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“What are you gonna do?”
He cuts my arms loose. “Taking you for a hike, as I promised.” He then appraises my expression. “It’s not that hard. Even a ten-year-old can do it.”
Has his bodyguard found Raffi and taken him here too?
Don lets out a mocking laugh. “I like it when you’re afraid. I mean, piss-in-your-pants afraid.” He’s been holding my gun, and now he’s pointing it at me. “Walk!”
We follow a trail that winds through a forest of aspen and spruce trees. I’m thankful that my stomach cramps have stopped.
Don gazes at the sky, then at me. “Hurry up! What happens to your gazelle legs?”
“I need a drink, Don!”
He tosses me a bottle of water. “Keep going!”
I drink as I go, twigs snapping under my feet. Then my steps start squelching muddy ground as we move in deeper.
Fatigue sets in. But I have to keep going—with a positive mind. I can’t afford to be handled or hurt by this man. Besides, if Raffi is here, I want to be with him—conscious and with enough in the tank to defend my son and myself.
Don suddenly whistles. “Wrong way!” He nods to his left.
“Where the hell are we going?”
The direction that Don wants us to take is overgrown. We are in a remote area, but the main trail isn’t that hard to find, so I’m not surprised that his plan includes a route that will make a search that much more difficult.
“The unknown can be scary, can’t it?” Sarcasm dribbles out of his speech. “Like that night in Kenya when I was about to fuck you bareback.”
He stops walking, prompting me to look back at him. The bastard simply wants to watch my reaction. He then blabbers in amusement, “No, I’m not gonna fuck you here, if that’s what you’re thinking. After that cunt Hartley dumped his filth in you? Jesus, no!”
I maintain a straight face.
Getting nothing out of me, he motions at me to keep moving. Although the vegetation is thick, we are following an existing path—narrow nonetheless, our two feet hardly fit its width.
After about a couple of miles meandering the tiny trail, we tramp on what’s seemingly an endless incline.
I must give it to Don. Without his ED pills, his stamina in bed was minuscule. But out here, he’s keeping it up despite the terrain and distance.
And he keeps on gabbing. “I really thought you would’ve been more thankful, Iz. When a notorious Brazilian overlord put a price on your head, it was certain death. But my family stopped that. Not only saving your dad but his wife and his young child.”
“What a pair of saints!” I mock, wiping sweat off my forehead.
“You’re such a condescending bitch—just like your parents were. You know, Isabelli Martins, getting your family out and taking you safely into this country was no easy feat. My parents spent money and resources, not to mention risking their own lives.”
“My parents didn’t owe you anything. Fletcher Tech earned millions off them. Your father enslaved my family. Just like you did me. And we both know what your father did to mine.”
In the months leading up to his death, my dad had turned into a human statue—distant, silent, bereft. Although there was no proof, I have no doubt Fletcher Senior caused my father’s heart failure in the end.
I stop and turn to face Don. “We, the Martins, didn’t owe you nothing!”
He sneers, indulging in my anger. “Our parents may have broken even. But you, lady,youowe me. I saved your life. I cleaned up your mess.” He gives me a few seconds to consider. “Oh, don’t look at me like that! Yes, I introduced you to that fool Nando. But you, falling in love with him? It was your choice. It was your most fucked-up decision, but hey, you had Raffi.”
Don waves my gun that has become his now. “Keep walking!”
He wasn’t wrong—I have Raffi, the only good that came out of all the disasters the Fletchers had imposed on my family. But with every step I’m taking now, I question my son’s future. I will keep defending him, but for how long?
I stop to catch my breath. There’s a ridgeline ahead, and Don gestures to me to keep going toward it. I stomp ahead of him—Raffi may be there waiting.
Don follows leisurely, seemingly happy to be a few steps behind me. But out of the blue, I feel a thump behind my knees. Then he swiftly charges at my back. As soon as I lose my balance, he smashes my shin against a rock on the ground.
