"Was it at the event in Panama?"
"Y-yes. I think so."
The man I've not met before pulls Carlos aside, and Zoe and I embrace.
"What—"
"Shh," she whispers sternly in my ear.
"Are you okay?" I whisper in hers.
She shakes her head in small movements and then loudly says, "I need the ladies' room. Vanessa, want to come powder your nose?"
"Yes." I turn to Carlos. "Is it okay?"
He pats my ass, but it's not noticeable to anyone else. "Yes, you may go. But first, meet the new Ambassador of Mexico, Eduardo Macias."
His eyes are dark and cold. When he bends and kisses my cheek, I shudder. He notices, but a sinister grin fills his face, as if he likes knowing he scares me.
"Time to go, Vanessa," Zoe chirps.
Eduardo swats her ass as she walks by, as if she's a piece of meat he owns.
She closes her eyes briefly. No one but I can see it. When we get into the bathroom, she goes to the sink and turns on the water. She takes the soap and washes her hands then widens her eyes for me to do the same.
I follow her lead.
"There are cameras here," she mutters.
"Where's Dirk?"
Pain fills her eyes. She blinks hard. "Dead, I think."
My gut drops. "What?"
"They killed him." She wipes her eyes and puts more soap on her hands.
"Zoe."
"I can't talk about it. I'll break down. Please."
"Okay."
She sniffles. "How are you?"
I catch her eye in the mirror and focus on my hands. "Out of the straitjacket."
She gapes but quickly recovers. "No. He didn't?"
"Yeah."
The water continues to run. Unspoken words and emotions pass through our eyes in our reflections.
Zoe breaks our silence first. "Penelope is here."
"What?"
"They sent her back to Panama. And Julieta...oh God." She closes her eyes.
"What?"
"She's back on the planes. They..."
Dread consumes me. "What?"
"I saw her today. They roughed her up. She had bruises everywhere. I... I hardly recognized her."
Tears drip down both our cheeks.
"No one escaped, then? They got all of us?"
"I haven't heard about or seen Naomi or Emilia. Have you?"
"Not since Tinker's."
"And Hunter? Is he alive?" she asks with hope in her eyes.
"He's in the jungle. He... He puts red hibiscuses out for me every night."
She smiles, and another tear falls. "That's great. I like Hunter. I wish... I wish I had a sign that Dirk was alive." She breaks down and covers her hand over her face, sobbing.
I wrap my arm around her back. "Why do you—"
A group of women walk into the room, and we straighten up.
"I'm so happy for you. Please let Carlos know that if he wants me to sing at your wedding, I would love to. Sorry, I just get so emotional over weddings!"
"Thank you. I will."
We nod to the others and leave.
She turns and hugs me. "I need to get ready to sing. Take care."
"You, too." We part, and sadness fills me. I turn the corner and go back to Carlos. He hands me a glass of champagne and kisses me. I play the part of the excited fiancée and focus on each conversation so I don't say or respond to anything in a way that will make Carlos angry.
I try to scan the room between conversations to find Penelope, but I don't see her anywhere. There are at least three hundred of the Global Leaders in the room. They all have their dates and we're seated at tables of eight.
We take our seats at the round tables, and Zoe comes out in hardly anything. She's wearing a bodysuit that has glitter all over it and nude pieces covering her privates. The only jewelry she wears is a necklace. It's a rattlesnake pendant, and it hits her cleavage.
She holds it while she sings, and her eyes glisten. After her first song, she speaks in Spanish to the crowd, announcing that it's Jorge Cano's birthday.
The room erupts singing "Happy Birthday," and Zoe walks over to him. Jorge sits between the U.S. President and U.K. Prime Minister and eyes her up like she's his dessert.
The head of the Mexican drug cartel is sitting with two of the most powerful men of the free world.
More guilt, disgust, and fear rip through me about what is to come for the world. But I don't know how to stop it.
And the more Zoe sings near Jorge, the more anxious I get.
The longer she is near him, the more the men eye her. Jorge reaches out, grabs her, and throws her over his shoulder and slaps her ass several times. The men in the room all laugh and shout. Jorge sets her down with her back to him. He grinds against her ass.
Her eyes widen through it all, but she continues to sing. Suddenly, all the lights go out, and the power to the microphone dies.
Screams fill the room, and two gun shots fire close together. Carlos gets under the table, but I'm frozen in my seat. He yanks at my lower body, and I slide under the tablecloth next to him.
"What's happening?" I yell.
"I don't know."
Minutes pass slowly. It seems like forever until the lights finally turn on.
Jorge Cano has a bullet in his head. The President and Prime Minister are under the table with their security details on top of them. The Mexican ambassador, Eduardo Macias, lays on the ground in a pool of his own blood.
I scan the room, looking for Zoe, but I don't see her. The only two people dead are Jorge and Eduardo, and she's not under them.
There is so much commotion that no one seems to question where she is.
Carlos rushes to the door, dragging me with him. As I'm running out, I finally see Penelope on the other side of the room. A tall, dark-haired man is escorting her out.
Our eyes meet, but Carlos whisks me through the entrance and outside.
There's more chaos. Reporters are screaming, trying to get stories. Women are crying in shock, and men seem rattled.
Carlos gets on his phone and screams for his driver to pick us up, but there's already a line of cars jammed in the street.
I continue to look for Penelope and Zoe, but I can't find either.
When the car finally arrives, Carlos is agitated, and his phone rings.
"How did that happen?" he barks.
I stare out the window, clasping my hands, hoping he doesn't take his rage out on me.
"This is going to cause major issues. With Jorge dead, his son is going to want to step in."
Just like Santiago did when he killed Alejandro.
"Torres is going to get greedy now. There are no other players for the supply. And Jorge's son isn't capable of handling what his father was running."
His body stiffens next to mine, and I shudder.
"I'll meet you at your house." He hangs up and rolls the divider window down. "Prime Minister Vasquez's house."
Within minutes, we pull into the Prime Minister's drive. Carlos turns to me. "Change into something I like and wait for me in our bedroom. I'll wake you up when I get home."
A new curdling in my stomach occurs.
He gets out, and as soon as I get home, I do as instructed. I put on lingerie and a robe over it, then go out to the balcony.