Page 92 of The Perfect Stranger

Chapter Thirty-One

We barely made it out of Mexico.

I had gotten us out alive, but Nina had saved us both from death. After a lengthy and bloody battle with Gabriel that ended on a long stretch of highway, his body lay seemingly lifeless in the desert dirt.

“Hunter!” Nina yelled. She was bleeding and bruised, trying to keep my eyes from closing. Slumped against the battered car, I was hurting everywhere, blood endlessly oozing from my body.

“Stay with me,” she demanded, tears falling down her beautiful, dirty face. She looked every bit the angel who had crashed to earth.

She cared for me. Her heart broke for me.

I didn’t deserve Nina, but she gave me every piece of her.

And then she faded to black.

We found ourselves in ICU in a Mexican hospital.

We were safe. Relatively.

I had questions.

Where was Luis Santos?

Was Gabriel’s body still lying in the desert?

Would Nina ever forgive me?

I had plenty of time in recovery to recount how the battle unfolded.

“I always knew you were a snake,” Gabriel had spat back at the ranch while holding us at gunpoint. “Fucking her the whole time, and fucking us over while you were at it. And you call yourself a Santos?”

But that wasn’t the only thing playing on my mind.

The night before Nina had told me what Gabriel had said.

A promise.

If she made it out alive, he would hunt her down.

And that’s exactly what he did.

I left Nina in the hospital. The nurses had ensured me she was due to wake at any time and was in good health. I left because I feared the danger that still lurked would catch up to us. I left because I needed to know if Gabriel was still alive, or if he truly had died under the heat of the desert sun.

If he had died, Luis Santos would still be close.

I couldn’t let it all be for nothing.

The machines beeped as I leaned over her. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful. My knuckles grazed her cheek, but she didn’t wake. She had suffered a traumatic blow to the skull when she fell on the road signaling for help. She had been shot, a severe loss of blood causing her to faint. Gently kissing her lips, I whispered in her ear that I would see her soon.

That I would make up for all the wrongs I had done against her.

That I loved her.

The stretch of road where the final assault occurred was long and deserted. Heat radiated off the tar along the horizon, and no other car could be seen behind or in front. Except for two.

I pulled over to the side, stones flicking against the paneling.

Two abandoned vehicles with bullet holes for scars sat on blood-soaked earth.

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