Page 106 of Sapphire

“Do you think we could find people?” I ask, not feeling convinced.

“Yeah, there’s an Instagram account dedicated to people who look like me.” Mateo laughs. “We could start there?” He opens his phone and brings up the Instagram account. “I have a stunt double on the TV show as well. There are heaps of paparazzi so we can easily fool them into taking photos, and there will be evidence that we have gone home.” Mateo smiles, happy with his idea.

“Do you think it will work?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Okay, then let’s work this out.”

It’s taken a good couple of hours for Gracie to venture out of the bathroom and start answering Enrique’s questions. What happened to her sends chills over my body, especially when she tells us that Zoe and the girls protected her from most of it. Which means Zoe has gone through way worse.

Later, I catch Gracie sitting in the garden looking up at the stars.

“Hey,” I say which makes her jump. “Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” I take a seat beside her.

“Sorry, I’m a bit jumpy.”

Which is totally understandable—she just got kidnapped.

“She loves you both, you know that right?” Gracie’s blue eyes are so much like Zoe’s it’s unnerving.

I’m silent on the matter as I don’t know how I feel about anything, my emotions are all over the place.

“Tomas, you don’t doubt her, do you?”

“No, it’s just …” I don’t know. I really don’t know, and that scares the shit out of me. What happens if there’s some truth to what was posted in that video? What happens if she has fallen for him again?

“No, don’t you fucking dare doubt her, Tomas.” Gracie looks at me angrily. “You have no fucking idea what she went through, what she has done to protect you, to protect Mateo, to protect her family. She has sacrificed herself to the devil to save me. I will not let that man win. He doesn’t get to take my sister away again. Please, Tomas, don’t give up on her.” Gracie starts crying and I pull her to my side.

“I’m sorry, Gracie, I’m sorry that I thought … that I thought there was a chance that she might not want us.”

Those tear-soaked blue eyes look up at me. “She loves you and Mateo with all her heart. Before we were kidnapped, she was thinking about the future with you both. She knew that being with the two of you would be controversial for most people, but she didn’t care because she knew her love for you was bigger than what anyone could say. She was looking forward to the day you could get married and have children. My sister’s focus has always been on working for the United Nations, but her thoughts have shifted to making a life with you and Mateo. She jokes about being a housewife. She was happy, and she just wanted you both so much.”

Tears are running down my face. Fuck, how could I have ever doubted her? I hate myself for thinking like that.

“You want that, don’t you? Is that the kind of future you want? With her?”

I nod, unable to get the words out.

“Nikolai is obsessed with her, I mean, we are talking stalker obsessed, and that’s why she sacrificed herself because he is in love with her. She knew that if she gave him what he wanted—herself—she could get what she wanted—my freedom.”

I hang my head. “I love her, Gracie, Mateo loves her, and before she was kidnapped, I saw a future for the three of us, but I’m worried that if we get her back, she won’t be the same Zoe she was before.”

Gracie puts her hand on my knee. “Zoe is strong. I never realized how strong she was till I saw her stand up for me against Nikolai. Even when he pointed a gun at her, she was willing to die to protect me.”

My heart soars with pride for our girl.

“Nikolai fears her strength, so he must break it down. He thought kidnapping me would make her bend to his will and it did a little, but she still fought back. That was until he threatened to expose you. She told me how he had things on you, some sex tape, and she tried to stop him releasing it.”

“He released it.”

Gracie gasps. “What do you mean?”

“The other day, he released it. It was all over the news, so Sophie set up an interview, and we told the world everything. We told them how Nikolai had kidnapped you both. We told the world all about him and asked them to help us hunt him down.”

“No, no!” Gracie screams, looking frantic. “If he knows that then she isn’t safe, he’s going to do something to her.” Gracie jumps up and starts pacing. “He’s going to sell her, she thinks she’s won, but he’s going to screw her over. Nikolai loves revenge and sweet revenge at that. Fuck! We must get her out of there, we have to gonow.”

I grab Gracie as she tries to run away. “We are. I promise we are.”

---