“It doesn’t matter anymore, Gabriel.”
“It does—just listen. The drug only kills with the wrong dosage, Cristiano. Otherwise, it just puts the user into a trance. This is how Diego faked his death—well, clinically, he was dead, but—”
“You’ve been a better soldier than I gave you credit for.” I walked up the front steps and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Run. You may still be able to catch the boat out of here. Get your share of the money and go. Start a new life.”
I walked by him into the house.
“You’re staying?” Gabe asked, panic threading his voice as he followed me through the foyer.
“Another few seconds, and you may have to swim to the boat if you want to catch it.”
“Where’s Natalia’s body?”
“Gone!” I snapped over my shoulder, my nerves fraying at the mention of her name. “Get out of here before I—”
“And if she wakes up and you’re not there? What then?”
I froze in my tracks, my scalp tingling. I turned around slowly. “What?” My eyes darted between his. “If who wakes up?”
“What I’ve been trying to tell you,” Gabe said, tripping over his words. “I think Diego injected her with this—a tetrodotoxin that could’ve put her into a cataleptic trance.”
I balled my fists. “Speak English.”
“Diego used Stairway to Heaven to fake his death. Too much of this could kill her, but the right amount would only put her into a state that mimics death. It could take twelve hours, maybe more, until the drug wears off.”
My throat dried like my eyes. Couldn’t swallow. Blink. Function. Think. It was taking me longer than it should to calculate how much time had passed, but we were definitely somewhere close to that. “You’re saying she could still . . .”
He was insane. I’d listened to her chest for a heartbeat. Waited for her breath. I’d felt neither.
“You’ve really gone mad,” I said. “What game are you playing with me? I don’t care if you get on the boat, but if you don’t get out of my sight—”
“It’s no game.” I’d seen Gabriel scared shitless before, and he wasn’t now. He took a breath. “She could still be alive, Cristiano.”
I turned and stalked away. “You’re wrong.”
“I could be,” he admitted. “But what if I’m not?”
It hit me then. She’d stirred in my arms.
It hadn’t been an illusion.
My mind hadn’t been playing tricks on me.
The ache in my gut hadn’t been despair but an instinct I’d ignored. The warmth I’d felt in her lips . . . the final wisps of her breath—they hadn’t been final at all. They hadn’t been conjured by my mind out of desperation to will her back to life.
“She’s . . . she is alive,” I whispered.
Relief exploded in me, sending pure, unadulterated joy coursing through my veins. I knew the truth without a doubt. “She’s alive,” I told Gabe.
Gabriel’s mouth broke into a grin. “You said yourself the boat might still be here. Go. Apúrese. ¡Corra!”
Hurry. Run. I could catch her. I would dive into the sea and swim as long and as hard as necessary to do it.
Heaven or Hell, land, air, or sea, I will find you, mi amor, and I will . . .
What?
What would I do? Bring her back here? Go with her?
Dread filled me, planting my feet where they were.
She’d been given a second chance.
As had I.
I’d promised I’d protect her. Since then, there’d been two serious attempts on her life. She’d almost been taken from me more times than that. I hadn’t kept her safe. I’d only put her in more danger. I’d risked her life too many times, and this was my opportunity to make it right. Natalia would wake up on the sea, and she would hear it from the people who cared for her most. I was dead. That I had died avenging her and completing the mission I’d set out to do—saving lives. It would be hard, but eventually, she would pick up and move on with her life.
I wasn’t going to run into the ocean and call them back when Natalia had already set sail on a better future.
She’d be safe with Barto, Max, Pilar, Alejandro—and her father. It was a new life with them or death with me, and she would choose me if I let her. She’d stay here by my side until the end.
I had a purpose here. I needed to see it through. As soon as I’d decided to stay behind, I’d known it was the right choice, and it still was.
Heaven, hell, or anything in between—I would find her again.
Until we met, wherever it would be, she’d be safe.
“What are you doing?” Gabriel asked. “Let’s go.”
“Sal de aquí,” I said, sending him away. “You couldn’t find me in time to tell me she was alive, understand? Tell her I died with dignity, and with love for her in my heart.”