Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“I’ll see that you get that chance.” I look toward the horizon. “You’re not the first young woman I’ve come across who is intelligent and talented but is being placed in a box.”
She takes my hand. “Yes, the girl you’re betrothed to.”
“Not only her. My own mother.” I inhale deeply and let it out on a whoosh. “She could’ve made so much more out of her life.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.” Daniela pats my hands gently.
“Thank you. I appreciate that. At least I know my mother is at peace now.” I grit my teeth. “Meanwhile, my father’s rotting away in a prison cell.”
Technically not my father, but still the man who I think of as my true father.
“There’s nothing you can do for him?”
I sigh, shaking my head slightly. “Not at the moment, anyway.”
“Listen,” she says. “You’ve been so kind to me. Let me try to help you.” She looks up toward the roof of the house. “I have to admit I’ve always been curious about the attic myself. I’ll see what I can do.”
I lean forward and give her a kiss on the cheek. She really is a lovely girl. “Thank you. Please let me know what you find out.”
“I will. Do you want to go back to the house now?”
“Yes, I suppose that would be best.”
She places a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about these walks we have, the talks we have outside the house. When my father asked me about them, I told him you were courting me.”
I raise an eyebrow. “And he bought it?”
“Yes, but not in the way you think.” She looks down. “He knows you’re in love with another woman, Vinnie.”
I jerk backward. “Oh?”
“Yes. He told me so. He asked me if that mattered to me.”
“And what did you say?”
“I told him that it didn’t matter. That this was a business deal, an alliance, and nothing more.”
“Good. Thank you.”
She presses her lips together. “There is one thing you should know, though.”
“What’s that?”
She swallows. “Alliances are forged through marriage, but they’re maintained through children. My father will expect grandchildren, Vinnie.”
“You’re still very young.”
“That doesn’t matter to him.”
“I’ll get you back to the United States. After that, we’ll figure things out from there.”
“Sounds good to me.”
We walk in silence back to the house.
An hour later, there’s a knock at my door.
I open it, and Daniela stands there. She grabs me into a hug and presses her lips to mine.
It feels all wrong, and I’m about to push her away when I see her eyeing a camera in the corner. She’s putting on a show, of course. I feel her slip something in my pocket as she pulls away.
She then smiles at me and leaves without a word.
Back in my room, I look at what she shoved into my pocket.
It’s a key, along with a note.
Midnight. You have two hours. All surveillance will be off.
I nearly drop my jaw. How did she manage that? I shudder to think of what—or, God help her, who—she had to do. I never wanted her to help me that way. But I have the key now, and I have the cover I need.
I must take this opportunity.
At midnight, in the darkness of the hallway, I pad lightly toward the end of the hallway where the door to the attic stairs is. I unlock it and open it, stealing quietly up the creaky stairs.
I inhale the smell of a musty attic. Mothballs, cobwebs, dust.
I don’t dare make a sound. Are there cameras up here as well? Microphones? Are they part of the main system? I have no idea. If I’m caught, it will be the end of my time here and of the deal with Agudelo.
But my curiosity is piqued, and I need to know what he’s hiding up here.
He must be hiding something. Why else would he lock the door?
I’ve been here for over a week now, and I’ve never seen anyone go near this door.
I don’t have a flashlight on me or my phone. I didn’t want to take the chance of anything alerting any possible cameras.
No lights have come on, so there are no motion detectors.
Good.
I keep walking, and every time a wood board creaks beneath me, I stop, my body going rigid. Did anyone hear that? Did anyone see that?
Agudelo isn’t home, but Morehouse is, as well as the housekeepers and other staff.
I keep walking, walking, walking…
Until I finally hit a wall, nearly stumbling.
I put my ear up to the wall.
No sound, until—
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The rhythm.
The same rhythm. And then more slowly.
Tap… Tap… Tap…
And then quickly again.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Oh my God. Why didn’t I notice this before?
It’s Morse code. SOS. Three shorts, three longs, and then another three shorts. Someone is in this room.
Do I knock on the wall? Do I dare make any noise?
I fumble around in the dark, moving against the wall, looking for a doorknob.