Page 81 of Unveiled

“What?” Joseph perched on the arm of a nearby chair.

Valentino slid his hands in his pockets. “That Felipe would only come with two people not knowing how many we have here.”

William shrugged. “Or maybe he thought it was the best way to go undetected.”

“We don’t have time to figure it out now.” Valentino twisted to me, taking my hands in his. “I hate leaving you this way.”

Joseph stepped up. “I got them. I’ll make sure we all make it safely to the other island.”

Valentino’s brow creased as he pivoted to Joseph. “I’ve always trusted you, Joseph.” He opened his mouth to speak but Valentino lifted his hand. “But even when you were injured, you managed to save lives so I’m choosing to trust you get these girls and my godson there in one piece.”

“We’ll help keep ourselves safe.” Laura interjected with confidence. “All three of us are bad ass women, Valentino, we got this.”

Aston let out a cry. Tanya soothed him with a hushing sound as she rocked him. Valentino sighed. It was not hard to read his mind.

“Tanya,” he cleared his throat, “I hate to be a dick but—”

“Don’t worry.” She held Aston up to her shoulder, circling his back with her palm. “I’ll keep him quiet while we are getting away.”

With a single nod, Valentino twisted back to me. I opened my mouth to speak but he shook his head and crashed his mouth into mine. Not caring who witnessed him shoving his tongue down my throat, he kissed me as if he were saying goodbye. I loved kissing him, but I hated the thought of why. He pulled away then tugged my forehead to his lips, gently pressing them to my skin.

“You guys need to go now.” Noah ordered. “The flashlight is getting closer.”

“Flashlight?” William snorted. “Are we even sure this is him?”

“The only person it could be.”

My legs trembled but I was able to grab hold of my fears in order to be strong for everyone around me. Joseph being injured, and Tanya have a child who needed to remain quiet were going to make it difficult enough to creep away.

William strode over to Aston’s bag and handed it to Laura. “Help Tanya keep Aston quiet. Isabelle, help Joseph.”

After giving Valentino one last kiss, we followed Noah to one of the side entrances. He held the door open for us. I allowed the others to go ahead of me. Noah cocked a brow, waiting for me to step outside.

“Please,” I rested my hand on his forearm, “make sure you—”

“Isabelle, go.” He narrowed his gaze on mine. “I got this. I’ll make sure everyone stays safe.”

“Including you.”

With a smirk he lifted his chin toward the others. “You need to go, now.”

Fine.I mouthed as I spun around, hurrying outside.

Stepping next to Joseph, I tried to put my arm around him to assist. He waved me off mumbling that he did not need any help. Laura took the lead, guiding us quietly but swiftly along the sand path toward the dark vegetation. Palm trees bowed over as we passed underneath them into the dark night.

Aston let out a muffled, frustrated cry, but Tanya was able to silence him with a pacifier promptly. “Do you think they heard him?” She hissed under her breath.

“No.” Joseph murmured. “With the waves hitting the beach, I doubt they could hear anything.”

“Watch out, you guys.” Laura whispered over her shoulder. “There’s some big branch things just up he—” A loud thump followed by Laura’s arms flailing around caused her to almost fall but she caught herself on the fallen tree. “Crap, that’s gonna hurt tomorrow. It hurts now.”

“Are you okay?” Joseph and I asked in unison.

“Yeah. Just wish we could use a flashlight. Noah and I walked this once. I didn’t exactly memorize every obstacle.”

It had been about ten minutes and we were finally coming to a clearing. There had been no gunshots. We were also not being followed. It seemed almost too easy, but I was thankful for that. The less complications the better. The four of us were all carrying weapons just in case we had to use them. Thankfully, we had not just yet.

Several yards later and a break in the trees, welcomed us to another shore on the opposite side of the island. A pier with a boat house at the end sat off in the distance. The clear night sky with bright stars would have been something to lay down on the beach and admire if we had not been trying to flee for our lives.

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