Second Chances (21 page)

Renaldo took a deep breath. Was he ready for
this? “I’m not making any promises, but…I could…visit again soon.”

Her head snapped up. “Yes.” She covered her
mouth with trembling fingers and her eyes moistened.

Renaldo cleared his throat, which ached with
the weight of the emotion filling it. “I’ll bring my wife next time. And I’ll
talk to Beatrisa and Carolina. See if they want to come, as well.”

“Yes. Yes.” Tears trickled down her cheeks.

“I’d better go.” Renaldo got up. He hadn’t
planned to stay long anyway, and her emotional response made him uncomfortable.
He couldn’t handle her emotions and his own, and his were more than enough to
deal with. But it was good that he’d come. Healing.

She followed him to the door. “Thank you for
coming. It… it was good to see you.”

He turned slowly. She’d wiped away the tears,
but her cheeks were still damp. Feeling compelled to comfort her, Renaldo
kissed each side of her face. She was his mother, after all.

Before he could pull back, she captured his head
between her hands. “I love you, son. I’m so sorry for what I did. Thank you for
coming. Thank you.”

She kissed him before letting him go.

Renaldo felt a sense of relief on the ride
home. The dark cloud that had been hanging over his head all these years had
disappeared.

Next time he would not only bring his wife and
sisters, he’d have Beatrisa bring her children, too. What grandmother didn’t
love to spend time with her grandchildren? And those two, being as rambunctious
as they were, would certainly bring a smile to her face.

The phone rang. It was Paulo.

“I have information about Mateo Sousa.”

“It’s about time.” Ever since he’d told Paulo
to get the photos, he’d been demanding an update every day, but each day Paulo didn’t
have any news for him. “Where did you finally catch up with him?”

“We didn’t, and I found out the reason we
weren’t able to.”

Paulo’s enigmatic conversation was frustrating.
He wanted this situation behind him once and for all. “Well, what is?”

“He’s dead. The police found his body in his
apartment a couple of hours ago.”

The news shocked him, but Renaldo couldn’t
summon a smidgen of sorrow. “And the pictures?”

“No sign of them yet. I have a source on the
police force who said they haven’t found anything, not even a cell phone with a
camera.”

“That doesn’t make sense. They have to be
somewhere. Pay him. Do whatever you need to, but get those photographs before
they fall into the wrong hands.”

“Renaldo, there’s more. He was friends with
someone close to home.” In a grave voice, he told Renaldo the name of the
person.

Renaldo swore. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Renaldo swore again.

“I’m sorry,” Paulo said.

Renaldo couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t just
disappointed, he was devastated.

Chapter Nineteen

Sabrina hugged Jewel when she stepped off the penthouse
elevator. “You’re late, but I forgive you because I’m happy to see you. It’s
been so long since we’ve spent time together.”

“You’ve been busy fixing your marriage,” Jewel
said with a smile.

Sabrina stepped back and took a good look at
her cousin. Her long straight hair hung past her shoulders, limp and unwashed.
Her eyes were glassy and her skin didn’t have the same healthy glow from a few
weeks ago. “What’s going on, Jewel?”

“Nothing. Why would you think there’s something
going on?” Jewel breezed past her. “Mmm. What did Vera make for lunch? It
smells delicious.”

“
Moqueca
.” Sabrina watched her cousin
lift the pot lid and sniff. The steam from the fragrant fish stew disbursed the
scent of garlic, onions, and cilantro in the air. “Have you been going to your
meetings?”

“Don’t start.”

“I have to. You don’t look good, and you were
doing so well.”

“I still am. Stop worrying.” Jewel covered the
pot.

“Promise me you’re not using again.”

Jewel placed both hands on her hips and looked
her in the eye. “I promise I’m not using again. Satisfied?”

Despite the unflinching response, Sabrina
didn’t believe her. Like so many addicts, Jewel lied easily, and she was very
convincing. “Jewel—”

“Brina,
please
don’t start. We haven’t
seen each other in a while and I just want to hang out and eat some of Vera’s delicious
food. Can we do that? Please?”

When she used that puppy-dog face, it was hard
to deny her. “Okay.” This conversation wasn’t over, but she gave her a break
for now. “Let’s get our food and go up to the terrace.”

They piled rice into wide bowls and spooned the
golden broth filled with seafood over it. Once they reached the terrace, they settled
into chairs and dug in.

Jewel smacked her lips and moaned. “One of
these days I’m going to steal Vera away from you.”

Sabrina laughed. “No way, and it’s not me you
have to worry about; it’s Renny. Vera’s been with him for a long time. He’s not
about to train someone new, so you’ll have to look for a gourmet chef somewhere
else.”

“I’ll think of something,” Jewel said past a
mouthful of rice.

Sabrina watched her cousin with concern as she
shoveled food into her mouth. “Slow down, it’s not going anywhere. You act like
you haven’t eaten in days.” Had it been days since her cousin had eaten? If she
was using drugs again, it was possible. She’d spend all her money on getting
high.

Jewel’s cheeks colored a light shade of red.
“It’s just so good,” she explained with a sheepish smile.

Sabrina sipped her lemonade, watching her
closely.

“You know, Brina, I’m glad everything worked
out for you. I was worried about you and Renaldo for a while. You two belong
together.”

Yes, they did. “Thanks for being there when I
needed you. Being able to stay with you and have you listen to me whine and
cry—well, you have no idea how much it meant to me.”

“Hey, we’re family. What did you expect? How
many times have you helped me over the years? Too many to count! Hell, you pay
for the apartment I live in.”

“I’m glad that period of my life is over. Renny
said he’d take care of the situation with Mateo and the pictures, but when I
asked him about it the other day, he said he’s still working on it.” She pushed
the food around in her bowl. “I hope this gets resolved soon. After their
confrontation, I’m even more worried than I was before that he’ll use the
photos against us somehow.”

“Don’t worry. Sometimes things have a way of
working themselves out.”

“They do, but I would hate for anyone else to
see those pictures. They made my skin crawl.”

“They were hard to look at, but at least you
and Renaldo were able to work everything out. That’s what’s important.”

Sabrina nodded. “I guess you’re right. We’ll
deal with Mateo if he causes any more problems.” She put the last bit of rice
and
moqueca
in her mouth. “Make sure you save room for dessert. Vera
made
brigadeiros
.”

Her cousin loved the sweet confection made from
condensed milk and cocoa. She’d asked Vera to make up a separate batch just for
Jewel, which was going home with her when she left.  

When they finished, Sabrina left her cousin to
take the dishes to the kitchen. As she placed four
brigadeiros
on a
plate, she replayed the conversation with Jewel. Something her cousin said
didn’t make sense.

Frowning, she went back upstairs and put the
plate in the middle of the table.

Jewel rubbed her hands together like an excited
child. “Ooh, I love these things.” She bit into one of the candies and moaned.
After swallowing that piece, she looked up at Sabrina, who still stood beside
the table. “Why are you frowning?”

“I was thinking about something you said about
the pictures. You said they were hard to look at.”

“Well yeah, they were.” She finished off the
candy by stuffing the rest of it in her mouth.

“That’s the thing,” Sabrina said. “How could
they be hard for you to look at? I never showed them to you.”

Jewel finished chewing and swallowed before she
responded. “Of course you did. Why else would I say that?”

A horrible suspicion sprouted in Sabrina’s
mind, and pain swelled inside of her, spreading like ripples in a lake. “I
never showed them to you.”

Jewel swallowed and looked away.

“Tell me you didn’t have anything to do with
this.”

Jewel refused to look at her. “Brina, I don’t
know what you’re talking about.”

“Look at me.” Jewel continued to stare down at
the table. “Look at me!”

Jewel lifted her gaze, and Sabrina saw the
guilt in her eyes. Sabrina shook her head. “Jewel, no.
No
.” Her heart
was breaking. They were practically sisters.

Jewel’s lower lip trembled. “I’m sorry, Brina. It
wasn’t supposed to go so far.”

Sabrina drew a shaky breath. “What wasn’t?”
Then Jewel explained.

Through a prison outreach program, Mateo got a
job as a dishwasher at the same restaurant where Jewel worked. They’d become
friends when they found out they were both addicts in recovery. She’d bragged
about her cousin Sabrina on numerous occasions, talking about how smart she was
and how she was well off financially. When Mateo was fired from the restaurant,
they remained friends. The friendship evolved into a sexual relationship and
eventually they both started using drugs again.

He asked Jewel why she was working as a waitress
at a restaurant when her cousin was living the good life, being chauffeured
around town and living in a top floor penthouse apartment. Subsequently, they
formulated a plan. Mateo knew where he could get his hands on chloral hydrate.

“You let him drug me?”

Jewel remained silent and tears filled her
eyes. She shook her head.

Sabrina’s hand covered her mouth. Mateo had
told the truth. “
You
drugged me. You encouraged me to have a drink,
loosen up and stop moping because of the argument Renaldo and I had before he
left. You put the drug in the drinks.”

Jewel nodded and wiped the tears from her
cheeks. “I slipped the mickey in the second one. Then I went out on the dance
floor and left you with Mateo. When the drug took effect, we took you out of
there. I used your key card to get into the penthouse.”

Jewel had removed Sabrina’s clothes while Mateo
waited outside the bedroom. He kept on his boxers and then slipped under the
covers with her and took the photos on his camera phone. He took them instead
of Jewel to give the impression no one else was in the room with him and
Sabrina.

“We never had sex?”

“No. We wanted you to think you had, but I was
there the whole time.”

She’d gone to Jewel’s apartment after Renaldo had
thrown her out. Jewel had acted as if she didn’t remember who Mateo was, but
not only did she know, she’d schemed with him to set up the entire plot. Even
to the point of leaving messages on Sabrina’s phone and acting as if she had
been worried and looking for her after they left the club.

Nausea churned in Sabrina’s guts. “I don’t feel
good.” She rushed to the side of the terrace and emptied the contents of her
stomach into a trashcan.

Jewel came to her side with a glass of water
and rubbed her back. “Here.”

Sabrina shoved her hand away. “Get away from
me.”

“Take it.” She pushed her hand back in
Sabrina’s face.

Sabrina straightened and reluctantly took the
glass. She rinsed her mouth and spit into the can. “You have to go. I can’t
stand to look at you.”

“Brina, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to hurt you.
Everything got out of hand. It wasn’t supposed to get this far.”

She’d always forgiven Jewel for the wrongs
she’d done to her in the past, but she couldn’t this time. All these years
she’d been protecting her, and in return she’d almost destroyed her life. She
almost lost her husband, tossed out like garbage because he thought she’d
betrayed him, and the whole episode had been a set up. 

 “You know how much I suffered with guilt,”
Sabrina said. “You knew how much you made my husband suffer because he thought
I’d cheated on him. All along you could’ve told us the truth, but you didn’t.”

“If I said anything, you’d have known I was
involved. Besides, Renaldo was never supposed to find out. We were only going
to get money one time, but then…one time turned into a second time.”

“You ungrateful—”

Whack!

Sabrina slapped Jewel as hard as she could
across her face, the blow landing so hard her palm stung. Jewel cried out and
stumbled backward, pressing her hand to her cheek. Shock filled her eyes. Sabrina
felt no remorse. It felt good. She wanted to beat her into the ground for what
she’d done and the pain she’d caused. Instead, she restrained herself from the
natural inclination and took her cousin by the shoulders and shook her until
her head flopped back and forth on her neck.