He studies me. “No, don’t worry. He’ll be fine. He’s got nine lives.”
“How many of those has he used up do you think?”
He pauses at that and I think about how much he’s seen, how much he’s lived through for his fifteen years.
“What’s in there?” he asks.
I take out his passport and hand it to him. He opens it and his eyebrows shoot up. “Michael Preston?”
I take out mine. “And his sister, Elizabeth.” I know those names weren’t random choices. I pull the pouch open so Noah can see the bills.
“Whoa.”
I tuck my passport into my pocket. “Cristiano gave this to me. He said if anything happens, I’m to take you and go.”
“Take me and go?” He looks confused. “Go where exactly? And how did he think you’d manage that? There are about two dozen soldiers on the island that I counted just on my way in.”
“You’re keeping count?”
“I’m not stupid, Scarlett. These men are loyal to Cristiano. If something happens to him and Dante takes over, I’m pretty sure you and I are dead.”
“Shit.” I sit on the edge of the bed, pushing my hand through my hair. I know this, but Noah saying it, Noah knowing it, it makes everything feel that much more dangerous.
Makes me doubly certain that I need him out of here. Now.
“Do you want to go?” he asks, sitting beside me. “I mean, would you? Right now? If we could?”
“Would you?”
He nods and I see the little boy he was when all this started. It’s the look in his eyes he sometimes gets. Like he’s just barely holding everything together. He’s just fifteen. A kid. Even if he is taller than me and slowly starting to fill out. I see the little bit of a mustache he must have shaved a few days ago growing back in.
And what I’ll have to do makes my stomach twist.
“He showed me a way out,” I tell him, not answering his question. “A secret way.”
“How? There’s guards watching everything. It’s an island, Scarlett. We’re surrounded by water. There is no secret way.”
“There is. Under the water.”
“What?”
“There’s a tunnel that leads off the island. Access is through the cell where they killed Angel and Diego. We just have to get to the cells.”
“Wait. Why did they put us in there if there was a way out?”
“I don’t think anyone but Cristiano knows about it. Maybe Dante. Put that away, okay?” I motion to the passport. I don’t want anyone walking in and seeing us with passports.
He looks down at it and tucks it out of sight in his back pocket.
“Here,” I take out just a few hundred-dollar bills and push them into my pocket before handing him the pouch. “This too. There’s a car waiting on the other side of the tunnel. Key’s inside there. Don’t be stupid with the car.”
His eyes narrow as he takes the pouch. “I can drive just fine but why are you telling me all this now? You can tell me when we get there.” He knows the answer. I can see it in his eyes.
“Because you need to go first, Noah. I’ll follow as soon as I know he’s safe.”
“Scarlett—”
“I need to know he’s safe.”
“If he’s safe, there will be no reason to follow.”
“Then I’ll bring you back. If we disappear together, they’ll start a manhunt. As long as they see me, they won’t think anything of you not being here. I’m his wife. I’m the one the cartel wants back.”
“No. No way. I’m not leaving you behind. How will you protect yourself against them if he doesn’t come back?”
I reach under the pillow and take out the gun.
He sucks in a breath, shakes his head. “No. No fucking way, Scarlett.”
“Listen to me, Noah. This is my chance to get you out. This is our one real shot in all these years. And it may be the only one we get.” I feel my eyes fill up with tears, but I steel myself, harden my heart. I will not be weak. I cannot. Not now. “I couldn’t protect you against Angel and Diego but I’m not going to let anything else happen to you.”
“What they did had nothing to do with you.”
I don’t want to discuss what our brothers did over the last ten years, so I put the gun back under the pillow. “Let’s go. There’s food and water if you’re hungry and you’ll need something warm.” I walk past him into Cristiano’s closet and take the warmest sweater I can find. A thick wool one that still smells like him.
Worry interferes in my thoughts, but I shove it away. There will be plenty of time to worry.
Noah’s still standing in the same spot when I return but he’s holding the pistol. I look at him and he looks at me and I rush to him, taking that thing from his hands, more determined than ever that this is the right thing to do.