“Yes?” he asks, tone frustrated.

“Do you use this house?”

“I told you, it’s Dad’s.”

“I just saw papers from the week of the gala, and since Dad’s been in the hospital, I just wondered if it was you.”

“Are you playing detective?”

“No, I just...I didn’t know.”

“Well, remember, don’t touch anything.”

“Is something going on? I mean, why do you need a safe house?”

“Jesus Christ, Ivy. I’m saving your ass at a great risk to my own, I might add, and you’re giving me the third degree?”

“No, it’s not like that. I just was curious.”

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Be ready to go when they come.”

“Can I know their names at least?” I hurry to ask before he disconnects.

“Just be ready.” He hangs up.

41

Ivy

I sit in the living room, flashlight in hand, waiting for the men Abel is sending to get here. I feel on edge since our conversation, but I keep telling myself it’s just how Abel is. He’s under pressure too. I’m sure Santiago has men watching him. I wonder if he’s interrogated him already.

My phone is long out of charge, but I keep it beside me anyway. I pick up another one of the magazines to pass the time and flip through some pages before setting it aside. I get up and pace the room, anxious to leave now, to get to the next phase of this, but it’s barely nine o’clock.

I have decided one thing. I need to talk to Santiago. It wasn’t ever really an option to just disappear out of his life—even if he somehow didn’t catch up with me. I can’t leave Evangeline or the rest of my family behind. I can’t take a chance that he’ll hurt them. I just need a few more days to think before I make contact.

To pass the time, I start to fold up the newspapers and stack them. I wipe off the coffee table, then enter the study to pick up the whiskey glass sitting on the desk and carry it into the kitchen to wash. I set it on the drying rack, then empty the moldy food containers from the fridge. The trash can hadn’t been emptied since before I came, so I pull the bag out of the bin and carry it into the study. There, I take out the empty bottle of whiskey and set it aside, then pick up the bin and turn it over into the bag but only manage to get half the contents in. The other half spills out onto the carpet.