Sixty-Nine

Sabrina took a seat at the table across from Leo, pushing the centerpiece to the right so she could see his face. He looked dull, like he’d been drugged or like maybe he’d given up hope of ever seeing his family again after nearly a month.

She could relate.

“Leo,” she said, well aware that Reyes still stood over her, watching and listening to everything she did and said. “Leo, I need you to listen to me, okay?”

The little boy looked up from his empty plate, his flat gaze trained on her face. Before she could speak, Reyes cut in.

“Choose your words wisely, Sabrina,” he murmured, taking his seat at the head of the table. “The wrong ones will cost you both.”

“You’re not alone,” she said, struggling to keep a balance between giving him hope and saying something that would set Reyes off. On impulse she reached out and gripped the hand of the girl sitting beside her, squeezing it beneath the table before letting it go. “Not anymore.”

“And what will you do now that you’re here, Sabrina?” Reyes said, baiting her. “How will you save the day?”

Kill you, for starters.

“If you know me as well as you think you do, Alberto, then you know that I’ve been here before,” she said, fighting to keep her tone light. “As for saving the day … I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

The look he gave her told her that there would be a price to pay for her insolence. “No more talking,” Reyes said, ringing a silver bell that waited next to an empty wine glass. Instantly, a small army of servants pushed through a door, each carrying trays and dishes of food.

Sabrina watched silently as these dishes and trays were passed around. Reyes was served first, servants eager to please him.

Each time they came her way, she shook her head no. They would look to him for direction, and he’d nod. They scooped and piled food onto the plate in front of her before depositing dishes onto the sideboard behind her.

Sabrina kept her hands in her lap.

“Don’t be stubborn, querida,” Reyes said, raising his fork to his mouth to take a bite. “You’ll need your strength if you’re going to play the hero, yes?”

Sabrina looked down at her plate. Beef Wellington. Asparagus. Herbed potatoes. Leo was watching her from across the table, his eyes once again flat and vacant. She picked up her fork, using its tines to spear a potato. She winked at him and shoved it into her mouth, eliciting no more than a ghost of a smile from him.

But it was enough.

“Our newest guest is a friend of El Cartero—you remember him, don’t you, Christina?” Reyes said, choosing to ignore her small rebellion.

The potato in her mouth turned to glue as she watched the girl beside her. Christina took a small sip of water before nodding. “Yes, father,” she said without looking at him.

“He’ll be coming soon. You’d like that wouldn’t you, Christina?” Reyes said, his voice dangerously soft. “To see your old friend again?”

She looked at him then, her eyes finding her father’s face and Sabrina felt her heart seize in her chest with the insane urge to slap a hand over the girl’s mouth to stop her from speaking.

“Yes, father,” she said—the same words as before but in a tone that narrowed Reyes’s eyes. Christina wasn’t just paying her father lip service; she was defying him.

Small rebellions, it seemed, were going to be their undoing.