Page 22 of Enigma: The Final Chapter
“They said you wanted to speak to me.” I fight the urge to roll my eyes for how timid my voice comes out. I'm stronger than this. I was raised stronger than this.
“Come closer.”
My gaze shifts back to the window partition Isaac is standing behind. “No, I'm fine here.”
His brows furrow. “I won’t hurt you, Isabelle.”
“You drugged me, kidnapped me, then tied me to a chair. You’ve already hurt me.”
Metal hitting steel bounces around the room when Enrique scrubs his hand across his face. My teeth grit as I shake my head. They have him handcuffed to the bed, yet they’re still worried about him hurting me.
“If Col arrived at the warehouse without you being bound, he would’ve never believed you were there against your will.” Enrique’s tone is stern yet full of sorrow.
I nod. Col’s file portrays he was paranoid about being infiltrated by undercover agents. Apparently, he never worked out that Tobias was an agent.
Enrique’s eyes study my body before assessing my face. “Did he raise you right? The man who bought you?”
My heart squeezes. “You knew I was sold?”
“No,” he replies with a shake of his head. “Not until Col arrived in Las Vegas a few months ago. I could see the excitement on his face when he requested to see Vladimir. He looked like a man who had discovered a genie in a bottle. He thought you were his pot of gold under the rainbow.”
“But Vladimir didn’t care that he’d found me. He wasn’t interested.”
Enrique’s lips twist. “He had already made his money from you.”
Surprisingly, his words don’t cause any sting. Over the years, I learned what type of man Vladimir is. That’s why I appreciate every day that my uncle saved me from that life.
“If Vladimir weren’t interested in what Col had to offer, why did you come to Ravenshoe? Why were you helping Col?”
“I wasn’t helping Col,” he rebuts, his tone flat and angry. “I came because I wanted to see if Col’s ramblings were true, or if it were just the incessant gibberish of a man past his prime. The instant I saw you, I knew what he said was true. You're identical to our mother in every way.”
“Except my eyes,” I murmur, recalling Col’s taunting words.
“Yes,” he confirms with a nod. “When I saw you, it made me wonder if the other rumors I’d heard circulating were true… the ones about our mother. Col was getting sloppy, taking uncalculated risks. It was the perfect opportunity to finally discover the truth.”
He inhales a big breath that puffs his chest before locking his dark eyes with mine. “I would’ve never let him hurt you, Isabelle. I had no intention of letting him take you. I just wanted to know the truth. I asked family members about our mother all the time. All they said was that she was dead, and that was that.”
A dull ache spreads across my chest. His eyes reflect the pain of a little boy who grew up without a mother.
When I take a step closer to him, Isaac moves into the doorway. “Isabelle.” His tone is a clear warning that I'm breaking our agreement.
I stop pacing and lace my fingers together.
Enrique’s eyes dart between Isaac and me. “On vash zashchitnik.”
My brows furl. My Russian is so poor, I can only understand the first half of his sentence, which was, “He is your,” but I don’t understand the last word he's saying.
“Druzhok.” I gesture my hand to Isaac.
Enrique nods. “On khoroshiy chelovek.”
I smile. “Da. Ochen’ khoroshly chelovek.” I cringe when my pronunciation comes out sounding like a first grader reading words from a Russian translator dictionary.
Enrique swallows as his gaze shifts to Isaac. “I knew using Isabelle as a lure would be the only way I could force Col out of hiding. I unearthed his intentions for her from the two officers who assaulted her during her arrest. Col had a bounty on her head. The only stipulation on the contract was that she had to be brought in alive.”
Isaac steps into the room. “You were the anonymous caller.”
Enrique nods. “Yes, I’d been following Isabelle for a few weeks when I witnessed her arrest.” His lips set into a straight line as his eyes turn to me. “Vladimir may forget you have his blood running through your veins, but I can’t. You're still my family, even if you don’t have the Popov name.”
