Chapter 10
Vanessa held the phone out away from her body like a weapon. Her thumb hovered over the screen. She'd already swiped to her contacts, the light from it cutting white across her black V-neck.
I didn't stand. I stayed on the floor with my back against the grey sofa and Leo tucked into my chest. His face pressed into my sleeveless top, his breath hot and fast against my collarbone. Marco stood between us and the sofa, his black suit jacket still buttoned, his grey tie crooked from earlier. He looked at Vanessa's hand, then at his mother, then at me. No one moved.
Vanessa started to speak louder, to make sure Leo heard. "You want to do this without anyone, Elena? Fine. But I'm not letting you lock us out and call it boundaries. I'm calling Tia. I'm calling everyone Gloria sent that video to. Let them see what—"
"Stop."
Gloria's voice cracked. It wasn't loud. It was the first time I'd heard her use that word on Vanessa.
Vanessa turned her head. "Mom—"
Gloria stood from the sofa. She hadn't stood that fast all afternoon. Her beige blouse pulled as she leaned forward, one hand braced on the glass coffee table with its gold frame. She held out her other hand, palm up.
"Give me the phone, Vanessa," she said. Her fingers trembled. "Right now."
Vanessa pulled the phone back an inch. Her arms stayed crossed against her chest, phone clutched tight. "You're not serious. After what she did? After she packed a bag and tried to take Leo—"
"I said stop." Gloria's breathing hitched. She didn't look at me or Leo or Marco. She looked only at her daughter. "Give it to me."
For a second Vanessa didn't move. Then Gloria stepped closer and took it. Not grabbed. Took it. Her hand closed around the black smartphone she'd held since Marco walked in the door, the same phone that had filmed Leo shouting "Papá Ayuda a mamá" while I cried on this floor. Vanessa's mouth fell open. She let go.
The room went quiet except Leo's sniffling and the faint hum from the arc lamp behind the sofa. Daylight still came soft through the sheer curtains. Nothing had changed in the living room, but the air felt different. Vanessa stood with her arms still crossed, empty-handed now, staring at her mother like she'd been shoved.
Gloria held the phone with both hands and looked down at it. The screen still glowed. A family group chat was open, unsent. I could see names.
"I sent that video," she said. She spoke to the phone first, then to me. Her voice got smaller. "I filmed you on the floor, Elena. I sent it to my sisters. To my brother. I told them you wouldn't let us help."
I felt Marco shift his weight. My arms tightened around Leo.
"I thought if they saw how bad it was, you'd have to say yes," Gloria went on. She didn't make excuses. She just said it plain. "I thought shame would make you accept help. I told Vanessa it was the only way. That you were keeping Leo from us. That we had to do something."
Vanessa made a sound. "Mom, don't—"
"No." Gloria shook her head without looking at her. "We said we were helping. We weren't."
She turned the phone over in her hands. Her thumb found the power button and the screen went dark. Then she bent down, slow, and placed it face-down on the glass coffee table. Not dropped. Placed. The soft click of plastic on glass sounded loud.
She left her hand on it for a moment, then pulled it away.
Vanessa stared at the phone face-down on the table. "So that's it? You're just going to let her win? She turned you against me in one afternoon?"
Gloria didn't pick the phone back up. She sat down again on the grey sofa, closer to my side this time, her hands empty in her lap. She looked at Leo, then at me. Her eyes were wet.
"I've held that thing all day," she said. "And I wasn't looking at my grandson once."
Leo lifted his head from my chest and looked at the coffee table. He didn't understand the phone, but he understood quiet. He reached one small hand toward the table, then pulled it back and held my shirt instead.
Marco knelt down next to us. Not all the way to the floor yet, just one knee, his black pants pulling tight. He put his hand on my shoulder. His other hand rested near Leo's back without touching.
May you like
Vanessa stood alone behind the coffee table now, arms crossed, with no phone and no audience. The grey sofa was between her and us. Gloria wouldn't look at her. The phone stayed face-down, dark and neutralized, but not deleted. Not gone. Just stopped.
Vanessa's jaw worked. She didn't leave, but she had nowhere to put her hands.
