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“I hope you get your revenge one day, Gabriel. But it’ll require some more preparation. You can’t just throw yourself into battle with Victor without thinking.” Daphne put her hands on her hips.
“I know,” Gabriel sighed. “Let’s see how everyone is faring.”
Chapter Seventeen
Daphne
Esteban and Gabriel came back inside the village, and I followed them. We looked around to see numerous bodies of our enemies lying on the overthrown gate. Some of the villagers were injured. A woman was making rounds with the med kit. I believed her name was Jay.
Gabriel approached her. I remained standing beside Esteban, but I could hear their conversation.
“Is everybody alive?” Gabriel asked.
“Luckily, yes, it seems that everyone will be able to heal up. Nobody’s at death’s door, though some will need a week to return to full health.” Jay didn’t look up from checking her next patient as she gave the Alpha the report.
“Alright, keep up the good work,” Gabriel replied, and then he came back to where Esteban and I stood.
Esteban gestured for Adans and Engel to approach us.
“Have the bodies buried outside of the village in one grave,” Esteban commanded in his Alpha tone.
The two guards confirmed receiving the order and ventured towards the warehouse, probably in search of shovels.
“So Victor wants us both dead now,” Gabriel said when they were out of earshot. “I suppose it was only a matter of time until he changed his mind about leaving us alone.”
“He always wanted to be the ruler but now he longs to be the sole leader of Isla Paraiso. Of course, as long as any Torres is alive, someone could question his authority,” Esteban replied.
“Does that mean he plans to kill Hanny too?” Gabriel gave him a worried look.
Esteban’s expression turned grim. “I sure hope not.”
“We need to find him quickly and get my sister back!” Gabriel looked eager to run out of the village and go after Victor right this very moment.
I gave him a worried look. He didn’t really intend to be so impulsive, did he? We needed to think this situation through!
“Rushing will be your demise, Gabriel,” I finally spoke up. “Victor wants you to come running to him.”
“He has more men than we do – he outnumbers us more than two to one. If we attack him unprepared, we’ll lose our lives and what will become of our sleuth then?” Esteban tried to calm Gabriel down.
“I already got us a lot of ammunition and guns. We can’t do anything about the fact that we lack people. How much more prepared do you want us to be?” Gabriel spit out, anger seeming to get the better of him.
Esteban put a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down. We need a plan – a clever strategy which will let us win against Victor despite the odds.”
“Maybe we could lure him out? Get him alone? If the most problematic advantages Victor has over us are a higher number of men and a better defensible position, we should get him somewhere neutral and kill him there. Then our only worry will be overcoming Victor’s sheer power in his bear form.” I gave my suggestion.
Gabriel looked at me wide-eyed. Esteban chuckled, seeing his expression.
“That’s clever!” Gabriel exclaimed.
“And you were supposed to be the clever one.” Esteban made a jab at him. “It seems Daphne is a better strategist than you are.”
I blushed. “I’m more book smart than anything. I worked as a programmer back in my old life.” Referring to my time at the Sun of Perez as my old life now felt right. That perspective meant that what I had now, in the Santuario sleuth, was a new chapter — something fresh that I could build up from scratch all by myself. I would be the one who ruled over my fate now.
“Wow, that’s amazing!” Gabriel complimented me. “But how do we lure Victor out alone?”
“By giving him what he wants. You should tell him that you two are giving up the rights to the Torres name, and that you want to keep your lives in exchange for leaving the island. All you ask in return is for Victor to give your sleuth peace.” That idea was the best one I had for making the plan work.
“Do you think he would buy it?” Gabriel was skeptical.
