Chapter 36
Manny came out of the apartment with a song on his lips and a dance in his step. Celia had agreed to get to know him again. It wasn’t as much as he’d hoped for, but it was progress.
He didn’t notice André until he had almost tripped over him, sitting there on the front steps of his apartment building. This couldn’t be a coincidence.
Manny reached for the collar of André’s leather jacket and pulled him up, yanking him away from the building. “What are you doing here?” The guy was huge, and it took all Manny’s strength to move him. He knew better than to pick a fight with André, but his arms were already shoving André to the snow-covered ground. “Why don’t you leave her alone?”
André jumped back up, raising his fists “Is it so wrong to see my own child?”
“You don’t deserve to even call him your child.”
“Fine, then just let me see Celia. She owes me money.”
“How could she owe you money? You took all the money she ever earned.” He’d learned the whole story from Flora. His muscles tightened, waiting to throw a punch. “I want you to leave.”
Instead of retreating, André came toward him, a sneer on his face.
Manny had seen the expression before, and he knew what to do about it this time. He swung a right hook past André’s raised fists and into his cheekbone. André blocked his next punch, and then hit him low from the left side, into his ribs.
They exchanged more punches, and André slammed his elbow into Manny’s chest, causing him to buckle over and take another hit before he could respond. Manny could feel that he might have broken a rib, but the pain was worth it—it was all for Celia.
He punched back with all he had. “This is your warning to leave her alone,” he growled.
André kicked him in the knee, and Manny kicked back, connecting with André’s stomach and then his face. Manny may have been less muscular, but what muscle he had was powered by pent-up anger. He punched against André’s face and chest—wherever he saw an opening. One hit for knocking out her tooth. One for destroying her dream of a happy life in America. One hit for being where he didn’t belong.
André flinched to block each punch, but finally he held his hands up for Manny to stop. He took a step back, blood gushing from his nose. “Look. She took my phone, my wallet, and all the money inside it. All I want is compensation, so I can take a bus back to North Carolina. I’ll leave her alone after that.”
Manny would have loved for André to take a bus back to North Carolina, but it was more likely he’d spend his money at the bar. “If you want money, you better get yourself a job.”
A man passed them on the sidewalk, a customer he recognized from his work. “Is that guy giving you trouble, Manny?”
“My girlfriend has a protective order against him,” Manny yelled, never letting his gaze stray from André’s fists. In reality, he had no idea whether Celia had a protective order, and she still hadn’t agreed to be his girlfriend again, but it was worth lying to see worry flash across André’s face before his sneer returned.
Manny spared a second to look back at the customer, still gawking at them. “I need you to call the police.” He’d barely gotten the words out when André socked him hard in the stomach, dropping him to the ground.
While the customer pulled out his phone, André pursed his lips and shook his head. “When will you understand? Celia’s in the wrong. I’m the victim here. I brought her all the way across the ocean. I got my grandma to give her a home and a job, and what do I get in return? Nothing but complaints. I even gave her a handsome baby boy, but will she allow me to hold my own baby? No.”
“And that broken nose and missing tooth you gave her?” Manny spat out the words, wiping away some blood that dripped from his upper lip. “You expect her to be thankful for that too?”
André tilted his head back and straightened his leather jacket. “That was an accident.” He stood there with blood streaming down his face and smiled as if there hadn’t been a fight at all.
“The dispatcher said someone should be here soon,” the customer said, rubbing his hands together to fight off the cold. “Sorry I can’t stick around. I’ve got to get to work.”
In the distance, Manny heard sirens, but sirens here in the city were a common thing. They were probably coming for someone else.
“I’ve got to get going.” André turned and began to walk away.
“You’re staying with me.” Manny rushed to catch up with him, grabbing him from behind, but André shook him off, as if he were an opponent in soccer, and sprinted down the icy sidewalk.
Manny didn’t have many advantages in this fight, but he did know how to run in snow—mostly he knew to stay off the sidewalk and run in the deeper stuff. Still it was hard to catch up to André, so hard that it took him half a block to get to him. When he did tackle him to the ground, André rolled on top, pinning Manny to the pavement, the pain in his rib deepening.
Manny couldn’t move, couldn’t fight back. He just lay there, staring up into André’s sneering face and waiting for a deadening punch to the face. This must have been what Celia felt like so many times, held captive by this beast.
His teacher instinct came back to him—all the times teenagers tried to argue with him. He knew how to delve deep and reason his way out. “Don’t make this worse for yourself,” Manny said. “If you mess up my face, the police won’t believe anything you say.”
It was true, but André smashed his fist into the side of Manny’s face anyway, giving a jolt of pain that sent him into a daze as André ran off.
By the time Manny got back on his feet, it was no use giving chase.
He finally had Celia back, but he couldn’t protect her—not if André was bent on revenge.