As a protector, as a brother who just his sister back, using her as bait to draw out the enemy was the stupidest crap I'd ever pulled. My knuckles were raw from pounding on the punching bag so hard for the past few weeks.

Lucia has been painting the town red, so to say. She was having an art exhibition in Los Angeles County Museum of Art gallery. I had to pull some strings but she'd been painting non-stop. Fantasy portraits, fantasy landscapes, realists images of waves crashing over the shore, neon stalagmites. I was mesmerised by how extraordinary she'd become. I contacted someone from the museum and asked an agent to come over to check out her art.

At first she wasn't so keen. To her, she was being asked by a rich man to put his sisters paintings on display because of a donation he was about to make. After she saw her paintings, she was so mesmerised that I didn't even need to pull out my check book.

However, when she spoke about waiting list, I wrote a nice amount of donation to get her damn paintings on those walls. My wife on the other hand, has been making blogs of her sister in law's paintings. Made her an Instagram account and have been helping her to get her paintings out there. She's also been teaching my sister how to make time-lapse with a music overlay. They were doing quite well apparently, especially for a beginner.

Mariana's publicist did a good job for getting so many people to turn out. Especially right after the thanksgiving holiday. I couldn't comprehend how the universe worked. Many years ago, Marianas current publicist Tori Benoist's father came to me, asked me find the man that raped his deceased girlfriend and kill him.

I didn't ask many questions then. I needed the money and I had men and means to carry out the hit. So I did. Now, that man's daughter was an acquaintance of my little sister. Publicist of my wife's. How the fucking world worked? I'd never know.

The Catalan family didn't celebrate thanks giving. It wasn't our culture but we did have a little get together, spent some family time together. It was the small things that mattered the most to be now.

My sister wasn't really into it so she'd record her paintings but when she was done, she'd pass it onto my wife's assistant for editing. She just wanted to paint. I understood that perfectly. Mariana was looking an assistant for my sister.

As much as I loved how well they got along, I hated that my sister went to my wife than me. I wanted her to come to me, not get my wife to relay shit. I wanted her to be comfortable around me, to speak to be about anything damn thing. It was a hard transition but I was coping.

She looked so damn happy when people were coming up to her, complementing her paintings asking for prints and posters. She was smiling from ear to ear and her henchman of a boyfriend was right behind her, never letting her go from his sight. She wasn't supposed to grow up the way she did. As a captive, in pain. She was supposed to grow up like a princess and go to college, become whatever she wanted to be.

Her dad was there in the room. Chest filled with pride. He went around, pulling people in a conversation so they'd buy her prints. He was working the room better than her agent.

When Tio came to L.A. and found Lucia in my house, he went ballistic. Crazy that I didn't tell him sooner before the guilt set in. Later, I sat him down, explained to him about what she went through, he cried. Cried like a father who'd just lost his only child. Cried like a man who couldn't protect his child or wife. He was horrified, couldn't look Lucia in the eye for a while until I learned from Mariana that Lucia took that as a sign of her dad being disgusted by her being violated.

I immediately replayed it to him. He was ashamed of himself not the other way round. I'm sure they had an emotional conversation that I wasn't a part of but Lucia of course, told Mariana and she told me.

He was good for her. He treated her like a she was his everything and he saved her when people didn't even know she was alive. That's all I could have asked for. I walked around, wondering where Mariana was. My stomach burned slightly, a sick feeling was gurgling in my stomach. It was my instinct telling me something was wrong. I usually got this feeling right before I heard a bad news. I kept looking for my wife but she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Mariana was quite tall, so it was easier to spot her but she wasn't in the room. I went around the other rooms, thinking she wondered off but again, she was nowhere to be found. My stomach kept dropping, heart pounded wildly in my chest.

Calling Javi, I waiting for him to pick up.

"Javi, can you see Mariana on your screen?" His hand was attached to the screen twenty four seven. His answer was instant.

"No, nothing. I don't have access to the security feed of the building. I can get it from the security team. Hang on."

My heart was racing rapidly. I needed to know where my wife was. Panic was starting to creep in. I've had so much stress lately, I might just collapse on the damn floor. A small hand wrapped around my upper arm. Turning, I found my little sister looking up at me with a worried gaze.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her boyfriend was behind her. Sometimes she looked so tough, unbreakable. Sometimes, she looked so vulnerable, like now.

"Nothing." I tried to smile but nothing moved on my face. "Why don't you go-"

"Where's Mariana?" She asked, making my heart throb. I didn't know where the fuck she was an I was getting a sick feeling about it. My phone buzzed, I didn't even check for who it was.

"Javi. What's up?" Picking up, I walked towards the green exit sign at the back of the large gallery. I hated that my sister followed me out too. It was her night.

"I'm sending you a video."

My phone dinged, video came through my whatsapp. A video popped up with the image of my wife getting out of the gallery bathroom. A waitress who was circulating the gallery went right up behind her and put the silver tray against her back like it was hiding something underneath. My guess was that it was a damn gun. My wife's eyes went wide, hands raised up against her sides like she was surrendering.

My stomach rolled over, my back hit the wall. My head was spinning. Mind weakened. The video followed her out of the back door where there was a back sedan waiting for her. Two men came out, all in black and turned her around, tied her hands behind her back put a black bag over her fucking head and shoved her in the trunk.

"Oh God." My sister's voice shook. The car drove away from the back alley and piece of paper dropped on floor when it disappeared into the night. Suddenly, the screen went blank

I didn't know what to do. Fear paralyzed me.

"Let's move." Gabe jumped into action. He guided me and Lucia through the back corridors and the kitchen to the alley that my wife was taken from. I couldn't breathe until I burst through those outside. Javi was already there, holding the piece of paper that was dropped. He looked very pale.

"What the fuck does it say?" I ripped it out of his hand and read the landscape printed letter.

Give me Elena, I'll give you your wife.

- Elena, I'll be waiting for you.

"No." I said out loud in denial. I couldn't handle this. Throwing the paper to the ground I looked at Javi. "You have someone following right?" I asked to which Javi nodded.

"I will get Jamie to hack into the security cameras." Gabe took out his phone.

"What can I do?" My little sister, who'd give my life for, stood in front of me and in that moment, it physically hurt to look at her. Pulling her close, I dropped a kiss on her forehead.

"You are going to go and keep safe while I go get my wife and kill this bastard once in for all." I indicated Gabe to take her away, keep her safe even while she vehemently protested. My head was pounding and my body sizzling with fire.

"Get my car." We both started jogging towards the mouth of the alley, where my car screeched to a halt. Daveed, my long time driver quickly got out of the car and opened door and got back to his seat as quick as possible. I was thinking. Like my beautiful wife had taught me.

Think, no matter what you're feeling. Sit back and think before acting. That way, you will always succeed. An ache bloomed in my stomach.

"What have we done to get my wife back?" I asked as we both slid into Audi R8.

"Gabe just me in touch with Jake, he's tapping into the street camera feeds. I have full access to his screen now. We have the car, look." I took his tablet from him, watched the sedan sped down the road with my wife in the fucking trunk.

"Get the army ready, we're going in." I voiced.

"It's already done." He sighed out loud. I would send him sometimes to accompany Mariana on her trips of the past years. He hated it, called it a babysitting job but he understood. I trusted him the most.

Suddenly, the car turned down a road where the camera didn't pan to.

"Where the fuck did it go?" I think I was shouting but the buzzing noise in my ear. He put Jake on speaker who said he was working on it.

"There's no camera on that road or any other roads that go that way. Javi, do you guys have a drone?" All I could hear was taps on his keyboard.

"Mariana does. She brought it with her to record surprise after party she threw for Lucia in the evening. We should have in the back of the Rolls Royce." He knew more about Mariana's camera equipment as he'd helped her set up and shoot some of her videos when they were away. Then he'd come home and complain about listening to her talk about make up. It always amused me but now, it paid off that he knew her routine.

"Who's driving the Rolls Royce?" I asked because I drove Mariana here in my Audi.

"Luther. I'll tell him to drive to the part the car disappeared to, set the drone up." Javi pulled out his other phone and called Luther. He had multiple phones and I never understood why. Now, I was thankful.

"FUCK." I punched the back of the passenger seat. She was getting further and further away and I couldn't do anything. I kept thinking of her, one way or another, Jude was going to die. We reached the street where the car disappeared into. Aimlessly roaming around the block we tried to find any witness or atm machine that would catch the car going into that direction.

When Luther came, Javi set up one of phone to the drone and started to fly it. Jake was still on the line, trying to tap into store security cameras, hoping to find something.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

Mariana.

Her beautiful face popped up on my screen, that was blowing me a kiss. My heart dropped

"It's her."

I picked up the phone and Javi instructed Jake to tap the signal from my phone. My heart was racing a million miles an hour.

"Baby, where-"

"Santiago Catalan." It was a males voice and I immediately put it on loud speaker. "I thought you were dead."

"So did everyone." My jaws hurt from gritting my teeth so tightly. I put the phone on the top of my car and braced my hands on the hood of the car.

"Let's cut the bullshit. You have something of mine and I have something of yours."

"MY SISTER IT'S NOT A FUCKING THING YOU OWN." I wanted to punch someone. This mother fucker treating my sister like his possession and I wanted him.

"What about your wife? Do you not love her?" He asked. A wounded whimper left my lips. We'd never said those words to each other but we both knew how much we meant to each other. Sadness washed down my heart acid, settled it's burns in my stomach.

"I'm not giving you my sister, you sick fuck." I growled down the phone. Javi made a sign to keep him talking.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE WAITED FOR HER?"

A maddening fire raked it's nail down every inch of my skin.

"You're fucking DELUSIONAL." He was. He truly was. Javi looked at me with a pale face. He didn't usually show much emotion but he just realised what was done to my little sister. I punched the side of my car. "As long as I live, you will never get your dirty hands on her." I vowed.

"I guess your knows how much you value her." There was a muffling noise before I heard a woman's high pitched voice.

"Tiago."

"Mariana." A broken whisper escaped my lips. A tenderness I didn't know I was capable of.

"It's okay." I could hear the faint smile in her choked up voice. "It's okay, Tiago. I understand baby."

The line suddenly went dead.

"NO. NO. DAMNIT." She heard it. She heard me choose my sister over her.

"AAAH!" I screamed. An agonising grown mixed with pure terror.

"It's okay, we have a hit on their location." Javi told the driver to get in and we were moving in the speed of light. Jake was awfully quiet but I didn't care. I started to get the guns ready that were stashed under the floorboard of the car. I had that component custom made for every car I owned.

I didn't want to think about his hands on my wife. That thought scraped knives down my neck and down my chest. My right leg bounced up and down, as if I was suffering from restless leg syndrome.

"It's okay." I could hear the faint smile in her choked up voice. "It's okay, Tiago. I understand baby."

Her scared voice kept repeated in my head over and over again and I couldn't shut it out. A conversation from before slid into my brain. It was after the incident between her and her dad. She came to Mariana to tell her how it went instead of me.

"I am her brother, why doesn't she just tell me. It's not like we don't talk." I rolled my eyes as I got under the blankets after my night routine.

"She talks to you about things that she knows won't hurt you or burn your ears off." I rolled my eyes as she massaged her night cream on her face.

"I can handle it." I countered.

"No you can't. You feel guilty about not being able to protect her and make cringe faces." She scrunched up her face exaggerate my expression. I laughed.

"Ergh!" I made a throaty noise. When she came to my side, got under the covers in her silky pink booty shorts and tank top, I pulled her close. "I'm just happy you two get along."

"Would you have left me if we didn't?" There were no doubts in her voice or curiosity. Just laughter.

"Of course not." I laughed and proceeded to touch her up as my hands desired. "I'm just really happy you have someone to talk to now and so does she."

"Get Luther to do recon with the drone. How many do we have on their way?" I asked, loading the machine gun. I didn't want my wife to understand that I was choosing my sister over her. FUCK FUCK FUCK.

"About 40."

"Make sure they have silencers." I instructed.

"We'll get her back boss. She'll be okay." Javi just slid his magazine into his sig.

"I can't have that fucker touch her. I need to get to her for FUCK'S SAKE. How did this HAPPEN? " I growled.

"We were so busy keep an extra eye on Lucia, we totally missed it when she went to the bathroom." Javi apologised for someone else. He wasn't on her security detail but I was mad enough to take it out on him.

Think before you act, anger has no productive outcome.

"Javi-ee." I dragged out his name in annoyance.

"I know, I'm sorry. I will also never complain about holding up lights to her face when she spoke to her phone like a weirdo." An unwanted laugh flew out of my mouth. He patted my arm, it hurt more than it comforted. "She'll be okay. Don't worry."

I couldn't live without her. As much as I loved my wife my, I couldn't just trade my sister like that. How could I? I just got her back. But to give up my wife for my sister, I couldn't live with that. If Jude's asked for my life in exchange for theirs, I would he happily gave myself up for their lives.

The constant sinking feeling, churning of the stomach, reminded me of the time I just found out about my dead family. Revenge motivated me to go on with my life where as if Mariana was dead and so was the man who tormented my sister and hurt my wife, what would I have to life for.

Gabe would take care of Lucia and Tio could come

I was absolutely heartbroken.

"What's Jake's saying?" I asked Javi.

"He's been very quiet but he's giving me the directions."

It took us about an hour to get the fucking area code to where she was being held. About 20 cars were following in a row and I knew they could fucking see us coming from miles away but I didn't care. All I cared about was getting my wife back.

"What's going on with the drone surveillance?" I asked Javi. He showed me the screen. The mansion was heavily guarded but there was some sort of a movement outside of the main iron gates. The mansion sat in the middle, a yellow beacon in the night with over 30 guys walking the ground with gun in their hands.

Machine guns.

The iron gate opened and someone came stumbling out.

"Can we zoom in on the person?" I asked.

"No, it's already zoomed in. If we get any closer, we will get caught." We were still travelling up the hill. My car was at the front as the others followed. The height of the woman, the shape of her body and the length of the hair erupted an emotion inside of me that I usually felt when Mariana was around but I couldn't see her.

My sixth sense always kept track of her, no matter what.

"THAT'S HER." I shouted. "It's Mariana."

Javi told everyone to halt and the whole line of cars came into a screeching halt. The woman in the screen took off her shoes and started to run down the side of the hill that we were driving up from.

"RETREAT. I shouted down the radio." All the cars started to drive backwards while I got out. Javi instructed my main bodyguards to get out of the cars and follow me. I ran up the damn road, with the tablet in my hand while my men followed behind me.

Heart pounding in my chest, hope blooming in my stomach, I ran faster until we came to a halt when a dark figure turned at top the hill, appearing out of the blue in a dress as her long hair swayed in the wind. I wanted to shout but just in case, I didn't. None of the car had headlight, we didn't want to give away out position but Daveed turned on the interior light, her red dress light up like a stop light. She paused, with a hand over her eyes.

"Mariana." I whispered, shoving tablet on Javi's chest and ran up the hill towards her. My lungs burned, eyes watered from the gust of wind. When she realised it was me, she gripped the hem of her dress where the slit was and ripped it until it came up to her high and ran down for her fucking life.

Her heels here gone.

The closer I got to her the more scared I became.

"You have to go save her." She panted as she sprinted into me.

"What?" I was so fucking confused and grabbed her when she was at arm's length and pulled her into me. She was crying, sobbing. I'd seen her cry sometimes but not like this. She looked shattered, heartbroken.

I tried to hug her but she grabbed my jacket, tried to take me back to the direction she just came from. The same fucking house she was just kidnapped and kept in. All I could do was stare at her face. My arms became bands around her body because she kept trying to get away from me.

Her lips were moving but I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't focus. Picking her up over my shoulder, I jogged back down because she kept fighting me. She fucking kept trying to go back and I needed her in the car, back in my house.

There was a ringing in my ear and chest was about to burst open. My mind was working over drive when Javi stopped me right I front of the car. My men were on edge. Javi's light green big eyes reflected in the little light coming from the inside of the car.

Placing my wife down at her feet, I tried to pull her close but she just fucking slapped my arm.

"What the fuck?" I must have shouted because Javi and Mariana put their hands on their ears. Javi said something but I couldn't hear. "What?"

Javi grabbed my shoulders, his eyes big and wild and shook me.

"... in there." His voice was a whisper.

"In where?" The ringing in my ear subsided, the panic I felt when I saw Mariana run down the fucking hill had slightly subsided when I saw my men form a circle around her.

"IN THERE." My wife looked fucking mad at me, I just risked everything to come save her. Shouldn't she be happy to come see me. Why the fuck was she mad.

"Who's in there."

"YOUR SISTER." Javi and Mariana both said in unison.

"Your sister gave herself up for me." Mariana cried out loud, tears were streaming down her dace again. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. Lucia gave herself up for me. SHE'S IN THERE."

Fuck.