Page 85 of Forbidden Hearts

Jacob laughs. “Is that what you think?”

He spins me around until we’re both facing the house. Jacob stands behind me with an arm around my neck and a gun pointed at the side of my head.

“What do you think Alonzo will do when I tell him the truth? Will he save you when I tell him you were planning to rob him blind, or will he finish you off himself??”

I swallow hard.

I don’t know how Alonzo will react when Jacob tells him about our plan. I just hope he understands why I was doing it and that I changed my mind.

“He’s going to stop you,” I tell Jacob.

“Right now, an army of reapers is probably heading this way. It’s only a matter of time before they put him down like the dog that he is.”

Chapter 39

Alonzo

I floor the gas and head west to Jacob’s ranch. It’s twenty minutes away, but if I drive fast, I can get there in under ten.

“What’s going on? Where’s Alex?” Isabella asks. She grips the seat and door, her eyes wide on the road.

“She was taken,” I say. “But I’m going to get her back.”

I can’t let the past repeat itself. Esmeralda was taken and killed while I was halfway across the state on a mission. This is different. Alex is only ten minutes away. I can save her!

“Should we call the police?”

“No. The cops can’t do shit. They’ll only get in the way.”

I tap the gun at my waist. “Only I can do this.”

“I don’t understand,” she says. “Who are you?”

I ignore Isabella and call Santiago. His voice comes up in the speakers. “Santiago, change of plans. Jacob took Alex to his ranch in Wimberly. I want you to meet us there.”

“Shit,” he says. “Okay, what’s the address?”

I toss the envelope with Jacob’s address to Isabella. “Read that out for him.”

“What?” Isabella asks. She grabs the envelope from her lap and looks at it as if the words are in another language.

“I need to focus on the road. Read that out to my brother,” I command.

“Someone is there with you?” Santiago asks.

“Yes. One of Alex’s friends. Come on, Isabella, read it out to him.”

“Okay,” she says, flustered. She reads the address on the paper twice to make sure Santiago got it.

“Okay, I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes,” Santiago says.

“Make it ten. Hurry.”

I speed down the empty country road leading to Wimberly, driving as fast as I can. We’re in the Texas Hill Country, and the road we’re on hugs the side of a steep hill. If I make one wrong move, Isabella and I will end up at the bottom of the hill.

But that’s not going to happen. I’m going to get to that fucking ranch and save Alex.

I have to.

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