Chapter 31
Chapter
Thirty-One
Jasmine
Seven hours ago
A léjandro and Mia’s stateroom was next door to ours. I hadn’t determined if they could have heard Rei and me through the walls, but I didn’t doubt it was a possibility. Since Rei left, there wasn’t anything to hear except music or a podcast.
During a few of my late-night sleepless hours, I’d tried unsuccessfully to recreate the orgasms Rei had wrung from me. I tried pretending they were his fingers and not mine. I even imagined his tongue and whatever he did with his teeth. My imagination could get me wound up, but the coming down was anti-climactic in all senses of the term.
It seemed impossible to be bored on a superyacht, but I was. I’d completed all the assignments for my classes, read two books, and spent more time than ever in my life resting in the sun. I was a newlywed and what I really wanted was time with my husband.
With dinner not being served until eight at night, I was showered and dressed, with over an hour to kill. Going out onto the balcony, I stood at the railing and stared out at the ocean. The horizon created a darker blue line separating the water from the sky. It truly was beautiful and far different than the view from my room in Kansas City.
My skin prickled at the sound of someone yelling.
Who would be yelling?
I took a step closer to the wall separating our balcony from Jano and Mia’s.
“Oh shit.” Am I hearing Mia?
Running through the stateroom, I opened my door and gripped the doorknob of the room next door. It was locked. “Mia,” I called through the door. “Mia.”
Back in our stateroom, I found my phone, thankful that we’d exchanged numbers. Calling Mia, I bit my lip, hoping I was wrong. She’d answer and say she was fine. Maybe she was watching a loud movie.
The call went to voicemail. I ran back out on the balcony, where I’d first heard it and called her name. “Mia.” I paused. “Mia,” I screamed louder. “Are you all right?”
“Jasmine.”
I could barely hear her.
“Get Josefina. I’m bleeding.”
One of the few places I hadn’t been on Bella was to Jorge and Josefina’s private quarters. I also knew that Josefina enjoyed resting before dinner. As I passed one of the staff members, I asked, “Do you have keys to get into the staterooms?”
“ Sí , are you locked out, Senora ?”
“No, I think Mia— Senora Mia Roríguez—is in trouble. We need to get into her room. Please. She’s bleeding.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “ Senora Roríguez—Josefina.”
“I’m on my way to get her.”
The woman hurried toward Mia’s cabin. Two large doors marked the entrance to Josefina’s quarters. I pounded on the door and called her name. “Josefina.” My fist ached as I pounded.
The door opened inward. Josefina was standing before me in a bathrobe. “I’m sorry to bother you.”
Alarm showed in her eyes. “Is everything okay?”
Jorge came from behind her, looking as discombobulated as I’d ever seen him. There wasn’t time to think about what I’d interrupted. I concentrated on Josefina. “No.” I shook my head. “It’s Mia. I couldn’t get to her, but I heard her…”
“Mia.” She turned around saying something I couldn’t understand to her husband before rushing past me. “We need to get to her. It’s too early for the baby.”
“She said she was bleeding.”
I ran beside Josefina as she took the quickest route to Mia’s room. As we approached the door was open. Our steps slowed and Josefina entered before me. Mia was lying on the bathroom floor covered by towels. A member of the staff was with her, using a stethoscope to listen for the baby’s heartbeat. Mia looked up at us with a tear-stained face and puffy eyes.
The staff member spoke in Spanish. While I didn’t understand him, Mia and Josefina did, as they both took long, ragged breaths. Josefina hurried to Mia. “We need to get you to a hospital. I don’t care what Jorge says.”
Mia nodded. Her gaze came to mine. “You heard me.”
“I did. I’m sorry I didn’t hear you sooner.”
With our help, Mia dressed. She said she’d been in the shower when she felt the cramping and saw the blood. When she got out, she doesn’t know if she passed out or what happened. She woke on the floor, afraid to move, and started to call for help.
“Get your purse, ID, and phone,” Josefina said to me.
“Why? Where am I going?”
“With me. You’re an American citizen. I have fake identification, but I don’t want trouble.”
The dots became connected. “We’re going with Mia?”
“ Sí . Jorge wants us to take guards with us. He’s calling Silas to meet Mia at the helipad.”
“We’re flying?”
She shook her head. “We won’t all fit in the helicopter, and Mia can’t ride in a boat across choppy water. She’ll need to fly with guards. You, I, and more guards will travel by boat.”
“Is there any way to contact Aléjandro?” I asked.
Josefina’s expression grew solemn. “Jorge says no.”
I reached for her hand. “Are our husbands alive?”
“ Sí, Jorge swears it.”
“Is he coming? ”
“No. Something horrible happened today. If he’s found in the States, they will arrest him.”
“What happened?”
Josefina’s posture straightened. “Not our business. Right now, Mia is our concern and in our prayers.”
I watched as Mia was carried to the helicopter and strapped into the back seat. Two of the dark-suited men also boarded with the pilot. One sat in the co-pilot’s seat and the other sat next to Mia. As the helicopter took off, blowing my dress and hair, I looked around, taking in the lack of guards.
“Come,” Josefina called. “Joaquín, the boat captain, is almost here.”
Following my mother-in-law down multiple sets of stairs, we came to the boat deck. The guards I’d been looking for were here. A long thin boat was being moored to the deck. Once it was secure, the captain offered his hand, helping Josefina and I into the boat. As soon as we were seated, two more men in dark suits joined us. Josefina secured a scarf over her long hair. I shivered from the ocean breeze as I huddled near Josefina. “I should have brought a coat.”
The captain opened one of the seats and removed a blanket. “ Senora ,” he said, handing it to me.
“ Gracias .” I had enough time to wrap the blanket around me before the boat was untied and sped away from the setting sun.
Leaning closer, I spoke to Josefina. “We took four of the guards. Will Jorge be okay?”
She nodded, but I could see the concern in the lines around her brown eyes. I reached out and took her hand. “ Mia and the baby will be all right. Didn’t she say she was thirty-six weeks?”
Josefina nodded. “We can pray.”
It wasn’t until the lights of the mainland came into view that I finally relaxed—if that was even possible. I kept telling myself that this boat was how Rei and Aléjandro traveled. El Patr?n wouldn’t allow Josefina to travel this way if it wasn’t safe.
One of the guards turned and spoke to Josefina after reading a text message. Once he was finished talking, I looked at my mother-in-law.
“Mia is now with Silas and Viviana. They’re on their way to the hospital, and they’ve called Mia’s doctor.”
I missed Piero. In the sea of dark-suited men surrounding us, I wasn’t confident as to who I could trust. I stayed close to Josefina as we were transferred from the long boat to a waiting SUV. The sun was fully set by the time we arrived at the hospital. The guard who had given us the news about Mia must also be informed as to her current whereabouts. When the other man pulled the SUV up to the hospital, the second guard got out and opened our door. Without a word, we followed him around the metal detectors.
I kept expecting someone to tell us we couldn’t walk around them, but we needed to walk through them. No one stopped us. He then led us to elevators that took us up to the fifth floor and to a secure door. He spoke to the speaker in Spanish and the door opened.
Once we passed a nurse’s station, we were directed down a private hallway. There was a dark-suited man outside the door who simply nodded as Josefina and I made our way into the room.
An older couple was standing by Mia’s bed.
Josefina rushed to Mia’s side. My sister-in-law was wearing a medical gown and lying on a bed. There was a big belt around her midsection and multiple screens with numbers and graphs. She already had an IV in her arm.
The older woman came my direction. “You must be Jasmine.”
“I am.”
She smiled. “I’m Viviana, Silas’s” —she motioned to the man— “wife. We hear you’re the one who heard Mia calling for help. We’re so thankful you saved her.”
“I didn’t save her, but I heard her. What have the doctors said?” I asked.
Mia nodded toward the screens. “See that second one on the right? It’s monitoring the baby’s heart rate.”
I stepped closer and read the monitor. “One hundred and fifty? Isn’t that high?”
Mia shook her head. “It’s strong, where it’s supposed to be. They’ve done an ultrasound. If they can stop labor they will, if not” —tears filled her eyes— “we’re having a baby.”
“Oh, honey,” Josefina said. “Jano will be here soon. I know it.”
I wanted to ask if she truly knew about Aléjandro or if she was being positive. As a sense of dread sent a chill over my flesh, I feared it was the second.
The hospital room had a couch, a table with two chairs, and a recliner. As Mia napped, Josefina and Viviana chatted quietly on the couch. Silas sat at the table, and I sat in the recliner. The food the guards brought us wasn’t even close to edible when compared to the meals Josefina’s staff had been feeding us on Bella.
I wasn’t sure how I did it with the nurses and aides coming in and out of Mia’s room, but somehow, I must have fallen asleep. I woke with a gasp, noticing I’d been covered with a blanket and the sky was still dark through the windows. Dante was standing against a wall. However, none of that mattered as much as the vision of two large men entering the hospital room.
Aléjandro rushed to Mia’s side.
Springing from the recliner I closed my eyes as Rei’s strong arms surrounded me.
“Preciosa.”