Page 19 of The Veiling

“I didn’t mean to knock your mask off, but you played the part too well and struggled too much.” Hayden turned his attention back to me. “Anyway, myfatherhad my girlfriend kidnapped and sold her to Stella…uh, which is a—”

“I know what it is.” I folded my hands in my lap. “He was going to sell my best friend and me, too.”

“So, six months later, she was forcefully overdosed on drugs because she was fighting them and wouldn’t have sex with the paying men and women, they were shoving her on. My father had her body dumped on my front doorstep with a note detailing everything. I was out of town so when I got back and saw, I—” He stood, marching to the bar, and mixing a drink. “I can’t talk about this anymore. Every time I do, I tell myself I will get through it, but I want to break everything in my sight.”

I sighed, glancing at Marco, then back at Hayden. “I…I’m sorry.”

He shrugged a shoulder, then stared at the wall, chugging the alcohol back.

Marco arched a brow at me.

I squinted. “I want answers from you now.”

Gnawing at the inside of his bottom lip, he bobbed his head back and forth. “Not right now.”

“You need to let me go home.”

“I told you, Isabelle, I can’t do that.” He stood and ambled to the other side of the coffee table, crossing his arms. “It’s too dangerous, not only for you, but him, as well.”

It was then I realized I did not have a phone. “My phone! Where the hell is my phone?!”

“I have no idea. You didn’t have your phone or a bag when we took you. I checked once we got back here.”

I sat back, feeling sick and betrayed. I laced my fingers together over my stomach. I was trying so hard to be strong but felt so defenseless.

Hayden stepped around to the front of the bar and leaned back on the edge, crossing an ankle over the other. “Felipe will find out you’re gone, and he’ll come after us because he’ll know we have you. That gives room for your friends and your man to take him out. Felipe doesn’t give a shit about them as much as he does you. But in my own opinion,” he shot Marco a glimpse, “I think you should be back with your man too, but I trust this guy here.”

“You’re the one I have to protect,” Marco interjected. “I know it doesn’t make sense right now, but it will.”

“But why can’t you just tell Val—”

“I need you to trust me.”

“You’re asking a lot after what you did!”

“I had to fake my death.”

I crossed my arms. “I’m not talking about that.”

He sighed. “I never got to apologize for the things that happened.”

“I forgave you anyway,” I muttered, barely above a whisper.

Lowering his gaze, he slid his hands into his pockets.

My stomach growled loudly.

“For the last fucking time, you need to eat.”

I offered a single nod, knowing he was right, then averted my gaze to the waterfall effect, floating crystal chandelier above. Any other time, I would have been in awe of its beauty.

Marco sighed audibly. “Hayden, will you see if you can get a message to my brother via Joseph?”

Shocked, I shifted my gaze to Marco.

“Sure.”

“Let him know she’s okay and to just focus on Felipe and your dad.”

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