Love.
The word hits me like a bullet, fragmenting inside my soul.
"I'm not capable of love," I confess, throat raw. "But I have... feelings."
My voice sounds foreign to my own ears as I try to unpack these thoughts to a child. I feel like I'm fumbling through this, and I don't know that I'm making any progress. But when Eva looks up at me, the tears have fallen from her eyelids and streamed down her cheeks, and she does not try to hide them. She is showing me her own vulnerability.
"Everyone is capable of love," she whispers. "Even monsters. Because monsters are still men, and men have hearts. Even you, Santiago De La Rosa."
I can feel my grimace. My doubt. It must show on my face. But Eva leans forward, studying me with an intensity that no girl of her age should possess.
"I hate you for taking her away from me," she says. "You don't let me talk to her or see her. And you keep her locked up like a prisoner. If I'm being honest, I don't think you deserve her."
"Those might be… valid points," I answer uncomfortably.
"My point is you shouldn't go after her. Not if you don't love her."
I dip my head and rub my aching temples. I don't know how to answer that. But I know that not having her here is not an option.
"Eva, she's in danger," I tell her. "She's been taken, and she's being held somewhere against her will. Abel is involved somehow, and you're the only person who can help me right now. If something happens to her, if I don't get her back..." My voice fractures, and I reach out to touch her arm but stop short. "I am begging you."
She frowns, worrying her lip between her teeth. "If that’s true, how could I help?”
"I need to know where Abel might have taken her. It doesn't matter how small or insignificant you think it might be. It can be any place at all. We are running out of time, Evangeline. Your sister is pregnant, and he plans to take her baby. Our baby.”
Her eyes widen in disbelief. “Abel would have told me if that were true.”
“He didn’t tell you because he doesn’t want her to have the baby,” I answer.
She sits there quietly, peeking up at me several times while she digests this news. I gather she’s trying to determine what’s true and what’s not.
“I have no reason to lie to you,” I say. “I’m not a man who needs to be deceptive. I might say something you won’t like, but I won’t lie to you.”
Her brows pinch together in challenge. “Why was my sister in the hospital?”
“Because she overdosed on aspirin. And if you’d like to see her medical records, I have copies in my office. With proof of her pregnancy.”
She flinches at the news I deliver without any sugar-coating, considering it for a long moment. When she speaks again, her voice is softer. “Why would Abel want to get rid of her baby?”
“Because he hates me, and he can’t stand the thought of her having my baby.”
“I know he hates you,” she admits.
I meet her gaze, so there can be no misunderstandings that what I’m telling her is the truth. “He tried to kill me, Eva. He hired someone to poison me, and I almost died. Your brother is a dangerous man, and I don’t know what he might do to Ivy. But I know she isn’t safe, and I need your help.”
She sucks in a sharp breath and stands up, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Then why are we here? Let's go look for her."
A knock on the door interrupts us, and when it opens, I'm surprised to see Marco standing there. My eyes move over his face, searching for any sign of the news I've been dreading.
"Boss." He nods at me and then Eva. "Someone left a package at the front gate. There's an address inside."
"Ivy?" I breathe.
He jerks his chin. "I think that's the meaning of it. But it could be a trap."
I glance down at Eva, who's now tugging at my sleeve. "Take me with you," she pleads.
"I can't." I frown. "It's too dangerous."
She glares up at me and shoves me away. "Then go get my sister and make sure she’s safe. Don't waste any time."
I turn around and head for the door, but the next thing she utters follows me out, echoing all the way down the hallway.
"I guess that means you do love her."
4 Ivy
Several hours pass as two of the men leave with one of the cars. I’m so tired and feel myself drifting off when I hear a car door open and close. By the time I get to the window, whoever it is is already inside.
I wonder if it’s the doctor. Will he force me to have an abortion? I think about Dr. Chambers giving me that birth control shot, knowing I didn’t know what it was. But a birth control shot and an abortion are two very different things.
I don’t know if it’s relief I feel when one of the men, the wiry one, walks into the bedroom carrying a bag of food from a fast-food place. My relief is short-lived when he gives me a gap-toothed grin and sets the bag on the nightstand. That and the single bed are the only pieces of furniture in the room.
“Doc’s running late,” he says and turns to go. “Dinner.”
“Wait!”
Stopping, he turns to face me, and I feel myself shrinking back. “My wrists. Please undo the zip ties. They hurt.”
“No can do.” He takes another step out.
“Tie them in front then. I need to use the bathroom, and I can’t like this.”
The other man comes into view, this one so big he has to hunch down to fit through the
