Page 27 of Bound

“Ex,” she says, “boyfriend.”

“Like it matters!” Blaze roars.

I try to make peace. “Guys. We’re starting to remind me of Ryan when he was a toddler. We all need a snack and a nap.”

Lucian’s voice cuts through the madness. “How did she know?”

Isobel falls back into her seat, cupping her head in her hands. “I don’t know! Okay. Maybe she sensed it or⁠—”

Wait.

“The maid,” I say. “The staff member you said traveled with you. Could she have gotten word to Marina?”

Isobel looks up, thinking, then she almost smiles at me. “It’s possible.”

Then her face falls.

And my stomach twists, the vision of her in that concrete room flooding in.

And I tell the room what she’s thinking. “If Marina knew you were coming here, she may have somehow gotten the maid to hide the film in that necklace.”

Isobel starts slowly, laying out her thoughts as she speaks, “And Carlos was planning all this. It was all coming to a head, and Marina knew he was going to be asking for the hard copy.”

“And she wouldn’t give it to him,” I whisper, Marina’s face haunting my thoughts.

Isobel locks eyes with me. “And he interrogated her to find it.”

“And she still wouldn’t tell him,” I say back.

“And it got her killed.”

“She was strong,” I tell her.

We almost smile at one another. Three women locked into the sisterhood of living in a man’s world.

Rafe brings our attention back to the screen. “Ready for our next message from Carlos?”

Our silence is an agreement.

He hits a button and a file begins downloading.

ERIN.

My name fills the screen.

Lucian moves so fast I barely see him.

One second and he is beside me.

The next, he is between me and the screen, rage pouring off him.

“Do not open it.”

Rafe’s eyes lift. “Lucian.”

“I said don’t open it.”

The room goes deadly quiet.