Total pages in book: 767
Estimated words: 732023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 3660(@200wpm)___ 2928(@250wpm)___ 2440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 732023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 3660(@200wpm)___ 2928(@250wpm)___ 2440(@300wpm)
Cristiano whipped around and pulled the trigger.
I screamed when the shot rang through the air, covering my ears as I hit the ground. Diego crumpled, clutching his bloodied thigh.
Men pounded at the bullet-resistant door Papá had specially installed. Fists hammered the wood, followed by what sounded like the butts of their rifles.
Cristiano picked up Diego’s gun, stuck it in his waistband, and leveled the White Monarch on his brother’s writhing body. “You left me no choice. Loyalty is king around here, but look how quickly it’s broken.”
“Don’t shoot—I know a way out,” I exclaimed through my sobs. Cristiano towered over me, looking like the Grim Reaper himself. “I can help you escape,” I said.
Cristiano stilled. “It’s not possible.”
“I know a secret way.” My voice shook. I wasn’t helping my mother’s killer, I told myself, but protecting Diego and me.
“Natalia, no,” Diego said, huffing as he made an effort to sit up. “He—he has to pay for this.”
“Where is it?” Cristiano asked.
Diego was getting unnaturally pale as if he might pass out any second. I got to my feet and started to go to him, but Cristiano grabbed my arm and yanked me back against his hip. “They’ll get in before he dies. Show me the way out.”
Diego groaned and closed his eyes, and I inhaled a quick, stuttering breath to keep my panic at bay. “The c-closet,” I managed.
Cristiano marched me back across the room and into my old nursery. Once I’d outgrown the space, my mother had converted it into a sizeable walk-in closet that held much more than just clothing. There were walls of shoes, purses, drawers, and mirrors, as well as an island in the center for her costume jewelry and Papá’s ties.
Cristiano took a chair from my mother’s vanity dresser, wedged it under the closet’s door handle, and turned to look at me. “Now what?”
I couldn’t think. There was a bullet in my mother’s stomach and one in my best friend’s leg. My bloodied skirt stuck to my knees. I was going to be sick. “The . . . the dresses.”
Cristiano walked to me. He put the chilled metal barrel of the gun under my chin and tilted back my head to get me to look him in the eye. “If they get in here before I get out, I can’t promise we’ll both make it out alive. Show me the escape, or tell your father I didn’t do this. Those are your options.”
I tried to swallow, but I couldn’t even breathe. I’d never been so sure I would die if I made one wrong move. I shook my head hard. “I won’t lie for you.”
“Look what loyalty got me, Natalia.” He raised the gun higher and I glanced down the barrel. The silver nearly sparkled under the closet’s lamp. “Whether I did or didn’t do this, I’m dead. If they don’t get me here, they’ll hunt me down. That isn’t loyalty, and there is no justice.”
“Loyalty?” I was shaking now, but there was no quiver in Cristiano’s voice, no tremble in his hand. “You killed my mother. Why? She cared about you—she treated you like a son.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as we stared at each other. “Show me the way out,” he commanded.
“I’ll help you, but only to save Diego,” I said. “Promise you’ll never come back here.”
“I can’t.” His expression hardened as his voice dropped. “Consider this a lesson—never trade your life for someone else’s.”
I backed away slowly, turned, and went to the safe. Amongst the papers, I found the small metal box I needed. I popped it open, took out a key, and stilled with a bang from the next room. If security was breaking down the door, then Diego must not have been able to let them in. I quickly prayed he was still alive.
I hurried to the closet that held my mother’s party dresses. They were heavy enough that I had to use both hands to push them apart so I could crawl through them. “In here,” I said.
Against the closet’s back wall, I felt around for a keyhole. It was dark, but my father had walked me through this plenty of times. There were tunnels under the house all the security knew about, including Cristiano, but this secret passageway was only for my parents and me. When I’d pointed out to Papá that the men who’d built it must’ve known about it, he’d exchanged a grim look with my mother and changed the subject.
I put the key into the hole, but it was already unlocked. I slid the wall open to reveal a dark, dank room. “There.”
If Cristiano was surprised, he didn’t show it. “There what?”
I pointed to a trapdoor inside. “Go down that hole. There are no lights; you’ll have to feel your way.”
He stared into the dark. “How do I know this isn’t a trap?”