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Chapter Twenty-Five
Carlos
“Eduardo Sandoval is missing.”
I dropped my arm and pressed the phone to my ear. I’d been about to knock on Gabriel and Holly’s door to collect them for the morning.
“How long?”
“The property was empty from the time my men arrived,” Donato said. “Their words: ‘it’s like a ghost town.’”
I shuddered. He had no idea how accurate that description was. Eduardo was trained to defend himself, so that he’d vanished without a trace was disturbing.
“Did your team stay?”
“They have the property surrounded but are invisible.” Donato’s confirmation did little to reassure me.
Eduardo had sacrificed to help me further my agenda. I’d seen my share of unfairness in the world and had stopped seeing things in those terms a long time ago. Shit happened. But if there was a chance he was still alive, I had to help him.
“I can be on a plane in two hours.”
Gabriel’s giggle floated through the door, and I rubbed my forehead. They were depending on me too.
“Don’t be foolish. He’s likely dead or will be used to draw you out of the shadows.”
I appreciated his candor, yet that didn’t make his words any easier to digest.
“I can’t allow any more people to die on my watch.” Images of the job I’d completed for Donato a few nights before assaulted me. Blood. Broken bones. Lifelessness. “Innocent people,” I corrected.
“I can’t make this any clearer. If it’s discovered you are alive, you put your sister at grave risk, and anyone else you care about in your circle of friends.”
What he left unspoken was he wouldn’t let me do that. Donato’s loyalty was strictly with Daniel. Daniel’s loyalty was to Muriella. They would kill me before I did something stupid. And I respected them all the more for it. But I was also fearful for the two people I’d come to care for on the other side of this door.
“Nothing comes above her protection,” I said through bared teeth. “But Eduardo has a wife and two children.”
“I have eyes on them. They will not be harmed.”
“You said that about Eduardo too.” Now wasn’t the time to throw blame at the only ally I might have, but guilt was pulling me in all different directions. Muriella. Holly. Gabriel. Eduardo.
“Blend in. Stay out of sight. And whatever you do, don’t try to contact Eduardo. Let us handle it.”
The line went dead. The front door flew open, and Gabriel barreled into me, throwing his tiny arms around my waist, dangerously close to the gun I had tucked away behind my back.
I hesitated. What had I been thinking bringing these two innocent angels into my world of chaos and destruction? Yet I hugged Gabriel back automatically. Everything that was wrong suddenly became right. I reached for Holly, who came willingly. And then I felt . . . calm. Like at lunch yesterday, she’d read me well enough to know I needed something from her. Without a word, she held me, as if again knowing she was the breath I needed to function. The touch I needed to not feel so alone.
They were the light that balanced my dark side. And then something else became abundantly clear. I couldn’t give them up.
“We need this.”Gabriel pulled out the powdered sugar from the cabinet. “And this.” Vanilla extract. “And this.” He tottered with a glass dish in his hands.
I grabbed it before it went crashing to the floor.
“Gabriel, what are you doing on the counter?” Holly’s horrified voice stopped both of us in our tracks.
“Getting what we need to make French toast.” He sat down on the granite surface, letting his legs dangle.
Her laser gaze focused on me, and I actually shifted my stance, a little frightened of her. She’d had to work late and asked if I’d get supper on the table so Gabriel could keep his schedule. Of course, I’d said yes.
She snapped her fingers and pointed at the floor. Holy shit, she was pissed.
