―iii.

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Daniela approached the small apartment, and looked around curiously. She couldn't help but imagine Marina here, on these dusty streets a world away from where they'd grown up. She sent a quick text to Samuel informing him she was outside, and a few moments later he was at the door. He glanced over her shoulder, as if looking for a tail, before nodding.

She followed him upstairs, and into the living room. Nano was sitting on the couch, elbows resting on his knees. He was talking in hushed tones with Guzmán. She hadn't expected to see the latter there, and she froze for a moment, looking between them both. Dani let out a short breath. "Polo really did it, didn't he?"

All three of them looked at her, and after a moment, Guzmán nodded. "Shit," Dani whispered, sitting next to Samuel on the couch. He offered her a glass of water, which she took, if only to have something to do with her hands.

"Heard you caused a scene, first day back," Samuel said. "You talked to Polo."

"I had dinner with him too," she admitted. That had planted the doubts, the way he and Cayetana had reacted. She'd been so nervous, and he'd been so calm. Almost too calm, the way you acted when you were pretending you had no secrets. She knew it well. But seeing Guzmán with Nano and Samuel was what sealed it. Marina's bother wouldn't have been there if he had doubts. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to believe it at first. After everything with my mother, I can't help but take everything Carla says with a grain of salt."

"What did happen to your mother?" Samuel asked, abruptly, and across the table Guzmán shot him a warning look.

"It's alright," Dani said quickly, waving a hand toward Guzmán. "My dad was in Parliament, you might have heard." Samuel nodded. "There was a bill coming up for a vote, new business regulations, that kind of thing. But the opposition thought he was going too far, they thought he was paying someone to make them look bad. Illegal shit."

Samuel watched her with rapt attention, but Guzmán looked down at his hands. Dani looked at him for a moment, before returning to the story. "Anyway, people thought my mom's company would get out unscathed, that the laws would bend to her. They weren't wrong, she was going to be alright, but not for the reasons they thought. She was all about fair trade, ethical business, but the opposition never gave a shit. They wanted to scare my dad off the bill, convince him to let it go."

"They ran her over," Guzmán finished, still looking at his hands. "Some radical. They couldn't tie it to anyone in the opposition."

"But we all knew," Dani said, eyes locked on Guzmán again. "She was paralyzed from the waist down. Even that was after months of treatment with a specialist in America."

"That's..." Samuel trailed off. "God, I'm sorry, Daniela."

"We're living with it," she told him, brushing it off. "And call me Dani."

"Carla had something to do with it?" Nano prompted.

Dani looked at him. "She's the reason the whole thing got out." Nano looked at her for a moment, and she met his gaze. After a few moments he nodded, knowing she was telling him the truth, or at least as much of it as she could. "But I didn't come here to dredge that shit back up. I came to meet you. Marina talked about you so much."

Nano smiled softly. "She was so fucking in love with you," Dani told him. "After a while, it was all she could talk about. I was a little envious I guess, but in the end, when your best friend is that happy...how could I be upset?" She shook her head. "She was going to tell me when you got settled, I saved up the money to fly out. I was going to be Tita Dani."

The two shared a long look, and between them the regret of a life they'd never have. "I knew it wasn't you. The way Marina talked about you...there was no way. You loved her too damn much." It was then that she remembered they weren't alone. Maybe Marina wouldn't want Dani telling all her secrets to Samuel or her brother.

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