Page 38 of Ashes
“He kidnapped her?”
“Yeah, she said so. I sent her to someone I know who can help. She’ll have to disappear so he doesn’t find her.”
“Why would you do that for a stranger?” I eye him carefully.
“Because my father did that to my mother, and I was too young to even understand what was going on. He hurt her until he destroyed her. She couldn’t take it anymore, so she took her own life.” His gaze finds mine. “I couldn’t do anything for her, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stand back and let it happen to someone else.”
“My mother is trapped too,” I say. “But she was raised to serve her future husband, and she doesn’t see anything wrong with it. If someone tried to help her, I think she’d refuse.”
“And you?”
“Well, I’m stuck being your wife, aren’t I? I guess you believe me when I say I didn’t help kill your brother.” I search his eyes for something, and I’m not even sure what.
He’s quiet for a few moments. “I do. I believe you.”
“But you didn’t before.”
He shakes his head. “No, I didn’t.”
“What would you have done to me?” I’m asking something I don’t know I want the answer to.
“I would’ve made you pay.” His face darkens. “I would’ve made you beg me to have mercy on you. I would’ve driven you crazy.”
“Great.” I make a face.
“You tried to kill me, so I guess I know what you would’ve tried.”
I only offer him a smile. “We’re only sort of friends until we figure out what happened to Alex and Rodrigo, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And then what?”
“We’ll see.”
“Did your brother tell you more about what he was doing at the club?” I don’t want to discuss some future I know nothing about.
“Not really. He only said it was fun.” He presses his lips together, and I think it bothers him.
“And you never went with him?”
“I had no interest to go, and he didn’t even try to convince me.”
“Do you think he told your father what he was doing there? What if Rodrigo had a reason to go there? Maybe for business? To spy on someone or make a deal? Not anyone can get into that club.”
He sighs. “I don’t know. Maybe. My father was preparing him to take over, so they spent more time together.”
“But he didn’t tell you?”
“No!” he snaps.
“Okay, you don’t have to get upset about it. No one ever told me anything either.”
“You—”
“What? I’m a woman? Is that it? So no one should ever tell me anything?”
“I’m not saying that, but it’s how things usually work. I was the second born, and I got excluded from a lot of things too because no one expected Rodrigo would die so young.”
