Page 25 of The Guardian

“You do not have to offer…I mean you do not owe me anything.”

“No, I don’t. But…I already got the idea that you were going somewhere. You said you were. And now I know that what you are looking into is dangerous as all hell.”

“Yes, I know. But I cannot care about that.”

“Maybe not but I care about that.”

“So why would Rainmaker help?”

I smirked. “He will not be able to resist.”

Maya looked confused.

I laughed. “Let’s have dinner then I wanted to check on Carlos and Selena.”

“They were sitting by Mr. Mancini.”

My head shot up as I stared at her. “Are you sure?”

Nodding at me, she replied, “I was at that end of the table when I was following the kids.” She motioned her head to the right.

I looked but really there were too many people and the distance made it hard to do without drawing attention. The last thing I wanted was to have Mr. Mancini catch me staring at them all. I reached for her plate and leaned over to ladle up the main dish for her. “I would ask if you like pasta, but since I know for sure now that you are Italian…”

She laughed. “I never lied about that or told anyone I was Latino. They all saw my dark hair and eyes and just assumed that.”

“And the fact that you were in a place like Catemaco in Latin America as a nanny to Latino kids?”

“Ok, so there was that too.”

“See, I was feeling intrigued by you, because you for one have these bouts of sadness.”

“Oh, no. You saw that?”

“Yes, I did. So now I know why. Then today, you admitted to losing your family.”

“I meant what I said before, those two kids saved me. Not the other way around. I felt so desolate and so lost. Then when I saw them…” Tears filled her eyes. “I saw the cruelty and the harsh living conditions they were forced to endure. I then poured all my pent-up emotions and myself into making their lives better.”

I set her plate in front of her. “It shows too. If you had told me they suffered these things. I might not believe you. Except when they hid after Gabriela clapped her hands. It really affected me. I wanted to go back to Mexico, track those bitches down and…” I halted. “I wanted to hurt them. I wanted to kill them.”

“I know how that feels.” Maya placed her napkin into her lap.

I noted how her hands shook and commented, “Oh, I bet you do.”

She raised her fork and said, “But that’s not why I did it.”

I spooned pasta onto my plate along with a broccoli side dish and grabbed some garlic bread. “Why you did what?” I asked and took a bite of the bread.

“Killed them,” she whispered and took a bite of her pasta.

I halted and whipped my head to the side to stare at her. Then I choked on the bread.

Chapter Eight: Holy Cannoli

Maya

I turned to stare at him in concern. He sounded like he was actually choking.

Henry seemed to swallow heavily then he grabbed his water glass and took a sip. Setting it back down, he slowly looked around at the other guests there. Finally, he leaned in close and whispered back, “Did you just say that you…Killed them?”