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Not that my own family was any better. We put on the same mocking pageant of normality as well, despite the small empire that my father was trying to build.
The house was unnaturally quiet as I padded down the hallway. The carpet was plush and soft under my bare feet, which I hadn’t noticed the last time I was out of my room, but then again, I’d been mindless with terror. Now, I barely made a sound as I headed to the stairs.Good, I thought.Maybe I could walk right out the front door of this hellhole.
But where would I go? The thought of being anywhere near the water made my stomach churn.
I slipped down the stairs, the oak floor cool under my feet, my eyes darting to every corner as I made my descent. The stairs led into the foyer; the front door was right there…but I didn’t touch it. It was futile to even try. Instead, I made my way down the little hallway that surely led to a living room or the kitchen.
Or both, as it turned out. The room was cavernous: half dedicated to a lounging space, and the other dominated by a chef’s dream kitchen. Helena was standing at the stove, prodding at what looked to be sweetbreads that she was shallow-frying in a pan.
The smell of cooking onions made my stomach burble. I wasn’t sure if Helena heard me or sensed me, but she turned to me with a wide smile. “Mi amor! It’s so good to see you in my kitchen! You must be starving.”
I was. I hadn’t had much of an appetite yesterday for obvious reasons, but it was hard to match her radiant energy. “Thank you for making breakfast,” I mumbled as she shooed me onto a stool at the large, gleaming island. She turned and plated up some of the finished sweetbreads, and added some scrambled eggs that I hadn’t noticed to the plate as well. “Eat,” she said as she dropped the plate in front of me. “You’re too skinny as it is.”
I hummed, smiling down at the healthy portion of food. “My mother wouldnotagree with you there,” I said, and I felt a pang when I pictured my mother’s frowning countenance. She and I might not have had the greatest relationship, but I was sure that my being gone was worrying her sick.Poor Madre, I thought. That thought disappeared with the first bite of my breakfast. I let out a little groan of delight. It was easily the best thing I’d eaten so far this week. The smoothness of the eggs soothed the leftover sting in my throat from choking on saltwater. “Gracias, Helena.”
The older woman waved me off, but her grin was wide and proud. “It’s nothing,” she assured me. “I just thought this morning warranted a special kind of meal.”
Her words felt like a kick to the chest, and all the good feelings drained out of me. My eyes darted around, looking for Omar and his threatening glower. “Where is…he?” Even saying his name felt like it might summon him, and while I knew that seeing him was unavoidable, I wasn’t ready yet. Which man would it be today? My captor or my savior?
Which would I rather see?
“Omar is busy this morning,” Helena said with a shrug that could mean a million different things.Busycould mean doing paperwork in an office…or smashing the skull of an enemy. That was an enforcer’s job, after all. It was the role that Apá expected Matteo to fill, even if my tenderhearted little brother would never be anywhere near as ruthless. He didn’t have it in him.
Omar Castillo, however, did. In spades. He seemed to relish the destruction that he caused. “Why did he let me out?”
Helena shrugged again. “You’ll have to askel jefethat yourself. He doesn’t tell me much.”
I laughed, and it wasn’t a happy sound. “Now, why don’t I believe that?”
She waggled her eyebrows at me. “I would be a poor housekeeper indeed if I didn’t lend an ear to my very stressed-out employer at times,” she said, “and I’d be an even poorer one if I let any opportunity to eavesdrop pass me by.”
Helena said the last in a dramatic whisper, and I laughed again, more genuinely this time. But just as suddenly as the burst of laughter came, it died, and my stomach twisted. “He nearly killed me yesterday, and now I’m sitting in his kitchen. Why?”
“I wish I understood the way his mind worked, but Omar has always had his own way of processing things.” She raised her hand when I opened my mouth. “Not that I’m excusing what he’s done to you. It’s despicable how he’s behaving.”
“Do you know what happened in Miami?”
She gave the same, delicate lift of her shoulders. “I’ve gleaned enough information from what I’ve heard. He killed a lot of your family, didn’t he,mi amor?”
I forced myself to eat another bite of the sweetbreads, despite my swirling stomach. “My father sent men after Angel. He’s in a coma.” Her gasp told me that she hadn’t quite known that part.Mierda. “That’s why Omar went after my family.”
Helena was quiet for a long moment. “It doesn’t make it right,” she said finally, not looking at me.
I reached out and touched the woman’s arm, bringing her warm eyes to mine. “It’s okay to be glad,” I told her. “You’re loyal to the Castillos. You obviously care for Omar; I’m sure you feel the same way about Angel.”
Helena’s carefully constructed neutrality cracked, and her eyes filled with tears. “Those monsters ran me ragged in the summertime,” she said, voice breaking ever so slightly. “But I do adore them. If Angel—” She whimpered, unable to say the words, and I squeezed her arm gently, comfortingly.
“He’s going to be okay,” I said, even though I had no idea if that was actually true. “He’s Angel Castillo. He’s strong…even my Apá is frightened of him.”
Helena stepped back and wiped at her eyes. “Eat,” she said thickly. “No more talk about what we can’t change, yeah?”
Dutifully, I took a bite of eggs. “Tell me about my newfound freedom,” I said, changing the subject just like she wanted. “Am I to return to my room after this?”
The older woman shook her head. “You have run of the island, according to Omar.”
“Run of the—?” She couldn’t mean that.La Bestiawould never be so kind. “All of it? Why would he allow that?”
“Where are you going to go?” Helena threw the question that I’d asked myself earlier back at me. “Unless you build some kind of signal fire to get a passing boater’s attention, we’re pretty isolated here. It doesn’t make any sense to keep you trapped in that room until you lose your mind.”
