Sinner's Son (Savage Sons Motorcyle Club) (10 page)

"Wow," Moses said. "You look gorgeous."

Nadia nodded in agreement. "You do, Mama."

"Thank you both. Are you hungry?"

"I'm starving. Gabriela offered me dinner, but I told her that we were making chiles rellenos and they're my favorite. I think she knows that you're a better cook than she is."

"I'm hungry, too. It was a weird day, and I didn't really take the time to eat."

"Was your day okay?" I asked him, crossing to the kitchen to get the oil heating on the stove.

"No," he answered. "Not really. I'll fill you in on it later," he said, glancing over at Nadia.

I nodded, taking the chiles out of the refrigerator. I cracked a couple of eggs into a bowl, sprinkled some flour, salt, and pepper onto a plate, and got ready to fry the poblanos. "Ever had chiles rellenos?" I asked Moses.

"I have, but I bet yours will be better."

Moses, Nadia, and I talked while I finished up dinner, carrying plates of chiles rellenos, tomatillo sauce, refried beans, and salad to the table. We sat down, and I savored the moment, realizing that there were men and women who sat down to dinner every night together without the complications that my life had. While I cherished my time with Nadia, I realized, looking at a man that I thought I might actually like, that something had been missing from my life.

I had no time for regrets, though. I needed to figure out if Moses had meant what he'd said about getting me and Nadia out. I needed him to be the real thing.

"I
have never before tasted anything so delicious," I told Maria and Nadia after I took my first bite of the stuffed peppers. "They're rich and light, all at the same time. Maria, a dinner like this could make a man propose marriage."

Nadia looked a little surprised, and maybe even a little excited, but Maria just laughed it off. I don't know if she'd have been quite so casual if she'd have been able to read my mind. I wasn't sure if it was the awful meeting with Don Roberto -- and the protective instincts it had aroused -- or the sweetness I saw between mother and daughter, but I realized that maybe, just maybe, there could possibly be something worth giving up my single life for. I knew I hadn't known Maria long enough to fall in love, but I sure liked what I saw.

I was savoring every bite of dinner when the phone rang. Nadia jumped up to answer it.

"It will be for her, of course," Maria said, smiling. "It always is."

I knew that Nadia wouldn't hear what I was about to say. "You have an amazing daughter. I see a lot of you in her."

"I just hope she makes better decisions than I have," she said. "I know that she has had a better childhood." Maria looked at me intently, as if she were trying to decide whether she could trust me, or whether she could read my mind. "Luis came by just before you got here, and I have to get out of here. I have to get Nadia somewhere safe, or..." Maria looked at her daughter. "I just have to get her out," she said, clearly unwilling to say any more with the girl in the room.

Knowing what I did, I agreed with her. "I need to tell you about my meeting today, but I don't want Nadia to hear," I said, quietly. "Perhaps we can talk after she goes to bed?"

Maria nodded, not saying anything because Nadia had just covered the mouthpiece of the phone and asked her mother a question. "What, little one?"

"Rosa wants to know if I can spend the night. Can I?"

"It's a school night, little one. You always stay up too late when you and Rosa have sleepovers."

"Mama, I promise that I'll go to bed early."

Maria looked at her daughter, narrowing her eyes and thinking. "Okay. But if I hear that you were sleepy in school, or if you're the least bit grouchy when you get home tomorrow afternoon, then this will be the last time. Understand?"

"Si, Mama. Gracias." Nadia chattered into the phone in rapid Spanish for another couple of minutes before hanging up. "Thank you," she said, coming back to the table and starting to shovel her dinner in, rising to finish.

"Nadia," Maria said, tone sharp. "You do not eat like an animal, especially when we have a guest. Take your time. And you're not leaving until the dishes are done."

Nadia looked like she was thinking about arguing, but she reconsidered. "Yes, ma'am." She slowed her pace, and we finished dinner.

I offered to help Maria dry dishes, but she refused, insisting that I was a guest and wouldn't be allowed to help out. Nadia went into the bedroom to pack her bag, and I watched Maria in the kitchen -- graceful and exotic -- and I realized that the situation had just changed. We would be alone in the house very shortly, without a thirteen-year-old chaperone. I needed to talk to Maria, but I also realized that I'd be able to do much more than talk -- if she wanted to, of course.

"Bye, Moses," Nadia said cheerfully, as she went into the kitchen to give her mother a hug.

"Are you going to walk by yourself?" I asked, horrified by the thought of a young woman on the streets of Juarez alone.

"Sure. It's just a couple of blocks away," Nadia said, completely unconcerned.

"I'm going to walk you there." I stood up, having no intention of letting her go alone -- not with what I'd heard from Don Roberto.

"When you come back, I'll have some flan ready for you," Maria said, rewarding me with a smile.

Nadia and I walked the couple of blocks, and I was glad I had accompanied her. Young men stood idly at many of the street corners, looking like they were in the market for trouble. I knew that look. I'd been those guys before. The difference was that I'd never consider a thirteen-year-old as the kind of trouble I was looking for. Now, I felt like every man I saw was a child molester. It takes a lot to disillusion an outlaw biker, but Don Roberto -- and Joker -- had done it.

Just before we got to Rosa's house, Nadia stopped in the street. "Will you be good to Mama?" she asked.

I was taken aback by her question. "Of course I will."

"I'm serious," she said. "Mama thinks that I don't understand everything that's going on. She still looks at me like I'm a little girl. But I'm not. I know that Luis makes her do things that she doesn't want to. I know why she doesn't ever go on a date -- doesn't ever have a boyfriend. She is sad a lot of the time, but I think that she likes you. I think that you make her happy. I just want you to be nice to her. She deserves it."

I didn't know what to say. The fact that both mother and daughter were trying to protect one another was one of the sweetest and saddest things I'd ever encountered. I put my hand on Nadia's shoulder as I struggled to find words. "I'll be nice to your mother, Nadia. She's lucky to have you for a daughter." I watched as she went up to Rosa's front door, knocked, and disappeared inside. I had to do something to help these two.

When I got back to Maria's, I found her in the courtyard, the outdoor lights turned off and replaced by a few flickering candles. She sat on the bench, sipping a glass of red wine. The bottle and an empty glass sat on the table, awaiting my return.

"What a lovely sight," I said, pouring myself a glass of wine. "Wine, a beautiful evening, a gorgeous woman. What else could a man want?"

Maria didn't answer right away. "I don't know about a man, but I can tell you what a woman could want. I want to wake up and not be afraid for my safety or the safety of my daughter. I've spent my life trying to become independent, taking every chance I had to learn to speak good English, whether it was with clients or just by watching television. I even make Nadia speak English at home, hoping that some day she will be able to use it to start fresh, but Luis has kept me under his thumb. I have to get out, Moses, and I need help to do it. Will you help me?"

She looked up at me, tears shining on her lashes, and I realized that I would do anything in my power to dry her tears and see that she never had another reason to cry.

"I will, Maria. I spent most of today trying to come up with a plan, and I think I have an idea." I wasn't sure that she was going to want to hear about my meeting with the Don, but I had a feeling that she needed to. I didn't want her to get cold feet about leaving Juarez, and I knew that having her daughter threatened would be all the motivation she needed to see the plan through. "I have to tell you what I learned today, though."

Maria looked confused, like she couldn't figure out what my meeting had to do with her and Nadia.

I decided not to sugarcoat it. "Don Roberto wants us to start using some of his girls as hookers in Colorado."

Maria sat up straighter and set her wine glass down. "What if I could convince Luis to send me? Then I could get out of this place and start a new life ... if you would help me," she said, hopefully.

"I thought the same thing at first," I told her, reaching out to take her hand. I didn't want to continue, but I had to. "But that's not all. Maria, the Don is going to start selling the services of the daughters of women like you, girls Nadia's age."

"But they can't. Nadia's just a girl." Maria looked panicked.

I needed her to understand just how serious Don Roberto had been. "They can, and they will. There's a lot of money to be made by selling a young girl's virginity. If they have you in their control, Nadia would do what she had to to keep you safe, just as you would for her."

"They wouldn't do that to a girl, though," Maria said, evidently unable to think clearly.

"They did it to you. You weren't much older when Luis and his men raped you, giving you a child that meant you were trapped here. They can, and they will," I said. "But I'm not going to let that happen to you."

"Are you certain this is what they plan?"

"Absolutely. They offered us a sample of some of their young girls. I didn't see them, but they're already doing it. Maria, I have to be honest with you. I haven't always been a nice guy, but this is just wrong. I can't let this go on. I'm going to get you out, and I have to find some way to stop Don Roberto."

"They were going to give you girls, young girls?"

"Yes. I know you didn't want to hear about it, but you had to. I need you to understand how serious this is. They're going to take Nadia from you if we don't do something quickly."

"What am I going to do?" Maria asked, putting her head in her hands. "I don't have any money. I get every penny I earn from Luis, and he never gives me enough to save any."

"Maria, sweetheart, money isn't your problem. I have more money that you could possibly need. What I have to do is get a car and get the two of you out of town -- to someplace where you can safely hole up and hide from the Don until I can get you into the U.S. legally. Do you have any ideas where you could go?"

Maria stood up, pulling her hand from mine. "I need a minute to think, Moses. What you're telling me is my worst nightmare coming true before my eyes. I want to be strong enough to leave, but I'm scared. What if something goes wrong, and I don't even have the money that Luis gives me?" Maria sounded like she was winding herself up into near-hysterics.

"Maria, you have to calm down."

"But you don't know what it's like ... to be a single mother and worry that your daughter -- the most precious thing in the world -- is going to..."

Maria started to cry, and I knew that words alone wouldn't be enough to calm her down. I stood up and walked over to her, turning her around by the shoulders and pulling her tight against my chest.

"Maria, it will be okay, sweetheart. I'm going to take care of you, and you don't have to do this alone. I have plenty of money. You'll never need Luis again, and I'll be back to bring you can Nadia home with me. I have a house that looks out on the mountains, and Nadia will even have her own room, her own bed. You can live with me, or I can get you your own place." I just rambled, not sure exactly what to say, but desperately trying to calm Maria down.

She looked up at me. "I have heard promises from men before, Moses. Men don't keep promises to women like me."

I took her face between my hands. "I'm not like other men. I will keep my word to you, no matter what."

I knew that she was upset, and I knew that my timing was terrible, but in that moment, as her dark eyes looked up into mine -- so defeated, but with the tiniest glimmer of hope -- I couldn't help but lean down and kiss her. It was probably the wrong thing to do, but it felt very right.

Maria pulled back at first, and I immediately let her go. I wasn't about to force her to do anything she didn't want to.

She studied me for a moment, before she spoke. "I believe you," she said. "Do you think Nadia is safe for the night?"

"Yes, but only for tonight," I answered. "Only because Don Roberto can't possibly know where she is. I don't know that I'd trust that she will be safe after school, though. If you can be ready to leave as soon as she gets home, I'll find some way to rent a car and take you somewhere. I'm not sure where yet, but I don't think you should be here tomorrow evening. If I had to guess, I'd imagine that the Don and Luis will take my having walked out of the meeting as a grave insult, and I'd expect them to come after Nadia to make a point. Men like these don't take challenges to their authority lightly."