Whispered Lies

“Then you killed your blood, because I didn’t send him into a death trap,” Carlos replied in a voice as deadly soft as Durand’s.

But then Durand and Carlos were father and son. Gabrielle felt sick.

Durand had been the monster in her nightmares for years. The blunt silence in the room felt as though the world had stopped spi

After a long, tense stillness, Durand seemed to regain his composure and demanded, “Who is Mirage?”

“I’ll tell you once Maria calls to say they have boarded the airplane,” Carlos repeated without looking at anyone.

Gabrielle’s chest hurt as though her heart had been ripped from her. How could Carlos be the man she loved? He had murdered i

Her brain screamed with arguments in his favor. He couldn’t possibly be that person. He would never harm a woman or kill without reason. But he’d just admitted as much. His aunt recognized him. Could he really trust his aunt?

Was Carlos now getting her to safety or just giving Gabrielle a head start before he told Durand she was Mirage?

Her head throbbed from trying to process the inconceivable, that she had been intimate with the man who had stolen her mother’s life. That she’d fallen in love with a true mirage. Her heart bled from a thousand cuts. This was the man who had sworn he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.

Guess Carlos hadn’t included himself in the list of possible threats.

“You are not in a position to negotiate, Alejandro,” Durand warned in a deadly tone.

“That’s why I asked for Maria.” Carlos sat, stoic in the face of sure death. He wouldn’t look at Gabrielle, his gaze landing on his father and staying there.

Durand wasn’t happy about the position he was in, but couldn’t back down now from his agreement. Gabrielle had learned from Ferdinand that Durand’s power lay in the strength of his word.

“Maria, prepare your son for the trip,” Durand ordered as calmly as sending her to make a glass of tea. His eyes reflected a disappointment in his sister Gabrielle didn’t understand. “Julio, have the men take the woman with Maria and Eduardo to fly on my jet once my sister is ready.”

“What will you do with him, Durand?” Maria asked, indicating Carlos.

“Do not interfere in business” was her brother’s reply.

Gabrielle looked at Maria next to her. The woman turned imploring eyes to Carlos. What did his aunt want?

When Carlos averted his gaze, Maria sighed and walked out of the room. Durand ordered Julio to guard their prisoners, then he signaled his other men to follow him out the door.

Julio took a spot across the room, next to the desk. A strategic position so he could watch them both.

Gabrielle stood perfectly still, trying to breathe past the tightness in her chest. Carlos-or Alejandro-sat just as motionless across the room, avoiding eye contact with her.

Durand would kill him. She fought for a breath. An elephant was sitting on her chest. The thought of Carlos dying stripped her emotions raw. She should be glad to see Alejandro Anguis face his mortality, but her traitorous heart cried out to save Carlos.

At least until she could talk to him, find out why he’d lied to her. Then what? Turn him over to the authorities to be tried by a jury of his peers?

In his case, peers would be killers.

Carlos wanted her to get a message to Joe.

Now she had to question just whom Joe and his group of deadly operatives represented.

Carlos finally lifted his head to face her for the first time since entering Durand’s office. The misery burrowed deep in his eyes twisted her heart in knots.

He’d made her promise not to hate him.

He was waiting for a sign of that promise.

She couldn’t give it to a man who freely admitted being a murderer she’d spent a decade trying to bring to justice.

He looked away, but not before agony wrenched his grim face.

Gabrielle couldn’t do it. She could not just leave him here to die. As if he’d heard her thoughts, his eyes cut back to hers. He gave a brief shake of his head she knew meant not to risk the deal he’d made. She checked Julio, who was staring at her. He hadn’t noticed Carlos and couldn’t see Carlos’s face the way she could. When she looked back at Carlos, his lips moved as he mouthed the words Please save them.

He wanted to know she’d take the message to Joe that Carlos suspected something was going to happen while the teens were at Congress today…in a few hours.

No plea for himself, only for others.

Who was this man?

Durand strode back into the room. “Take her to the car, Julio.”

“No, I-” Gabrielle stepped toward Carlos.

“Get out of here,” Carlos snarled at Gabrielle. “I’m not apologizing for getting you into this because I needed you as a cover, but I’m also not going to put up with any more of your whining. Go home. Keep your mouth shut and he’ll let you live. What part of that are you confused about?”

Gabrielle stood there, dazed by the angry outburst, until Julio crossed the room and touched her arm. She jumped. Her insides twisted in indecision. She couldn’t accept any of this.

Carlos met her gaze, his dying request clear in his eyes. She fought back tears. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He waited for her acknowledgment.

She nodded, unable to deny him or speak.

The relief that spread across his face told her he was staking all on her not letting him down. That she’d get the message to Joe and save the teens.

But who would save Carlos? Oh, God, she couldn’t do this.

Julio grasped her arm. Fury burst across Carlos’s face. She couldn’t let him put himself in more danger.

What exactly would be more danger?

“I’m going.” Gabrielle swung around and walked from the room, fighting for control with each step. She tried to take a breath, told herself not to bolt back into that office and beg Durand to let Carlos go. Durand would use her against his son.

If she left, Carlos had no Mirage to give Durand unless he betrayed her. Would he?

He said Joe and Retter could get him out of there, but would his aunt allow her to contact anyone when they got to the jet? How long before she could try to reach Joe?

Outside, Gabrielle glanced around at the sprawling pale yellow house with a ten-foot-high stucco wall topped with spiked wrought iron surrounding the compound.

How could Retter get in here quickly enough to help Carlos?

When they reached a van outfitted with a hydraulic lift at the rear doors, Julio swung his weapon from his shoulder and pointed it at her. She climbed inside, taking a seat that faced a wheelchair locked into place. A man with shoulder-length black hair close to Carlos’s age sat silently staring at her.

Gabrielle turned to the driver, already behind the wheel. “Where is Maria?”

He ignored her.

So did the man in the wheelchair.

She lunged for the door, but the locks clicked shut.

CARLOS COULDN’T MOVE his eyes from the closed door of Durand’s office. He’d never see Gabrielle again. Steel bands cinched around his chest with each second that passed.

Had he really thought Gabrielle wouldn’t hate him?

No, he’d prayed she wouldn’t.

But it was unfair to expect her to understand without telling her everything that had happened the day her mother died. That Gabrielle had hesitated to leave told him she still cared somewhere in her heart. Somewhere deep beneath all the hurt and disappointment she had to be going through, she did care.

He had to believe that so he could face what Durand would do to him once Maria called to say they were on the airplane.

Durand never just killed anyone. He believed examples should be made of any breach in loyalty. He’d do his best to bleed any information from Carlos first. Let them try.