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Rose slowly folded her paper as two unexpected guests showed up in front of her cell.
‘Gentlemen,’ Rose greeted, walking right up to the steel bars that separated her from her visitors. ‘What have I done to warrant a visit from the warden and the captain of police? I am already in jail, you know.’
Something in the corner of the captain’s eye twitched. Anger. Something she had said struck a nerve, now it was just a matter of figuring out what it was. Of course, it might have been the mere sight of her. He’d ultimately been her boss back when she still had a different face. She had made a laughing stock of his precinct. That combined with a load of evidence on the Sin Rostro case going missing during that time didn’t make him her biggest fan.
‘Hands,’ the warden said, holding out a pair of handcuffs. Now he was twitchy too, but that was just good old fear. She made him nervous. It made the handcuffs almost worth it.
With a sigh she extended her arms, these were not the kind of restraints she was fond of. And these were definitely not the people she wanted to put them on her.
Once her hands were shackled together the warden ordered her to stand back against the far wall as he put on her ankle restraints.
Rose raised an eyebrow, the cuffs were a constant almost every time she left her cell. It was the price she paid for being marked as Miami’s most dangerous criminal – allegedly. But when the ankle restraints came out, it meant she was going a little farther than just the prison yard.
She wondered if she had a visitor, but that didn’t make any sense. The only visits she was allowed were Luisa’s weekly ones and the next one was still 3 days off. Maybe the captain could shed some light on the situation.
‘So captain, mind telling me where we’re going?’ Rose asked as she shuffled along the hallway, both men flanking her like she could really make a run for it. She was good, but she wasn’t Houdini.
‘We need to talk,’ he said gruffly.
‘Do we?’ Rose said, one eyebrow slightly raised, a grin starting to take form. The police stopped by now and again. Usually she was a good sport and told them what they wanted to know. For a price.
‘Cut the crap, we know you’re behind the kidnapping,’ the captain hissed.
Rose wished she could have played it cool, but the accusation came so far out of the left field she stopped dead in her tracks.
‘A kidnapping? And who am I supposed to have kidnapped exactly?’ This time she willed her expression to remain neutral, but her heart wasn’t so easily beat into submission. As soon as the word kidnapping had passed the detective’s lips her mind had been focused on one person and one person only. If someone had taken her, there would be hell to pay.
Much to Rose’s annoyance the detective didn’t answer, he just shoved her into an interrogation room.
Rose’s worry evaporated as soon as she noticed who was standing in the corner of the room. If she was here, then she wasn’t the victim of this kidnapping she had supposedly committed.
This was the first time she had seen Luisa without three inches of bulletproof glass between them, and she couldn’t help but admire the beautiful woman. Sadly, she wasn’t given a lot of time to do so, someone flying at her throat and knocking her against the wall. With her hands and feet all chained up there was nothing she could do to defend herself. She could already feel herself getting lightheaded.
‘Rafael!’ Luisa yelped, pulling her brother off Rose.
‘Don’t defend her! Not now,’ Rafael sneered at his sister. ‘Not when she took my daughters.’
His daughters? It was then that Rose noticed Petra, she was sitting at the table in the middle of the room, her eyes red and face puffy, like she had been crying.
Rose swallowed a couple of times to clear her throat, still feeling Rafael’s hands pressed against her windpipe. ‘I am flattered that you thought to organize this little family reunion, Rafael. But I didn’t take your daughters. You have nothing I want, and me taking Luisa’s money would just be poor form.’
Rafael’s eyes flared dangerously but Petra held him back, meanwhile Rose sauntered over to the table and took a seat, folding her hands on the top.
‘Whoever took your daughters, it wasn’t me.’ She looked at Luisa, needing to know if Luisa thought she was responsible for this too.
Luisa flashed her a soft smile, and Rose couldn’t help but smile back. There was only one person she needed to know she had nothing to do with this kidnapping, and it seemed she believed her.
‘I told you Rose couldn’t have done this,’ Luisa said to her brother.
‘She took my son, Luisa!’ Rafael hissed.
Rose rolled her eyes. Honestly, at some point he was going to have to let that go. The boy had been gone for scarcely two hours.
‘Allegedly,’ Rose said casually, the police and FBI were still trying to build a case against her. The whole process hindered by red herrings and a room of missing evidence. Besides, she couldn’t help but poke the bear. Rafael was the sole reason she was currently in prison. Without him and his stupid vendetta…
She took a deep breath, anger wouldn’t help her right now, not when she was actually innocent for a change. She looked over at Luisa, the other woman always had a calming effect on her.
‘I hope you find them, but you’re looking in the wrong place. I had nothing to do with this.’ She made her way towards the door. There was nothing to gain for her here.
‘If you had nothing to do with this, why did your henchman make the ransom call?’ Rafael asked, something nearly triumphant in his voice.
Rose slowly spun on her heels. That changed things.
‘My henchman?’
‘I recognized his voice,’ Luisa said.
‘Let me hear the call,’ Rose said, making her way back to the table.
The captain pulled out a voice recorder and pressed play.
‘Mr. Solano.’ The gruff voice sound tinny coming through the device’s speakers. ‘Apologies for my manners. But you have something I want, and I have your daughters. Ten million dollars should secure their safe release. The money can be wired to the following account.’ He rattled off the numbers. ‘You have 24 hours. Or only five million will be needed. I hope you don’t have a favorite…’
Typical. Rose nearly rolled her eyes at the over-the-top dramatics. Men. They were all the same. But that didn’t mean she didn’t know exactly who had made this call.
She folded her hands in front of her as the recorder shut off. ‘I can tell you his name, what he looks like. The names and faces of those most likely working with him.’ She let the sentence trail of suggestively, looking directly at the captain. He was the one with the authority to give in to her demands.
‘Rose…’ Luisa said softly.
Rose knew this wasn’t a great time to bargain, but she couldn’t just do this for free. It wasn’t in her nature.
‘The warden has a list of favors I’d like. Review them, grant me a few and I’ll tell you everything I know.’
Rafael’s eyes were spitting fire, but the captain looked like he was considering it. Time for the final nail in the coffin.
‘I remind you there are children’s lives in the balance here,’ Rose said, tapping her nails on the table. She was holding all the cards and he knew it.
The captain sighed and then nodded. ‘I’ll see what I can do. Meanwhile you can return to your cell.’
Rose wasn’t having it. ‘She’s on my list.’ She pointed at Luisa. ‘I would like 10 minutes alone with her, while you negotiate.’
The warden looked like he was about to protest, if anything happened to either woman in his prison, it would be his neck on the chopping block next.
‘What could I possibly do, Joseph?’ Rose huffed, annoyed at his hesitance. ‘I can’t lift my hands above my midriff.’
The warden ground his teeth. ‘Ma’am?’ he asked, looking at Luisa. He wanted nothing more to get out of Rose’s field of vision, but he still had a job to do.
‘It’s okay,’ she nodded.
Finally, he nodded his okay, leaving the room with the captain and the desperate parents in tow. Petra leaning heavily on Rafael, who was still staring daggers at Rose over his shoulder.
As soon as the door fell closed behind them, Luisa raced over to Rose, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug, Rose returning the embrace as best as she could.
She buried her nose in Luisa’s hair, she’d missed her scent, she missed having her this close, getting to touch her, she missed everything about her really.
‘You know I had nothing to do with this, right?’ Rose whispered against Luisa’s hair, pressing soft kisses to the top of her head.
‘I know. I knew it couldn’t have been you. But try and convince Rafael of that fact, and then when the ransom call came…’
‘How much of the 24 hours are left?’ Rose asked, feeling a little bad about holding up the investigation for selfish reasons, but only a little, she did get to hold Luisa because of it.
‘The call came two hours ago,’ Luisa said. ‘I just wanted to wire him the money immediately, but Rafael was convinced it was you. The police wanted to talk to you first.’
‘He came to you for the money. Typical,’ Rose sighed.
‘He didn’t actually. He came to yell at me about how you took them. Someone picked them up from the daycare at the hotel about an hour before we found the tape. I offered to pay. The police didn’t think it was a good idea just yet.’
‘They would probably ask for more, until even you couldn’t pay.’
‘They’ll be alright, right?’ Luisa asked. ‘If it had been you, you would have let them go once you got the money?’
‘Kidnappings for ransom are messy. More Elena’s thing than mine. There are too many lose ends.’ Bitterness seeping into her voice as she was reminded of Elena’s last kidnapping. ‘I would have let them go after I got what I wanted. But I always wanted things that weren’t stackable. You can always want more money, not so much so with information.’
Tears shone at the corners of Luisa’s eyes. Rose wiped them away. ‘I know who’s behind it. The cops will find him. Your nieces will be back home before nightfall. I promise.’
Luisa sucked in a shaky breath. ‘Okay.’
Rose smiled, brushing a lock of dark hair behind Luisa’s ear, leaning in for a kiss. Just as their lips were about to connect the door creaked open.
‘Step back, inmate,’ a guard ordered.
Rose ignored him, she wasn’t going to let anyone take this kiss with Luisa from her. It had been too long.
‘That was not ten minutes,’ she hissed as the guard pulled her back from Luisa.
‘No time to waste,’ the captain said as he stepped back into the room, seemingly deriving a little joy from interrupting her kiss. Rose liked him even less now. ‘You can have the things on your list. Now tell us their names.’
Rose grinned. ‘Of course, captain. I am also going to need some paper and a couple of pencils. No. 2 should be fine.’
30 minutes four portraits laid in front of Rose, all labelled with the men’s names and every significant detail she could remember about them.
‘This is your man, captain. Devin Mallory,’ Rose said as she pushed one of the drawings forward. ‘And now, a favor if you please.’
Rose grinned as she strolled through the lobby unimpeded, it was a beautiful sunny morning in Miami. It had taken a call to the governor, but the favor had been granted. A little later than was perhaps ideal given the situation but Rose wasn’t in any position to complain.
Hotel staff stopped dead in their tracks as she passed. Rose couldn’t blame them, even without the orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, there was still something unsettling about her. The three guards flanking her didn’t help matters.
Rose didn’t care. It was great to be out, for however temporary it was. The look on Rafael’s face as she stepped into his - now Luisa’s - office was just the cherry on top.
‘What is she doing here?’ he hissed, protectively stepping in front of Petra.
‘As part of my favor, I have agreed to help you. For the duration of this investigation the Miami police department has the full use of my knowledge.’
Rafael stared at her with an open mouth. ‘What if she escapes? She isn’t even cuffed!’
Rose smiled at him. ‘The police seemed to share your concern.’ She lifted up her hands. ‘When I first arrived at the prison they inserted a RFID chip in both my palms. Wherever I go, they will follow.’ She motioned to the three guards trailing behind her. ‘As for the handcuff situation…’ She pushed the sleeves of her blouse up. ‘These are a special kind. They are remote controlled stun guns. If I move to far away they’ll zap me with 50.000 volts. All to keep you happy while I find your daughters for you.’
Rafael turned to the police detective. ‘It is her henchman we are looking for! She is most likely in on it, we can’t let her near this investigation!’
‘Mr. Solano,’ the detective said calmly. ‘Apart from weekly visits from your sister she hasn’t been in contact with the outside world. No phone calls, no letters, nothing.’
Rafael turned to Luisa, fuming. ‘Then you are in on it too. I want them both out of here. I am the father, and I do not agree to either of them being part of this any longer.’
‘Raf,’ Petra said, looking a lot more in control than she had yesterday afternoon. ‘We don’t have the money. We need your sister.’
Rafael, momentarily put off his tirade against Luisa, turned back to Rose. ‘She gave us all the information we needed yesterday? Why take her out of prison? Why?’
‘Because we can’t find him, Rafael. Rose knows more than anyone about the criminals in this city, and we need her. The clock is running out. We have less than 10 hours now,’ Petra said firmly. ‘If she wants to help, we should let her. I just want our daughters back, and she can make it happen.’
Rose barely managed to keep the surprise off her face. She and Petra had not by any meaning of the word been close before Emilio’s death and her support was unexpected to say the least.
‘So, are we all in agreement now?’ Rose asked as she took a seat at the table, smiling at Luisa as she did so. ‘Tell me what you know.’
What the police knew was very little. No wonder she’d been able to evade them for so many years and pretend to be a detective so easily: they were all idiots.
‘No sightings of Devin or any of the men I described to you?’ Rose asked as she flicked through the files in front of her.
‘None,’ the detective said. This one she knew. He was the cop that arrested her. Dennis Chambers. He wasn’t a fan. She wasn’t one of his either.
‘None on the aliases I supplied either? Reservations, transactions, anything?’
‘None as of yet,’ Dennis ground out. Obviously aware of his own incompetence.
‘And the bank account was a dead end, I assume?’ Rose asked as she poured over the case files.
‘Off-shore account in the Caymans for some shell corporation that has no other holdings.’
‘Shame, kidnapping two children takes space. You need somewhere to keep them. Things to keep them entertained, to keep them fed. Or so I’ve heard,’ she added. She was not going to implicate herself in anything now. ‘There are a few places Devin might have taken them, safe houses he might be aware off…’ She paused and looked up from the files. ‘What shell company did you say the account belonged to?’
‘I didn’t,’ Dennis said.
Rose raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to supply her with the information.
Detective Chambers sighed and reached for a piece of paper. ‘Tiora & Caycape Holdings’
Rose frowned. This didn’t make any sense.
‘Does that mean something to you?’ Dennis said.
‘I have never heard of it,’ Rose answered truthfully. And that was surprising. In all the years she had known Devin, she had known him as one thing, and one thing only. He was the muscle, not the brains. He couldn’t have put this kidnapping together. He did not have the brains to make up a shell company, so she had expected him to use one of her old ones he had access to. This changed things. Suddenly Rose was doubting if he was behind it. It had undoubtedly been his voice on the tape, but he could just be the middleman.
She decided to keep this information to herself for a little longer, after all, she was only outside of her cell because she knew Devin. She didn’t want to make herself superfluous so soon. Devin was still a part of it, she could work with that.
Luisa looked at her, eyes narrowed slightly. She had always been better to read Rose better than anyone else.
Rose looked away, pulling a legal pad towards her and scribbling down a couple of addresses.
‘These are the safe houses I know of that are big enough to house two children. Devin’s knows of them too. I suggest you check them out.’
Dennis snatched the paper from her hands and immediately started calling people, Rafael right at his side.
Now the attention was off Rose for a moment, Luisa made her way over, sitting down on the chair next to her.
‘How are you holding up?’ Rose asked, tangling her fingers with Luisa’s underneath the table.
‘I haven’t slept,’ Luisa smiled ruefully.
‘We’ll find them.’ She squeezed Luisa’s hand.
‘Yesterday you promised me they would be back before nightfall.’
Rose frowned. ‘Yeah, Devin is playing smarter than I expected.’
Luisa reached out, stroking away the crinkle between Rose’s eyebrows. ‘You did that earlier. With the bank account. What is it?’
‘Nothing, it’s nothing,’ Rose shook her head.
‘Rose, my nieces’ lives are on the line. Tell me.’
Rose sighed. ‘Something doesn’t add up. Devin is a moron. He has a quick trigger finger and that it the extent of his abilities. He doesn’t have the brain function to orchestrate something as complex as a kidnapping. Of two children. From right under their parents’ noses. In broad daylight.’
‘So you’re saying he had help?’
‘Maybe. Or maybe I underestimated him.’
Now it was Luisa’s turn to frown. ‘You don’t usually do that.’
Luisa was right; she was very good at knowing people’s value. The only person she had ever underestimated was standing 4 feet in front of her, hounding a police detective about his missing daughters.
‘If he was working with somebody, what would that mean, for Anna and Ellie?’
‘Nothing. It doesn’t matter who orchestrated it. Devin is a part of it and we will find him. I promise. There are only so many places in this city you can hide. And I know all of them.’
Luisa nodded, not looking convinced.
Rose bit her lip, she didn’t like seeing Luisa like this.
‘I can try calling some people,’ she comforted. ‘Detective Chambers, I need to use your phone.’
2 hours and a list of burned contacts later they had nothing. Nobody seemed to know anything. Patrol cars were still checking out the list Rose had given them, but so far all safe houses had turned up empty. Time was running out. The atmosphere in the room had soured and even Rose wasn’t immune to it. There had to be something…
‘We’ve been looking at this wrong,’ Rose said, breaking the silence. ‘We know the who and are looking for the where, while we should have been asking ourselves why.’
‘What does that matter?’ Rafael asked.
‘Because kidnappings are usually personal. You take something meaningful from someone, something they will want back at any cost. You’ll have to know what that is.’
‘They’re my daughters, of course I want them back,’ Rafael huffed.
‘Lots of people have children, Rafael. Why you? What could Devin possibly want from you?’
‘Money,’ Luisa supplied. ‘He wants money.’
‘Rafael doesn’t have any.’ Rose turned to brother and sister. Or former brother and sister. ‘You two had a falling out. A public one. It was in all the papers. The whole city knows you don’t have any money. And it would be a huge risk to assume Luisa would put it up after she disowned you.’ She got out of her chair, she was on to something, she could feel it.
‘I have money,’ Petra said.
‘Yes, but it is all tied up in the hotel. You aren’t solvent. You two don’t make sense as a target, and if money was what I was after, I would have picked a different one.’ She started to pace the length of the room. This was just like coming up with complex schemes, she was nearly there. She just needed that one spark.
‘So what does that mean?’ Luisa asked.
‘It means the money is just a ruse, it’s not the point of this kidnapping. No, this was done to hurt you.’
Rafael looked at her, a little confusion now mixed in with his anger. ‘Hurt us? Why would Devin want to hurt us? I don’t even know him!’
‘Because Devin is not the one behind this.’ It all started to make sense now. ‘Think, Rafael, who did you screw over enough to make them want to do this to you?’
He remained silent.
‘Come on!’ Rose yelled impatiently. ‘I can’t be the only one you have managed to piss off in the last couple of years. Think!’
Like a petulant child, Rafael’s first instinct was to shift blame. ‘How do you know it was because of me, and because of Petra?’
‘Because Devin addressed you by name. It’s you. Not Petra. Besides, she has a much more agreeable demeanor than you.’
Despite the tense situation, Luisa still cracked a smile. The bridge between her and Rafael had truly been burned.
‘I don’t know! Apart from you I don’t know anyone who would do this.’
‘Well, it wasn’t me so I suggest you come up with a list!’ Rose added, returning Rafael’s glare full force.
Luisa stepped between them.
‘Useless,’ Rose muttered under her breath.
Silence returned to the room, Rose and Luisa reading through the files while Rafael tried to come up with a list of people he had wronged over the years.
‘Raf, what about Mateo?’ Luisa asked after a while.
‘He’s fine, at home with Jane. The police are keeping an eye on them.’
Rose looked up from the file she was reading. ‘Jane…’ Something sparked in her brain.
‘What about her?’ Rafael asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
‘Her family, where are they from?’ She started searching through the pile of folders on the desk.
‘What does it matter?’ Rafael asked.
‘They’re from Venezuela. Why?’ Luisa answered, knowing better than to question Rose’s motives.
‘That’s it! I knew the name sounded familiar,’ Rose said, triumphantly holding up the piece of paper she’d been looking for. It all came back to the shell corporation.
‘What name?’
‘Of the shell corporation the account links back to. Tiora & Caycape Holdings. I’ve heard those names before.’ She pulled a laptop towards her and opened up google. ‘Tiora and Caycape are the sisters of Guaicaipuro, a famous chief of a 16th century Venezuelan tribe. He’s still referred to as a god in the Venezuelan pantheon today.’
‘How would you possibly know that?’ Luisa asked, reading the same information Rose had just supplied them with off the Wikipedia page her search had opened up.
‘Because someone told me about them a long time ago,’ Rose smiled.
‘So what?’ Rafael said. ‘You explained the name of the shell corporation. Why does it matter?’
Rose ground her teeth, prison was almost worth it as she no longer had to deal with Rafael on a daily basis.
‘It matters because while I know this, Devin definitely doesn’t. He thinks Disney World is exotic. It’s proof he is working with someone. Someone with knowledge of Venezuelan gods.’
‘What, and you know who that is?’
Truth was she knew of exactly one person who she’d heard use those names before, and that well over a decade before. It didn’t make any sense for her to be here again. For her to go after Rafael.
She pulled a pad of paper towards her and started to sketch. There had to be a connection there somehow. She knew she was right about this being personal, so there had to be something…
‘Rose, what are you doing?’ Luisa asked as she watched the face take shape on the paper.
‘Do any of you know this woman?’ She held up her drawing.
Luisa shook her head, but Petra and Rafael remained silent.
‘She used to go by the name Catalina. Have you heard of her?’ Rose pushed. She didn’t believe in coincidence. Catalina was the only person she had ever heard talk about Guaicaipuro, it had to be her. Catalina would have known Devin too, it had to be it.
Rafael nodded slowly. ‘Yeah. I know her. We dated for a while.’
‘Let me guess, things didn’t end well?’ Rose questioned dryly. She was forever grateful she’d married Emilio and not Rafael all those years ago.
‘They didn’t,’ Rafael said.
‘So Jane was right,’ Petra said, elaborating when she was met with only vacant stares. ‘She always said something was off about Catalina.’
‘So it’s her than, she has them?’ Rafael questioned, for the first time looking at Rose with something other than hatred, something almost like hope.
‘Oh, most definitely. This is her. No doubt about it,’ Rose nodded. ‘She’s always been strangely territorial about the people she dated. I still have a scar from when she sat my car on fire.’
The implications of that statement weren’t lost on the others in the room. The furrow between Rafael’s eyebrows deepening even further. Honestly Rose couldn’t blame him. She was appalled she and Rafael had the same taste in women.
The moment was broken when Luisa spoke, an amused smile curving her lips. ‘Do you know where she would take the girls?’
‘Yeah. There was this house she always used. As far as I know she still owns it. It’s perfect to house two children.’
‘Where is it?’ Dennis asked, always on task.
‘Western city limits. Suburbs.’
‘How sure are you?’ Rafael asked, apparently once again unable to stop himself from second guessing Rose.
Rose rolled her eyes. ‘100%, they’ll be there.’
Rafael looked at Dennis, who nodded.
‘I’ll call it in.’
‘You’re sure about this?’ Petra asked.
‘They’ll be there,’ Rose repeated. ‘Besides, we’re running out of time.’ There were less than two hours left on the clock, there was no time for her to be wrong.
‘Let’s go then,’ Rafael said impatiently.
‘I’m going with you,’ Rose said.
Rafael looked like he was about to protest but she cut him off before he could speak. ‘It’s a 45-minute drive. You barely have two hours left. This isn’t the time to go in blind. You need me.’
‘Let her come,’ Dennis sighed, Rose’s guard nodding solemnly as he got up.
Within 5 minutes Rose was back in the van that had transported her here, with the welcome addition of Luisa at her side.
‘So you and Catalina, huh?’ Luisa asked.
‘It was well before I met you,’ Rose said.
‘I’m just teasing,’ Luisa laughed, a little nervously.
Rose offered her a warm smile, covering Luisa’s hand with her own.
Luisa smiled back, scooting closer and resting her head on Rose’s shoulder. ‘Under different circumstances I would have enjoyed you being out of jail a lot more.’
‘Under different circumstances they wouldn’t have let me out,’ Rose rationalized.
‘Probably not, no,’ Luisa sighed. ‘I just wish your return to the Marbella could have been happier.’
Rose chuckled. ‘I didn’t think I would ever return to the Marbella. Under any circumstances.’
‘No, I guess not.’ Luisa nestled herself up against Rose’s side and closed her eyes.
‘Go sleep,’ Rose whispered, wrapping her arm around Luisa’s shoulders, pulling her closer. ‘You’re exhausted, we won’t be there for another 30 minutes. Take a nap.’
‘Okay,’ Luisa nodded sleepily. It had been a draining couple of days, and she trusted Rose; her nieces would be where Rose said they would be. And so, safe in Rose’s arms, she fell asleep.
Rose made use of the ride over and a sleeping Luisa at her side to take stock of her situation. She hadn’t had much time to do so before, too busy trying to find Elsa and Anna. But she knew with certainty they would be at the house, so she could let go of that now.
She looked out of the window, the city’s lights streaking past them. She had missed it. Not Miami per se, but her freedom.
All of last night had been spent coming up with escape plans. She was unlikely to ever have an opportunity like this again. Two shallow cuts would take care of the RFID chips in her palms, she had already pocketed the letter opener from Luisa’s desk. The cuffs wouldn’t give her any more trouble, she just needed to get something non-conductive between her skin and the bracelets. The floormats under her feet were rubber…
She could do it, she could run while everyone was distracted with Elsa and Anna’s return. Then she looked to her left, where Luisa was sleeping peacefully.
If she ran, Luisa would follow her. She knew she would. But it also meant ripping Luisa away from the life she had built here. Again. She couldn’t do that to her. Not without her okay.
Rose sighed, not running meant returning to prison. To the same boring routine of only seeing Luisa once a week without getting to hold or kiss her.
Two options, neither of them ideal. But one offering very clear benefits…
‘Babe, wake up,’ Rose whispered, combing her fingers through Luisa’s hair, easing her from sleep.
‘What is it?’ Luisa asked, immediately alert.
‘I thought you might want to see this,’ Rose smiled, motioning to the two SWAT agents carrying the twins out of the building on their arms. She had decided to let Luisa sleep through the raid, she didn’t need that kind of stress.
‘They’re okay. Thank god,’ Luisa breathed, watching as the girls ran towards their parents.
‘A happy ending at last,’ Rose smiled.
‘You did this,’ Luisa said, looking at Rose in awe.
Rose shrugged. ‘I just provided some information.’
‘You figured out Devin wasn’t working alone. You figured out it was Catalina, and where she was. We never would have found them in time without you.’
‘You would have paid the ransom. They would have been okay.’
‘Or maybe not. If you were right about Catalina wanting to hurt Rafael, maybe they wouldn’t have been. You saved them.’
‘I did what I could.’
‘You did a great thing today, Rose. You’re a good person.’
‘Don’t let anyone in prison here that. My reputation will be ruined,’ Rose smiled.
Luisa rolled her eyes, pulling her in for a kiss.
‘I love you,’ Luisa whispered against Rose’s lips. ‘Now go.’
Rose smiled, Luisa had obviously run through the same possibilities she had. It was now or never.
She imperceptibly shook her head. ‘I’m going back to prison, Lu.’
‘But, why?’ Luisa asked, confused.
Rose pulled Luisa closer to her, making sure what she was about to say couldn’t be overheard. ‘Because if I run, I upend your life again. If I stay, push for a speedy trail, I can win. We won’t have to run, no more fugitives of the law, we can finally start living.’
Luisa looked at her in astonishment. ‘How long would that take?’
‘A year, maybe longer. Is that okay?’
‘You’d go back to prison, for a year, for me?’
Rose nodded. ‘I would, I love you.’
‘Can you do it, make a jury believe you’re innocent?’
She smiled, looking deep into Luisa’s brown eyes. ‘You know me, I always have a plan.’