“You got a problem with that?”
“Since you asked, yeah, I do. If you don’t want me to run it, let Alvarez do it. The main part of the church has been cleared, but the area where it occurred is still smoking, and we can’t know for sure if everything’s been detonated. You shouldn’t be back there.”
“I’ll take my chances.” I hang up, because if I wanted to be nagged, I’d call my mother.
After quickly checking my messages, I go to the scene of the explosion. The air is still thick with smoke, and someone hands me a mask. “Watch yourselves,” I caution. “We don’t know if anything else is going to blow.”
No one in the bridal parlor survived. I don’t need a forensics report to tell me that.
Were they after her, or did they go after her to get to me? That’s the question.
It takes someonespecialto set a bomb in an iconic church like Santa Ana’s. I’m not a religious man, and even I wouldn’t stoop so low.
Someone was desperate to stop the wedding.
Tomas would love to see me embarrassed—or even better, dead. But I don’t believe he has the wherewithal to orchestrate something like this himself. Or the balls to blow up Santa Ana’s. Besides, he was sitting in the pews when it happened. He’s too much of a coward to risk his life, even to get to me.
This was done by someone who doesn’t care about what the old church means to the people of Porto.Or someone determined to prevent us from going through with the wedding.I keep coming back to that.
“Hey,” Lucas says. “I’m going back to the villa to get started on the forensics, but you shouldn’t be back here.”
I glare at him. “Don’t you think it’s convenient that she wasn’t here when it happened?”
“Who is she?”
“Daniela.”
He raises a brow, and I recognize the look—he thinks I’m nuts.
“I’d never underestimate her, but no, I don’t think she would have set a bomb in Santa Ana’s, and killed innocent people. Besides, she had no opportunity.”
He’s right, of course. But I don’t trust my judgment when it comes to her.
“Did Cristiano tell you that, when he went into the chapel after the explosion, Daniela had thrown herself over your mother to protect her from the falling debris?”
No. He didn’t mention it.I shouldn’t be surprised. She has a good heart and a clean soul. It seems she’s always protecting someone other than herself.It’s your fucking job to protect her, especially now that she’s your wife.So far, I’m doing a helluva job.
“I’ll catch up to you at the villa in a little while. Lucas?”
“Yeah?”
“I want the sonofabitch who did this. Don’t stop turning over rocks until he’s ours.”
74
Daniela
Iglance at the television screen. They’re talking about the explosion at Santa Ana’s. The report claims that old electrical wiring caused the blast. “Fortunately, no one died,” the newscaster claims.
It’s a lie, of course, because I saw a dead man on the ground, covered with a jacket.And there will likely be more.
Antonio texted earlier to tell me that Paula had been located. I haven’t heard another word from him, and it’s nearly midnight.
The waiting is killing me. I’ve taken a bath, eaten some crackers, and tried to read to take my mind off what happened today. Off how close I came to dying. Off the innocent women who still haven’t been accounted for—surely Antonio would have texted me if they had been found alive. Or Pinto, the man who stood outside the door to protect me.
What about Sister Maria Gloria? Did she make it out of the room?
I hope Antonio isn’t so thirsty for vengeance that he’s reckless with his own life—or the lives of others.