Because It Is My Blood (Birthright #2)(45)

Theo had met my father! I lowered my machete. “Can you remember anything Daddy said?”

“It was a long time ago, Anya, but I remember him telling me that he had a son about my age.”

“My brother, Leo. He would have been pretty sick back then.”

“How is he now?” Theo asked.

“Better,” I told him. “Much better. Yuji Ono even said that Leo was in love.” I rolled my eyes.

“You don’t believe this?”

I didn’t have a reason not to believe Yuji Ono. It was something else. In the past several months, I’d come to realize how little I knew Leo. I’d always tried to protect him, but I think that had led me to not really see him. I shrugged. “If it’s true, I’m happy for him.”

“Good for you, Anya. The world needs more love not less. Speaking of which, I want to take you down to the factories to see the chocolate we make for Saint Valentine’s Day. It’s the busiest time of year for our factories.”

I asked him why they made chocolate for Valentine’s Day.

“Are you kidding, Anya? We make chocolate hearts and candy boxes and just about everything else! What do they do in your country on Valentine’s Day?”

“Nothing. It’s not really a very popular holiday anymore.” I remembered that Nana had told me that Valentine’s Day used to be more of a big deal.

Theo’s mouth dropped open. “So, no chocolates? No flowers? No cards? Nada?”

I nodded.

“How sad. Where is the romance?”

“We still have romance, Theo.”

“You mean your Win?” Theo teased me.

“Yes, him. He’s very romantic.”

“I’ll have to meet this Casanova when I go to New York.”

I asked him when he was coming.

“Soon,” he said. “As soon as you leave, I am following.”

“What about the farm and the factories?”

“This? She runs herself. Let my sisters and brother do it for a change.” Theo laughed. “Be ready for me, Anya. I’m staying with you. I expect nothing less than the red carpet.”

I told him I’d be happy to have him anytime he wanted to come.

“Anya, tell me something serious now.”

I already knew that this wouldn’t be at all serious. “Yes, Theo.”

“You cannot actually prefer this Win to me. You and I have so much more in common, and in case you haven’t noticed, I really am adorable.”

I ignored him and went back to my work.

“Anya, this Win … Is he very tall?”

*   *   *

The next day, Theo and I drove down to the factories, where they produced the products he had described and goods beyond that, too: hand creams and health powders and even a packet for making Abuela’s hot chocolate.

By the time we’d returned to Granja Mañana, it was after sunset, and the workers had gone home. I accompanied Theo to make a quick check of the orchards. I was walking slightly ahead of him when I heard the sound of rustling leaves. It could have just been a small animal, but I felt for my machete anyway. As I was doing that, a pod with the telltale signs of Monilia distracted me. I bent down to slice it off.

A second later, Theo yelled, “Anya, turn around!”

I thought Theo might have been joking, so I continued what I was doing.

“Anya!”

Still squatting, I turned my head over my shoulder. Behind me was a large man. The first thing I noticed was that he was wearing a mask; the second thing I noticed was the gun. The gun was pointed at my head, and I was sure I was going to die.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Theo running toward me with his machete out.

“Don’t!” I screamed. “Theo, go inside!” I didn’t want Theo to end up dead, too.

My scream must have startled the masked man because for one second he hesitated. The masked man turned just as Theo struck him on the shoulder with the blade of his machete. The gun went off. There was a silencer, so it made very little sound. I could see the spark of the gunfire. I could tell that Theo had been hit but I didn’t have time to figure out where. I picked up my own machete and I raised my arm. Without even thinking about it, I sliced off the masked man’s hand. It was his right hand, the hand that held the gun. It was tough, but my machete had just been sharpened and I’d had so much practice with the cacao pods. (Aside: In retrospect, it would feel like the moment I’d been training for since November.) The only major difference between slicing off a human hand and a cacao pod was the blood. So much blood. The blood sprayed across my face and my clothes, and for a moment, all I could see were out-of-focus spots of red. I wiped my eyes. The man had dropped his gun (and his hand) and I could see him clutching his wrist as he ran deep into the rain forest, into the dark. We were miles away from a hospital. He’d probably bleed to death. “Ffffffiiiiickerrrrr,” he howled. Or something like that, I couldn’t quite make it out.

I turned to where Theo lay on the ground.

“Are you okay?” I asked him. The light was fading, and I couldn’t see where he was bleeding.

“I’m…”

“Where were you hit?” I asked him.

“I don’t know.” He moved his hand weakly in the general direction of his chest area, and my heart began to petrify.