It terrified her to ask if Abril said that because she might have had her hand in causing this chaos. Had she? Was that even possible?
“Who is at the gates?”
Abril shrugged. “Chris, they said. Your Canadian.”
Valeria would have noted the your Canadian comment, but she was a little busy with the fact Abril said it was Chris.
“Are you sure?” she demanded.
“That’s what they said before they took off.”
Valeria stared out into the distance, watching the men disappear down the darkening dirt road. Jorge and Samuel stared in the same direction; their fight forgotten for the moment.
Was it him?
Was it Chris?
God.
She hoped so.
She needed it to be so.
Maria’s arms tightened around her mother’s neck. “Mamá?”
She couldn’t speak or smile for her child.
Valeria looked to Abril who was far calmer, and ready. Although, for what, she didn’t have a clue. “What do we do now?”
“We get a bag ready for you and her.”
“A bag—”
Abril nodded. “Quickly, before they get back or Jorge notices something is up. Wouldn’t want to ruin his part of the plan when mine went off without a hitch, no?”
What was happening?
Valeria didn’t dare ask.
Right now, it was just better to do what she was told.
• • •
Valeria came back out of the house, although she had to make Maria stay tucked away in her bedroom with the little pink book bag hidden under her bed, as the men appeared on the darkened road. They walked in a line, with one moving slower than the rest in front.
Her heart ached.
“Is that him?” Jorge asked. “Is it?”
Samuel grunted under his breath the closer the men came. “It looks like it.”
Abril, who had now taken a seat on the wicker chairs on the porch, stood and gave Valeria a quick nod. “You good?”
“Yeah, Abril.”
“Good. Keep up, okay?”
What?
Valeria didn’t get the chance to ask, her attention going back to the men as their boots crunched against the gravel road. One guard picked up his pace, jogging past the slower man heading the group to dart in Jorge and Samuel’s direction. Overhead, the blackened sky twinkled with stars, but for whatever reason, it seemed foreboding to Valeria.
Night always held secrets.
Didn’t it?
“Chris says they’re coming, boss,” the man told Jorge. “Here—the Garcías got a hold of him and then let him go to send us a message. They will storm the ranch.”
Valeria went cold all over.
They were secluded.
It was a strength as much as it was a weakness out here. There was no way out of this fucking ranch except the road. The miles and miles of desolate land surrounding them only led to the cliffs, or more fucking land.
How were they supposed to get out?
Or ... was that the point?
Jorge stared over his shoulder to the women on the porch. “So, we fight back. We’ve got the artillery, and—”
“The girls need to go,” Samuel muttered. “They can’t be here for a fucking gun fight, Jorge. You were the one who demanded we stay on the ranch while the Garcías were tearing us apart outside of here because it would be safer. That’s what you said, but it’s not fucking safe anymore. They need to go if the Garcías are coming here. Don’t be stupid.”
“I’m not, I’m—”
“You won’t have time,” came a quiet, yet still strong, voice.
Valeria’s gaze drifted to the bruised, sore-looking man approaching the group with the rest of the guards at his back. He looked like Chris, sure. From the browns of his eyes, to the shape of his face. He wore the same clothes, although now they were dirty, tattered, and bloodied, that he had when he left. Everything about him reflected a man she fell in love with through stolen moments and heated stares. With only a passing glance, one wouldn’t be able to see he wasn’t Chris.
She sensed it in her heart.
His raising hand, empty of a familiar woven leather band, only confirmed what her heart and soul already recognized. He swore to Maria he wouldn’t take that band off his wrist, and he didn’t break his promises. Ever. The man standing in front, the one who sounded and looked just like Chris, was not Chris at all.
His twin, she realized.
Valeria was looking at Corrado Guzzi.
She had another striking understanding. She was the only one who saw the difference. He had never mentioned his twin to anyone else there—never spoke about his life, family, or siblings.
The man—Corrado—passed her a glance, but didn’t linger. There was no familiarity in his stare beyond recognizing her face, perhaps because someone had told him who she was. She wasn’t sure, but he didn’t stare at her the way Christopher did.
His eyes didn’t hold love for her.
Because this man didn’t love her.
“What does that mean?” Jorge snapped.
“They dropped me off just far enough away to walk in,” Corrado said, wiping at the blood on the corner of his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket, “but they weren’t waiting. If they’re not already coming in on the ranch, they will be soon. You won’t have time to get out of here. And not the women, or your daughter.”
Abril stepped forward, taking the front stairs on the porch two at a time until she reached the ground, interjecting herself into the conversation with, “The horses. We can take the horses out with a couple of men, yes? We’ll be safe as long as we’re away—they won’t think to search for us out there, Jorge.”
“I don’t kn—”
“Let them take the fucking horses,” Samuel snarled. “We don’t have time for this shit!”
The roar of an engine punctuated Samuel’s statement in the distance. Following that came the sound of rapid fire shattering the silent night.
Pat, pat, pat, pat.
Jorge was already turning to head for one guard homes where they kept the guns, and whatever else they needed to defend the land. “Take the horses, then. And a man for Val, and one for Abril. Go.”
He didn’t glance back as he left.
Because he didn’t care, Valeria realized.
Jorge never had.
It didn’t even sting.
Abril wasted no time looking Valeria’s way. “Get Maria ... the horses are already tacked up.”
Right.
Because anyone who had been to this place would understand that there was no way out ... without a horse, and a fucking boat. Someone like Abril.
That should have been another clue.
Nothing here was as it seemed.
• • •
“What’s happening, Mamá? Why is it so loud?”
Valeria hushed her daughter as she shoved the girl up into the saddle. “Just hold tight, okay. We’re going to go on a little—” Gunfire cut through the air, far enough away from the stables, sure, but loud enough to take her breath away. Maria’s eyes widened further, but she was determined to get on these horses, and leave, now. “Come on, move up for me.”
Maria did.
Valeria mounted the horse, too.
“Abril—”