“Now, that’s not to say he can’t get word to his friends through other people in the jail, but it would make it much more difficult.”
“Thank you so much. I feel better knowing that might happen.”
“I’ll let you know the minute we hear from the judge and will keep eyes on you and Nico in the meantime. You’ll be back from your trip on Monday night?”
“Yes.”
“Can you send me your flight information? We’ll have officers meet you.”
“I’ll text it to you.”
“Thank you.”
“No, thank you. I’m thankful for your help, and I’m so sorry he’s doing this.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Sofia. I wish I could say this is the first time I’ve seen something like this, but sadly, it happens far too often in domestic situations.”
“Thank you again for everything.”
“No problem. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Okay.”
We end the call, and I’m left feeling completely numb, the way I used to after Joaquín threatened or hurt me.
“What’d he say?” Nico asks.
I update him on the prosecutor asking the judge to limit Joaquín’s access to visitors and phone calls. “He said he’ll let me know what the judge decides. I also need to text him the information about our trip.”
“I’ll take care of that.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks.”
He puts his arms around me. “I know it might not seem like it now, but everything is going to be okay.”
“How can you be so sure? You’re going to be in your car at work tonight. They know now they got the wrong guy the first time. It might not take an order from Joaquín for someone to decide they should finish the job he started.”
“If they have an ounce of sense, they’re all scared shitless by the charges Joaquín and Diego are facing. They won’t come near me.”
“You can’t know that!”
“No, I can’t, but I suspect that recent events have them running scared. They’re hearing that Joaquín and Diego are looking at years in prison. That’s going to matter to them.” When he sees I’m unconvinced, he adds, “Think about it, Sofia. Why would they go to jail, possibly for the rest of their lives, because their friend or cousin is jealous of his ex-wife’s new boyfriend?”
When he puts it that way, I start to feel a tiny bit better.
“With Joaquín and Diego in jail, they’re probably fighting over who they’re taking orders from now that they’re out of the picture.”
“That’s probably true. They were the ones in charge.”
“I bet we’re the least of their concerns. They’re too busy trying to figure out what Joaquín and Diego had going on so they can take advantage of their absence. People are loyal first and foremost to themselves, babe. You can probably bet that Joaquín wasn’t just trying to intimidate you. He was probably pulling that crap on a lot of people who are now happy to see him locked up indefinitely.”
“I heard from one of the other wives that they’ve been fighting a lot.”
“See? There you go. They’re going to be worried about their own families, not his.”
I blow out a deep breath. “He scared me.”
“I want to kill him for that.”