Chapter 2
I didn't see the red dot at first because I couldn't look away from Leo.
His face was pressed into my shirt and his shoulders were shaking so hard I could feel it in my own chest. My knees hurt against the hardwood next to the glass coffee table. The warm light coming through the sheer curtains made everything too bright, too normal, for how loud his crying was. Marco was kneeling in front of us, his black suit jacket open, his hands on my arms, and for a second I let myself breathe because he was actually here.
Then Vanessa's voice cut across the living room.
"Don't do that in front of him," she said. She was standing behind Marco now, arms crossed over her black V-neck, her mouth tight. "You're making it worse."
Marco didn't let go right away. His hands stayed where they were, but his head turned. I watched his jaw work. That was the pause I knew so well. The pause where he decided who needed him more.
The phone moved, and that's when I saw it.
Gloria was still on the gray sofa, exactly where she'd been since I ended up on the floor. Her beige blouse had ridden up a little where she was perched on the edge of the cushion. She held the black smartphone out in front of her with both hands, not down in her lap like someone scrolling, but up, level, pointed at us. The screen glowed. In the top corner was a small red circle, blinking. And a timer counting up.
00:14... 00:15...
She was recording.
My stomach dropped. I tightened my arms around Leo without thinking. He made a small sound against me and clutched my top harder.
"Gloria," I said. My voice came out smaller than I wanted. "Are you filming us?"
She didn't put it down. She tilted it just a little, like she wanted to keep us in frame while she answered. Her expression was calm, even concerned, which made it worse.
"We were worried, honey," she said. "I needed them to see."
Vanessa shifted her weight and uncrossed her arms just long enough to gesture toward the phone. "She sent it to the family group. So they'd understand."
The words didn't land right away. I stared at the phone, at that blinking dot, and then at Marco.
"Sent it?" I said. "You sent video of Leo crying on the floor?"
Gloria nodded, like she'd done something helpful. "Your sister and your uncle. Your cousin. I told them you needed support. I wrote, pray for them, they're struggling. It's cause we love you."
Support. The word felt cold. I could picture it, that video leaving this room, playing on someone else's phone in their kitchen or their car, us on the floor with no context, no permission. I felt heat rush up my neck.
Marco finally pushed himself up to standing. He moved so his body was between me and the sofa, one hand half out toward Vanessa, the other half back toward me. He looked stuck there, literally in the middle of the rug, with the glass coffee table's gold frame glinting between us.
"Ma, you should have asked first," he said. His voice was low. He didn't look at Gloria when he said it. He looked at Vanessa, then at me, then at the floor.
"I did ask," Gloria said, and she held the phone a little closer to her chest now, not turning it off. "I asked you last week if we could bring family in. You said you were handling it."
Vanessa stepped forward, around the edge of the coffee table, so she was shoulder to shoulder with Marco. Her arms crossed again.
"Someone had to," she said to me, but loud enough for the phone to catch. "You never let anyone help until it's a crisis, Elena. Look at him."
She meant Leo. Leo, who had gone quiet now but was still breathing too fast, his face wet against me.
I didn't answer her. I looked past Marco at Gloria's hands. The timer was still going. 00:38... 00:39... The red dot still blinking. She hadn't stopped. She hadn't even paused it to talk to me.
"Turn it off," I said. It wasn't loud. I didn't have loud left.
Gloria hesitated. She glanced at Vanessa, then at Marco, as if checking who she should listen to. Her thumb hovered over the screen.
"We can't help if no one sees," she said softly, like that was an explanation.
May you like
Marco took a half step back toward me, then stopped himself. He was breathing hard. His tie was a little crooked. I could see he wanted to kneel again, wanted to fix the floor part, but Vanessa was right there and Gloria was still holding that phone up, still recording, still waiting for him to pick a side out loud.
And the phone kept recording.
