Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Santos’s jaw tightens. It’s an infinitesimal muscle that works, but I see it.
“What would Thiago Avery be doing out at the lighthouse? What business would he have there? Particularly last night of all nights?” Caius asks.
“I swear. I remember right,” I plead with Santos. “You have to go look for him. If he survived, he’ll be injured.”
“No one could survive that fall. If there was a fall,” Caius says.
I look at him, then at Santos, who is still watching me. “Water was high. If he was there, if he went over, his body would have washed out to sea anyway,” Santos says to his brother.
“You want me to go check it out?” Caius asks.
“Best to. Take a couple men. Search the lighthouse to see if there’s any evidence.”
“I’m not lying!”
“I’m not saying you’re lying,” Santos says to me. “But you hit your head pretty hard from the looks of it.”
“No. I didn’t hit it. He… He slammed it into the wall.”
“Thiago?” Caius asks.
“No. I…” I’m getting confused. “No.” I pause, collect myself. “The other man. I hit my head twice. Once when Thiago pulled me back. Once when the other man slammed it against the wall after he pushed Thiago over.”
Caius’s eyebrows rise high on his forehead. He steps close to his brother and turns his back to whisper something in his ear. Santos watches me, but nods to Caius and a moment later, Caius leaves. He closes the door behind him, leaving Santos and me alone once again.
“Tell me what you remember about the other man who was out there.”
“Not much. I never saw his face. It was too dark. Thiago didn’t seem surprised to see him, though.” I pause, remembering a detail. “He told me I wasn’t supposed to be up there before the man came.”
“It’s all sounding very jumbled, Madelena.”
“It’s the truth,” I tell him.
“You may not remember correctly. You were upset. Understandably.”
I remember why I was upset then. What had led to the events of the night. Surveillance footage of Santos at Uncle Jax’s house the night he was killed. Did my husband kill my uncle?
He comes to sit facing me on the bed and I study him, trying to glean the truth from his eyes.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” he says, touching the back of his hand to my cheek.
It’s hard to understand how someone can possess such extreme personalities. He can be violent. I’ve seen the result of his violence. Yet, with me, he is so tender, so careful.
“If Thiago is somehow out there, Caius will find him,” Santos says. “But you can’t mention this to anyone else. No one, am I clear?”
“Why?”
“Because if he did go over the edge, who do you think the Avery family will come after when they learn what’s happened?”
“But if he’s injured or worse… He saved my life, Santos.”
“We’ll investigate, but for now, you only talk to me, understand? Not even Caius.”
That makes me look at him questioningly. Not that I’d talk to Caius unless I absolutely had to, but why would he say that?
Santos sets his hand in a particular pattern on my jaw, and I realize he’s lining up his fingers with those of the man who grabbed me. His eyes narrow infinitesimally, and I’m reminded again of how protective he is of me even if I don’t understand why—because I do remember what I’d realized after I’d stabbed him.
I have to keep one thing in mind, though. How I feel about him has nothing to do with how he feels about me.
“I didn’t kill your uncle, Madelena,” he says abruptly, taking me out of the moment. I watch him, but I don’t speak. I don’t know what to say. “Your uncle was dead when I got there.”
“What?”
“He was already dead. Face down in the pool.”
Is he lying? I can’t tell. Because he has everything to gain and nothing to lose by lying.
“I asked you to trust me and you said you wanted to. I’m asking you again.”
“How can I? How can I blindly trust you given what I know, what I’ve seen with my own eyes? You don’t give me anything, Santos.”
“Have I harmed you after our oath? Have I caused you violence?”
I don’t answer.
“I will protect you. I’ve told you that.”
“It’s not enough.”
He studies me, face growing grave. He gets up, then walks around the room. He turns back to study me, one hand on the back of his neck, the other in his pocket. “You want something? Okay.” He returns to sit on the edge of the bed. “You once asked me what it was we had on your father that made him give you up so easily.”
A weight settles deep in my belly.
“Do you still want to know that?”
I feel the blood drain from my face as my heart stops beating. I shiver with a sudden chill and nod. Because even though I know I will hate this answer, I can’t back out now. I can’t not know.