My chest tightens, hating that Maddy’s ever been in a position to take a life for whatever reason. She chose a vocation that brings new life into the world, not one that takes it out, but she’s been forced to do that. I wish there was a way I could shield her from more death and destruction, but that’s not an option. At least not for today. And I don’t see it being one tomorrow or the day after or the day after that if she stays with a man like me.
“Javi, come on.”
She holds out her hand, our gazes locking. It’s with reservation that I hand over the pistol I pulled from the drawer. She accepts it and immediately checks the barrel. She’s handling the weapon with expertise I didn’t expect. I know she learned how to shoot when she was a kid, but there’s nothing rusty about her technique.
Joaquin elbows me and hands me his second handgun that he pulled from his ankle holster. It was naive of me not to keep mine on me, assuming that because we’ve never had a breach in the past we couldn’t have one now. Obviously, I was wrong, and I’m left unprepared to properly defend my girlfriend.
“Come on, Maddy, I’ll get you into a more secure part of the house.”
Jorge and Joaquin glance over at me, and I meet their gazes as they nod. We all know Maddy is renowned for her stubbornness when she wants to be. There’s no way I’ll easily convince her to go to the safe room now, but hopefully, I can convince her to move into a part of the house that’ll make her less of a target.
I see her hesitation, but when her gaze flicks toward my brothers and back to me, I know she understands my attention will be divided between them and her. My brothers understand she’s now my priority in a way no one else ever has been besides our mom. She’s always been a shared top priority. I can’t expect the guys to understand what Maddy means to me, but I know they don’t begrudge me wanting to keep her safe.
“Go.”
Jorge barks the word as he leans forward and fires through the broken glass, taking out two men approaching the house. Their hair isn’t bright red like the O’Rourkes’, but their fair skin and freckles certainly don’t scream Colombian. I lead the way up the stairs toward my bedroom, and Maddy follows on my heels.She’s so close I’m surprised neither of us trips, but I’d rather know she’s within my reach than not.
Instead of going into my room, there’s a billiards room at the end of the hallway. What’s not obvious is the exterior wall is thicker than it appears. I move aside a painting of my grandfather—the grandfather all the men in my family my age share—and reveal a biometric pad. It does a retinal scan as I place my four fingertips to it. A fake brick facade slides open, and I point into the dark.
“Maddy, there’s an escape out to the beach. If you take these stairs down to the basement, you’ll be able to follow a hallway to the beach. Just before you get to the sand and a sea gate, you’ll find an inflatable zodiac boat. Everything will be ready to go if you need to flee. Come here and let me set your access in case you need to go, and my brothers and I aren’t with you.”
“I’m not going anywhere without at least you.”
“If I tell you to go, that’s exactly what you’ll do, little girl.”
I infuse steel into my command, and once more she looks at me like she did downstairs. I know her response will be just as determined as mine.
“I am not leaving you behind, Javier.”
“Fine, either way, let me get you set up.”
This isn’t the time for an argument neither of us will be satisfied with. So instead, I program her retinal scan and fingerprint access.
“You’re safe up here, Maddy. Just don’t leave. I need to check on Jorge and Joaquin. No one will make it up to the second floor.”
“Go do what you have to, Javi. I’ll be here.”
My hand rests at the base of her throat as I give her a quick, hard kiss before bolting to the door.
“This will lock behind me. Don’t open it to anyone for any reason. Doesn’t matter who it is, even if it’s Jorge, Joaquin, orme. If it’s one of us, and it’s safe, we’ll let ourselves in. If we come up here and say anything to you, pretend you’re not here. I don’t care how convincing we might sound. All right?”
“Yes, Javi, go help your brothers.”
I give her one last long look before I rush through the door and pull it closed, hearing the lock automatically set. All of the rooms on the second and third floor have automatic locks that remain secured unless someone with access opens them. The rooms on the ground floor have doors that stay wide open unless somebody closes them. But once locked, no door in this house can be opened with anything other than a combination of biometrics or passcodes.
I hear voices yelling as I fly back down the stairs. I head toward the sound of more gunfire, but these are handguns, not rifles.
“Javier?”
“Where?” I respond inMacaguán, and Joaquin answers me in it.
“Sunroom.”
It’s our mother’s favorite room in the entire house. If it gets destroyed, she’ll be beside herself. There are things in here left over from my parents’ honeymoon. They could have gone anywhere in the world. The most romantic places. The most exotic places. But all they wanted was time alone with just the two of them.
My mom is a photographer, and my father was a painter. There are several pieces of their art hanging on the walls or framed on various surfaces. When I enter the room, I find my brothers kneeling beside sets of French doors. Every room on the ground floor has sets of these doors. It’s wonderful to open them in spring and summer for the cross breeze. The sound of the ocean wafts in and can be super relaxing. But right now, I see them as nothing but a liability.
“I thoughtPapáhad all of the glass replaced everywhere and put in bulletproof windows.”
