Free Temptation Island by Victoria Fox

want. It doesn’t matter any more.’
    Rosa pouted, mocking her. ‘He break up with you or somethin’?’
    Lori didn’t know. It was possible. Maybe he hadn’t found the guts to tell her and that was what the ring had been about. She found it with her thumb.
    ‘Quit feelin’ sorry for yourself.’ Rosa flicked on the radio. ‘You’ll get over it.’
    The news reporter’s voice filled the kitchen.
    ‘ In the early hours of this morning a young man was shot dead outside a convenience store in Santa Ana, California. Police have arrested twenty-year-old suspect Enrique Marquez, believed to have connections with the El Peligro gang, who were linked last year with six acts of violence in the area, two of which were fatal. Reports suggest Mr Marquez is the younger brother of Diego Marquez, thought to hold high rank in the organisation. The victim’s family have been informed and a spokeswoman for them is expected to talk to the press later today … ’
    The pancake Rosa was holding fell to the floor with a slap.
    ‘Lori, what the hell— ?’
    The item had moved on but the reporter’s words looped hideously through her mind.
    It couldn’t be. It couldn’t .
    Lori fell into a chair. Thought she was going to be sick.
    ‘You were there,’ babbled Rosa, backing away. ‘You were there!’
    ‘No,’ she managed to mumble, ‘I—I wasn’t. He never showed up.’
    ‘Oh, you wait till Mama finds out,’ Rosa spluttered. ‘Rico Marquez, a murderer ! We always knew it would happen, that he’d go the exact same way as his brother and the rest of that useless family—’
    ‘Shut up.’
    ‘—and now he’s proved us right. What did Mama tell you? We were right!’
    Lori put her hands over her ears. ‘Shut up!’
    Rosa gave a burst of hysterical laughter. ‘You’re in so much shit it’s not even fair ! Loriana Garcia, in love with a murderer—’
    Lori stood and slapped her sister round the face. It made a clean, sharp sound and left Rosa’s cheek burning pink. She wanted to do it again, and again, till Rosa was silenced and she could be left in peace to think straight. It was impossible to focus. Her vision was swimming.
    She remembered Rico’s words in the salon yard: There’s somethin’ I gotta do …
    The floor seemed to bend and shake till Lori realised it was her legs that were giving way. She collapsed against the wall. Rosa went for her, pulling her hair, calling her a bitch, a killer, clawing with her nails, but Lori didn’t feel a thing.

11
Aurora
    Rehab was a total waste of time. Aurora had known it would be—after all, she had only gone to please her parents and to help her mother get over the trauma of walking in on her young daughter in a state of such disarray, and everyone said that rehab only worked if the person genuinely wanted to change. She’d had a blast that day with Sebastian, got horny even now just thinking about it, and while it was unfortunate—and just a tad embarrassing—to have Sherilyn walk in at such an inopportune moment, she didn’t regret it.
    What she did regret was that Julieta had got fired from her housekeeping duties. On top of that being a rough ride for a poor Mexican family, it was also the end of any rough rides she could expect to enjoy with Sebastian again.
    She’d spent a month at the Tyrell Chase Center with her consultant, a gnarled old shrink called Dr Lux, but it was always ‘Call me Ed’—it wasn’t the first time she’d been.Dr Lux went over the same tired ground: her reckless behaviour was down to overindulgence, hedonism, lack of boundaries, blah blah fucking blah. Sherilyn took this diagnosis as a personal affront and always wept heartily after a meeting with Dr Lux: she hated Aurora going into rehab as much as Aurora did. Had she been a bad mother? Where had she gone wrong? Was Aurora suffering from being an only child? While Aurora sat and picked her nails, wondering when the hell they could get out of there.
    By the time she did