Page 81 of Fool Me Twice

“Hey.” I touched his shoulder. “We’ll find him.”

“This is my fault. He must have heard our conversation.”

I tried to hold back my sigh, but it was impossible. “Maybe. He probably didn’t hear the whole thing, though, or else he wouldn’t have run away. He would know how sorry you are and that you were coming to explain everything to him.”

Rodrigo’s eyes were rimmed with red. “I promised my brother at his funeral that I would take care of Sebastián with everything I had. That I would protect him until my dying breath. Now I’ve failed him.” His head sagged forward, and his shoulders fell.

“This isn’t over yet.” I squeezed his shoulder. “This is one night. Don’t throw your towel in.”

Lifting his head, he blinked back tears. “Thank you. I’m not half the man you seem to think I am, but… thank you.”

“You’re whatever man you decide you are, Rodrigo.” Letting go of his shoulder, I wrapped my arms around him.

We stood there for a few seconds, hugging and letting the fear and pain just be. A hundred what-ifs were racing through my head, just as they probably were through Rodrigo’s.

Everything would be okay, though. We would find Sebastián. We would bring him home.

We had to.

CHAPTER24

RODRIGO

“Sebastián!” I called out the driver’s window of my car.

At the corner, I slowed down. A group of young people hung outside of a club. Parking next to the curb, I ran up to them.

“Have you seen this boy?” Pulling my phone from my pocket, I showed them all the photo of Sebastián. With each head shake, my heart sank a little further.

“If you see him,” I said, “please call this number.”

After passing out my head security guard’s card, I jumped back in the car and drove off.

Another block. Another fruitless minute. Every second that ticked by pushed me deeper into despair.

I couldn’t lose Sebastián. The mere thought of something happening to him made me feel like I couldn’t breathe.

This was all my fault, I knew. If I had listened to Georgia sooner, if I had been more honest…

But I hadn’t. The best thing I could do now was make sure I did better once I found Sebastián.

At the end of the block, I took a right. It was the third hour of the search and we were no closer to answers. Rio was an enormous city, one of the best in the world to disappear into. Even with the police, my whole security team, and Georgia and myself looking, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

We’d called all of Sebastián’s friends’ parents, in case he had gone to one of their houses. Aside from that, I didn’t know where else he might be. There wasn’t anywhere in the city that held particular meaning from him, aside from home.

My phone rang, making me jump. My heart racing a million miles an hour, I pulled it from my pocket and answered Georgia’s call.

“Did you find him?” I asked.

“No.”

One of my last shreds of hope shriveled up and died. I curled my free hand around the steering wheel and held back a scream of fury.

“I’m back at the house,” she said. “I was hoping that I might find some clue here telling us where he went.”

“Anything?”

“I’m looking in his room now.” There was the sound of toys and other objects being moved around. “Nothing. Does he have a favorite place?”

---