Page 70 of Harbor

Let her live.

That’s all she wanted, really. Just to live.

She entertained that thought far too often, maybe. That if she could just call him, her wish would come true. He would understand, and let her do the thing she wanted to do the most. He would step back. They wouldn’t have to run again when he got too close.

That was why, even as Renzo and Diego’s laughter drifted over the park again like an invitation for her to join in on their fun, she was stuck staring at the phone in her hands. She pushed the button on the side again and again. Turning the home screen on, and then off. Over and over until all she could see when she closed her eyes was the home screen and the phone icon taunting her.

How easy it would be …

And yet, she knew it wouldn’t be easy at all.

The wishful part of herself that hoped her father would hear her words and listen was delusional. The smart part of Lucia knew her father was never going to stop—he would never back down. The only thing that rivaled his love for his children was the love he had for his wife, her mother. If, for any reason, he thought Lucia was in danger … no matter what she tried to tell him … then that’s what he was going to think.

No amount of truth and words would change his mind.

Ever.

For the last time, Lucia looked down at the home screen of the phone, and pressed the button on the side to turn it off again. Calling would be pointless, even if she wished for something entirely different.

This all could have been different, really. But right now, it was what it was. And even if she wanted something different between her and Lucian, that was never going to change the fact that Lucia was happy right where she was. That, no matter what, she was where she wanted to be with the people she wanted to be with, and her father didn’t have to agree or understand.

Not now, anyway.

“Hey!”

Lucia glanced up from her hands to find Diego and Renzo leaning over the railing at the highest point on the playground equipment. If she didn’t know any better, she might say Renzo looked a good five years younger in that moment. Like he was closer to his twenty years—yeah, she felt like shit for missing his birthday even if he said he didn’t care—than how he normally seemed decades older.

Right then, life was giving him a moment to relax.

And he looked like he wanted her to join.

So did Diego.

“What are you doing over there?” Renzo called out, grinning. “You’re missing out, babe.”

“Come play, Lucia,” Diego shouted.

She couldn’t exactly say no, could she?

Not when love was waiting …

• • •

“So, here’s how it works,” Renzo explained, rolling over to his stomach to get a better look at the board in front of him. “If you land on a ladder, Diego, then you climb up. But if you land on a snake, you—”

“Slide down,” Lucia said, coming to sit on the floor with them.

She plucked up the small pink game piece, and put it on the starting point for the board. Diego picked his own color, too—a green piece. Renzo’s little blue piece was already sitting on the starting point.

“Do you get it now?” Renzo asked his brother.

Diego nodded. “Yeah, throw the dice—”

“Roll the dice,” Renzo muttered, trying to hide his smile.

“Fine, we roll the dice, then I move the same number of squares that’s on the dice, right?” Diego looked up from the game board, and when they nodded at him, he said, “If I land on a ladder, I get to climb up, but if I land on a snake, I have to go down.”

“That’s it, buddy. Let’s play.”