Sofia hugs her, and when she pulls back, both women are blinking back tears. “You all… You saved my life and Mateo’s. We owe you everything. Thank you for showing me what it means to be part of a family.”
“You’re stuck with us, sweetheart,” Vin says with a warm smile. “Have a wonderful time with your father. Send us pictures.”
“I will.”
I grab the booster, put it in my truck and go back inside to give Vin the keys. “We’ll see you Tuesday.”
“Safe travels.” He gives me a quick hug. “Be safe.”
“You, too,” I say with a look for him.
He nods. “We’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
If only it was that simple, I think as I drive us home.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see anyone than I was to see you come in tonight,” Sofia says. “I was a mess all night worrying about you out there.”
“Did you get the message I left you on your phone?”
“Not yet. I haven’t checked it.”
“The judge agreed to no visitors or phone calls and put him in a special unit that makes it so he can’t have someone else do his dirty work for him. It’s temporary, but it should show him what happens when he threatens people’s lives from jail.”
“Oh my God, that’s such a relief.”
“It doesn’t mean someone won’t take matters into their own hands, but it greatly reduces the chance of him giving an order that one of his friends or family members feels like they have to follow.”
She loudly exhales a deep breath and then laughs. “I wonder what he’s thinking all by himself in the special unit, cut off from his ability to have us killed.”
“I hope he’s thinking he made a very big mistake threatening you.”
“Do you realize this is the first time I’ve felt like I won in a situation with him? He always wins. Whatever he wants, he gets. He even got joint custody with a criminal record. I fought that so hard, and somehow, he still got one night a week with Mateo. I had to turn my son over to a criminal one night a week. I hardly slept the nights Mateo was with him out of fear of what he might see or hear.”
“Well, you won this time. You fought back, and now he’s paying the price for threatening you, and he knows it was you who put him in that unit.”
“Doesn’t that make him more dangerous to me?”
“I think the judge will leave him there long enough that he gets the message about what’s going to happen if he threatens people. I’m sure the judge will also have a few words for him at his arraignment tomorrow.”
“I’d sort of like to see that.”
“We’ll get a full report afterward. We have better things to do tomorrow, such as meeting your dad and siblings for the first time.”
“I can’t believe that’s really happening.”
“I’m so excited for you. I can’t imagine how you must feel.”
“This entire month has been… What’s the word for it when something is so strange…”
“Surreal?”
“Yes! That’s it. Surreal. Everything with you and Milo and now meeting my father and just, well, everything.”
“Most of it is good stuff. As upsetting as it was for Milo to be hurt, he’s going to be fine, and that’s all that matters. He’s doing so much better, so we can count that as a good thing, too.”
“I’m afraid to relax. Whenever I do, something else happens.”
“I think it might be safe to relax, sweetheart. Everything will be better now. He’s out of your life—and Mateo’s—and you’re getting to meet your father and his family. Life is going to get much sweeter for you going forward.”