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He shrugs. “Basically, you swear a little oath to protect the family and do whatever is necessary to keep that promise. Then they give you a task to complete, on behalf of the family, that could land you in jail if you get caught. That way you’ve put loyalty above yourself, and they have leverage if you ever screw them over.”
My stomach turns over. “Elian! My parents are cops! I’ve never so much as gotten a speeding ticket, do you know how much it would kill my mom to find out I did ANYTHING illegal? I’m a rulefollower, I follow the rules.”
Elian pauses, then turns to me and grasps both my hands. “Sloane, I don’t mean to be dismissive, but there are a few things you need to consider here. One, we’ve all done a similar task. It’s just some small law-breaking, nothing like murder, but it’s a symbolic show of your commitment. Two, we are doing this to save your life, which would certainly be forfeit sooner rather than later, because you saw something you weren’t supposed to.”
“Yeah, about that,” the anger rises in my chest again. “Why the hell did you guys bring me on the boat, knowing that was going to happen? I feel like that was either a setup, or a serious failure of the ‘protection’ you say you want to provide me.”
Elian’s jaw flexes, and his tone is markedly cooler. “I’m not one to point fingers, but I could point out that you weren’t supposed to go into the master suite, and you knew it. We purposely showed you to the cabin on the other side of the ship. But you went in there, anyway. If you had done as you were told, followed the rules, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“Well, obviously if I knew it was important, I wouldn’t have,” I huff. “It’s not like you guys made it sound super serious. How was I supposed to know it would be a hazard to my life to use the wrong toilet?”
Elian throws his hands up. “What were we supposed to do, Sloane? Tell you to avoid the master because illegal activity was going down in there? We were trying to keep you out of it. There was minimal risk, in the twenty or so minutes those guys were on the boat. But you just had to be in the wrong place in the wrong time.”
He has me there. My voice is more contrite when I reply, “Fine, I’m sorry, okay? I obviously wasn’t trying to cause problems.”
Elian’s tone softens. “I know, but now we’re just doing the best we can to mitigate them. We’ll go to my house, you’ll swear an oath to my father, and then he’ll assign you some minor crime to prove they can trust you, and we’ll go on with our lives.”
Unease still swirls in my gut. “It sounds simple, but I can’t stop thinking about my parents. They would be so disappointed to find out I committed a crime.”
Elian’s voice is incredibly soft when he asks, “Would they rather you commit a crime, or end up floating in the canal?”
My first instinct is they’d rather I died than become a criminal.
However, I soon get past that and think about it emotionally instead of logically. Would their pride in my achievements disappear because I found myself in a situation I couldn’t escape from?
I know what my mom would say: I shouldn’t have put myself in that situation in the first place. And she’d be right. I knew the Vargas family had questionable ties. I knew what my parents talked about at night, after the younger kids went to sleep.
Nevertheless, I wanted them. I went on the dates; I went to the party, and I went on the boat yesterday. No one forced me. I chose it.
Which means I now have no choice at all.
“Okay, you’re right.” I thread my fingers through Elian’s. “Let’s go.”
Chapter17
For some stupid reason, I’d imagined a dark, eerie setting for this oath. Like a back alley filled with garbage and lit with a single streetlight, or a basement, perhaps one with skulls set in the walls and a suspicious grate on the stone floor.
I should have known better. No one on the Miami waterfront has a basement, and it’s broad daylight. On Sunday.
We pull into a driveway and I realize this is the first time I’ve seen Elian’s home. There’s a white stucco privacy fence, several feet taller than I am, and a matching white gate that opens slowly when Elian drives up and pushes buttons on a small black box on the driver’s side.
Once inside, we pull into a large round driveway with a fountain in the center. The front of the house is modern, all clean lines with white stucco and blue-tinted windows. I glimpse water between the house and the lush landscaping, which towers over the fence and creates an additional several feet of protection from prying eyes outside.
It’s as if, as soon as we entered, we’re on a private island. Hardly any sound carries to the house from Collins Avenue, and I can’t see anything besides greenery to the left or right.
Elian parks in front of the entrance and opens my door, escorting me inside.
Of course it’s all sleek, bright, and modern. Sparkling white terrazio-tiled floors set with sprinkles of glitter, and a massive three-story ceiling in the main living space. The entire house is decorated with sleek, neutral, minimalist furniture, interspersed with lush plants and colorful touches in the form of throw pillows and stunning art on the walls.
We don’t stop inside the cool, air-conditioned building. Instead, Elian escorts me directly out back, where his family is waiting.
If I’d imagined a large group of faceless people in hooded cloaks, I’d have been way off. The only people in sight are Sandro, Vincente Jr, and their parents. Everyone wears beachy casual clothing, and they’re enjoying a light brunch on the patio. The lush landscaping follows the line of their property down both sides and ends in a cluster of palms and tropical plants that block most of the view from the canal behind. I can just make out a boat—not the Queen of Hearts, but still easily a couple million dollars’ worth of yacht—and they have a sparkling blue pool, complete with hot tub and lounge chairs between.
Vincente Sr. smiles when he sees me approaching. He’s like a slightly more stout version of Sandro, shorter and rounder in the belly, but I can see the resemblance. “Ah Sloane, so nice to see you again. Please, have a seat,” he gestures to the chair on his right. Alicia sits on his left and she smiles warmly in my direction.
Until this point, I must have been suppressing my emotions when it came to this situation, because I am suddenly and acutely aware of the intense terror coursing through my body now.
Perhaps I’d been viewing Vincente Sr. through the lens of his sons, whom he clearly loves and dotes upon. But I’m just some random girl who saw something she shouldn’t have, and I’m now painfully aware that this man could have me killed and never found again.
