Show Me Chapter 12
Hey everyone! Hope you're all doing okay and staying safe! Once again, the English-speaking parts are going to be bolded. So go ahead and enjoy this chapter!
Miguel's eyes got bigger and bigger as the car pulled into the entry of the office complex. While it looked nothing like the shoe shop or any of the buildings in Santa Cecilia, it was a good-looking structure, complete with cactus plants. It reminded Miguel heavily of the City Hall back home.
"Now Miguel, do you remember what I told you?" Enrique asked him softly, startling Miguel out of his reverie.
"Not to bring up anything about my adventure or de la Cruz." Miguel whispered back. "But what if they mention him, Abuelita? What should I do then?"
Kissing the top of her nieto's head, Elena said, "Just follow their lead, mijo." Suddenly, Miguel didn't feel too sure about visiting the Rodriguez family or their lawyer, but if it helped convince them to bring de la Cruz to justice, then he would do it. Even if he had to wear the most uncomfortable suit known to man.
As soon as Martinez pulled into the parking lot, Enrique, Elena and Miguel hopped out of the car. Gloria had stayed behind, doing research at the library and informing the relatives back home about the progress that had been made.
"Now remember, we have to be careful." Martinez reminded the family. "One wrong word and this whole thing could come crashing down on us. I don't mean to sound harsh, but someone is clearly pulling the strings here to keep the family silent."
With understanding nods, the family quietly left the van, praying that the meeting would go well.
Looking up at this building, Miguel knew that this family meant business. According to Abel, the taller the office building, the more grande y importa someone was.
Upon entering the main building, Miguel immediately spotted a Hispanic family, standing in a group behind a man in a suit who was clearly going to be doing all the talking. This was definitely the Rodriguez family.
"This must be the Rivera family that Julio talked of. My name is Christopher Salinas" the lawyer said in rapid English, leaving Elena confused until Enrique translated the gist of what had been said. "Please follow me to my office. We have a lot to discuss."
As he turned to follow the lawyer and the Rodriguez family, Miguel turned to see a pretty young girl, no more than 13 or 14, standing next to him. Upon noticing him look at her, the girl turned away, clearly feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Papá?" Miguel asked, now suddenly nervous and frightened of what was going to happen.
"Está bien, mijo," Enrique said. "Just stay close to Abuelita or me, ok?"
As they arrived in the office, Miguel took a seat next to his papá, shaking a bit until Elena gently put her hand on his knee.
"Now I called this meeting today to discuss what our plan is going forward," Salinas said. "My clients want this to work out for all parties involved without having to go to court over this. And according to you, Señor Martinez, you fired the man responsible for leaking this information to the press."
Nodding politely, Martinez went on, but this time in Spanish. He and the Riveras knew fully well that this lawyer was speaking English on purpose to antagonize them. The other family looked embarrassed.
Miguel suddenly remembered an English phrase he had learned at school: sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Well that's definitely a lie. Miguel thought as he watched Elena trying not to lose her temper. Words can hurt. Especially if you can't understand them.
"My former subordinate was fired the moment this came to light," Martinez said. "As well as receiving a lifetime ban from any law enforcement agency for his actions."
Salinas looked a bit wary at that, but after a quick word in English between the two men, Martinez asked the Rivera family to wait outside. There were things that he couldn't discuss with them present.
"It's more of a legality," Martinez murmured. "Just wait for me in the lobby and I'll come get you."
Elena looked like she wanted to argue but Enrique shook his head. They were already pushing their luck by being allowed into the meeting and a slip-up could mean a fast trip back home. But Miguel was confused.
"Papá, what's going on?" Miguel asked. "Why are we waiting outside?"
"He just wants to talk the Rodriguez family alone, mijo," Elena answered as she sat down on a bench. "There may be things that he can't let us hear. They'll ask us back inside, soon enough."
Grumbling a bit, Miguel sat down on a bench, deciding to read the book he brought with him from the library back home: de la Cruz's autobiography. Miguel had bookmarked the pages carefully, knowing that even the smallest of details could be used to help convince the Rodriguez family to cooperate. But for some reason, one thing stuck out in particular.
"Abuelita?" Miguel asked quietly as he thumbed through the pages of the book. "What was up with that lawyer? He was acting kind of sospechoso."
Gently patting Miguel's back, Elena replied, "I don't know, mijo. I thought he was acting kind of strange too, but we'll let Señor Martinez know about it."
Coming back to the main doorway, Martinez gestured for the three Riveras to come back in. Something was definitely up.
The Rodriguez family looked very wary as the Riveras came back in and sat down across from them. Salinas looked a bit haughty as Miguel sat down. Clearly, this man had zero experience in dealing with pre-adolescent children and did not enjoy having the two children in the room.
"My clients have agreed to settle with you and your niece out of court," Salinas said, standing up and walking towards Martinez, hand outstretched. "But they would like to press charges against the individual who leaked the information to the American press. It was a breach of privacy after all."
Nodding politely, Martinez agreed, knowing that there was no way that they would be able to get out of that agreement. After shaking hands with the remaining Rodriguez family, he quietly got up. The Riveras looked shocked-what could have happened that made the Rodriguez family drop the charges against Martinez and his niece? No one knew.
The meeting was over but the Riveras and Martinez thought that one huge thing didn't get covered.
"What about de la Cruz?" Miguel whispered to his papá. "Will the Rodríguezes press charges against the estate?"
"One step at a time." Enrique whispered back. He knew that Martinez was pushing his luck with having some of the charges against him dropped, so refiling charges against the estate may take a bit of persuasion.
As the two Hispanic families made their way to the parking garage, Miguel made his way to the young girl he had seen earlier. She was pretty, probably 13 or 14 with long black hair.
"H-h-h-ello." Miguel said, his nerve gone as he held out his hand for her to shake. "My name i-ssss Miguel."
With a soft smile, the girl shook his hand. "It's alright, I understand both English and Spanish." She said. "My name is María, but you can call me Aria for short. How do you like Texas so far?"
Smiling sheepishly, Miguel said, "I like it a lot so far, it's pretty cool. How long have you lived here?"
"Almost 5 years," Aria answered, "But I was born and raised in Ciudad Juárez."
Miguel had meant to ask Aria about whether or not her family would refile charges against de la Cruz, but it was as if his words and mind had disappeared. But he didn't have to.
"This investigation is crazy!" Aria continued. "I'd give anything to go give de la Cruz a good whack in the head for what he did to your great-great grandfather!"
Miguel wanted to answer that Imelda Rivera had already done that, but not wanting to raise suspicion or make Aria think he was crazy, he settled for answering with a "It would serve him right!"
After Aria paused briefly to catch her breath, Miguel began to ask, "So, would your family ever let Martinez-."
"Aria! Time to leave, mija!" Aria's mamá called out.
"Coming, Mamá!" Aria responded. "We'll definitely have to talk again soon, Miguel! It was nice meeting you!"
After pressing a piece of paper into Miguel's hand, Aria ran ahead to meet her family and waved goodbye to Miguel. As Elena ran forward to see if Miguel needed to be protected, Enrique quickly stopped her as he approached his son.
"Aria's really nice, Papá," Miguel said. "I like her a lot."
Chuckling at the thought of Miguel finding romance in the strangest of circumstances, Enrique and Elena moved get into the car. It wasn't until Miguel gave Enrique the piece of paper that it caused an uproar.
"Díos mio," Elena murmured.
On the paper (apart from Aria's email address), were a few simple words that answered the question Miguel had forgotten to ask her when she got called away.
My family doesn't mind.