Page 80 of Unleash You

“I know. The men working for Smith were afraid of Charlie, and he liked it. A little too much.”

“I think he means to take you to Venezuela. At first, I thought he was doing it as a favor to Marcel, but now I know this is all about him and his delusional thing he has for you.”

“You’re right in that. But I have friends there. Even if he manages to get us back, I’m sure I can find a way to leave again. I have no reason to stay.”

Whether he kidnapped Rebecca to appease Marcel or to marry her, the end result would be the same for her. She would go back to Maracaibo, exactly where she didn’t want to be.

“Why didn’t you tell Wesley how fucked up Charlie was?”

“I tried to tell him once. The confused looked in his face told me all I needed to know. And honestly, I didn’t need Wesley to know the truth. I just needed him to help me escape.” She made a sad sound like a laugh. “Would you have believed me?”

“No, even now, I can hardly believe it. I keep making up excuses for him.” I sat on the bench and dropped my head in my hands. “We can’t just stay here and wait for someone to come for us.”

“That’s not what we’re doing. We’re waiting for the opportune time. That’s different.” She donned her jeans and T-shirt.

After a few beats, I stood and did the same. I turned to face her, and we both laughed. “They couldn’t at least get us different color tops?”

“Be grateful it’s comfortable clothes.”

When I first met Rebecca, I would have described her as incredibly beautiful. I still thought she was that, but now I recognized something else. She was pragmatic with a knack for reading people and recognizing opportunities. And to think we could have been sisters. If my so-called brother wasn’t what he was. Maybe she could have loved him back.

I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her, Zack style. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry my family has caused you so much pain.”

“Anabelle.” She put me at arms’ length and offered me a kind smile. “None of this is your fault. That world is just a fucked-up place.”

“I’m starting to see that.” I tucked a wet strand of hair behind my ear. “Sorry about the Zack Attack.”

“The what?” She chuckled.

“The bear hug. We call it the Zack Attack.”

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Oh, that guy.”

“Whoa. What’s going on there? You don’t like him? Don’t be so hard on him. He’s a really nice guy.” I surveyed her face. My eyebrows shut up when her cheeks turned red.

“If you say so. No one’s that perfect.” She stuffed her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.

“Um, I didn’t say perfect. I said nice.”

“Leave it alone.”

Over the past few nights, we’d talked about a lot of things. How she grew up in Maracaibo near the beach, how good she was at accounting, and how she’d never been in love. Why the hell did Zack not come up in conversation before? I opened my mouth to ask the obvious, but she put up her hand.

“I said leave it alone.”

“Okay.” I put up my hands in surrender. But no way in hell was I going to leave it alone. If anyone deserved a ray of happiness, it was Rebecca.

Our gazes locked, and we stood there for what felt like hours. Neither one of us wanted to say it, but this felt like a goodbye. Charlie and Marcel had brought us here to finish something. After tonight, she’d go back to her country and Charlie would send me God knew where.

The silence in the dim-lit locker room broke. Straight over our heads, an oversize vent blew out cold air. “Omigod. You were right. They let their guards down.”

“What?”

I ambled toward the wall in front of me. “I can fit in there.”

“Here, help me move this trash can.”

The receptacle was tall, but it wasn’t high enough to help me reach the vent. “That’s not going to work.”

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