"He has no right to miss me when he lied to me the entire time I knew him," I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest in defiance. It felt childish even as I did it, but I couldn't control the bitterness I felt at the very mention of Hugo. All the while he'd pretended to be so outraged over my sister's betrayal and the fact that she'd broken my trust in such a profound way, he'd been lying to me like an asshole.
Using me for a job.
"So did I," Joaquin pointed out, perching on the edge of the daybed. "You have to understand that Hugo, Gabriel, and I had no say in what happened with you. Rafael summoned us to Chicago because there was a security issue he needed us to handle for him in the long term. We didn't even know you existed until we were already on the plane."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I asked, glaring at him as my throat stung with the tears of betrayal. I wanted to hate them. I wanted to cling to the fact that they'd all hurt me, because I needed to rage againstsomething.
Rafe was the appropriate object for my anger, but the feelings I had for him complicated that. He'd betrayed my trust before I'd ever even met him, and yet I couldn't hold onto the anger I should have felt with him for that.
"What would you have had us do, Isa?" Joaquin asked, glaring at me as he pushed me to admit the truth. I knew it down to my bones, even if I didn't want to acknowledge it.
They'd been just as trapped by the circumstances of Rafael's plan as I had been. They'd been sent to a strange city to watch over a girl they didn't know all because of his twisted obsession with me. "You could have told me the truth," I said.
"What would that have accomplished? You would have fought. You'd have tried to find a way out of it and only put your family at risk in the process. This way gave you time. I'd hoped that his interest in you would fade after he left Chicago and he didn't have to live with the knowledge that you existed in the very same city as him, but he never wavered. So we all waited. We kept you safe. It was all we could do."
"I don't know that it makes much of a difference," I sighed, curling my knees into my chest. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere, but I have no interest in trusting the people who hurt me."
"Just talk to him, Isa," Joaquin pleaded. "Let him explain his side of things. If you can do that, then in the rare moments when Rafael is off the island and we have the opportunity, I'll take you to a clearing nearby and teach you some verybasicmoves to protect yourself."
"What about Rafael? Won't he punish you if he finds out?" I asked, staring up at him in shock.
"He'll punish both of uswhenhe finds out, so you need to be certain you're ready to deal with whatever that might look like. I can handle the pain. Can you?" Joaquin asked, standing and holding out a hand for me to take.
It was so similar to the night that Rafael had asked me to go to bed with him, the first moment I'd accepted that the devil would be mine for even just a moment, that my heart caught in my throat. But the need to do something just because I wanted to was tangible, and despite knowing the potential consequences, I accepted Joaquin's hand and let him pull me to my feet.
He released me as soon as I stood, turning on his heel and making for the clearing between Rafael's yard and the village in the distance. Following at his back with my heart in my throat, I couldn't decide what I dreaded more.
Looking Hugo in the eye, or whatever punishment Rafael would decide on when he learned the truth. Joaquin's words, thewhenand notif, struck me as truth. I couldn't imagine anything happened on the island without his knowledge.
I dragged my feet as we walked, feeling like I was closer to marching to my death than going to have a conversation with a friend. My heart pumped in my throat, tears burning it like acid as I fought to keep them back.
The house the brothers lived in was beautiful. A yellow building that was well-kept and had flowers growing in planters on each of the windows. It blended in with the rest of the houses in the village that wasn't really a village, just a small town that reminded me of Dalt Vila in Ibiza Town.
Small. Old fashioned. But there were touches of luxury everywhere I looked.
Joaquin pushed open the front door, leading the way inside as I glanced over my shoulder at the people watching me with whispering lips. They gathered, the soft murmurs ofreinaechoing through the space between us until Joaquin closed the door and separated us from them. "They'll get used to you," he said in an attempt to reassure me, guiding me toward the back of the house. Gabriel and Hugo both sat at a patio set on the terrace, a pitcher of sangria in the center despite the early hour.
Joaquin cleared his throat to get their attention, and the brothers spun to face him. Hugo's eyes widened briefly before he vaulted to his feet when he saw me. "Isa," he said, moving toward me as if he might hug me.
I held up both hands and clenched my eyes closed, warning him off as best I could without words. I didn't think my voice would work.
I suddenly couldn't bear to speak any of the thoughts that had been in my head since I'd learned the truth. I didn't think anything could soothe the wound his deception had left.
He waited, watching me cautiously with his hands clenched into tight fists at his side. "Why?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer. "Why did you have to make me care about you? Was that part of your job?" I asked finally.
He shook his head, scrubbing his hands down his face. "No. I needed to be your friend and we needed to watch you. That's all."
"Then why?" I whispered. "What was the point?"
"You care about me because you have a huge heart. Because you don't give your love often, but when you do? You give itall. Just like me," he sighed, moving forward to take my hands in his despite my resistance. "And I love you. You're my best friend, Isa. I didn't want this for you. Please believe me," he begged. He didn't move to touch me more than the contact at my hands, where I had no doubt that he would have once hugged me and held me.
His fear of Rafael was too strong, even with him absent.
"How can you say that? You don't lie to people you love," I accused.
"I lied to you about why I was in Chicago, but the friendship we built was real. You're a part of me. You're a part of all of us now. We knew you before you were Señora Ibarra, and we'll always remember that girl," Hugo said.
"But the woman she's growing to be is a force to be reckoned with, and we very much look forward to watching that journey," Gabriel said from the table. Hugo pulled on my hands, drawing me over and sitting me in one of the seats as I cried.