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I shake my head, laughing. “No, I mean… Santiago said you were dead.” There's a flutter of hope in my heart. If Gabriel isn't dead, then maybe my father isn't either. “He had your bloody necklace.”
Gabriel's eyes shift in confusion. “Looks like you saw what he wanted you to see.”
“What about my father?”
“What about him?” Gabriel slips out of me, moving into a seating position. He lays his jacket over my lap, and it suddenly dawns on me that I'm naked out in the open. I fold my arms over my bare stomach.
“If you're asking if your father is alive, then the answer is yes.”
My heart jumps. He hands me his shirt and I slip it on, not caring that it's covered in blood and sweat. It smells like him and is keeping me covered. “But Santiago threw his finger on the ground with his ring on it.”
He smirks. “You saw what he wanted you to see and he saw what I wanted him to see. Him thinking your father was dead was what got him to leave the warehouse.”
“But my father's ring…”
He releases a sigh. “It was a replica. The finger actually belonged to one of Santiago's men. The one who led me right to you.”
“So my father…”
“Still giving orders in the office of his mansion, I presume. By now, Santiago has more than likely figured out he isn't dead. And he is probably on his way back to the island as we speak.”
“If that's true, then that means…”
“We've got company and they are coming in on us fast. Are we still going with the plan, hermano?” Gabriel's brother looks down at us, shielding his eyes from the sun.
Gabriel tugs up his pants and nods at the man standing behind me, wearing a blue tank and a pair of khaki board shorts. He has the same dark hair and eyes as Gabriel. That isn't the only thing similar. They could almost pass for twins. If only one was shorter and the other didn't lack facial hair. Both are covered in tattoos and have dark tan skin. My eyes dart between them and I hunch over myself. “What's the plan?”
Gabriel's gaze falls to me, eyes full of sympathy. “I'm sorry, baby. Please don't hate me, but it's what needs to happen. I knew there was a chance it would and so I prepared for it.”
“What do you mean?” Anger rises in me and my skin grows tight.
He presses his lips to my ear. “Just remember, I love you and I will always come for you.”
My eyes widen, and when I pull back from him, there is the loud sound of a motor coming from another boat. Men are shouting in the background and Gabriel and his brother stand with their hands in the air. I grip the seat with my hands and am still completely naked. A boat pulls up to ours filled with three men with guns in their hands, one being Santiago. “Hola, mi amor. Going somewhere?”
“You told me Gabriel was dead.”
“I was only trying to prepare you for the future. Ricky, cuff him.”
He points to Gabriel, and Ricky steps into our boat once it is anchored and the railings are tied together. He shoves Gabriel’s arms behind his back, handcuffing them together. We are both being taken onto the smaller boat. Gabriel's brother remains in the same spot with his hands still in the air. His eyes never leave his brother's as if unspoken words are moving between them. Santiago makes sure to keep me and Gabriel separated the whole time. And when I start to shiver, a blanket is wrapped around my body. “Maybe you should have kept your clothes on. You would have been less cold that way.”
“I'd hardly call what I had on clothes.”
He takes a seat next to me, pressing his body into mine. “I only did what I had to do. All of it could have been prevented if you did what you were told and stayed away from him. But you just couldn't help yourself. The last thing I needed was for you to disappear before our wedding.”
“Where are you taking me?” I cringe when he leans in closer.
My stomach lurches when his lips touch my skin. “Home.”
The boat speeds through the water and every time I attempt to move my gaze in Gabriel's direction, my face is being pulled back to face Santiago's. “You will not look at him and you will not talk to him. I was hoping you got it all out of your system on the boat.”
I lean against the seat, badly wishing that when the boat makes another turn, Santiago's body will go flailing back into the water. It never happens and instead we all arrive on land safely. Santiago helps me off the boat and shoves me toward his car. Gabriel is taken to another car. “I hope you said your goodbyes, mi amor. Once I see the disappointed look on his face after we say I do, I'll end his pathetic life right in front of you.”
I never move my eyes from the window the whole ride to my house. After passing several fields of dying grass and wet, leafless trees, we finally arrive in front of the same white and brown stucco house I used to try to run from every chance I got. The only place I want to run to now is inside.
When I attempt to step out of the car, Santiago grabs my arm, digging his bony fingers into the muscle. “You will go in there and you will act like I just rescued you from Gabriel. Tell your father any different, and I will slit his throat. Then you will be spending our honeymoon inside a wooden casket next to his rotting body. Got it?”
I flinch, nodding. “Got it. Can you let me go now?”
