Epilogue Part 2

Olívia
God, I need to be quick. I ended up taking longer than I intended at my internship with Julien today, and now I’ll only have about fifty minutes to get ready to spend the weekend with Guillermo and Valentina.

I always come home on Fridays because I pack the things I’ll need, but today, especially, I’m here because I needed to pick up the little robot dog I bought for Nina on Amazon. It tells stories and talks to the baby when she touches it. I can’t wait to see her face when she opens the gift.

I walk in distracted, trying to remember if I messaged the company organizing our wedding. There are so many details in the final stretch that sometimes I get a little crazy.

Lord, I would give anything to have my mom with me. She would be so happy to know I’m in love and about to marry the love of my life!

But I’m sure wherever she is, she’s watching over me.

As I walk to the bedroom, I wonder why I’m still at Martina’s apartment. Guillermo insists every day that I move into his house already, and to be honest, I haven’t been putting much effort into resisting.

Since we got back together, I made it a rule to stay there only on weekends, but it’s been getting harder and harder to say goodbye to the two of them. With him, I see him every day during work hours whenever our schedules match, but with Nina, I spend almost the entire week without seeing her.

I feel her more and more as mine, and I know it’s mutual. Before, when we were with family, she would go to anyone who called her, but now she only trades my lap for her dad’s.

She also seems to have a lot of fun with my clumsiness. The first time I tripped in front of her, the little girl laughed so hard her cheeks looked like they might explode. Since then, every time I drop something, catch my finger in the door, or any other disasters so common in my life, she stops what she’s doing and starts laughing.

Last week, I thought I was crazy when she dropped a toy box and said, “Wow!” — which is something I usually exclaim when I have an accident.

Mrs. Isabel noticed and said the baby was starting to get used to my presence in her life and even assimilating some of my behaviors. I took that as a sort of warning: don’t hurt my granddaughter.

What the Oviedo matriarch has no idea of is that I already consider her a part of me.

The strange thing is, even though she’s my niece by blood, I can’t see her that way, but as the daughter of the man I love. Even though I adore her, my bond with her comes from Guillermo, not Layla.

I put my hand on the bedroom door handle, but suddenly, I find the apartment strangely silent.

I mean, it would be normal since I live alone, but that’s not what I mean. It’s as if someone pressed a pause button and the night froze.

Then, a shiver runs through the hairs on my neck as I feel a presence behind me. Before I can turn or hear any sound, my stomach twists because I know whoever is here is not a friend. I try to recall what my mom taught me when I was little — that no matter how scared I felt, I should keep my mind clear enough to escape an attacker.

We’ve always lived in dangerous neighborhoods, so Mom prepared me to get out of risky situations, like someone trying to force me into a car.

Come on, Olívia, think.

I take a few breaths, trying to remember her tips. Don’t anger the attacker, but don’t show fear either. Run and scream as loud as you can, if possible.

Just as I’m convincing myself I can handle the situation, I hear footsteps and know the person is closer now.

Before turning, I unlock my phone, which thank God I always carry in my hand, and hit the speed dial for Guillermo. Then, I toss it onto the couch. Whatever happens, he’ll hear it, and I’m sure he’ll come as fast as possible.

"I finally found you alone," Kathleen says.

The advantage of being small is that I’m also fast, and in an instant, I’m almost at the window, facing her.

My disadvantage? I’m still as clumsy as ever, and the speed of my movements makes me knock over two picture frames, trip on the ottoman, and to try to stay upright, I almost pull down the curtain while holding onto it.

"Kathleen, what are you doing here?"

I know it’s not for any good reason, but I’m trying to get Guillermo’s attention in case he’s listening. He’ll know I’m in danger.

I look at the crazy woman. She’s fully in invader mode. Dressed in black with her hair tied in a ponytail. She looks ordinary, like the people we bump into on the street, not the powerful queen who paraded through the hotel as if the world owed her homage. I mean, she’d be almost normal if not for the crazy look in her eyes.

"It’s time we had a conversation," she smiles. "I’m going to remove her from my man’s path once and for all."

"Guillermo knows you came to see me, then?" I pretend to go along with her madness.

"No. He’s confused by all the lies you told about me, but as soon as you disappear off the map, everything will go back to the way it was."

I don’t need to be a genius to understand disappearing off the map.

"You’re right, I shouldn’t have interfered in your relationship," I say, hoping I’m a good enough actress to buy time.

The woman tilts her head as if evaluating what I said, but before she can respond, a sound behind her catches my attention.

When I glance quickly and see a girl almost as short as me, whom I’ve seen in pictures, I know I’m finally about to meet Martina.

She couldn’t have chosen a worse moment to come home.

Despite that, my heart calms a little. Even though the insane woman is much bigger than either of us, we now have the numerical advantage.

"What are you doing here, witch? My brother will tear your skin off if he finds out you got near Olívia."

No, Martina. Wrong phrase. Worst time to let Oviedo hot blood rise.

Surprisingly, Kathleen calmly turns to her, as if she’s not invading our home.

"Martina, you’re finally back! I’m sorry about the end of your engagement."

Yeah, she’s really crazy.

My sister-in-law doesn’t acknowledge the unbalanced woman’s attempt at a trivial conversation.

"Leave our house immediately, or your situation will get even worse."

God, she really needs to learn to control that hellish temper! This would be the moment to try to trick Kathleen.

"Don’t be rude to our guest, Martina. Kathleen came just for a visit."

The woman seems confused by what I said and looks from me to Martina, finally deciding to honor me with her choice. But now, as she walks closer, she seems determined to hurt me. There’s something in her hand, and I’m not sure if it’s a knife or a small metal bar.

Just as I think there’s nothing more I can do, the youngest Oviedo screams.

"We’re not done talking, blondie!"

Kathleen turns to her again but is immediately hit in the face by a spray jet that only God knows where my sister-in-law got it.

It all happens in a fraction of a second. When Kathleen stumbles, I freeze for a moment, but Martina doesn’t waste time and grabs my hand.

"We need to get out of here. Move, Olívia. It’s the first time I’ve used this stuff, and I don’t know how long it lasts."

As I run past Kathleen, I see her doubled over her own body, rubbing her eyes nonstop.

"You blinded me!" she screams, but we keep moving toward the outside of the apartment.

"What was that?"

"Pepper spray. Now stop asking questions and move fast."

We run down the stairs as fast as our legs can carry us, and as soon as we reach the ground floor, Martina yells to the doorman.

"Call the police. Someone broke into our apartment."



"Are you sure you’re not hurt?"

"Absolutely sure. Just a little dizzy and nauseous, but I think it’s because I haven’t eaten today."

"Let’s go to the hospital," Guillermo decides. As I had imagined, he heard our entire conversation and acted fast. Five minutes after we asked the doorman to call the police, a patrol car had already arrived, and now I know he was the one who called it.

"I don’t need to go to a hospital. She didn’t even touch me."

"You said you feel dizzy. I want to make sure everything is okay."

"What did they do to Kathleen?" I ask to distract him.

"She was arrested."

That’s enough for me. I’m sure Joaquín will do whatever it takes to keep her away from us.

There’s an ambulance, paramedics, and police around us, and the security guards are trying to create a human barrier to shield us from onlookers.

"Nice to see you, sister-in-law," the youngest Oviedo says, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "If I had known coming back home would be this much fun, I would have done it months ago."

"That wasn’t funny, Martina. You put yourselves in real danger," her brother scolds.

"I acted on instinct. I took self-defense classes in Europe and paid close attention during the lectures. I’m sure that if I hadn’t sprayed her, she would have hurt Olívia."

He closes his eyes and hugs both of us. After kissing his sister on the head, he says, "Joaquín is on his way. You won’t be alone in this apartment tonight, but before anything else, we’ll go to the hospital to make sure you’re really okay."

"I’ll go if Martina goes too."

She nudges me with her elbow.

"Stop fighting it, Olívia. We go together, or Guillermo won’t stop complaining in our ears for the rest of the night."