Page 81 of Condemned By Betrayal
He nods. “That’s a good idea. You should go.”
I take my tea and drink it down in one gulp. It’s lukewarm now.
I rise from the couch. “I’ll ask Lyn and Avi after breakfast if they’re free.”
I avoid any further eye contact and walk to the bathroom.
Chapter 31
Elowen
Avi can’t go out because her son will wreak havoc without her, and if she brings him along, he’ll wreak havoc wherever they end up. I completely forgot about my four-month-old nephew’s mood swings.
I asked her anyway, and she laughed. I told her it was for a girls’ day out instead of telling her my real intention. Her answer was, “I’m no longer the girls’ day out type. I have a devil’s spawn who will ruin the whole day if I take him out in public. Ask Lyn, the mother of angels.”
I reach the nursery, where Lyn sits watching the twins play. I settle beside her on the couch.
They’re both growing fast, now big enough to play on their own.
They aren’t identical, Alis takes after Lyn with her curly red hair. Her eyes are different from Lyn’s, though. They’re both blue, but Alis’s look like galaxies, while Lyn’s are like the ocean.
Efrin takes after Leo, almost black eyes and dark, nearly black hair. And their natures are complete opposites. Alis can play with literally anything, right now she’s playing with Bruno and Rosie like the absolute doll she is, while her brother is busy picking up and hurling his toys across the room.
In our family, we don’t try to mold children into any particular shape. When Leo was little, he used to smash his toy cars and play with the engines for hours. Now he owns the company that makes the world’s fastest cars, which he refers to, quite happily, as his toy shop. Don’t expect my psychopath brother to be philosophically attached to his businesses; it’s just something to pass the time. The only thing that truly makes him happy is spending time with his wife and children.
Mom told me Leo showed a few psychopathic tendencies even as a baby, but like I said, in our family, we don’t change children. So even if Efrin looks like he’s on track to become the Hulk with his current style of play, we aren’t changing a thing about it.
“I need your help,” I start without beating around the bush, because it’s completely unnecessary. She’s my best friend. Even though I spent less time with her than with Avi growing up, we still share a very strong bond.
She raises a brow. “With what?”
“I need to see Hunter.”
That shocks her enough to turn fully toward me. “What? Why?”
“Promise me you won’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you. Not even Avi.” Avi has the heart of a dove, as Zo calls her. He has his own reasons for the name, but she really does have a heart as gentle as a dove.
Lyn nods, her brow furrowed.
“I can’t move on.” My voice drops on its own. “All I see when I sleep are nightmares of him dying. And in my wakinghours, I’m consumed with worry about him. My mind compares Hunter and Salvario every second, and I can’t stop it. I’m going crazy from the guilt and self-loathing. Salvario doesn’t deserve this. I have to get Hunter out of my head, no matter what.”
She stares at me for a long moment, then speaks carefully. “Are you in love with him?”
I shake my head frantically. “How can I be in love with him? All he ever was to me was Salvario with another face. And my brain still won’t accept that he isn’t Salvario.” My voice starts trembling as I give voice to the things that have been suffocating me for so long. “He is exactly like him, Lyn. Do you understand? He looks at me the way Salvario used to. He touches me just the same. Everything about him is Salvario, and I’m trapped in it. I can’t...” My throat closes up. I try to swallow past the thickness. Tears prick my eyes. I blink them back. “I can’t live like this. It’s killing me.” My voice is barely there, reduced to a shaky, exhausted whisper.
Lyn takes my hand in both of hers. “I get it. But I don’t understand how having Salvario here isn’t making things better.”
“I don’t know,” I say, my voice worn thin. “He’s just like before, but he doesn’t feel the same.”
“How do you want me to help?” She strokes the back of my hand with her thumb.
“Ask Leo to let me see him in secret. I don’t want Salvario to find out. What I’m doing to him with my fucked-up head is already cruel enough. I need to see Hunter to convince myself he’s alive, so at least the nightmares stop. And maybe then, the voices will stop chanting his name. I don’t know if it’ll work, but I have to try. I need closure. I can’t let Salvario see this side of me, it would hurt him badly.” With each word, guilt burrows into my bones, feeding on me without ever finishing the job.
Hunter is being held in my family’s hospital until he’s healed enough to be transferred to their prison. Salvario wants him dead, but my father refused. After I came back, he asked me what I wanted for Hunter, whether I wanted him dead or not. I refused.
I told him Hunter saved my life, and I didn’t want to be ungrateful. My dad had a different opinion, after all, Hunter was the one who put me in danger by kidnapping me, but he still agreed to spare his life. Hunter will remain in the prison, though. And since my family’s private prison is in San Diego, they’re keeping him in our hospital here.
As for Logan, no one knows where he is. Logan and Hunter are excellent at hiding, and at finding anyone. I wonder if they found Salvario and decided not to tell me. Hunter would have gotten Naples if he hadn’t played that game.
