Both Angelo and I froze when Denise opened the door, with Xavier behind her. Xavier's jaw had dropped and Denise looked like she had seen a ghost.
"Are we... interrupting something?" Xavier asked as he leaned against the doorframe with wide, awkward eyes.
"No. You aren't." I blurted after I placed both of my hands on Angelo's chest and pushed him off me. Denise just gave me a "seriously?" look while Xavier was chewing on the inside of his cheek while staring at Angelo.
"It's not what you think..." I sighed. "Just forget about it and let's go check on that clip." I motioned towards the door with my hand, attempting to avoid the awkward moment.
"Yes, it's better than checking on whatever was going on in here..." Denise muttered as she and Xavier stepped aside to let Angelo and me through. As I walked past Denise, she leaned over. "I'm going to find out what were y'all up to." I could hear the mischievousness in her tone as she whispered on my ear.
"Fuck off! Since when are you so nosy?" I whisper shouted back. Angelo nor Xavier heard because they both took the lead walking while Denise and I followed.
"Since I taught myself how to hack bitches." She snapped with what looked like an "I'm crazy" smile.
I rolled my eyes before paying attention to the two in front of us who had stopped to enter the office. As soon as we were all inside, we sat on each of our chairs.
Denise grabbed Xavier's laptop and placed it on the desk so it'd face Angelo and me. "Okay, so, I suppose this is the clip you were all looking for." She said before she pressed play. My eyebrows furrowed as I attentively began to watch.
At first, it showed nothing but an empty gate with no one around. Around ten seconds later, a black LaFerrari sped up to the gate and parked in front of it. A man stepped out with his mouth and nose covered by a black mask. He pulled out the envelope we had in our hands earlier from his blazer and left it on the gate. After, he got back in the car and disappeared onto the road.
"Wait. Denise, can you rewind it a bit?" I asked, while pointing to the screen. "I want you to stop when he turns the car around and zoom in. Maybe we can track it down by the license plate."
"She's got a point there." Angelo agreed as Denise began to rewind the clip.
"HTI632..." Xavier muttered after he grabbed a pen and wrote the license number down on his palm.
But both Denise and I were in another sort of confusion. Her blue eyes gave me a suspicious look that matched mine. "Is that..."
"Everything alright ladies?" Angelo asked after noticing the tension we were both in.
"I think it is. Those digits are the exact same..." I grumbled, ignoring Angelo's question as I examined the screen.
Both Xavier and Angelo looked puzzled; so I decided to clarify. "Listen, by the time we were in Vegas, I owned a black LaFerrari, just like this one. What's bothering me is that the license plate is the exact same. Plus, during the incident with Hale, the car's brakes stopped functioning and it crashed into a fuel truck."
"But if you say it crashed with that type of truck, I suppose it exploded, no?" Xavier asked.
"It did explode. But I also saw it by the time we went drag racing back in Spain a few days later." I sighed as my eyebrows pulled together.
"I get the feeling all this is being planned." Angelo added while running his hand down his chin.
"But hey, how about we examine the envelope for any type of fingerprint, and at the same time track down the car? It's a small island, and we can search it in less than three hours." I suggested, earning an approving nod from Denise and Xavier.
I watched how Angelo bit his lip as he pulled the laptop closer. "Well..." My eyes followed his fingers' movements as he rewound the clip and zoomed in on the man's face. "Noticed this?" He pointed to the top part that wasn't covered, where you could see two scars that went over the right eye. "Let's take that into account when we start looking for someone specific."
"Yeah, you're right." I replied as I peered at the two scars before I leaned over Angelo's shoulder and muttered. "Can we talk, alone?"
He rotated his head to the point where his face was inches away from mine, his dark bronze colored eyes scanning my expression for a moment. I discreetly looked to the side in Denise and Xavier's direction before making eye contact once again.
"Can we have a moment?" He called out to Xavier and Denise who both perked up at his words.
"Sure." Xavier muttered. Denise just nodded, surprisingly managing to keep herself from threatening Xavier when he placed his hand on the small of her back and encouraged her to walk out with him.
When they both left the room, Angelo turned to me with furrowed eyebrows. "What is it?"
Feeling hesitant, I stood up and walked around the desk so we'd be facing each other. "How well do you know the island?"
"Pretty well, why?" He proceeded to interrogate as he leaned back on his chair.
"I was just curious... is there any hospital around?" I muttered, remembering Isabella's state.
"Cara, the nearest hospital is in Spain. There's only one or two clinics around here." He replied after crossing his arms over his chest. I cursed under my breath, but that didn't go unnoticed by him. "Is there anything I should be aware of though?"
"...Not really." I grumbled, avoiding his strong, demanding gaze. I heard his chair's wheels strolling across the tile floor as he pushed it back to stand up and approach me.
"You don't seem so sure about that..." He stated as he cautiously veered down at me.
"Doesn't matter-" I began, but cut myself off when he reached up to move a strand of my hair behind my shoulder. Angelo lifted my chin with his index finger, leaving me with no other option than to look up at him.
"Are you sure?" He raised an eyebrow. I had to push myself and nod yes; because the way he stood, the smell of his cologne, and his burning gaze was starting to get to me. My hand reached up to grasp his wrist, allowing my fingers to graze his hand as I moved it away from my face.
"Yes, I'm sure..." My lips parted as we both narrowed our eyes at each other, then looked down at my hand which was still grazing his own. I realized it would be awkward so I pulled my hand away.
He then cleared his throat. "Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Actually, I was going to remind that you should watch out for anyone, even those that seem like they couldn't hurt a fly." I muttered while crossing my arms over my chest. "Know we shouldn't put our full trust in anyone just because they're on our side."
"I get what you mean. For now let's just watch out and search the island. There's less than three hundred people habiting it, plus it's small. We can search it an get someone to patrol it every now and then in case we don't find any sign of the car or anything in general." He explained as he looked out the glass window beside me.
I looked up at him when he added, "I could help you familiarize with the island if you'd like to join me. I'm going for a drive."
"Yeah sure, I'll go for my coat." I agreed before exiting the office.
By the time I reached my room and grabbed my coat, Angelo was already waiting for me by the staircase. We then both walked down together and stopped once we reached the foyer.
I started by spotting Angelo's mother and Aurora chatting in the kitchen; then Isabella and Luciano who were both sitting in the dining table, her head rested on his shoulder as the two ate. Across from them sat Blake, Nathan and Mateo who were also eating. Xiomara was seated at the end of the extremely long table, dipping strawberries in a small bowl with melted chocolate as she scrolled through her phone. Xavier and Denise were by the living room beside each other on the couch, leaning over a laptop; looking as concentrated as ever. Who knows what were they all up to.
Everyone's attention fell on Angelo and me when Isabella called out after noticing us. "Gaby? Where are you going?"
"We're going to go check on something. Be back later." I replied, not wanting to elaborate much.
"Oh, okay." She softly smiled before getting comfortable once again in Luciano's shoulder.
Angelo opened the door for me after excusing ourselves and made our way out of the mansion. "C'mon if we want to be back for dinner." He encouraged as he unlocked a white Porsche that was parked in the driveway.
As soon as he opened the car's door for me, I got in and he walked around it before getting in the driver's seat. In less than a minute or so, we had already left the property.
Just as he said he would, Angelo showed me every part of the island that he knew. The town, parks, and even an underground bar. We didn't stop for a thing even though we were looking for a sign of the LaFerrari. In the end, it was like the car disappeared, or it was actually well hidden. Either way, I tried my best to memorize the way back to the house and some of the escape routes, including where was the medical clinic and grocery store located.
"Since we failed at finding the car," Angelo began after we parked on the side of the road. "There's one last thing you might want to see." He said before opening the door and stepping out of the car, leaving me in pure uncertainty.
When he opened my door and offered me his hand, I stayed in my seat and raised an eyebrow. "You do realize we're like in the middle of nowhere."
"No we aren't." He grinned.
"What? Both the town and the mansion are like twenty minutes away. I could fucking die out here and no one would find out." I replied with pursed lips, refusing to take his hand.
He sighed and chuckled before moving his hand closer to me. "Trust me, okay? You're not going to die out here. I'm not going to kill you nor let anyone kill you..."
Well that sounded... sincere.
I pouted as I stared at nothing in specific for a moment before finally grasping his hand. He helped me gain my balance the moment I stepped out of the car by placing both of his hands on my waist. "I've got you..." I heard him mutter to himself.
"So, now what?" I asked after he let go of me and locked the car.
"Now, you come with me." He pointed at me with his index finger then towards his chest.
I didn't really bother in making any more questions and allowed him to reach for my hand and guide me a bit further down the sidewalk. I spotted a staircase that went down towards what I assumed was the beach; but a well hidden staircase. If Angelo hadn't motioned towards it, I probably wouldn't have realized.
He looked back to the road before ushering me so I'd at least go down one step. After he did the same, I leaned over to him. "Care to explain where are we?"
He chuckled once again. "You'll see." With that, he grabbed my arm and linked it with his own as we began walking down the huge set of stairs that looked endless. The space was pretty limited and we both walked down with our sides literally pressed together.
After what felt like forever, we finally reached the bottom and faced a large metal shed. Part of it was on solid ground, but the other was completely floating on the water.
"Come on." Angelo called out and I realized I had just been standing there, sinking into the soft and white sand.
"Coming," I muttered as I made my way over to him.
He opened the shed's door for me and as soon as I entered, my eyes lit up in awe. "You never told me you owned a yacht."
"I've never told anyone, actually." He shrugged as he took slow strides towards me. "Just thought you should know about it, in case we needed to escape, this would be our plan B." His hand motioned towards the yacht, which also had five jet skis on each side.
"So I suppose this is going to be another secret between us?" I asked as I turned around to face him.
"Indeed." He nodded. "But, I supposed you'd maybe be up for a drink?"
"Didn't we have a drink like an hour ago?" I protested.
"Yeah, but another round wouldn't hurt, now would it?" He grinned.