Page 128 of His Kidnapped Queen
Luca stares at me for a long moment then slowly gets out of the car, bracing himself on the metal.
“Rosa Elena,” he says quietly, and for some reason, Rosa shuts up, sniffling and looking at him. “I’ll always be with you. And I’ll write you letters, okay?”
“I can’tread!”she blurts out, and Luca barks out a surprised laugh.
“Mama will read them to you.”
“Promise?”
“I promise, Rosie girl,” I say in a strained voice, my feet planted on the floor, feeling glued in place.
“I gotta go, princess,” he says mournfully, kissing Rosa’s cheek as he walks past me. He looks down at me for a long moment, but he doesn’t kiss me.
He’s mad at me. He’s mad at me for helping, for letting him leave, and I can’t blame him.
I’m mad at myself, too.
I watch him walk up the steps to the jet and it’s like the world cracks open.
Scott comes up to me, taking Rosa, who’s settled down and is just sobbing now like her heart is broken.
She buries her face in Scott’s chest and I look at him, my chest heaving.
“Go with him,” he says softly, and I think maybe I don’t hear him correctly because the engines of the jet crank up.
“What?”
“Go with him. You want to, don’t you?”
“I can’t. I can’t throw everything away,” I say, my breath coming shorter and shorter. I feel like I’m going to have a panic attack.
“What are you throwing away? A career you don’t want? You made this happen, Soph, and I know it isn’t because youdon’twant to be with him.”
“Of course I want to be with him, Scott, but Ican’t. Rosa?—”
Scott pats her back, kissing her temple. “Rosa wants to go, too, Sophia. She needs to be wherever you are. With her family.” He pauses. “I’ll miss her terribly, but it’s the right thing to do.”
“How do you know? How do you know it’s the right thing?”
“I don’t,” Scott says, nearly yelling over the jet engine. They’re getting ready to take off. “I don’t know it’s right, butyou do, Soph. Look in your heart. You’ll know what to do.”
He hands me back Rosa and walks away, getting into his car. I watch him go, Rosa wetting my shirt with her tears.
I look between her and Luca, between the jet and my daughter, the light of my life.
Then I start to run.
36
LUCA
I board the plane slowly because of my injury, but even slower because I don’t want to go. I just want to stay here. I had it all worked out with Diego. He was going to keep me in state so that Sophia could visit, so that I could write Rosa.
Why did I even agree to this? I suppose I wanted more time with them, just a few more minutes so that I could hold on to it.
Arturo stands in the interior of the jet, grinning at me.
“You ready,Caputo?”
