We don’t talk about why he was holding Jay’s hand or why she jerked it away as if she had something to hide. I quickly decide to place jealousy into the basket of basic emotions Tristan deems are beneath me, including hatred for Jay that is changing shape all the time. I don’t want to give the moment any strength or dwell on how deep their connection goes.

Instead I fall into bed with Tristan, and for the next couple of hours, we let our bodies answer all the promises our teasing touches made throughout the day. The storm rolling in hides the sounds of our lovemaking. And our lovemaking hides the worry in my heart.

Several hours later, the sliver of night sky between the curtains reveals the rain whipping shadows against the glass. Tristan is asleep on his back, his arm crooked over his eyes. Every few minutes I’ll feel the little movements of his dreams, which don’t seem to be tormenting him the way others have.

They can’t possibly be tormenting him the way my thoughts are torturing me. So I get up quietly, careful not to rouse him, and slip on some clothes. In the kitchen I fumble through the cabinets to find some tea and a mug to fill with hot water.

When there’s a break in the storm’s rumbling, I hear voices. Indistinct but then stronger, like an argument’s being had. I still and strain to hear more. I recognize Martine’s voice but have to venture closer to make out what she’s saying.

I go toward the back of the house. An angle of lamplight cuts across the hallway from Martine’s office.

“This woman is a treasure for our cause. She’s only begun to open up to us about the structure behind their operation. She’s got more to share, and we can use all of it to our advantage. Every morsel. Even if I can’t earn Tristan’s trust, I don’t need to. She’s a walking bible of history on him too.”

“To what end? This is my question to you.”

I freeze and flatten my body against the wall at the sound of the man’s voice.

“To further the cause! Gabriel, this is what I’ve been telling you.”

“This cause is no longer mine. Isabel’s lost everything, and this is why. Your and Lucia’s incessant meddling. You’ve fed her thirst for vengeance all these years, and we’ll never have justice.”

“You can still have it! Kristopher is sitting in the inner circle of this group.”

“Which only strengthens his position.”

“We’ve been striking at them with our fists when they’ve had an arsenal. McKenna is the key. What she knows gives us the power to match their strength. To build a counter-effort that will reduce them to rubble.”

“You cannot fight men without hearts and expect to win this way. They will destroy you. I’m sorry, but he’s taken enough from me. I won’t let them destroy my family.”

“Then retreat back to your village and play God,” she snaps.

A few seconds go by, and I wonder if they’ve finished. I’m terrified at being caught eavesdropping, but I can’t bring myself to move. The woman behind the door sounds like a version of Martine that she’ll never show her followers.

“Martine, I have stood by you all these years. Our intentions were honest and true. But I fear this isn’t about casting light in dark corners anymore. I have every reason to make it personal, but I am humble enough to know when I’ve been bested. You’ve hardly paused to consider what this has meant for Isabel. What could have happened had she not been saved by this man from her past?”

“She follows him around like a lovesick child, and she’s likely never been happier. Lucia’s smothered her her whole life. She may be dead on paper, but now she’s finally living. She’ll grow with Halo if he gives her the chance.”

“The only things growing here are Halo’s bank accounts and your ego, and I’ll have no part of it,” he shouts. Then, his voice lower, “And I’ll let the devil take me before I let you lead my granddaughter any further into this plan of yours.”

Tears burn behind my eyes. Soundlessly I retreat back to the kitchen and head to the hallway. I catch a dart of movement in the corner of my eye. I suck in a breath but manage to quell a frightened shriek. My heart beats wildly in my chest even though I feel frozen in my spot again.

The shadow moves again, several feet away, until it changes under a sliver of moonlight. I release a dizzying breath and then another, my terror seeping away in small measures.

Zeda’s sharp profile comes into view. She lifts her finger to her lips.

When the door to Martine’s office slams, I turn away and rush back to the bedroom.

I close the door with a click and try to slip beside Tristan unnoticed.

He turns his body to me when my full weight hits the mattress. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say lightly.

He hums and tugs me closer, catching me against his chest with a sigh. Soon his sleepy softness hardens. “You’re shaking. Isabel, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m just… I had a bad dream.”

He lifts onto his elbow and looks down at me. He touches my face, draws his hand down the column of my neck and finally over my racing heart.

“Why are you lying to me?”

I bite the inside of my lip, cursing myself. Asking myself the same question.

I shake my head, because I don’t know why. “I’m scared.”

“What happened?”

I haven’t had a minute to process what I heard. I don’t know how Tristan will react when I tell him…or if I should.

“Can we just talk about it in the morning?” I ask, hoping to buy more time.

“No, we can talk about it now because the longer you don’t tell me, the more I’m going to worry.”

I draw in a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. “I couldn’t sleep, so I went to the kitchen to get some tea, and I overheard Martine in her office. My grandfather was in there with her. They were arguing.”

“About what?”

“About me. About Jay. My grandfather doesn’t want anything to do with Halo’s work anymore because of what happened to me. And she’s… I don’t know, Tristan.”

Martine sounded like a woman possessed by her mission, blindly driven to it despite the threats of danger she promised earlier to heed. But is she so wrong to want to take the Company down? Is anyone more capable of destroying them? Is Tristan, alone but selfishly driven by his need to protect the two of us, more able?

“What about Martine? What did she say?” he presses.

“She’s obsessed with learning everything Jay knows. She thinks she’s the key to destroying the Company.”

“We already know that.”

“I know, but…she was different. Like she wasn’t going to let anything get in her way. I’ve never heard her so single-minded. She was talking to my grandfather like he was worthless.”

Like I meant nothing. A lovesick child…

I wince, remembering her cold words, and avert my eyes from Tristan’s intent stare. If she had any idea what we’ve been through, what we’ve endured.

“Did they see you?”

“No, I snuck away before they finished. But someone saw me leave.”

“Who?”

“Zeda.”

Sleep is impossible. If Isabel achieves any, she’s lying again.

Why was her first instinct to lie? Was the fear of getting caught by them unthinkingly transferred to me in the heat of the moment? No. She was holding something back. The longer I lie awake, the more convinced I am of it. Though for the life of me, I can’t understand why. Despite my hesitations, she’s always ready to give our host the benefit of the doubt. How could overhearing one exchange leave her so shaken unless there’s more she’s not telling me?

As dawn starts to spill light into the room, I rise and get dressed.

Isabel sits up with the sheet drawn over her chest. Her eyes are tired, her expression wary. “Where are you going? It’s still early.”

“Not sure. Maybe for a run.”

She traps her bottom lip between her teeth. “Do you want to talk?”

I swing my gaze to her. “Do you?”

She doesn’t answer, and her early evasion stabs at me a little more.

“I’ll be back after breakfast.”

I pass through the empty kitchen and leave the house as quickly and quietly as I can.

“Tristan?”

On the porch, the sound of my name stops me in my tracks. I turn, and a man with silvering hair straightens off one of the rocking chairs. He’s dressed in dark slacks and a starched white button-down that contrasts with his dark features.

“You must be Gabriel.”

He smiles kindly and extends his hand. “Gabriel Martinez,” he says, his accent rolling over the name.

I take it in a firm shake. “Tristan Red.”

“I’m glad to finally shake your hand. My thanks to you are overdue. You saved Isabel’s life.”

I struggle with his statement. The truth is I simply chose not to end it. Thankfully I was chosen over anyone else who wouldn’t have had a reason to hesitate. “Thank fate, I guess.”

“Or perhaps God himself.”

I shrug. “If you believe in that sort of thing.”

“I do,” he says with surety. He looks out to the street. “Would you like to walk with me?”

“Sure.”

Together we descend the painted wooden steps, down the path toward the street. An odd sense of relief washes over me when the heavy metal gate clanks shut behind us. One glance over my shoulder, and I catch the movement of curtains in the front bedroom. Isabel watching us leave, which lodges fresh worry in my gut.

We take a left and head east. The skies have cleared, but the night’s storm hangs like an invisible fog, clinging to my skin and thickening the air.

I’d love to ask him about his late-night meeting with Martine, but I don’t know him and don’t wish to upset the pretend harmony Martine likes to cultivate in the house. At least not until I get what I want from Jay.

“So, what brings you to Halo?” I finally ask.

He hums softly. “That’s a complicated question.” We walk a few more minutes in silence. “Lucia says you’re in love with Isabel. Is that true?”

I laugh awkwardly. Way to ease into it.

He smiles. “Is that too personal?”

I tuck my hands into my pockets and hope he continues without acknowledgment of what he must already know to be true.

“I ask because I need to know that she’s going to be taken care of. I can stay close for a little while, but home will call me back soon.”

“Where’s home?”

“La Mina. It’s a village in Honduras, close to where Lucia was raised before we emigrated to the United States. I trained in medicine at the university in Tegucigalpa, and of course that’s how I found a position with Chalys many years ago. A brief detour from my greater purpose.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m a doctor, an occupation that requires training and education. But at the heart of things, I’m a healer. There are no certificates or diplomas for that kind of work. For a brief time, I believed my position at Chalys would truly help me serve others. Cure illnesses, ease people’s suffering, give hope. It felt like I’d found my calling.” He shakes his head. “It wasn’t like that. I do much better work in La Mina.”

He winks, but I can sense his discomfort under the jovial tone. Mariana’s death hides in his shadowed eyes. The lines of age and worry in his face.

He glances down at his shoes as they clip along the sidewalk. Polished tan leather. “The people you worked for, they’re monsters. To bring Boswell into their ranks, they have to be.”

“I have no doubt.”

“Isabel must be protected.”

“That’s my purpose if I’ve ever had one.”

He slows. We stop walking and face one another.

He regards me quietly. “I feel that must be true. There can be no other explanation for how you’ve been reintroduced into her life this way.”

It was a matter of chance. An auspicious twist of circumstances as Jay already explained. But as Gabriel speaks, something inside me tries to believe that coming to Isabel’s apartment that night was more than chance. That it was destined. An offering from some unknown force, that if accepted, gave her life and me a soul. At least a chance at one. But there’s still more work to be done. More blood to shed…

I tense a little. “Part of keeping her safe requires neutralizing the threat. You realize that, right?”

He taps his foot absently. “I’m not a stranger to violence, though I prefer to avoid it. When it comes to Isabel, though, I want her nowhere near it.”

“I’m with you on that.”

“Then you must take her someplace safe, Tristan. Take her away from Halo. Martine…” He shakes his head, his face wrinkling into a pained grimace. “She’ll only use her the way she’s used Lucia. She is my daughter, but I can’t sway her. Her need to avenge Mariana fuels a hatred no amount of justice could possibly extinguish. But Isabel is innocent. She has hope.”

“I have no intention of staying at Halo. The situation is temporary. We’ll be out as soon as I can lock down a new place.”

His pained expression doesn’t ease. “I’m torn.”

I frown.

He begins walking again, back toward the house. I follow, waiting for him to elaborate.

“Martine’s likely talked of her reach. Her prowess and power. Never mind her mission.”

“She has.”

“She doesn’t exaggerate.” He lifts a finger. “Except when it comes to the mission. I fear that her motivations are primarily selfish these days. Time has changed her values. But Halo is very well connected. The information we’ve collected over the years holds even more value than the wealth she’s accumulated through sometimes questionable means.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Martine can fight this war for you. She could even win.”

“So you’re suggesting that Isabel and I lie low while she tries?”

He slows again, stops, and looks ahead at the mansion set off the street several yards down the block. “The father in me…and the grandfather in me…wants to believe that’s the answer.”

“But?”

He presses his lips into a thin line. “Only time will tell.” He withdraws a piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to me. “This is my number while I’m here in the States. Lucia says she can no longer reach Isabel through her phone. I hope you’ll trust me to keep me informed of her general whereabouts once you leave Halo. I care for her deeply, and I’m here to help in any way I can.”

I accept it and consider his words and the unselfish way in which he speaks about Isabel. I nod and extend my hand to his, grasping it in another handshake, one of unspoken commitment.

“I’ll be in touch.”