course not. My ex cured me of thinking men can be faithful, or even useful. I met him when I was a teaching assistant in the college English department. So weird—he’s from Laredo. He and a friend used to smuggle horses back and forth across the river. He said it wasn’t a bad business, although not as popular as his father told him it was.”
“Yeah. I imagine drugs are more profitable and plentiful than horses,” he acknowledged. “Rebel might not cross the water. It’s low right now, but there’s a deep middle channel here.”
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