Danger in Paradise (15 page)

Sadly, she knew better than to believe him. She had no doubt he meant what he said, but he couldn’t make a promise like that. No one could.

“So what’s Jose like? He hasn’t said two words to me. I can tell he loves my—Sonja—but he doesn’t say much. Even to Maria.” If she was going to be spending time with them, she needed all the information she could get.

“He’s a hard man to know…hold on.” The buzzing of his cell phone jarred the quiet interior of the car. He glanced at the caller ID before flipping it open. “Yeah…wait, what? Are you serious? No, wait until I get to the house.”

“Is everything okay?” She dug her hands into the leather seat. If something had happened to any one of them because of her she’d never forgive herself.

“We’re almost there.”

That wasn’t an answer.

Clenching her fists in her lap, Hope stared out the window. She wanted to argue with him, but couldn’t see the point. Her head ached and she didn’t have much energy left after the day she’d had. She leaned back in the seat and nearly gasped aloud as they pulled into a gated community. The street was lined with mansions and every lawn was perfectly manicured. Palm trees were all the same height, grass levels were the same in every yard, and every house had two stories. At least.

When they neared the end of the road she glanced at Luke as another wrought iron gate opened up for them. Of course it was the biggest house in the neighborhood and right on the bay. She’d known they were wealthy by their home in Cuba, but reality hadn’t set in until now. She hadn’t even really cared because they were just employers back then. These people—her family—were loaded. How would she ever fit in? “This is where they live?”

“Yes.” His answer was distracted.

As soon as they parked, the driver jumped out, and Luke turned to her. “Marcus will show you to your room. I need to take care of some things.” He motioned to the man still sitting in the passenger seat.

Before she could respond, Luke got out, but instead of going in the front door, he disappeared around the side of the house.

“Hi, I’m Marcus. I know we haven’t been formally introduced.” The quiet blond giant from the front seat turned around and shook her hand.

“Did you used to play football?” She didn’t mean the words to come out so rudely, but the man had to be at least six foot five without an inch of fat on him. His shoulders spanned much larger than the front seat. And he looked very familiar.

Instead of being offended, he chuckled. “Yes ma’am. I played in college and for a few years in the pros until I shattered my ankle. Are you ready to go inside?”

The kind, almost formal way he asked her let her know everyone who worked for the Santiagos had probably been prepped about the situation. She glanced out the back window. The driver was already rolling her bags in. “As ready as I’ll ever be. You know what, I’ll find the room myself.” She opened the door and jumped out.

“Wait, I don’t think—”

Ignoring his protests, she sprinted around the side of the house, following Luke’s path. She hurried down a stone path around the palatial home until she heard voices. Very loud, angry voices. She recognized all of them. It was Jose, Sonja, Maria, and Luke. The sound of Marcus running behind her caused her to turn.

She held up a finger to her mouth. Surprisingly, he nodded and stood next to her. He didn’t look happy, but at least he didn’t argue.

Hovering by the edge of the house, she didn’t round the corner. Whatever was going on, she wasn’t going to be kept in the dark.

“What do you expect me to do? This is our livelihood!” The words came from Jose. So far she’d heard him utter only a few complete sentences.

“This is your daughter so don’t use that livelihood crap on me. You have more money than you’ll ever need. Send someone else!” Maria’s voice raised a few octaves above his.

He never had time to respond because Sonja started shouting in a foreign language. It wasn’t Spanish, Hope was sure. She guessed it was…Pashtu? What the heck was the Afghani language? She shook her head as she realized she didn’t know much about her own culture. Despite the continued shouting, she couldn’t help but smile.

She finally knew where she came from. What her heritage was.

“Is this normal?” she whispered to Marcus.

His lips curved into a small smile as he shrugged, then glanced away, scanning the yard and house. That private little smile of his told her a lot.

After a few minutes, their yells died down so she announced her presence. She couldn’t hide forever. All four of them stood in a circle next to an Olympic-size pool. Sonja spotted her first, and quickly batted away a few tears.

“I thought you were getting settled in.” Luke’s voice had an accusing note to it as she walked up.

Before she could respond, he waved behind her so she glanced back. Marcus stood by the edge of the house, but when Luke gave him the go-ahead, he disappeared.

She shrugged and walked toward them until she stood in between Sonja and Luke, facing the others. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Maria mumbled and averted her gaze.

She glanced at all of them. Maybe it was none of her business but she didn’t want to be the cause of any trouble between them. “It doesn’t sound like nothing.”

Jose sighed. “I’m so sorry, but I must go to Costa Rica on business. We have—”

“You don’t have to go, you could send someone else,” Maria’s voice held an edge of something Hope couldn’t put her finger on. It was more than anger. Disappointment maybe?

He ignored Maria and looked back and forth between Hope and Sonja, but mainly he looked at Sonja. That’s when Hope realized he wasn’t apologizing to her specifically, but to his wife for leaving. He might love his wife, but he wasn’t going to win father-of-the-year anytime soon.

“It’s fine. Seriously, go.” Everyone stared at her so she shrugged. “What? If it’s that important, go.”

It stung Hope that she’d been missing for so long and he couldn’t figure out a way to stay and get to know his long-lost daughter, but part of her didn’t care. She had Mac and no one could compare to him.

“Thank you for understanding. There have been many fires and I can’t leave this to someone else. I should be back within a week.” He took a step forward, as if he might hug her, then changed his mind and retreated inside.

“We’ll talk in a little while. I need to speak to him before he leaves.” Sonja cupped Hope’s face and kissed her on the cheek. As she walked away, Hope didn’t miss the raw hurt in her eyes.

Maria rolled her eyes once they’d both gone. “He’s never going to change.”

“Give him a break,” Luke mumbled, but even Hope could tell he didn’t mean it.

“Why should I? He’s never been there for me. I don’t know why I thought he’d be different with my sister.” Maria met Hope’s gaze. “You’re lucky you have Mac. He obviously has priorities.”

Hope nodded and tried to ignore the pain she experienced when witnessing the emotion in Maria’s eyes.

She wasn’t sure how to respond to her twin. Comforting others wasn’t something she was used to. Maria might have had everything money could buy growing up, but she obviously hadn’t had her father’s love. Strange that it was the only thing Hope did have. Mac would always be her dad. No matter what changed in her life. That wouldn’t.

Luke reached out for Maria, but she shrugged away from him and headed toward the back door. At the French doors, she paused and turned. “I’m going to check on my—our mom—then maybe we can share a glass of wine?”

Hope smiled. “Of course.”

“Well, now you know this isn’t the perfect home,” Luke murmured.

She looked up at him, and a smile tugged at her lips. “Thank God for that.” She’d been worrying how she’d fit in. They might be rich, but they had problems just like the rest of the planet. When he didn’t say anything she continued. “Do they always fight?”

He shook his head and led her to two lounge chairs on the lanai. “No, but Jose has never been the doting father.” He risked a quick glance toward the door and she guessed it pained him to admit his next words. “Or much of a father at all.”

She’d caught that. She’d been missing for decades and he barely looked at, or, talked to her. Talk about cold. “He seems to love Sonja, though.”

Luke nodded. “Sometimes I think she’s the only person he does love. I guess Maria just got it into her head that things might change with you here.”

“What’s so important that he has to leave
tonight
?” Hope struggled to control her temper. It shouldn’t bother her, but the more she thought about the situation, the harder it was to digest.

“There have been a few intentional fires at one of his biggest plantations. Security has been tighter than usual so we think it’s an inside job.”

“Should you be going with him?” Though she wouldn’t admit it out loud, the thought of Luke leaving made something sharp twist inside her chest.

He let out a bark of laughter. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I was going to be your shadow.”

She chewed on her bottom lip. For some reason, the thought bothered and excited her. She was still annoyed at him, but every time he looked at her, her body simply reacted. Even now her traitorous nipples tightened under his scrutiny. The man was too sexy for his own good.

After a few moments of intense silence where it seemed he was having the same thoughts she was, he finally stood so she followed suit. “I’ll show you where your room is.”

“Where’s your room?” She immediately wanted to bite back the question.

He raised a dark eyebrow, then leaned close, murmuring in her ear. His voice was sensual yet teasing. “I’m in the room next to yours…and my door is definitely open.”

She nudged him with her hip was they walked inside. She wanted so much to be angry at him, but he was her only ally at the moment. Once inside the expansive house, she instinctively leaned closer to Luke. It had almost nothing to do with her desire for him though. Everything looked so expensive she didn’t want to risk breaking anything.

After navigating down a couple hallways, they stopped in front of a plain white door.  “This is your room.”

“Thanks.” She shifted from one foot to the other as he stared at her with that impenetrable gaze. “Listen, I uh…I have a question.” If she didn’t ask it would eat away at her insides.

“What is it?”

“Maybe it’s none of my business, but uh, did you ever have a relationship with Maria?” She looked down at her clasped hands. Maria did have a key to his place. It’s not as if they acted intimate, but she couldn’t help but wonder.

He snorted. “I can’t believe you asked that, but no. Never. God, no.”

She stared at him, surprised by his adamant denial. “Why is that such a foreign idea? We look exactly alike.”

He lightly fingered a loose strand of her hair before tucking it behind her ear. “My attraction to you has nothing to do with your face.”

At that, he turned and walked the few feet to the next room.

Well, then. Her heart rate increased substantially and there was a very feminine flutter in her stomach. Didn’t he know exactly the right thing to say? She was supposed to be mad at him but he was making it very hard. Sighing, Hope opened the door to her room. When she flipped on the light, all the air left her lungs in a ragged whoosh. The duvet was ripped to shreds and on the wall was written
Go Home
. Just like the letter from the hospital. She gripped the door frame and tried not to fall.

“Luke.” All she could manage was his name. Her knees gave way, but before she hit the floor strong arms gripped her from behind.

“Shit,” Luke muttered.

Unable to speak, she managed to turn and wrap her arms around his neck. Holding him wouldn’t make what was on the wall disappear, but having his strong arms surrounding her made her feel a lot better.

“Come on. Into my room.” Luke wrapped a protective arm around her and led her to his room, but he didn’t stay. “Don’t open the door for anyone but me.”

She nodded even though the last thing she wanted was for him to leave her. She jumped when the door clicked into place behind him, but she quickly locked it. What had her life turned in to? She couldn’t imagine Patrick had broken into the Santiagos’ home just to torment her. If he’d been here, he’d have killed her.

No, someone else hated her enough to do this.

The question was, who? And why? She knew without a doubt that it wasn’t her mother. The love she’d seen in Sonja’s eyes was so real it was a living, breathing thing.

If it was Maria, her sister… Hope batted away the unexpected wetness on her cheeks. She just prayed it wasn’t.

Luke shut the door behind him, pulled out his SIG, then crept down the hall toward the kitchen. Gun drawn, he entered the spacious room. Anthony, a man who’d worked with him for six years, and Marcus, who’d worked there for five, both stood and drew their guns.

“What’s going on?” Marcus asked first.

“Someone’s in this house. They destroyed Hope’s room. Marcus, I want you guarding the room I’m in. First floor—”

“I know which one it is. Is she in there?”

“Yes. Don’t let anyone go inside.
Anyone.
” He didn’t know what the hell was going on, but if someone in this family—a family he considered as close as his own—was involved, they were going to pay.

He looked at the other man. “Anthony, you check the grounds. I’m going to check on everyone else.”

Anthony nodded. “I’m on it. Jose left for the airport and Sonja went with him so Rico isn’t here.”

Rico usually drove Jose so that made sense. “So Maria’s still here?”

“In her room, last I saw. And, I think Lydia’s here.”

Lydia was their sixty-year old cleaning lady, so he doubted she was involved. Still, he wasn’t taking any chances.

“Okay, I’m gonna call Anderson in as backup,” Luke said.

Everyone nodded and spread out. He called Anderson, who was only ten minutes away, then crept up the stairs toward the main rooms. Everything happening was too weird. Luke hated leaving Hope under Marcus’s protection, but he had to take care of this and he trusted the other man with his life. If anything happened to Hope…no, he wouldn’t think about that. He couldn’t. Not if he wanted to function normally.

Stopping at Maria’s door, he knocked, then opened the door.

“What the hell? You don’t wait anymore?” She had on a robe and her hair was wrapped in a towel on top of her head.

In response, he put a finger to his lips and motioned for her to get back in the bathroom. Immediately she complied. They’d had a few scares before so she wasn’t completely naïve.

He opened her walk-in closet and quickly surveyed it. When he pushed aside a huge stack of dresses, he tripped on a pair of beat-up tennis shoes covered in dirt. He stared at them for a moment, then made a mental note. It could mean nothing, but the dirty shoes didn’t belong with her Jimmy Choo’s and Manolo’s.

“You can come out,” he called out.

The door flung open. Maria’s face had paled. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure yet. Stay in here and don’t come out for anyone. Do you still have that nine millimeter I got you last Christmas?”

She nodded and swallowed. “It’s in my nightstand.”

“Good. Use it if you have to. Lock the door behind me.” He didn’t give her a chance to argue or question.

His phone rang as he exited.

It was Anderson. “I’m here. Just saw Anthony on the grounds.”

“Good. Take the first floor. Marcus is standing guard outside Hope’s door and he’s not moving.”

Once they disconnected, he methodically swept each room, checking closets, under beds, everywhere and anywhere possible someone could think to hide. An hour later, he reconvened with his men in the kitchen. It didn’t make sense. They kept the security system off during the day, but to get past his men was unthinkable. Especially now.

“Anyone find anything?” he asked.

Everyone shook their head except Anthony. “I found footprints in the greenhouse and the system has been disabled there too.”

“Did you disturb anything?”

Anthony snorted. “No, I was trained better than that.”

“All right. Call the police. The room hasn’t been touched so maybe they’ll be able to lift some prints.”

“What are you gonna do?” Marcus asked.

“I’m getting Hope and Maria the hell out of here. The police don’t need to know they were here either.” He looked pointedly at both men, who nodded.

Luke didn’t want the women to be taken downtown for hours of questioning. Not when they couldn’t answer questions, anyway. It would be a waste of time, and he wasn’t going to chance letting Hope or Maria out in the open.

He sheathed his gun and pulled out his phone, hating that he had to make this call. At the rate things were happening, Hope might jump on the next plane out of here.

Jose picked up on the second ring. “Luke, is everything okay?”

“Is Sonja still with you?”

“Yes. The plane’s being fueled now.” His words were clipped.

Briefly, he filled him in on what had happened. “I need you to take Sonja with you.”

“Done.”

Luke hadn’t expected much of an argument. Jose was an odd man. His love for Sonja was borderline obsessive. That’s why Luke never understood that he’d never doted on Maria. She was a part of Sonja but it didn’t seem to matter.

“Do you think you’ll have a hard time convincing her?” he asked.

Jose sighed and Luke could picture Jose pinching the bridge of his nose. “Yes, but I’ll make it happen.”

“Good.” After they disconnected, he rubbed his temple. If Luke thought he could force Maria to go with them too, he would. Unfortunately, he knew her temper and she wouldn’t go anywhere with her father right now.

Hope was the only one he refused to let out of his sight. He’d made a promise to her and intended to keep it. He’d screwed up with her and he owed it to her. But that wasn’t the only reason he wouldn’t let her out of his sight. The more he was around her the more he realized what he felt for her wasn’t casual.

True to form, Marcus hadn’t moved from his spot as guard dog. When he saw Luke, he moved out of the way. “No one’s come in or out.”

“Hope?” He knocked on the door.

The door swung open and instead of being scared like he expected, her face was red with barely contained anger. “What the hell is going on?”

He ignored her anger, knowing it wasn’t directed at him. “Marcus is going to take your bags and you to the car. I’ll be there with Maria in five minutes.” Without giving her time to argue, he hurried out of the room and back to Maria’s. He would have liked to send Marcus in his place so he could stay with Hope, but when Maria was in a pissy mood, she didn’t listen to anyone but Luke. They’d grown up together and he was like a brother to her.

“Maria it’s me. Let me in.”

When she opened the door he couldn’t contain his surprise. A half-packed suitcase was already on the bed.

“What are you doing?”

She shrugged and tossed in a pair of jeans. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I know we’re not staying here.”

“How much longer do you need?” He checked his watch.

“Sixty seconds.” She grabbed two pairs of sandals from the closet, then rushed to the bathroom. True to her word, a minute later her bag was zipped.

He pulled the luggage off the bed and she grabbed her toiletry bag.

“Where are we going?”

“My place.”

“Now can you tell me what’s going on?” she asked as they descended the stairs.

“Someone ransacked Hope’s room.”

“What?” Her voice shook and she stopped on the stairs until he took her arm, prodding her to continue.

“It looks like someone disabled the security through the greenhouse. We don’t know who could have done this, but the police are on their way.”

Maria’s face paled and something flared in her eyes. Guilt? He couldn’t be sure. It happened so quickly, then it was gone and he couldn’t be sure he hadn’t imagined it. His gut clenched. Maria couldn’t be involved with this. Little surprised him about human nature anymore, but she’d been so excited her sister had been found it didn’t seem feasible.

“Shouldn’t we wait until they get here?” Her question interrupted his scrutiny of her.

He shook his head. “No, I want to get you both out of here.” Technically and legally he knew they should wait, but he didn’t want Hope exposed, and he definitely didn’t want her taken down to the police station.

Once they reached the four-door garage, Maria slid into the backseat with Hope and he took the front.

“Are you okay?” Maria took Hope’s hand and squeezed it.

Hope looked uncomfortable, but she didn’t pull away. “I guess.” She met his gaze and he didn’t miss the untrusting look in her eyes. Hope didn’t trust any of them. It was obvious. Hell, he was surprised she was still in town.