CHAPTER 26
"The male voice asked if she had found it," Marissa continued, her voice trembling. "And she said she hadn't."
A chill swept through us.
"Found what?" we asked in unison.
Marissa looked at us grimly.
"The map."
Silence.
Heavy.
Crushing.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
It felt as though the air had been sucked from the room.
After several painful seconds, reality finally settled over us.
"So…" Indira whispered, her voice cracking, "all this time she came back here…"
Tears pooled in her eyes.
"She was pretending?"
The heartbreak in her voice sliced through me.
Marissa nodded slowly.
"When I confronted her and asked what she was doing…" Her jaw tightened. "She didn't answer."
A pause.
"She pointed a gun at me."
Everyone froze.
"What?" Lupita whispered.
Marissa's eyes filled with tears.
"It got physical," she said quietly. "We fought."
She looked down at her trembling hands.
"A full fight."
Her voice broke.
"I tried keeping up with her, but…"
She swallowed hard.
"Kora escaped."
The words landed like bricks.
Once again—
Betrayed.
Not by a stranger.
Not by an enemy.
But by one of our own.
Someone we had trusted.
Someone we had laughed with.
Cried with.
Protected.
I suddenly remembered her words.
Keep your friends close… but keep your enemies even closer.
My stomach twisted violently.
We were the enemies.
That was what she thought of us.
"How could she do this to us?" Lupita cried. "After everything we've survived together?"
By now, everyone was crying.
Anger.
Shock.
Grief.
Disbelief.
All tangled into one unbearable ache.
At least she hadn't found the map.
That much offered a small sliver of relief.
But everything had changed.
Kora knew us.
Our habits.
Our weaknesses.
Our blind spots.
And now she belonged to Julio—Felipe—our enemy.
That made her dangerous.
Very dangerous.
---
Time passed.
Pain softened into numbness.
Slowly, painfully, we adjusted to life without Kora.
Or at least pretended to.
Then one afternoon, while we were doing laundry, the house phone rang.
Indira answered.
"Hello? Who is this?"
A voice crackled through the speaker.
"Hello, sister."
Indira stiffened.
Her face drained of color.
"Kora."
We all dropped what we were doing and rushed inside.
"What do you want?" Indira snapped.
Kora laughed softly.
"I want the diamond map."
Her voice turned cold.
"Or things between us will go north… now that they've already gone south."
Indira's face hardened instantly.
"You'll never get that map," she spat. "Do you hear me? Never."
Her voice shook with fury.
"You'd have to kill me first."
A brief silence.
Then Kora spoke again.
"That won't be necessary."
A pause.
"But if it comes to that…"
Her tone darkened.
"So be it."
My pulse slowed.
Something about her voice made my skin crawl.
Then—
"As for now…"
She paused deliberately.
"Brandi will suffer the consequences."
Click.
The call ended.
Silence swallowed the room.
We all turned toward Indira.
"What did she say?" I asked.
Indira hesitated.
Too long.
Then forced a shrug.
"She just wants the map."
That was all she said.
Then she pulled me into a hug.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Something about the apology felt strange.
Heavy.
Like guilt.
But I couldn't understand why.
So I hugged her back.
After that call, Indira changed.
She became distant.
Distracted.
Troubled.
No matter how many times we asked what was wrong, she never answered.
---
That night, I called Violet.
"How are you, Vy?" I asked softly.
"I'm okay," she replied. "How are you?"
"I'm alright."
I hesitated.
"How's Jordan? I tried calling him."
"His phone's charging," she said casually.
I exhaled.
"Okay. I just wanted to check in."
"You too. Goodnight."
Click.
I stared at the ceiling for a long time.
How does someone you've loved for over a decade stab you in the back so effortlessly?
I thought I understood pain.
Thought I had survived enough betrayal to become numb.
But I was wrong.
Kora's betrayal hurt more than Taylor's.
Because enemies are expected to hurt you.
Family isn't.
I turned over and eventually drifted into restless sleep.
---
The next morning felt gloomy.
Heavy.
Everyone looked exhausted.
"So what now?" Marissa finally asked. "If Kora stayed with us just to spy, imagine what else she's capable of."
Indira paced anxiously.
"I should've burned that map years ago."
Lupita frowned.
"If we don't even need the diamonds, why keep it?" she asked carefully. "Why not just give it to them?"
Indira stopped pacing.
Her expression darkened.
"We don't need the diamonds," she admitted. "But that map destroyed my family."
Her voice cracked.
"So I'm keeping it."
"Even if it destroys us too?" I asked quietly.
Marissa sighed, sipping from her mug.
"I honestly don't care about the diamonds," she muttered. "I care about what comes next."
And deep down—
We all knew nothing would convince Indira to give up that map.
---
That afternoon, my phone rang.
Violet.
Her breathing was uneven.
Panicked.
"Jordan locked himself in his room," she blurted.
I frowned immediately.
"What?"
Jordan never locked himself away.
Never.
"Did you scold him?" I asked, already grabbing my keys.
"No," Violet said quickly. "He came home from school, went straight to his room, and locked the door. I called him for dinner but he won't answer."
My chest tightened.
"I'm coming."
Now.
I asked Lupita to come with me.
She agreed instantly.
The entire drive there, dread settled deeper in my chest.
What could possibly upset him enough to shut everyone out?
When we arrived, I rushed upstairs.
Knocked.
Nothing.
"Jordan?"
Silence.
I knocked again.
"Sweetheart, it's me."
Seconds later—
The door unlocked.
He stood there.
Expression unreadable.
Eyes swollen.
Cold.
"Just the person I wanted to see."
His voice was flat.
"I'd like to speak to my mother alone."
Lupita and Violet exchanged worried looks before quietly leaving.
Jordan shut the door behind me.
The sound echoed.
Heavy.
Permanent.
I sat on the edge of his bed.
He stood in front of me for a moment before taking my hands into his.
Then he looked directly into my eyes.
And asked the one question I feared most.
"Mom…"
His voice shook.
"What happened to my father?"
Everything inside me stopped.
My breathing.
My thoughts.
My heartbeat.
Suddenly, my body felt unbearably heavy.
I blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Too many times.
I said nothing.
Jordan squeezed my hands tighter.
"Mom," he whispered, pain creeping into his voice, "I'm giving you one chance to tell me the truth."
His eyes glistened.
"I won't judge you."
A pause.
"I won't hate you."
Then—
"But this is your last chance."
My stomach dropped.
He already knew.
Or at least enough of it.
He just needed confirmation.
I had two choices.
Lie.
And lose him forever.
Or tell him the truth—
And pray he stayed.
So I told him everything.
Everything.
What his father had done.
What I had survived.
Why I pulled the trigger.
Why I took his life.
When I finished—
Jordan let go of my hands.
Covered his face.
And cried.
The sound shattered me.
"Why?" he choked out.
His voice rose.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Tears streamed down his face.
"That's what he did to you?"
His breathing turned uneven.
"But I still deserved to know!"
He looked at me with devastation burning in his eyes.
"Didn't I have the right?"
Then came the sentence that broke me.
"And what hurts most…"
His voice cracked.
"…is that someone else had to tell me instead of my own mother."
Downstairs, the others could probably hear him shouting.
"I'm sorry," I sobbed. "Jordan, please forgive me."
I reached toward him.
He stepped back.
And that hurt more than anything.
"I'm not ready to face you."
His voice trembled.
"I don't know if I'll ever look at you the same."
Tears slipped down his face.
"Please."
He looked away.
"Just go."
"I need time."
Every part of me wanted to stay.
To hold him.
To fix it.
But I knew better.
He had just learned the biggest truth—and biggest lie—of his life.
So I left.
Before grief pushed him somewhere dangerous.
I asked Violet quietly to keep an eye on him.
Lupita drove us home.
Halfway there, she suddenly turned toward me.
"Wait."
Her voice sharpened.
"Who told him?"
I frowned.
Only five of us knew.
Five.
And none of us—
My stomach dropped.
"Kora."
We said it at the same time.
Silence followed.
Relief and pain tangled together inside me.
At least now Jordan knew the truth.
But hearing it from Kora?
That felt like a slap across the face.
A failure.
As his mother.
"But why?" Lupita whispered.
"What does Kora gain from hurting him?"
I had no answer.
When we got home, I went straight upstairs.
I couldn't face anyone.
I knew Lupita would explain.
I tried calling Jordan.
Again.
And again.
No answer.
Then finally—
A text.
Not now, Mom. Please. I don't want to say something I'll regret later.
I stared at the screen until the words blurred.
Then placed my phone beside me.
And cried myself to sleep.