I hear the last part but set it aside for now. “It was made in New York?”
Stefan nods.
I’m not surprised, am I? My father had it made. Does Stefan know that?
“I recognized the name of the smith. And the reason I looked into it is there’s no way my uncle could afford to gift something like that. Not on his own.”
“My father paid for it,” I say.
He studies me.
I study him.
“This was inside it.” He gestures to the drive.
“Where?”
“In a secret compartment. There were food pellets in the compartment too. I’d thought they were just buffer and didn’t think twice about what got left on the bird cage floor.”
“I’m not following.”
“I had the pellets tested. They were poisoned.”
“Why? Why would someone poison birds? Why would my father? And why would he, and I assume it was him, why would he hide a thumb drive in our wedding gift?”
“Kill two birds with one stone. One pellet, I guess.”
“That’s not funny.”
“I’m not being funny.”
“What’s on the drive?”
“Betrayal. Rafa’s. My uncle’s. He’s the one who had you kidnapped. Rafa’s the one who told him your father was sending men to pick you up.”
My blood turns to ice and I shudder. “How would he know?”
“He had spyware on your cellphone. He’s probably heard and read everything.”
“But why would he do that to me?”
“I’d bet Catalano is behind Alex’s murder,” Stefan says, not answering my question.
“But why, Stefan?”
“To keep us apart? To hurt you? To plant an enemy in my house? What better for him to do that than to have an ally in my own bed.”
“I want to see what’s on that drive.”
“That’s fine. I’ll show you.”
He stands and I do too, and I follow him into his study. He has me sit in his chair as he loads the thumb drive into the computer. He lets me work my way through the files. The photos. The recordings. All of it.
And I feel sick.
“Oh God.”
“It’s all right. I’m taking care of it.”
I shake my head, look up at him. “You don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?”
“I made a mistake.”
His eyebrows furrow together.
“I saw my father,” I start, my voice unsteady. “Rafa took me there before he took me to see my brother. That’s where we were.”
Stefan’s face hardens.
“The bump on my head…when I tried to get out of the car, when I figured out where he was taking me, he knocked me out.”
“Rafa hit you?” he asks through gritted teeth.
“It’s not…I think…”
“He. Hit. You.”
He turns to the door, hands fisted.
I stand, grab hold of his arm.
“No, Stefan. I think he was desperate. Confused even.”
He spins to face me.
“He. Hit. You. Why are you making excuses for him?”
I think about Rafa at my father’s house. I think about what he said, what I saw, that remorse, that sadness.
But that’s not important right now.
“My father told me why you did it. Why you wanted custody of Gabe.”
“Your father is a master manipulator.”
“He told me he cut me off. That he’d left it all to Gabe. And that’s why you wanted him. That’s why you wouldn’t let me put my name down as guardian.”
He doesn’t say a word.
“It’s true, isn’t it?”
It takes him a moment, but he nods once.
“I need to call my brother, Stefan.”
When I try to scoot around him, he grabs hold of me. “He’s fine. Your brother’s fine.”
I shake my head. “He’s not. He’s…oh God. You don’t understand.”
“What have you done, Gabriela?”
I turn my face up to his. “Rafa moved him. Just yesterday. He moved Gabe and Melanie to a secret location. Out of my father’s reach. Out of yours.”
Stefan’s forehead wrinkles as he tries to make sense of what I’m saying. “You went to him for help.” It’s not a question. And I’m not sure it’s anger I feel from him. Betrayal maybe.
I betrayed him.
“I don’t know who to trust, Stefan. I keep making mistakes. And others keep paying for those mistakes. Everywhere I turn, I have enemies.”
He takes my arms, shakes me violently. “I’m not one of those enemies! When will you see that? When will you believe it?”
My eyes burn with unshed tears.
“Tell me. Tell me why you want Gabe. Say it yourself. Then tell me how you’re not my enemy. I mean, I’ve signed the papers. You don’t need me. I’m no use to you now. I have no value anymore. I’m not precious. I never was.” I mutter the last words under my breath and I don’t think he hears but, but when I see his face, I know I’m wrong.
Because Stefan stops.
And he just watches me for the longest time and his expression is so strange.
“You’re wrong. So wrong.” He releases me, steps away and runs a hand through his hair. “Fuck.” He shakes his head. “And you and I may be the last to see it.” He shifts his gaze away momentarily. “I am a fool.”
“What?”
“You are the most precious of pawns. Don’t you see?”
“I don’t understand.”
“And everyone knows it. I’ve underestimated my enemies.”
“Stefan?”
He turns to me. “You still don’t see.”
I’m confused.
“I care about you, Gabriela. You are precious to me. And they all know it.”
What?
He shifts his gaze, exhales like he’s just understood something. He looks at me again. “Hurting you hurts me. Rafa was right. He saw long before anyone else. You’re my weakness. And they’ll keep hurting you to hurt me.”
I don’t hear his words, though. They’re noise. White noise. I’m still trying to process what he just said.
Precious.
I’m precious to him.
Stefan takes his phone out of his pocket. “Where’s your brother?”
I look up at him and wonder if he realizes it. If he realizes what he just said. “I have the location on my phone. Rafa texted it to me.”
“Go get it.”
I hurry out of the study and up to my bedroom. I grab my phone, run back down to the study to find two soldiers inside with Stefan. He’s giving them orders. I recognize the one. Lucas from the market.
“Here,” I say, handing my phone to Stefan.
He takes it, reads the address, sits down behind his desk to type it into his computer.
“Call him,” he tells me without looking up.
But I don’t get a chance to because the sound of men’s raised voices coming from the front entrance of the house has us both up. Has Stefan drawing a weapon from a desk drawer as he pushes me behind him.
“Stay,” he commands, and opens the study door.