Chapter 4

Nina waved at him, bouncing on her toes. "Daddy! Daddy, I'm over here!"

Rafael stopped short, his pupils tightening as he found her in the room. "What are you doing here?"

I stopped breathing.

He was the one who'd promised to come tonight. And yet he sounded like we were the ones who didn't belong.

Nina didn't catch the chill in his voice. She ran straight to him. "Daddy! You really came! I'm so happy!"

His brow creased. "What did you just call me?"

Her smile stiffened. Then, with the ease of long practice, she fixed it. "Don Rafael! Ms. Redding is announcing the class monitor today, and it's going to be me!"

She gazed up at him, wide-eyed, waiting for even one word of praise. This was the first time he'd ever come to something of hers, after all.

Rafael barely glanced at her. He frowned and said nothing.

Slowly, her smile faded.

Then a small blur came barreling in and knocked her flat. I caught Nina and pulled her against me.

Ally threw her arms around Rafael's legs and crowed, "Uncle Rafael! You came for Mommy and me!"

He didn't hesitate. He bent down and scooped her up. Jasmine strolled over and gave Ally's cheek a light pinch.

"Ally! You say sorry when you bump into somebody!"

Only then did Rafael notice Nina and me on the floor. "You're okay, right?" he said stiffly. "She didn't mean it. Don't be mad at her. I'll apologize for her."

Nina and I just stared. Nina had never been protected or looked after like that, and here he was handing it to someone else without a second thought.

Seeing the hurt on my daughter's face, I frowned. "It's Nina's parent-teacher night. Why are the three of you here?"

Rafael wouldn't meet my eyes. "Jasmine just moved back, so I got her daughter into this school."

Ally pouted and rolled her eyes, then buried her face in his chest like a spoiled brat.

"Why should I say sorry? Who's that? How dare she try to take Uncle Rafael from me? I hate her!"

Jasmine folded her arms and looked down her nose at us. "As you can see, Rafael is ours tonight."

Rafael didn't look at Nina's hopeful face, and he didn't deny a word of it. He just stood there, cool and indifferent, as if neither of us mattered.

My mind drifted back to the day Jasmine returned. That was the night Rafael came home drunk for the first time ever, and the night he finally picked Nina up. When she called him "Daddy" with delight, he didn't scold her. He laughed.

I'd thought he was finally accepting her as his daughter. Now I understood he'd simply mistaken her for someone else.

Nina and I had been fooling ourselves from the very beginning.

Nina steadied herself, and the light in her eyes was gone. "I'm sorry I bothered you, Don Rafael."

Then she lifted her chin and forced out a polite little smile. "Mommy and I are going back to our seats now. Goodbye, Don Rafael."

She leaned hard on those two words at the end. Then she walked back to her chair.

My heart ached for her, and my anger at Rafael hit its peak.

He caught my arm suddenly. "Is Nina okay?"

He was staring after her, shaken, as if he were trying to confirm something. Was it because the little girl who once refused to leave his side had learned to keep her distance?

A bitter, crooked smile pulled at my mouth. This was getting absurd.

"She's just figured things out, Don Rafael."

He had wasted the very last chance she'd given him.

I shook off his hand and went back to sit beside Nina. I felt his eyes on my back the whole way, and none of it moved me anymore.

The meeting started on time.

Ms. Redding opened by warmly welcoming Ally. Then she shot Nina an apologetic look and announced that Ally would serve as class monitor this semester.

"We thought making Ally monitor would help her get to know everyone faster. Good luck, Ally!"

It was the job Nina had wanted most, the one she'd worked so hard to earn. And the moment Jasmine came back with her daughter, Ally had taken it all without lifting a finger.

I looked at Nina, my heart breaking. She only turned to me with a sweet, well-behaved smile. "It's okay, Mommy. We're leaving anyway. It wouldn't make sense for me to be monitor now."

When the meeting ended, I finished the paperwork to withdraw her from the school, and we headed out.

But the second we stepped outside, there was Rafael.

He was standing by the curb like he'd been waiting for a while, a stick of cotton candy in his hand.

"What took you so long? Let's go home together," he said, holding the candy out to Nina.

Once, going home together was the thing she wanted more than anything. Now it only sounded like a joke.

She turned him down politely. "Thank you, Don Rafael, but my tooth has been hurting. I can't have sweets right now."

Rafael looked thrown. He'd never paid attention to her, so he had no idea she was at the age where her baby teeth were falling out.

He reached out to comfort her, but just then his phone rang. Jasmine.

"Rafael! Ally just took a terrible fall and she's crying for you. Can you come over right now?"

His expression shifted. He looked down at Nina.

She gave him a faint smile. "Go ahead, Don Rafael. They need you more."

He chose Jasmine and her daughter once again. But this time, Nina and I weren't going to be hurt by it.

That night, we pulled out the suitcases we'd packed ahead of time, threw the teddy bear in the trash, and went straight to the airport.

Just before boarding, I sent my lawyer the divorce agreement, signed and ready. From now on, I wanted nothing more to do with Rafael.

…

On the other end, the moment Rafael got the notification, my phone lit up with his name.

"Nadia Whitney! What the hell are you doing?"