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Sergio’s eyes are narrowed to slits. "I'll find her."
I want to believe him, but how can I believe someone who's lied to me from the very beginning? I know that I can't believe him, but I want to so badly, it feels as if my heart bleeds.
"You're also not married to him.”
I stare. “What?”
Seth fumes. “If you think you can show up here and ruin my life –”
Sergio continues as if Seth is invisible.
“I got a message from Gloria, Mario's wife. She did some investigative work, her speciality. You’re not legally married to this man and never were. He broke state law when he married you because you were underage. Your supposed marriage to him is not binding. You were never married to him, Eden.”
Sergio stares at me. There are so many questions I want to ask him, but there's no time. I have to get to Starla. Sergio switches his gaze to Seth. He’s eyeing him like he’s a ticking time bomb and Sergio just happens to be the bomb technician skilled at disabling such weapons, knowing exactly how to handle this tiny little problem.
“This guy right here? Pretend he’s a little gerbil. Pretend he's in a cage. Off to the side. Let him burrow into his bedding. Maybe get him one of those wheels to run around on."
"Hamster. Let's make him a hamster. I don’t think gerbils run on wheels and I love the idea of him running nowhere."
Sergio's eyes crinkle, and there’s the barest hint of a smile on his lips. My heart begins to mend a little, even as I try to will myself not to get my hopes up.
I hold his gaze and I know. He doesn't know I met his fiancée. He doesn't know anything. He came down here for a reason and was here before I arrived. He came down here for retribution.
Because that’s who Sergio is. He knew that my husband, or rather the man who calls himself my husband, would always be a threat to me until Sergio did something about it.
There has to be an explanation. I'm not going to jump to conclusions anymore, I am going to stop believing that things won't work out. I've been in dark, dark places, and I know. Sometimes you have to believe that you'll make it through. Sometimes you have to know that you have superhuman strength, like Sergio had when he lifted that car off his hurting cousin, his best friend, and saved his life.
Only it’s my life and my sister’s I need to save now. I don't know what will happen between me and Sergio, but I know that right now I need an ally and he’s standing right in front of me.
I tell Seth, “Order them to stop hurting her. Order them to let her go, and I'll go back with you."
My entire marriage to Seth has been a lie, so if a lie is what will get me out of this now…
"It's not that easy."
Something beeps. Sergio looks down at his phone. This time, an actual smile lights up his face. “Playtime’s over.”
Seth stares. “Just because she's with you, and you've been working to conspire against me—"
Sergio snaps his fingers. I watch, in awe, as a dozen uniformed police officers appear out of what seems like nowhere. They're armed, and dangerous.
Seth goes impossibly paler. One of the officers stands in front of him. "You're under arrest."
“Do you have any idea who I am?” Seth recovers and glares at them.
“Sir, we know exactly who you are, which is why you’re under arrest.”
“I have a right to my attorney.”
But Sergio’s had enough. He crosses the distance between them, grabs Seth by the front of the shirt, and throws him. His phone clatters to the ground. Sergio bends and picks it up.
“Always gotta do it the hard way,” he says, shaking his head.
He taps something on the screen as an officer secures Seth’s wrists in handcuffs. But I dismiss Seth from my mind.
He’s only a rodent on a hamster wheel, after all.
I shift my attention to Sergio, who’s holding Seth’s phone.
