18 Caitlin Trujillo This whole thing had to be a nightmare. Her brain just couldn’t accept the reality of what Alex, pale under his dark skin, jaw set in an attempt to hold back his tears, had just told her — that his mother was dead, and at Joaquin Escobar’s hands. There was more, about Levi’s k********g and eventual rescue, but Caitlin knew she’d have to wait to absorb all those details. What mattered was that Luz was gone, and that Zoe was now in charge of the de la Paz clan. Zoe, who might have grown up a bit over the past few years, and yet seemed to be forever etched in Caitlin’s mind the way she’d first seen her — with a streak of pink in her long dark hair, wearing Doc Martens, and a T-shirt from Hot Topic, and a pair of the world’s skinniest jeans. How could any of this be happ

