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“My aunt—”
“Very much dead. When my guys couldn't find you, I was going to use your brother as leverage to get your attention sooner but he fell into a coma for weeks from smoke inhalation and woke up not knowing who he was. He didn't remember the fire, you, or his name. It was like the majority of his memory had been wiped clean. Dissociative amnesia. Probably brought on by trauma. After all, watching your own aunt burn alive can't be easy.”
“You're a fucking monster. You could've had your money already but instead you decided you should keep my brother as some plaything.”
“Meanwhile he sees me as his saving grace. I rescued him from a back alley attack. He was released from the hospital with nowhere to go and I offered him a place to stay. Then I gave him a job. You can say we helped each other.”
“He was only seventeen, you sick fuck.”
He sits back in his chair, pursing his lips. “As much as I'd love to keep reminiscing about the past, we are running out of time. It's only a matter of time before your boyfriend comes to yourrescue again. Not that he'll be able to find us easily but I can't take any chances, and I've been waiting too long as it is. Where's my money?”
“In a bank account under a different name.”
“Looks like we'll be taking a little trip together tomorrow then. We'll go to the bank and you'll make a very large transfer into another account.”
“If I do, you won't only let me go but you'll also let me take my brother with me.”
He laughs and it's chilling. Those dark, empty eyes peer into mine. “Good luck getting him to go with you. You're a stranger, remember? And I'm his everything.”
He straightens his suit, scooting to the edge of his seat. “How about this? You can have your brother if you can somehow convince him to go with you.” His smile is blinding and his eyes crinkle in the corners. He isn't going to let me go. He'll never let me go, and he knows damn well my brother will never leave with me or even blink an eye when he kills me.
“Deal,” I say, keeping my voice steady. I have to figure out a way to get out of here. I'll wait until we're at the bank. He isn't going to do to me what he did to my aunt. I've also decided right here and now he won't get that money either. Fuck him. The only thing he deserves is to rot in the ground beside my father.
“Bueno.” He sticks out his hand and then laughs. “Oh right. Your hands are tied. We can pretend anyway.” He moves his closed fist through the air.
A knock sounds at the door. “Come in.”
A tall man in a similar suit as Eddie stands in the doorway. “The room is ready, sir. He has food, water, and a change of clothes waiting for him.”
“Excellent. Help him find his way there.” His gaze shifts back to me. “I'll see you bright and early. Don't fuck this up or else you and your brother both die.”
I shudder when he strokes my cheek. “You look so much like him, you know. It's uncanny. Almost like I'm looking at a damn ghost.” His hand remains on me a little longer before I'm left alone in the room with one of his goons. He's at least gentler than the last one when taking me to the room. He undoes my restraints and locks the door behind him when he leaves. All the windows are wired shut. There's nothing in the room but a mattress, blanket, a Styrofoam plate of food, and a bottle of water. I shake off my shoes and push off my socks before plopping down on the sheet-covered mattress. Were they short of pillows or something?
I lift the sandwich from the plate, inspecting it carefully before taking a bite. Ham and cheese. I hate the taste of ham but finish my food anyway and down the bottle of water in one sitting. I was thirsty and hungry from not eating or drinking since lunch yesterday.
They put us to bed at the warehouse without dinner or water, too lazy to bother, knowing we won't starve or become dehydrated after one day. Holding onto the charm of my brother's necklace, I curl up on the bed and my tears hit the blanket. I can't stop them from coming no matter how long I lie here.
Moans come from next door and I cover my ears the best I can, humming one of Antonio's songs, not waiting for the plane to land this time. Not waiting for him to show up. Not waiting for anything but sleep to take me so I can temporarily escape my current nightmare.
He promised he wouldn't leave me.
I lied but so did he.
Sixteen
Antonio
I'm halfway down the street to my house and stop to turn around. Before I can reach the warehouse again, I stop at a bar. Ignoring the men and women smiling at me on the way inside, I order two shots, guzzling them down in seconds. He lied to me. I needed to be away from him to think with a clear head. I'm not sure alcohol will help but it'll at least numb the pain stabbing at my chest.
When the shot glasses are empty, I order two more and lower myself onto a barstool, my mind running a mile a minute on everything that happened today. When Phillip never came back from the bathroom, I searched the whole restaurant up and down twice before checking the parking lot. I saw my car was gone and my blood boiled. He left. He didn't just leave but he left me, right as I was falling hard. At first I thought maybe he did me a favor, then I decided I wasn't going to allow him to get away so easily after all the damage he did to my heart and emotions.
He woke me up from a very long sleep of misery and loneliness only to send me right back in a matter of minutes. This wasn't about him running away from the cartel. It was about him running fromme. I contacted a car to take me to the club after I saw where he was using the tracker I’d planted on him. I didn't understand why he chose to go there until he told me about his brother, and then I put it all together.
He called me Tony and looked at me with those round blue eyes and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. Phillip wasn't Phillip. He was Garrett, Lucian's younger brother. It should feel wrong that I slept with my husband's brother. I should feel disgusted over it and guilty but my anger over the lies and deception overpower everything else.
Everything I had with him felt so real and right but it was all a lie. Did he steal from the cartel because of me? I throw back another shot, my throat burning along with the rest of me. Has he been following me all this time? And if so, why? Is it because he thought I had something to do with his brother's death or was it something else. I won't get these answers without him. I drain the other shot and my phone buzzes.
Fernando: Something happened at the warehouse. Three guards are dead and Phillip's gone.
