Chapter 26 #2
Leisel and I hang back for a moment as my body calms enough to be presentable. We continue to whisper.
“I want you by my side, chiquita. Always. We’ll figure out what that looks like, but I won’t let you go.”
By my side.
I mean that to the bottom of my heart. I’ve never meant anything more. I can’t imagine letting Leisel go now that I’ve found her.
“I don’t know what’ll happen with our work or our families in the days to come, Jorge. I don’t know when I’ll go to New York, but to the very depths of my soul, I know I’ll follow you wherever you go.”
We gaze into each other’s eyes, and I see the depth of my feelings mirrored in hers.
“You ready to let me lead because you know I want you as an equal—a partner.”
“You’ve guided me through all of this, been at my side the entire time.
You could’ve commandeered it all and told me nothing.
But you haven’t. You’re dominant with every breath, but you’re not domineering.
You may exert that dominance during sex, but it’s confidence and steadfastness outside of sex. It’s what I need.”
As I stare down at her, I know I’m falling in love. I’m not convinced I’m there yet, but I think that’s merely a matter of time. It’s like the foundation is in place, and the walls are nearly built. It just needs the roof on top. Then we can make that house into a home—together.
It’s not until Joaquin leaves the kitchen with a silver tray holding a silver teapot and traditional small Moroccan glasses, and Alejandro follows with a tray with heaping plates of cookies and pastries, that I remember there are other people here.
I even forgot her family despite hearing their voices.
As we walk into the living room, she stretches to whisper to me some more. “It’s sweet to watch Joaquin and Alejandro wait for Noor to tell them where to put the trays. I’m certain I heard one of them say, ‘Sí, Tía.’”
“Don’t tell anyone, but the men in my family are just giant teddy bears.” I wink at her.
The living room furniture is a combination of European and Moroccan. There are armchairs, but there are also banquette sofas that line three walls with vibrant, beautifully embroidered pillows.
“Now that Papa’s back, the colors seem so much richer in here. Everything was a haze before that. I didn’t notice it until now.”
“I take it for granted since I’ve been here so many times, but I get what you mean.”
Alejandro and Joaquin take the armchairs while the couples sit close together but on separate sections of the sofa. Leisel and I share one with Noor and Hisham, with her parents sandwiched between Heidi and Friedrich and Liesel and me.
Liesel’s arm’s wrapped around mine, and our hands are clasped together.
It doesn’t go unnoticed by her father. I breathe easier when he doesn’t look surprised.
Just the opposite—it’s like he expected it.
He’s aged significantly in the past week, but he still looks so much like he used to.
He has his arm around his wife, who has her hand resting on his knee.
“I can’t get over the fact you have both hands! I’m struggling to understand.” Leisel leans forward as she stares at her father’s undamaged hands.
“Papa, what happened?” Heidi asks the million-dollar question.
“I believed I was meeting Clyde for lunch, but I discovered these men spoofed his number and used some tech program to mimic his voice. When I left the office, they grabbed me.”
“No one noticed you trying to avoid getting in their vehicle?” Heidi’s got plenty of questions, so everyone lets her ask the same ones we all have.
“No one noticed the gun they had to my kidney. I didn’t go willingly, but neither did I want to anger them enough for them to kill me at the destination.
There were four of them who encircled me, so I wasn’t breaking free.
They were going to force me into the vehicle whether I wanted to go or not.
Once they had me in there, they put a sack over my head and zip tied my hands.
I’m not a small guy and neither were they, but somehow they crammed three of us in the backseat of the car.
There wasn’t enough room for me to struggle against them. ”
“Papa, they sent a box to the office that day.”
The words burn my ears as I hear the pain in Leisel’s voice.
“I know, mein Honigbienchen.”
Liesel looks up at me then at my relatives before she explains. “My little honeybee. He’s been calling me that since I was a toddler. He said I would buzz about, chattering to everyone but never stopping anywhere for long. Definitely not my personality once I got into school, but the name stuck.”
She looks lovingly at her father before she nudges her chin and looks down at his hand.
“They took your ring. Did they tell you why or did you guess?”
“They forced me to see them put the ring on a stranger’s hand, then place that in the box. I don’t know if it came from a corpse or some other hostage somewhere. I didn’t ask, and they didn’t offer. I’m fine with never knowing.”
From the way Gretel and Heidi nod along with Liesel, I think they’re fine with ignorance is—maybe not bliss—fine.
“They forced me to log into the office security, so I watched you come back from lunch. Then I saw Jorge arrive. They didn’t expect that.
It made a couple of them panic, but it was a massive relief to me.
Jorge, while you and your family were always one step behind them, you were stepping on their heels.
I suspect their arguing amongst themselves is why you found them.
They couldn’t agree about whether they should move me to another location. They got careless.”
Liesel squeeze my hand. “How’d you find him? Joaquin mentioned the CCTV earlier but didn’t really explain.”
I smile but tilt my chin toward Joaquin, the pride clear in my voice. “My brother did it.”
“With Anneliese not in the office working long hours or to recognize anything out of the ordinary, I suspected they’d go back at some point. If they were watching the office, they knew we had your computers. But I knew there was the possibility—especially after we—”
Joaquin glances at me, unsure how my girlfriend—I’ve never been more excited about those two words—wants to proceed with confessing we bugged the office.
Gunter’s gaze swings to me, and the scowl speaks louder than any verbal threats he could issue.
Liesel glances up at me and sees I’m taking it in stride.
My expression’s neutral without appearing disinterested.
I hear how she breathes easier when Joaquin continues.
“I figured if there was still anything at the office, they’d get desperate to find it before anyone else could.
I kept monitoring the CCTV around the office building and what I could see in the lobby and hallway.
I didn’t watch it as a live feed the entire time, so I’m lucky I happened to be on my computer when I was. ”
“We’re so lucky.” Liesel’s gratitude shows in her voice and expression as she looks at the man I hope will one day be her brother-in-law.
“Once I knew who to watch, I followed them through the city on the security feed.”
“Should I ask how you got into the city’s police system?”
“You should not, Herr Schlossberg.” Joaquin’s answer is clipped but not rude.
“I’m grateful you did. I nearly had a heart attack when you burst in.
I didn’t know what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t orders given in Spanish.
I was dazed from the percussion grenade.
They’re louder than you think from the movies.
It took me a moment to piece together that it must’ve been Jorge or another Diaz. ”
Liesel leans her head against my shoulder, and I rest mine on top of hers.
“What about the other boxes? Did you know they sent more things to us?” Gretel’s voice wobbles, and I know she’s fighting back tears.
“No. What else did they send?”
“A pig’s eye and someone’s ear.” Heidi looks almost green when she shares that.
“A pig’s eye?”
“It looks very similar to a human one if you don’t know what to look for.” I’m softer spoken with that explanation than I usually am.
“Ah.”
We wait for Gunter to say more, but he looks too disgusted to add anything. Who knows what else they did to him? Perhaps that was revolting enough to turn his stomach over, or maybe it was the least of the kidnappers’ tricks. There’s still something we need to know, but he hasn’t shared.
“Papa, who were they?”
I’m eager to hear Gunter’s answer to that question because we didn’t learn much while we were at the abandoned building that was little more than a flop house.
“I don’t know, Anne. They got a call from someone, but the conversation was too vague for me to guess who or what it was about.”
Gunter shrugs with frustration since he knows he’s not offering much insight. Everyone’s exhausted at this point, and it’s clear he has little more to offer. I doubt the man’s slept well in days, so we leave off where we are, and all agree to pick up the conversation in the morning.
Liesel and I look at each other, unsure what will happen with the sleeping arrangements. Hisham and Noor weren’t here early when the Heidi and Friedrich, and Leisel and I went upstairs.
I know Leisel and I would prefer to be together, and I’m sure Heidi and Friedrich feel the same way, but we’re both unmarried couples in somebody else’s home. It only takes a moment to allay our fears that we’ll be separated when Noor lets us know there’s a room for each couple.
Once I close the door behind us, I pull Liesel into my arms. She wraps hers around my waist and presses her cheek against my chest.
“Chica—”
“Shh, Daddy, just for a moment. I just want to listen to your heart. The rhythm is so steady that it’s comforting to me.”
I’ll happily hold her forever if it means I can make the rest of the world disappear and let her feel safe. We must stand there for close to five minutes before she pulls away.
“Daddy, I’m tired, but not sleepy.”