Unfortunately, Tito didn't like the idea of her and Joey coming with him anymore than he liked the idea of him staying in Miami.

She sat down across from him at the table in the visiting area and told the only person who would understand.

"I saw him yesterday."

"Who?"

"Our father. He was at the charity thing. I guess I should have expected it."

"Don't ever use that word to describe him. Our father was the man who raised us from age ten. That bastard was nothing but a sperm donor."

"You're right."

"That's what's got you so upset? Don't even pretend you're not. I knew the second you sat down something was bothering you."

"No. It's not that."

"So what's the matter?" His eyes narrowed. "It's Perez, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

Tito slapped his palm on the table, and a guard looked over. He took a deep breath and lowered his voice.

"What did he do?"

"Oh, God, Tito, I fell in love with him."

He leaned back in his chair. "And you're worried what I'm going to think about that? Look, it's your life. I'm over blaming him for putting me here."

"Since when?"

He shrugged. "You know how sometimes you tell yourself something so long you actually start to believe it?"

She shook her head. "But Ritchie Perez did put you in here. He's the one who refused to even consider a plea deal."

"Enough," Tito said. "I'm the one that put me in here, Maria. Me. Nobody else."

"You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Just stop it." He raised his voice, then glanced over at the guard and lowered it again. "I lied to myself, I lied to Mom, I lied to you, all these years. Because it was just easier. I knew about the drugs, I knew about the guns, I was part of all of it, Sis. Everything I was headed for was bad. Hell, by locking me up, Ritchie Perez probably saved my life." He drummed his fingers on the table.

"I'm a different man, now. And damned if I'm going to walk out of these doors carrying with me all that self-pitying, victim crap that's been weighing me down for the past eight years."

"What happened to you?"

"I finally grew up," he said simply. "For some of us it takes a little longer than for others." He shook his head. "Hearing how Joey was starting down that same path was a wake-up call. No way I want our little brother to ever end up in a place like this. I've wasted a lot of time blaming other people, including Perez, for my own stupid mistakes."

"I don't know what to think anymore."

"Well, think this: If it's guilt about me that's keeping you from building a life with the man you love, then you need to just let it go. We can't change the past, Maria. God knows I've lain awake enough nights wishing I could.

"If you want to be with Perez, you've got my blessing."

"It's not that easy. I found out some things he did behind my back."

His face hardened. "If he's cheating on you, then get the hell out of his house. I don't care how much he's helped Joey, you don't have to take that shit."

"No, it's nothing like that."

"So what is it?"

She sighed. "I thought I had this great opportunity with the Arts and Business Council to feature my paintings in a new condo development downtown, but it turns out it was a total set up. Ritchie arranged the whole thing, came up with idea of using an artist, and got them to pick me."

Tito stared at her. "Are you nuts?"

"What do you mean?"

"So, um, this is a bad thing he did? Helping you get the kind of opportunity you've always dreamed of?"

"He should have talked to me first," Maria said, frustrated that she couldn't get Tito to understand. "It's important to me to do things on my own."

Tito shrugged again. "Don't let your pride stop you from going after what you want."

If only things were that simple, Maria thought as she drove away from the prison. It was a good thing that Tito was taking responsibility for his actions. She'd read articles that said that was an important step in turning a life around for people in the criminal justice system. But she was having a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that everything she'd believed about his arrest, his trial, his conviction had been so colored by her mother's absolute belief in Tito's innocence. And nothing Tito had ever said to her before today had changed that.

She still thought that there could have been a fairer outcome, that Ritchie should have offered a plea deal, that having a better defense lawyer might have made a difference. But if Tito had found peace with letting all those thoughts and issues go, then shouldn't she be able to do the same?

None of that, though, changed the fact that Ritchie had gone behind her back and set up the Arts and Business Council deal without ever consulting her. That he had let her believe it was Vivienne who led someone on the committee to discover her paintings and open the door for her to work with the developer. Tito might think it was no big deal, but, to her, it mattered a lot.

And it didn't change the fact that Ritchie had gotten his partner to bid on her painting because he apparently didn't think a legitimate buyer would place a high enough bid. The bottom line was he didn't trust her to succeed on her own. How could she even consider having a relationship with a man who had so little faith in her?

Everything she'd achieved before this had been on her own. The art scholarship to Temple University had been the result of hundreds of hours of work building a winning portfolio. And later, supporting her mother through her illness. Convincing Vivienne to hire her on part-time, and then talking her way into a job at an exclusive South Beach restaurant when she had no experience at all as a server. Taking on responsibility for Joey, moving them out of the old neighborhood, earning the money to pay for the apartment and support the two of them.

She didn't have much to show for herself but her pride, and because of that, her pride meant everything to her. Not once had she asked for a handout. It was humiliating to have Ritchie just snap his fingers and take over her life, making decisions for her, putting her in a position where Bradford Thornton could look down his nose at her and make her feel so cheap and dirty.

Maybe she couldn't change the fact that she had fallen in love with Ritchie. But she could take back control of her life and Joey's. And if that meant things between her and Ritchie were over, then that's just the way it would have to be.

* * *

When she walked into the house, Ritchie was waiting for her.

"Look," he said, "I know we have a lot to talk about, but something's going on with Joey." He jerked his head toward the family room, where Joey was sitting staring at cartoons on the big screen TV.

Ritchie walked over and shut it off.

"All right, kid," he said. "We're both here now. What's the deal?"

Joey shifted his stare to Maria. "Where were you?"

"You know where I was – this is the Sunday I go visit Tito."

"Right." He clenched and unclenched his fists, then looked away from both of them and asked in a quiet voice, "Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

He shifted on the couch. "I knew you guys were going to be out late last night. I decided to go by the old neighborhood."

"Joey, I told you never to go back there."

"I saw some of the guys. I guess I was bragging some, about how I'm living now and shit." He looked at Ritchie. "And my friend Angel said he recognized your name, that you were some kind of a prosecutor. I told him he was crazy, you did accidents and stuff, and I knew that 'cause I got a job at your office.

"But Angel told me his brother said the prosecutor who put Tito away was named Ritchie Perez.

"I told him is has to be a different guy, right? I mean, there has to be a lot of lawyers named Perez."

He looked down. "But then I got thinking how when I had to go to court, it was like, everybody knew you and stuff. But then I just figured you're a big important lawyer, a partner at a fancy law firm. Of course, other lawyers and judges know you.

"So, it's not you, right? Just tell me you didn't put my brother in jail."

The combination of hope and fear in his eyes made Maria want to cry. She looked over at Ritchie.

"I'm sorry, kid. I used to work in the State Attorney's office. I prosecuted hundreds of gang members on drug and weapons charges. Your brother Tito was one of them."

"No!" Joey yelled. "No! I don't believe it." Hot tears ran down his flushed cheeks. "How could you do that?"

"Like I said, I prosecuted a lot of people. After you told me about your brother at the baseball game, I went back and looked it up."

"You had to look it up? You didn't even remember him? You ruined his life and you don't even remember?"

"I hoped it wasn't me. I didn't want it to be me, but I prosecuted a lot of people, Joey. People who were arrested for breaking the law. You're upset, and I understand that."

"You don't understand anything."

"Your brother broke the law, and he went to prison for it. That's how things work. I wish it wasn't true, but it is."

"You're a liar!" Joey screamed. "You lawyers are all liars! My mom told me how she paid that lawyer all that money who was supposed to help Tito but he didn't, and it was because of you! You didn't give him a chance! But I'll make you pay, just wait and see. Liar! Liar! Liar!"

"Joey, stop." Maria took a step toward him, and he spun back toward her, his face incredulous.

"You're on his side?" He stared at her, and then his eyes went dark with anger.

"You knew, didn't you? You knew what he did, and you let us move in here and you did it with him! I know you're sleeping with him," he choked out, "I'm not some stupid little kid. I've seen you go in his room at night when you thought I was asleep."

"Joey, it isn't what you think. It's complicated."

"It seems simple to me. You don't care about Tito. You just want to play with your paintings and quit your job, and you're just screwing him so he'll buy you stuff and you can live in this fancy house and go to fancy parties."

The accusation, coming from Joey, took her breath away. Her entire body went cold.

"Joey, that's not true."

"It is! You're just a lousy whore!"

Her hand flew out, and before she realized what was happening, she had slapped Joey across the face. He stood there in shock, his eyes wide, frozen.

Author's Note:

What do you think of Tito now?

Who do you think feels worse - Maria or Joey? How are they going to fix this?