Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
“I read the newspaper reports, Shabina. I had no idea you’d been through all of that.” Guadalupe’s voice was soft and sincere. If she was acting, she deserved an Oscar. “I’m so terribly sorry.”
Shabina kept her smile. “I have Rainier, Guadalupe, and my friends, including you. Let’s eat while everything is hot. I made several of my favorite dishes, hoping to impress you. I happen to know you’re a very good cook.”
Guadalupe threw her head back and laughed, the sound so enticing it was difficult not to join in. Eventually, as they made their way into the dining room, where the food was set up in warmers and ice trays, Guadalupe denied Shabina’s statement.
“I despise cooking. I always have. When I was a kid, I worked with my mother cleaning houses. She also cooked for some of her clients. I did not like it one bit and was always willing to do any of the cleaning if I could stay out of the kitchen. Later, I chose three dishes that were easy to make and I knew most people liked. That way, if I had company, I could feed them a decent meal. If you’re only cooking three things, you can get fairly good at it.”
Harlow joined in the laughter, but she exchanged another look with Raine. The girl who had become pregnant had worked as a cleaner in the senator’s home. It was possible if she had lost her mother, she would have tried to be hired to clean because she already had a background in that type of work. Or maybe Harlow was trying to make everything fit because deep down, she wanted to find her brother.
“See.” Zahra filled her plate with portions from each of the offerings. “I’m not the only one with brains here. Guadalupe, I applaud your strategy. I am not a cook and in fact have been known to set the best cookware on fire when it was said to be impossible.”
“Girl, you don’t have to sound so proud,” Vienna stated, handing Guadalupe a plate. “I’m capable, but nowhere near Shabina’s expertise.”
“I get by,” Harlow said. “Any inclination I had to cook was beaten out of me very early.” She stated it matter-of-factly and didn’t look at Guadalupe to see her reaction. The security cameras would capture her expression, and Raine would be watching.
“I find it so strange that I learned my love of cooking from my captors,” Shabina said, “and you weren’t allowed to set foot in the kitchen without the senator beating the holy hell out of you.”
“Why would he do that?” Guadalupe asked. “Why wouldn’t he want you to cook? And he really beat you?”
Harlow concentrated on putting food on her plate. Anytime she talked about her family, she felt a mixture of guilt—she’d been trained never to talk about the truth—and embarrassment. Her father was under investigation, but so many of the people who always voted for him didn’t believe he could possibly be guilty. They thought his enemies were conspiring against him. She kept her political face on—the one that everyone believed in the photographs, even though she might be bruised from head to toe.
Harlow shrugged casually. “Don’t believe anything you read or even see in the news. It’s very easy to manipulate these days, and the senator and my mother are masters. I was of little use to them unless I appeared as the perfect daughter at all times. That included my weight even as a child growing up. I had to act a certain way to pull off the perfect family for the senator’s constituents.”
“You definitely always looked that way.”
She glanced sideways at Guadalupe. “Beatings, shoving, slapping, the belt, his fist—believe me, he was very inventive with his punishments. I once had to stand on a bucket that was turned upside down and balance with my arms straight out, holding two pails of water. That was because I crashed my bike when they were riding bikes in a photo shoot that apparently was very important. He said if I couldn’t balance, he would teach me a lesson I wouldn’t forget.”
“He sounds sadistic.”
“Those things he’s accused of? I believe he’s guilty. Absolutely guilty. I got away from him by turning down any help from my parents and cutting them out of my life. That time he came here last year was the first time I’d seen him since I graduated high school.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?” Guadalupe followed her back into the great room, taking the chair opposite Raine. Shabina had already set up a tray of food for Raine.
“I tried. No one would believe me. My guess, he has some of them in his pocket, but that isn’t something I can prove. I certainly couldn’t as a child and can’t now. I actually have a brother somewhere. The senator sent his pregnant mother away because she wouldn’t cooperate with him. I don’t know the entire story. The very sad thing is that no matter how much I questioned my parents, they wouldn’t give me information that would help me find my brother or his mother. I spent thousands on a PI but got nowhere. In fact, I have a small trust from my grandparents on my mother’s side—that’s what I used to purchase my property, but quite a bit of it went to trying to find my brother.”