Page 140 of Wicked Savage Cruel
“Don’t call him that. We haven’t had a dad in years. If Raul died, as far as I’m concerned, good riddance.”
“Fine. We’ll skip over the tears and heartfelt trip down memory lane. But we have a problem?”
I snort. “No. We just got a solution to our problem. A big fucking one at that.” There’s movement on the other line already, like he’s stepping into another room.
“We have Sofia,” he reminds me.
“What about her? She’s safe now. We don’t need to worry about that fucker hurting her anymore.” I rub at my chest, trying to alleviate some of the ache. Maybe I took a hit on the field and didn’t realize the pain at the time. I can’t think of another reason for feeling this way all of a sudden.
“No. Now we have to worry about social services taking her.”
Hold on a minute. “You can’t be serious.” She’s our sister. Our blood. We’re family. You don’t take family away. Social services didn’t give a shit about us when Raul was leaving bruises behind. Why the hell would they get involved now?
“I’ve already gotten a phone call. When the police were called after a maid at the hotel found his body, they ran his records. They know he has kids, and they know Sofia is a minor.”
“She has us. It’s not like she’s alone. You and I are both over eighteen. We’ve got this.”
He exhales a harsh breath. “You’re an eighteen-year-old high school senior,” he reminds me, and I can hear the thread of panic in his voice. He’s serious. Sofia can be taken from us all because our deadbeat father kicked the bucket. Will this man never stop ruining our lives? He even has to do it from the goddamn grave?
“You’re not. You have a job. You can be her legal guardian.” I still don’t understand what the problem is.
“I have a record, E.”
All the blood drains from my face. “That was three years ago. They can’t—”
“They can. It was assault with—”
“You were defending yourself!” I roar, slamming my fist against the locker. “You were defending us.” Antonio did what he had to do to keep us safe, but our asshole of a father pressed charges even though he was the one who swung first.
“I know. Doesn’t matter though. That’s not how they see it.”
“Fuck.” I start to pace. “What are we going to do? How do we fix this?” There has to be a way. Letting social services take Sofia is not an option, I’ll run with her if I have to. I know Antonio will too. My mind strays to Bibiana and Luis. Shit. I can’t take my sister and run. I have my own kid to think about too. Goddammit. What a mess.
Would Bibiana leave with us? I could convince her if I had to, right?
“Roberto is on his way. I called him before calling you. He put in for leave when I told him about Luis. It was approved.”
“But for how long? We can’t count on him to—”
“We’ll figure it out, okay? We have to.”
I grind my teeth together and nod, not that he can see it. I don’t have a lot of faith in our eldest brother, but if he can stick around long enough for us to figure this shit out, that’ll be enough. Then he can crawl back to whatever desert they have him stationed at and go back to pretending his family doesn’t exist.
“So, what do we do in the meantime?”
“You get your ass home. We need to show the case worker that we’re a stable, loving, family. That we can provide the type of environment Sofia needs to thrive in. They’ll be here tomorrow to interview us. I need—”
“I’ll be there.”
He lets out a relieved breath. “Thank you.”
I snort. “You don’t have to thank me. She’s my baby sister too.”
“I know.” He sighs. “But you’ve got your own kid now and—”
“And nothing. I’ll let Bibiana know I’ll be busy for a little while. She’s bringing Luis to school now, so I’ll still get to see him every day. We’ll figure it out.”
“You still need to bring him home sometime. I want to meet my nephew.”
