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Donato’s phone rang. The smile on my face froze. Carlos flashed a reassuring look across the table. It wasn’t a promise of good news, but that he’d be there for me no matter what happened.
“Excuse me.” Donato placed his napkin on the table and moved away.
I couldn’t stop staring as he spoke low on the phone near the windows with his back to us. The call didn’t last long.
His expression was unreadable when he turned around.Oh, no.They’d found Jason, and he was dead.You don’t know that. Stop expecting the worst.
“Have you ever played checkers, son?”
My brain tripped over the first time I could remember anyone calling Gabriel son. It was just a term to most people, but to me, it held weight. I didn’t mind Donato calling him that, but I only wished he meant it in a grandfatherly way.
“No, sir.”
“Do you have a set?” Those hawk eyes landed on me. He was intimidating, yet there was something about him that was trustworthy.
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“Then we’ll play next time.” The promise didn’t seem to be made lightly.
“Who wants dessert?” Valentina rose and pushed her chair under the table.
“Me,” Gabriel shouted.
“Me too,” Carlos agreed.
They took off for the kitchen, leaving Donato and me out of earshot.
“He escaped from the yard. Someone dressed as a guard released him. They left in a vehicle found abandoned about five miles away. For all practical purposes, he’s vanished.” Donato slipped his phone back into his pants pockets. “Do you have any idea where he might go?”
I lifted and lowered my shoulders. Jason was practically a stranger. I didn’t particularly want to know where and who he hung out with.
“We’re not close anymore.” I glanced at Gabriel, and that was all I needed to say.
He nodded once. “He will be found.”
I wrapped my arms around my middle. “But will he be dead or alive?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Carlos
“There’s beenno sign of him.”
Twenty-four hours of nothing. About Jason. About Eduardo. The silence was driving me mad, but Holly and I had been getting through it as best we could.
“It’s not that difficult to disappear when you want to.” Muriella rocked on the porch I recognized as Miss Ruby’s house. If anyone understood the truth of those words, she did.
Another apology was on my tongue for the turmoil I’d put her through, but she silenced me with a look.
“When will you return home?” I’d come to New York to spend time with my sister. We video chatted every day, but it wasn’t the same as in person. While I preferred she were here, the Jacobs family needed her.
“Soon. Miss Ruby is much better.”
“I’m happy to hear that.”
She took a sip of water. “How is everything with Holly? You’ve been clammy when we’ve spoken.”
“Clammy?” I shifted on my barstool.
