CHAPTER TEN

ERIS

My mind is racing at a mile a minute, the pills doing nothing to help the thoughts popping in and out of my head The only question that pops in my head over and over is "what the fuck do I do?". Andrea looks at me with those big worried eyes and I will my leg stop tapping. And it does, for a minute and the tapping continues. I dig my nails into the palms of my skin, one at a time, in a sequence from the littlest finger to my forefinger, again and again. When Dario mentioned I would not stay in the city, I thought he was just saying that in the heat of the moment. But clearly, I was wrong, especially when my brother had to carry me into the plane because I could not leave willingly or gracefully. Hours later, we got to the beach house in Santa Marta. I was on lock down. i knew it, they knew it. I want to say it's Dario's rule. But I know father is the one who twisted his arm, made him send me out of the estate. And for whatever reason, Dario agreed with him.

There are stupid rules given to me, by father, not to leave the estate or do anything stupid. And Dario instructed that I be kept on watch twenty-four-seven by the guards who were guarding the estate, plus the few we flew with. Abruptly, I get up and I see one guard taking a step forward, my eyes narrow on him, and he simply smirks. I sneer in his direction. I don't like him. Rolling my eyes, I ignore him and the rest of the eyes watching me, grab my plate, and head to the kitchen. "Thank you, Rosa!" I smack my lips on the elderly woman standing by the aisle. She giggles but smacks me lightly, "what do you want to eat for dinner?" I smile back at her, "anything you cook, I'll eat. I missed your food. There's nothing that tastes as good in the states and Andrea can't cook for shit." She smacks me lightly, "no cursing in my kitchen. But yeah, that girl is hopeless." "Hey!" Andrea shouts, but we ignore her. Rosa and I look at each other, I see the warmth and love for me in her eyes. When we were younger, she used to be our nanny, and gave my sister and me the love our mother didn't, she took care of us as though we were hers and she has a special place in my heart for it. She could have ignored us like the other maids did, as we were daughters of an affair between a stripper with their boss, but she loved us through and through. And on retiring, she chose to stay on this property as the activities here were not as much as the estate back in the city. Even though I want to throw a fit over being here rather than finding my sister, I'm grateful Rosa is here with me.

"Everything will be okay, little girl," she cups my cheek with one hand, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "We'll find her and bring her back home." My throat clogged, I just nod and take a step into her personal space, my arms wrapping around her. "Thank you, tita," I whisper to her when she wraps her arms around me, and for a second I feel like things will be okay, A part of me whispers that everything will be OK. When I pull away, I don't want to see her sad eyes, so I smile wide, "I'm thinking of dying my hair grey so we match, what do you think?" She laughs, grabs her cooking spoon, and tries to smack me with it. "Rude!" I laugh, moving away fast, I pick up a few cookies and run out of the kitchen. I hear her shout about my unladylike behavior and that the cookies are hot, and I should wait for them to cool. Andrea is on the other side of the door, a small smile on her face, one that says, I'm relieved you're laughing and joking around. When her gaze and mine collide, she makes grabby hands and I do share the cookies. She immediately bites into one and moans, "so good." "Hear that, tita!" I call out to Rosa, who makes a show of grunting, saying how we should be ladylike once more, but looking behind, I see her smile. Andrea and I sit by the patio, I watch her as her eyes roam, noting where all guards are before she speaks again, in a whisper, "so what's the plan?" In an exaggerated whisper, I reply, "why are we whispering?" She rolls her eyes and sits back in her chair and puts her glasses on. "So what's the plan?" She asks again, this time in a slightly raised voice but soft enough for me to hear. "Don't have one," I reply, sitting back in my seat and pulling my glasses from my hair and over my eyes. She turns her head in my direction and makes a show of pulling her glasses down to show me how she does not believe me. I roll my eyes behind my glasses, " I actually don't. Do you have a plan?" She grunts a no, seating back in her chair, defeated. I relax into the seat, closing my eyes, and my mind wanders to the last person I should be thinking about. I should not even spare my thoughts for that asshole, but for some reason, he slips into my mind once in a while. I'd never before been attracted to a man, the way I was to him. Thinking about our encounter has my body heating up.

I get up, "I'm going for a swim!" I pull my sarong over my head and make a run for the water. The water slaps my skin in a somewhat painful impact as if to tell me it's been a while, and it had. the cooling effect is immediate. I dive head first into the deeper waters, my mind cleansing of all thoughts, my heart feeling a little lighter, it's just me and the little fish swimming through the water.

Eventually, I come up for air when my lungs start to burn for lack of oxygen. My lips part and I take in the air around me greedily, my eyes wander and I see Andrea standing by the seafront, looking in my direction. I did swim a bit far. Instead of heading back. I will my body to lay on my back, so I'm floating in the moving water, my eyes towards the sky, watching the moving clouds. My brain starts to think of ways to leave this place, I cancel a few plans, coming up with nothing really. I'd have to wait for Dario to come back from the States to talk him into letting me go back to Bogota if he refuses to let me go to the States again. A dark cloud shadows the sun and I take that as a sign to leave the waters, so I swim back to the shore.

When I get out of the water, I find Andrea standing by a post while one of the guys secures a net to two posts. "Volleyball?" I ask, wringing the water out of my hair. She nods, grinning, "who's side are you on?" My hand is in a fist, and with my thumb up, I point towards the tallest among them, "as much as I'd love to be with you, I want to be on the winning side." My partner, Carlo, smiles at me, it's one of those secret smiles we shared when we hooked up a few times. Dario had him as my personal bodyguard, over time he became more than just my guard. "Are you okay?" he murmurs. I nod, moving to our side of the designated field. As much as I liked him enough to hook up with him on multiple occasions, he did not need to worry about me. I turn towards him with a raised brow, "you better make us win!" He snickers. I take that time to look at him and I see why I was attracted to him, he was pretty tall and buff, with a smile that had many women hang up on him, seen that happen in malls a few times. And he's a pretty decent person, despite his career. "If you keep looking at me like that, I'll be tempted to think you want me," he says. I smirk, holding eye contact with him, without saying anything. I see red creep up his neck, he's flustered, and he looks away. Chuckling, I look away, toward our opponents on the other side of the net. Carlo hands me the ball, "we serve first. take the first hit." And I do. I spin the ball in the air and jump, my open palm slapping the ball toward the other side of the net.