THEY FORBID ME FROM OPENING MY SISTER’S COFFIN—BUT I HEARD HER CRYING INSIDE. I SMASHED IT THREE TIMES… AND WHAT SHE REVEALED NEXT EXPOSED OUR FAMILY’S DARKEST SECRET. 😱

"What are you doing here?" I shouted.

Lucía flinched at the sound of my voice. Celia climbed out from behind the truck's steering wheel. Her left hand was wrapped in a dish towel, blood seeping through the fabric.

"He let me go," Celia said. "Said I could have Jamie back if I brought Lucía."

I stared at her. "So you picked her up at the hospital?"

"I called her. I told her the truth. She insisted."

Lucía had signed herself out against medical advice and taken the rear stairs while a protection officer was speaking to a supervisor. She looked pale enough to collapse.

Nora emerged from the shadows, furious. "You just gave away our position. And you risked your life after we worked to get you safe."

"I know," Lucía said. "I'm sorry. But I wasn't going to let Jamie die because everyone was too scared to tell me the plan."

"We had a plan," Nora replied. "Now we have to change it."

Celia opened the truck's glove compartment. Inside lay a small phone with its speaker taped down. Daniel's voice crackled out.

"All three of you together. How touching."

"Where's my son?" Celia cried.

"The packing house. Bring the book. Don't bring the woman with the badge."

Nora signaled silently to the officers spread through the trees. Whatever Daniel believed, we were not unprotected.

I held up a decoy notebook. "You get this when Jamie walks out."

"Rafael," Dad said, "you always did think a promise was worth something."

A distant engine started. The packing house lights flicked on across the orchard. In an upper window, we saw a small figure pounding against the glass.