Page 18 of The Veiling

Savior

Though I was terrified, something inside me trusted him. He had helped in London while I was in the hospital, and I hoped his days of hurting his own family were over. I followed closely behind as we stepped into a wide-open garden. Trees, shrubs, and rows of flowers lined several paths, all leading to a stunning swimming pool. Any other time, I would have been excited to absorb the beauty, but we had to flee. Just as Marco took another step, Hayden came barreling around the corner toward us. We were busted.

“Did you get it?” Marco asked him.

My mouth fell open, and I took a step back.

Hayden smiled at me. “Hi, I’m Hayden,” he tilted his head at Marco, “his friend.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Marco growled. “I have to get her back to the other house.”

“Wait!” I grabbed Marco’s forearm.

He lowered his eyes to my hand, then met my gaze.

I withdrew it, turning my attention to Hayden. “Who the hell are you?!” Pissed off, I took a step back, darting my eyes between them. “You tricked—”

Marco grabbed my wrist, hauling me toward them. “Hayden is working for me. He’s been spying on Felipe and—”

“No!” I stomped out of his hold. “I don’t trust either of you.” My eyes welled with tears. I turned my attention to Marco. “You are supposed to be dead! I don’t even know what or who to believe anymore. I feel like I’m going crazy. I feel like I’m going to pass out from anxiety. I feel like—” I drew in a deep breath. “What about the driver and the other guy in our car?”

Marco shrugged. “Don’t know them well enough to care. It was a small price to pay to sacrifice them to keep you safe.”

“This was a set-up?”

Hayden peeked around the corner, then back at us. “We need to get you guys out of here. You can talk later.”

I was fuming, becoming more lightheaded as each second passed. At that moment, my world went black.

“Isabelle.”

Confused, I blinked several times before my eyes sprung open at the sight of Marco and Hayden together in front of me. I sat up, realizing I was back at Marco’s place, and they were perched on the coffee table. Stunned, I opened my mouth to scream, but before I could, Marco put his palm on my arm.

“Isabelle, it’s okay.”

Inhaling a deep breath, I calmed enough to appear composed, but internally I was still freaking out. “I need answers, Marco. Now!”

“You fainted.” He rolled his eyes. “Probably because you wouldn’t listen to me and eat when I told you to. Between that and being overwhelmed, you couldn’t take it anymore, I guess. You slept the entire way back here.”

Ignoring his remark, I frowned. “Why did those men get killed for me?”

“As I said,” he shrugged, “small sacrifice and they’re not my focus. Killing Felipe is, and you need to be returned safely to my brother.”

I narrowed my gaze at Hayden. “And what about you?”

“Jesse is my… father.” He looked ashamed, hurt,angry?Maybe a mix of the three.

My mouth fell agape at the revelation. He looked nothing like his father. He was handsome, tall, with chestnut brown hair and mocha-brown eyes.

“But,” he ran his fingers through his hair as if he could read my mind, “I’m going to kill him.”

I opened my mouth to reply but was unsure what to say at that point. This stuff only happened in movies, yet it was my current reality.

“The plan didn’t go at all how it was supposed to, but my father and Felipe wanted to strike today, and I had no choice but to play along.”

“You knocked my mask off,” Marco sneered. “She wasn’t supposed to know it was me until she was back with my brother.”

“It’s not like I can tell him, anyway!” I snapped. “You won’t let me contact him.”

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