Page 64

“I’ll stay near the cellar corridor whenever I can, watch who comes and goes, and keep track of whether he’s moved or how badly he’s hurt.” A vein pulsed at his temple. “I can keep one of Ciro’s idiots from killing him by accident, but I can’t stop what your father has already allowed Marcela to do.”

“I need him able to make it out of here and through the steep forest.”

He nodded.

“Please, Rafael. Do whatever you can.” I didn’t care that I was begging.

Rafael studied my face. “I’ll do everything I can to keep him alive and on his feet.”

The promise tightened something in my chest.

“But if Ciro catches you helping him, he won’t just kill you.”

“I know.” I cut him off.

“No, Isabella. You need to understand exactly what I’m telling you.” Rafael caught my shoulders in his firm grip. “Your father’s cruelty has no limit when someone disobeys him. He’ll give you to his men and call it punishment. He’ll let them use you because he knows you fear that more than death.”

Cold spread beneath my skin. Rafael understood that threat better than most. A few years ago, one of Father’s soldiers had forced himself on me after I told him no. Until that night, I’d believed I was in love with him.

Rafael had found me afterward on the veranda, shaking and humiliated, wearing nothing but a shirt. He hadn’t asked Father’s permission or waited to hear the man’s excuses. He found the soldier, slit his throat from ear to ear, and left his body in the courtyard as a warning.

No one ever spoke of it again. Not even Father.

Rafael released me.

“You don’t have to do this. If Father finds out you helped me, he’ll kill you.”

“I’ve been protecting you since you were born. I gave your mother my word. You know I’ll die for you, mi niña.”

My eyes burned. “I don’t want you to die for me.”

“That promise was mine to make.”

“Rafael—”

“Then don’t make me spend my life cheaply.” His expression hardened. “Be ready. Travel light. When the opening comes, move fast. Don’t hesitate, don’t look back, and don’t trust the Irishman simply because you want to believe everything you heard through that floor.”

“I won’t,” I whispered, unable to hide the tremor in my voice.

Rafael opened the linen-room door and checked the arcade. “Go. Teresa will notice if you stay away too long.”

I returned to my bedroom alone. The door remained unlocked, as it would until seven this evening, but the freedom felt more fragile than it had this morning.

I set the recipe basket beside the bookcase, then moved into the wardrobe and opened the false panel. The bottle, bread, banana, and wrapped paring knife fit inside a shallow niche beside the narrow staircase.

It wasn’t much, but it could give Lachlan enough strength to hold on.

I’d need much more to get us beyond the walls.

I closed the panel and crossed the room. Marcela had said she intended to eat and sleep off the flight, but I had no idea whether that meant another hour or several. Every minute she stayed away gave Lachlan more time to recover, yet it also left me waiting for whatever she had planned when she returned.

I wished Lachlan would feign enough obedience to satisfy her and spare himself some of the pain. But after hearing him defy my father and meeting the man behind that furious voice, I understood he wouldn’t submit, even as an act.

Since he wouldn’t protect himself by pretending, I had to be ready the moment Marcela left. I needed to hear what she did to him, how badly she hurt him, and whether he could still walk afterward.

That meant forcing myself to listen, no matter how horrific it became. Marcela intended to harm more than his body. I had to understand the humiliation and cruelty she used against him so I’d know how to reach him afterward and show him he mattered to me beyond what he could do for my escape.

I hadn’t even reached the stool beside my vanity when movement sounded below.