Chapter 24
Michael died three months later.
Alone in a prison hospital.
No family.
No friends.
No one to hold his hand.
I found out from a news article.
Small.
Two paragraphs buried in the back of the business section.
Former Chicago Businessman Dies In Prison.
That was it.
No mention of what he’d done.
No mention of me.
No mention of the wife he’d betrayed.
The brother he’d manipulated.
The life he’d destroyed.
Just a name.
A date.
A cause of death.
I showed the article to Ethan.
He read it.
Shook his head.
“Sad way to go.”
“Very.”
“Are you okay?”
I thought about it.
Really thought about it.
About the fact that the man who’d once been the center of my universe was now just a two-paragraph obituary.
About how much of my life I’d wasted loving him.
Worrying about him.
Trying to please him.
About all the years I’d lost.
And then I thought about Ethan.
About Elena.
About Liam and Sophia.
About my parents.
My brother.
My family.
My company.
My life.
All the good things.
All the love.
All the joy.
“I’m better than okay,” I said. “I’m grateful. Grateful that I got out when I did. Grateful that I found you. Grateful that I got to build this life. Michael’s life was a tragedy. But mine? Mine is a miracle. And I’m not going to waste a single second of it feeling sad for him.”
Ethan pulled me close.
“That’s my girl.”
Diego called that night.
He’d seen the article too.
“Did you hear about Michael?”
“I did.”
“Crazy. Twenty-five years. And he dies alone. What a waste.”
“Very.”
Diego was quiet for a moment.
“You know… if I hadn’t cooperated… if I’d stayed loyal to him… that could have been me. Dying alone in prison. Buried in an unmarked grave. Forgotten by everyone.”
“But you didn’t,” I said. “You made a different choice. And look at you now. Married. A son. A family. People who love you. You turned it around, Diego. Not many people get that chance.”
“I know,” he said. His voice was thick. “And I owe it all to you. You gave me that second chance. When I didn’t deserve it. When no one else would have. I’ll never forget that, Mari. Never.”
“Just pay it forward, Diego. That’s all I ask. Be the kind of man our dad was. The kind our abuela taught us to be. Love your family. Take care of them. And never, ever forget where you came from.”
“I won’t,” he promised. “Never.”
We hung up.
I went to the window.
Looked out at the lake.
Life was funny.
You never knew what was around the corner.
One day you’re on top of the world.
The next you’re in a prison cell dying alone.
Or you’re a young girl in a garage with a paintbrush and a dream.
Or you’re a sixty-year-old woman looking back at a life full of more love and joy than she ever thought possible.
The key was to keep going.
To keep fighting.
To keep loving.
Even when it was hard.
May you like
Especially when it was hard.
Because you never knew what miracle was waiting just around the corner.
