Page 116 of Shadows of the Past
“Julia…,” she breathes, horrified.
But I’m okay now. When I think about Martin now, I don’t feel his hands on me anymore. I see that gold tooth sitting in my jewelry box. I see Maksim, taking my power back for me, and I know Martin’s last breath left his body with my name carved into his skin.
“I ended up in Russia, where I met Maksim. He’s the one who saved me from a fate I probably never would have escaped on my own.”
“It’s been almost thirteen years…”
“I know. And I won’t lie and say I never had a chance to leave, but something always pulled me back. I’ve helped hundreds of girls, Lupe. Hundreds like you and Amalia, who had no one, whoneeded someone to fight for them or give them even a sliver of hope.”
For a moment, I just watch her, trying to read her thoughts. Amalia’s always been an open book, but Lupe? She could be thinking a thousand things at once.
“Was he there?” she asks, voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes. Not only was he there, he was one of the ones abusing the victims, Lupe.”
Tears streak her cheeks, and I wish I could take away even a fraction of her pain. I know how much love her heart can hold, and even if that snake doesn’t deserve a single piece of it, it’s there, and I can’t tear it out for her.
“Did he ever hurt you?” she asks, voice trembling.
“Not directly,” I say. “But there were nights I spent wide awake, waiting for him to come and make his promises true. It’s in his DNA, coneja.”
Lupe fidgets with the fringe on her shirt, searching for words. I wait, watching the way her brown hair falls across her face, the freckles scattered on her arm, the way she scowls at her own hands.
“I met him at a club, for a friend’s birthday when she turned eighteen. He told me to call him Alek, and even though I knew he had to be twice my age, he looked at me like I actually mattered.”
Breathe, Julia. This is her story.
“I was never the important one, never the girl people looked at twice. Amalia’s the smart, quiet one. She’s the one everyone wants around because she’s good, better than I could ever be. And I fell for it.”
I want to shake her, tell her Amalia isn’t better, just different. They’re both wonderful in their own ways, but at that age, it feelslike the weight of the world is on your shoulders, and having a sister with a genius IQ can make it hard to see your own worth.
“He waited for me outside my college once. The second time, he invited me out for coffee. I’d never felt so seen by anyone. For months, I didn’t suspect a thing. I even wondered how I’d gotten so lucky to meet someone so attentive, so sweet. Until one day, he came to pick me up and tío Felipe told me he didn’t think Alek was a good choice for me.”
A lump forms in my throat at the memory of tío Felipe lying on that kitchen floor, a pool of blood spreading beneath him. Executed.Hesensed danger and refused to leave anything to chance.
“But he saw how excited I was and let it go. That’s when Alek first mentioned dangerous people after him, something about his business overseas. That’s why I asked Amalia to erase the security footage from the neighborhood. And then, a week ago…”
She struggles to go on, and for a moment, I want to stop her. I don’t need all the details—not when she looks like this.
“Amalia insisted on coming with us. If she hadn’t, she’d be dead too, wouldn’t she?” Her sobs come in sharp, panicked bursts.
She’s gasping for breath between words, so I sit beside her, laying my hands over hers. Her skin is icy cold.
“Most likely. He’s not the type to leave witnesses, Lupe.”
I watch my little sister fall apart, knowing I’ll never be able to take this guilt from her shoulders. No matter how much I want to, it’s her own shadow to carry.
“Tío Felipe died because of me. You almost died because of me. Why can’t I make a single good decision in my life?”
“He died because of Aleksandr. I know he pulled the trigger—”
“BUT I POINTED THAT GUN AT YOU!”
I lift her chin, forcing her to meet my gaze—our father’s eyes staring back at me.
“You’re nineteen, Lupe. You’re going to make mistakes and bad choices because that’s what being young is. But you’ll learn from them. You’ll grow. And one day, you’ll accept them. Tío Felipe was a victim. And I made my own choice to stay put that day. That’s on me, not you.”
“You never made mistakes,” she whispers.
