Chapter 10
Yara
“Get us back there. We need to leave tonight,” I spoke evenly, but inside, my emotions were a washing machine of unease and distrust.
Did Mateo have something to do with this? Why was Kazi not with us? How was Izzy part of this? Why is her file missing? Who is Johnson Hall?
“Yara—” Mateo began, but then James came up behind him.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Panic was filling my throat with painful grit. “James, I need you to promise not to ask any questions.”
He stepped around the frozen Mateo, putting himself between us. He shifted his attention back and forth. “I don’t like this.”
“Promise. Please?” I walked around the desk, moving until I was in James’s space. I pressed my hand over his heart, looking up at him through my lashes.
He softened, his tone turning gentle. “I promise.”
I couldn’t keep this from him. He deserved to know. “I know where your daughter is. I can’t tell you anything else right now, but she might be in danger. We need to go back to Florida. Now.”
James didn’t speak, but his heart sped up, thumping against my palm. His breath turned ragged.
“She’s telling the truth,” Mateo advised from behind us. “Emil will find her, Yara.”
Jolting, I cut my eyes his way. “Who is Emil to you?”
“My boss.”
That would only make sense if… “Is he Johnson Hall?” I asked the question, watching Mateo critically.
His jaw ticked, his nostrils flared. “Yes.”
My eyes welled in emotion as the truth settled around me.
Had Mateo and Kazi only gotten close to me to get to Izzy? Is it my fault she was kidnapped? What can I possibly do?
“He didn’t take her, Yara, but he’s going to find her. He won’t hurt her.” Mateo’s words stabbed at my nerves.
I wanted to scream, to shout, to throw myself at him and demand answers, but James’s hand lashed out, grabbing hold of my shoulder.
“My daughter?”
“Izzy. I know who she is. I can’t explain anything else right now. But she’s in Florida. Just trust me.”
James’s eyes turned glassy. “Yara, you promise this isn’t a lie. You don’t understand, this will…” He trailed off, his lips tightening into a line.
His pain was tangible, and I wanted more than anything to fix this. To have a perfect-sized bandage that would magically return Izzy safe and sound.
“Izzy is in Florida,” Mateo stated. “She will be fine, but we must return.”
James was visibly shaken, but I still wasn’t sure how to explain to him the intricacies of my relationship with Izzy. Or what to say at all for that matter.
He released his hold on me. “Okay. Let’s go.”
“No.” Mateo stepped between James and me, standing to his full height and posturing over him. “Your boss can’t know that anything is awry, or anything about your connection with Yara.”
“You can’t expect me to wait another day now that I know my daughter is alive and in danger,” James argued back, hardening his shoulders and folding his arms across his chest.
“I can. You will do nothing but put Izzy and Yara in danger. You are of no help, and your boss, Steve, is at the center of all of this.”
I placed a hand on Mateo’s back.
“What do you mean, my boss?!” his voice pitched in anger.
“He owned the apartment above Yara. He has a connection to her, but we have been unable to determine what it is.”
Mateo’s words landed in my lungs. A thousand balloons expanding and taking my literal breath. I coughed a few times to dispel the feeling, but it didn’t work.
James ran a hand through his hair. “He has always been…there’s something off about him.” He deflated. “You’re right. But I’m moving up my flight to as early tomorrow morning as possible.” He directed his next words towards me. “Yara, you can’t disappear again.”
I attempted to step around Mateo, but he held an arm up, watching James warily.
“Yara is a victim in this. You will not treat her as an adversary. She is pregnant and under too much stress. Do not add to it.”
James shut his eyes. “I know, but you must understand that I have been looking for my daughter for over a decade. That keeping her away from me is torture.”
“What’s another day?” Mateo cocked his head.
Pushing Mateo’s arm away, I walked to James. “I will be in Florida. When you land, I will have Mateo pick you up. I won’t disappear.”
“Fine,” James agreed, but I could tell he didn’t believe me.
I didn’t blame him and my heart went out to him for how this was going down, but I trusted Mateo was doing what was needed to keep us safe.
“Let’s go.” Mateo grabbed hold of my hand, tugging me towards the office door.
James didn’t move, didn’t reach for me, didn’t turn.
Was this it? I knew my relationship with his daughter would make ours difficult.
And what about Izzy? Is she okay? Can I trust Mateo’s boss?
I didn’t look back as we made our way to the elevator.
“What if he doesn’t want to be with me after this?” I whispered as the doors shut.
“Then he is an idiot and not deserving of you.” Mateo wrapped a reassuring arm around my shoulders, tugging me to him. “The plane is ready, we will return and Izzy will be fine.”
His words did nothing to calm the distress and anxiety that buried and furrowed its way deep into my gut.
When the elevator doors opened to the parking garage, I sprinted out of it and promptly puked the mediocre contents of my stomach onto the concrete.
A moment later, Mateo’s hand found its way to my back, offering soothing strokes.
“The book I read advised the morning sickness should lessen after 12 to 14 weeks,” Mateo reassured. “We can get you cleaned up on the plane. A hot shower and some soup will help.”
But his words had the opposite effect. I knew nothing of pregnancy, of babies, of parenthood. My adoptive parents were kind, but there had always been a thick wall between us and now they lived abroad choosing to travel in their retirement.
I hadn’t spoken to them on the phone in over a year.
And here I was pregnant. I was meant to raise my own child.
How?!
I was completely clueless. And here was Mateo, one day in and already researching.
Self-deprecation and crippling anxiety trundled through me as I continued to dry heave.
I can’t do this. I’m going to be a horrible mother.