“My family. My responsibility.”
He walked out of the room. I had the sense that he’d cloaked himself in his drug lord persona.
I crawled out of bed. There was a small bathroom where I cleaned up before getting redressed in my clothing.
I went back and sat on the bed. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I knew that I made the right choice, but everything was happening at once. I’d only met Alejandro once, but now we were going to go to their estate to pick up his daughter to protect her from a drug war. What a strange experience.
If I’d known about this when I’d decided to run to Ecuador aft
er my horrible engagement party, I didn’t know if I would’ve chosen this path.
But Emilio was worth everything that was going on right now. I’d stick by him.
Halifax
Naelle
I lost track of time on the boat. Days passed, and I knew that my father hadn’t found us. He probably was keeping an eye out, but he must know that I’d left of my own free will.
I spent my days hanging out on deck, trying not be in the way. Emilio was extremely grim throughout the journey. I knew that he still felt guilty. Finally, I saw land through the window.
“Here we are,” Emilio said, putting an arm around me. “We’ll fly down to the Bahamas, refuel, and go to Ecuador. I made a mistake when we went through Miami the first time. I won’t make the mistake of refueling in the United States again.”
“Okay.”
As soon as we got out of the boat, there was a car waiting to take us to the airport. I’d never been to Nova Scotia before, but I wouldn’t spend much time there.
It didn’t take long for us to get to the airport. There was a different jet waiting for us there.
“Where’s your jet?”
“Your father can trace it. I borrowed a jet from a friend,” Emilio explained.
I didn’t want to delve too deeply into it, but it was crazy that I was engaged to a man who could borrow a private jet at the drop of a hat.
Well, at least my baby would be born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
We got into the plane, went through all of the pre-flight stuff, and took off.
When I woke up, we must have already refueled in the Bahamas, because we were over the Caribbean. When I looked out my window, I could see tiny islands far below us.
Emilio had his laptop open. He was working.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and went over to him.
“Kiss, please.”
He gave me a half grin and a quick kiss.
“How long will it be before we arrive in Ecuador?”
He looked at his watch.
“Not too long,” he said. “I’m trying to find out what happened to Alejandro. The quantity of blood in the hospital would indicate that they killed him there and then took his dead body.”
He looked so tired that it made my heart ache.
“Is there anything I can do?”