Page 118 of Forbidden Fate

Esmeralda makes a broken sound behind me.

I step forward. “What happened?”

Cruz’s jaw flexes. “Are you okay?” He nods to Esmeralda. “Both of you?”

Esmeralda swallows and then nods shakily. “I don’t know where Mercedes or the rest of the girls are.”

“Probably in their rooms,” he says. He slowly cranes his neck toward where he came from. “I took care of it.”

His teeth are gritted so hard the words barely make it out.

“That’s not an answer.”

“It is the only one we have time for.”

Esmeralda appears beside me, clutching her robe closed. “What do we do now?”

“We need to get everyone out,” Cruz says.

“Is Mercedes okay?” I ask.

“As far as I know. I haven’t checked every room.”

Esmeralda’s face crumples. “Señora?”

Cruz goes still.

No.

No, no.

His throat moves. “She’s dead.”

Esmeralda’s knees buckle.

I catch her before she hits the floor.

“No,” she whispers. “No.”

Cruz closes his eyes for half a second.

When he opens them, there’s something raw in his face that makes my chest hurt even through the fear.

“She answered the door,” he says. “Zabala shot her. In cold blood.”

Esmeralda cries out.

I hold on to her tighter.

Zabala.

The man from the prison.

The man who thought it was okay to force himself on me.

“He killed her?” I ask.

“Yes.”