Page 22 of Drawn Together

Tami glanced at me over her shoulder, her messy bun almost falling off her head from the weight of her hair. “What happened?” My friend was too nice not to worry about me, and even more so after the kidnapping.

I recounted everything I’d been through the previous night, and her hand never left her mouth, scared and horrified.

“Why would someone do something like that?”

“No idea,” I answered, shrugging. “All I know is that this isn’t over. My father hasn’t even called, and I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad one.”

“You know how your dad is, Mar. Unless you’re dying, he’ll keep going on with his life.”

Her words were harsh, but Tami had never liked Alejandro Cortés. Not because she wasn’t accustomed to seeing a distant father, since hers was cut from the same cloth as mine—Tami came from a very wealthy London family who had locked theirdaughter up in boarding school as soon as they could—but precisely because she’d been blinded by the illusion of the perfect family, with a father who was caring and affectionate. It was my father who made her realize that wasn’t the case.

“Sebastian talked to him. He’s doing everything he can to find out what’s going on.”

My friend said nothing in response, and after apologizing again, we said goodbye in order for me to make it in time to Brownsville.

“Sebastian,” I said, stopping at the intersection across from the subway. If we turned left, we would reach the parking lot, which wasn’t what I wanted. “I give private ballet lessons to some girls in Brooklyn every Monday. It would be better to take the subway—it’s faster.”

Sebastian frowned and leaned over to speak to me quietly. “The subway could be dangerous for you. We’ll go to Brooklyn by car.” He moved to continue walking, but I grabbed him by the arm.

“Where I’m going, it’s not smart to go by car, trust me. It would be better for us to take the subway. And whether you believe it or not, it’s safer than driving on the highway.”

“No.”

I growled in frustration. He was supposed to be following me, not the other way around.

I didn’t even make it to the corner before he’d stopped me, holding me back by the arm.

“My God, make my job a little easier, Marfil.”

I looked at him without backing down. “I told you I wasn’t going to change my life because of what happened. I can’t afford to, Sebastian! There are a bunch of amazing little girls waiting for me to give them dance lessons, to provide them with an activity that could potentially help them in their future. So you can either come with me or I’ll go by myself.”

Sebastian frowned, looked over my shoulder, and then let go of me. “Where is this class, exactly?”

I tried to keep my cool. “In Brownsville.”

The expression on his face made it clear that he was familiar with the area I was talking about.

“Have you lost your mind?” he asked, fuming. “You’re going to just walk into one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city, knowing people out there are trying to hurt you?”

“No one has hurt me yet. They could’ve shot me in the head if they’d wanted to. They’ve had more than enough opportunity, but they’re simply playing at sending absurd messages so that my father freaks out and I get too scared to leave the house, something I don’t plan on doing.” I pulled away from him and crossed the street to the subway entrance, praying he believed in my bravery.

I knew where I was going. You just had to be cautious and not let anyone think you had money. That was the reason for my simple outfit that day: black leggings, sneakers, and gray sweatshirt. Even my gym bag was secondhand; I’d bought it at a flea market for this very purpose. No one would suspect that, inside that bag, I carried ten pairs of ballet slippers worth fifty dollars each. The girls were going to be thrilled.

Just as I expected, Sebastian was right behind me as I got on the train. It was an hour-long trip in total, during which Sebastian was so tense that it ended up affecting me. I had never been afraid to go to the girls’ school, but I was freaked out by the suspicious glances Sebastian threw at everyone who entered the subway car and the way he repeatedly, although very discreetly, reached for his gun. By the time we exited the train station, my heart was racing a mile a minute.

“I’ve been coming to this neighborhood for a year and a half, and nothing has ever happened to me, so can you relax?”

He didn’t answer, too focused on examining the street. I let him do his job and walked ahead.

When we got to the school—an old, dilapidated storefront with a mirror that took up an entire wall and a ballet barre Liam had helped me install—the girls were waiting for me excitedly, sitting on the floor warming up.

Almost all the girls came on their own. They came from families with very few economic resources, and I knew that my classes brought them a moment of calm and a bit of hope. When they saw Sebastian, they all began to whisper and laugh. Lili, a ten-year-old girl with an incredible talent for ballet and modern dance, ran up to give me a hug. Her pink leotard was a bit big on her, but her mother had bought it that way intentionally, so that she could use it for a few more years.

“Hello, girls!” I said with a smile as I set my bag on the table with the sound equipment.

They greeted me, glancing repeatedly at Sebastian, who, so tall and wide, seemed totally out of place in that room full of little girls in pink and white leotards.

I took off my leggings and sweatshirt to reveal my ballet clothes underneath: a black leotard and white tights that made me stand out from the girls. I turned toward the mirror to gather my hair into a bun and slip on a short transparent skirt. As I did, I saw that Sebastian was staring at me. I would’ve preferred him to wait outside, but he was so uptight that I didn’t feel like pushing him.