00:00:00 (5:19pm)

“Mommy!” Morena wailed as she watched her mother crash into the glass coffee table. She abandoned the corner of the hallway where she was peeking and rushed up to her mother's side, trying without success to shake her mother awake.

“I'm sorry you had to see that, mija,” Mateo lamented, zipping up his leather jacket to hide his bloodstained shirt. “But mommy was trying to keep us from being a family. You want to be with mommy and daddy as a family, right?”

Morena slowly nodded her head, fear holding back her question as to why he hurt her mother.

“Did you want to go visit your Tío Felipe in Mexico? You can spend time with your primos and get to chase the chickens.”

“Really?” Morena mused, her guard beginning to drop.

“Really.”

“Can mommy come too?” Morena entreated.

“I don't know, mija. She didn't want to come when I asked her, and she didn't want to let you go either. That's why daddy made her go to sleep like that.”

“But I want mommy to come too!”

Mateo stared at her daughter, and then looked over at Isabel who remained unconscious...for now. If he tied her up and brought her in the car, Morena would be scared when Isabel wakes up and starts to struggle. If he just forced his daughter to come along, she might try to escape, or worse, never forgive him for taking her and leaving her mom behind. If she chose to hate him her entire life, he would then be forced to torture her until she learned to love him again. But he wanted such tactics to be a last resort.

“I'll tell you what,” Mateo offered. “I'll leave a note for your mom on the fridge. That way, when she wakes up she can meet us before we leave. Sound fair?”

“Well…okay. Can I bring Sheldon with me?”

“Who is Sheldon?” Mateo implored, suddenly alert. Is there someone else in the house?

“Let me get him!” Morena chirped and she ran into the hallway.

Mateo reached for the gun behind his back, ready to draw, yet hesitant to commit more violence in front of his preciosa. Morena came running back, holding a stuffed turtle with giant eyes and a wide smile.

“Daddy, this is Sheldon. Sheldon, this is daddy,” Morena introduced and she held up the stuffed turtle's hand.

“Mucho gusto,” Mateo said, leaving the gun holstered and shook the stuffed turtle's hand. “Of course he can come, but we have to leave now, so let's go.”

“But I don't have any clothes or my toothbrush!”

“That's okay, I'll buy you all new clothes and anything else you want once we get to your Tío's house.”

“Okay,” Morena relented and then took her father's hand, holding Sheldon with the other. They reached the doorway when Morena suddenly stopped.

“What is it, now?” Mateo groaned.

“Aren't you forgetting something?” Morena suggested.

Mateo held back his temper. If it were anyone else they would have been gagged and thrown into the trunk from the very beginning. But he kept his cool for her.

“What am I forgetting?”

“To leave the note for mommy!”

“Oh, that's right! Thank you for reminding me!”

“You're welcome!”Morena smiled, one of her canines missing. She was growing up so fast.

They both walked to the kitchen, and Mateo grabbed some junk mail and a black crayon that were sitting on top of the table. He wrote fast, circled his message, and then pinned the note on the fridge with an Our Lady of Guadalupe magnet.

“There we go, now she knows where to meet us before we leave.”

“Okay!” Morena cheered, and this time was rushing out the door, pulling him by the hand.

As they passed Isabel in the living room, Mateo noticed her hand twitch as she began to regain consciousness.

“Race you to the car!” Mateo challenged his daughter. She laughed and quickly let go of his hand to take off running. He followed closely behind her, and closed the door behind them.