Chapter 23
"Are you going to answer it?” Katya stared at Cristian and Matias. A full day had passed and there still had been no word from Darby.
“I’ll take it.” Matias eased himself forward and pressed the button to answer.
“No. He thinks you’re dead. Let’s keep it that way.” Cristian’s tone was forceful and angry as he swiped the phone away. He was hoping it would be Darby with some sort of deal.
“What?” he barked into the phone.
“Sir,” Marco called from the other end.
“Marco?” He was surprised to hear the familiar voice of one of the men he thought he lost.
“I wanted to let you know that Bastian is safe. He sent word that he was able to sneak into Darby’s camp.”
Cristian realized that he hadn’t seen Marco during the raid on their men and that he must have helped Bastian with his plan. Now that his brother was in Darby’s inner circle, he was more worried. What if Darby killed him and Everly just to get back at him?
“Where exactly is he?” he asked.
“I don’t know. He only sent word that he was safely inside and had eyes on Everly. Darby has also brought the remaining six women to his residence. He is worried you’ll retaliate, so he is hiding them on his property. He said I should specifically tell you the code word is ‘Iris’ when he calls.”
Iris was their mother’s favorite flower. He guessed that if Bastian called with any details, he’d be using that code word. If he didn’t say it, then it meant he had been compromised.
“Well?” Matias asked.
“It was Marco.”
Cristian poured himself a glass of vintage wine.
After gulping it down, he explained that Bastian was safe for now.
He told them about the plan to use the code word Iris, and that if he didn’t say it, Bastian had been compromised.
If that happened, Cristian would stop at nothing to bring him home safely.
They just needed a location. He left his brother in the kitchen and hurried off to his room.
While he understood why Bastian and Matias had kept the plan from him, he was still pissed.
“He’s still angry with me.”
“Hey… you know Cristian loves to be in charge of situations. Keeping him out of the loop hurt him. He’ll get over it once Everly is safe.”
“I did what was best for everyone.” Matias sighed.
“You should know that his mood isn’t all about you,” Katya advised.
Back in his room, Cristian sank to the bed and clutched the pillow tightly to his side.
It held Everly’s scent. He breathed her in, wishing it were her beside him.
Cristian had never felt this way about any woman.
He loved her with every fiber in his being, and it terrified him that she may never come back.
The memory of her laughter rang in his ears.
He could envision her face right beside him—the fire in her eyes as they made passionate love, and the sexy way her lips had curled when his lips kissed between her thighs.
Everything about her was beautiful. She loved to ask questions and initiate conversations, and that had pushed him out of his shell.
She had opened a part of him he didn’t know existed before her.
Tears rolled down his cheeks as he recalled how disappointed she’d looked when he’d confessed to killing Alessandro in cold blood.
He’d never wept for a woman. He was the obstinate, brutal Cristian Silva; yet a woman had brought him down to his knees.
His life was never going to be the same again.
He wished he could let her go, but the more he considered that option, he reminded himself of everything he had risked to set her free.
He would love her from afar if he could get her away from Darby.
Cristian would help her get home if it meant her happiness.
He simply wanted her to be safe. And Darby wasn’t going to give her that.
He was going to treat her like a whore. Everly would be passed around his men since she was no longer a virgin, and that sickened Cristian.
He felt guilty for making love to her. They thought taking her virginity would bring her protection, but it had invited more trouble.
Cristian sobbed quietly against her pillow until he drifted off to sleep.
He fell into a beautiful dream where he saw her standing on a cliff, wearing her best smile and spreading her arms wide.
“Mi Cielo! Everly!” he called happily. He rushed into her arms and dropped a soft kiss on her forehead.
But he awoke almost immediately to the reality of his new life.
The void in his chest was oppressive and maddening.
He knew it couldn’t be filled. As long as Everly was gone, he would always be empty.