Her heart began to hammer against her chest not out of fear, but of hope.

Theo transferred his hand to her arm and gripped her tightly while he flashed a smile at the guard, completely changing his entire look. Desiree hardly recognized him. It was a different smile and it was intended to fool anyone.

"You forgot this, Mrs. Cushko," said the guard as he neared, his hand outstretched now. He was holding her fake passport.

Desiree felt as if a bucket of ice was poured down over her head. Theo received the passport from the guard with a word of thanks and Desiree wanted to call out to the guy when he turned around to go back to his post.

"Let's go." She felt Theo tug her back and she found herself following him further into the airport.

Thirty minutes later, she was onboard the plane, riding business class with Theo beside her.

*****

It was the first time Khaye was able to have proper sleep. With her brother watching out for her outside the only bedroom in the apartment, Khaye barely noticed the time pass by.

She only woke up when a bad dream started to unfold before her eyes.

She was in a dark place. She held up her hand and looked down. She could see them but she couldn't see anything else around her. It was as if a spotlight was pointing right down at her. She tried to call out, but no sound came out her mouth.

Her feet started to move and she felt the room she was in move though she was blind to everything but her own body. When the sensation of movement stopped, Khaye looked down and gave out a loud silent scream. Jamaica's dead body was lying on the floor in front of her. She was covered in blood. Her eyes were open and she was staring at her, crying out for help. She knew Jamaica was dead but the woman's eyes held her gaze, telling her to get help.

But Khaye couldn't see anything. She looked around but there was no one there. It was just total darkness. She bent down to her knees and tried to say something to Jamaica. She wanted to ask her a lot of questions but her voice was gone, stolen from her by the darkness.

Blood started to pour out of Jamaica's wounds, oozing out and flooding around her lifeless body. Khaye tried to stop them but it was too late. Her own hands were covered in blood.

She shouted at the top of her lungs but there was nothing but silence.

The blood continued to flow until it was nearly covering Jamaica's body.

Khaye tried to run away but the blood wouldn't stop rising up. It was up to her ankle now, but she kept running away. She turned to look over her shoulder and realized that she hadn't gotten any further away from Jamaica's body. It was still there, almost covered by blood now, still crying for help.

Khaye tried screaming for help as well but it was not working. The blood kept rising and it was up to her knees now. Jamaica's body floated with it. Khaye knew she was crying but she couldn't feel anything running down her face. She didn't care. She just wanted to get out.

She tried to tell Jamaica that she was dead. She panted for breath as the blood rose up her waist, her breasts, and up to her neck. Soon, she would start drowning.

Khaye's body suddenly sat up in her bed, gasping for air and drenched in sweat. She covered her mouth with shaking hands, trying to muffle her gasps.

She knew it was just a dream but it felt so real. The thought of being drowned nearly left her breathless. She closed her eyes and willed herself to calm down. Gian couldn't see her like this. He would only worry further.

She fell back against her pillow and stared at the ceiling, her eyes unblinking.

Jamaica's eyes as she silently cried for help wouldn't leave her mind.

A tear fell from her eye but she brushed it away harshly, pursing her lips to stop whatever sound her body might create.

Squaring her shoulders, Khaye told herself that Jamaica was dead. She didn't have to do the right thing. She was the one who was alive and her life in danger. There was no use trying to save Jamaica. She was dead, her body being studied in a morgue somewhere. She, on the other hand, was still breathing and she had to do what she had to do to survive.

*****

Marco did not drive back to the apartment after he left the station. He went home where he could be alone to think. He took a short nap and started working on everything they had on the case including the ones he discovered last night.

After taking a shower and with a fresh cup of coffee in hand, he sat in his couch and looked at his notes.

They had very little to go with. In fact, his visit to Petroff may have only caused more trouble. If the man was working with Karlsson, he could alert the man and he may be gone for good. That was the reason why he had appointed men to watch Petroff's every step, hoping that he would lead them to Karlsson.

And there was Khaye. Marco was almost certain she was not telling the truth. He couldn't buy her story. The men who took her went through all that trouble just to get her and freed her? Unless they had said something to her or was planning to do something, Khaye wouldn't be alive right now. But the fact that she was told Marco that something was happening behind his back.

He got up, collected the screenshots he printed from the footages they had from the hotel, and grabbed his keys.

*****

"Why are we here?" Desiree asked Theo after hours of silence. They had arrived in Peru an hour ago and they were immediately escorted by some men who refused to even look at her to a car waiting for them outside. She barely had time to look at the view outside the car when they arrived at a shipping dock.

"We're going sailing," Theo answered, squinting against the sun before he put on his sunglasses.

She had heard a lot of stories about the Mafia and their drug cartels. She had seen documentaries, watched the movies and even read the books that spoke of such. She never imagined she'd be a part of that. Or she thought she was, just by looking at the large container ships docked before them. They were like giant whales looking down at her, about to swallow her alive.

"So this is how you smuggle the drugs?" she asked, not bothering to whisper. If anyone had heard her, she wouldn't put up a fight if they took her to the nearest precinct.

Her dress flew around her legs as the wind blew.

Theo finally turned his head to look at her behind his sunglasses. He had that smile on his face that made her feel naïve. "You never told me you have such a great imagination," he said with mock amusement before he took hold of her hand. He started to lead her away from the car and to two men waiting for them, all dressed in some kind of butler uniforms. "Welcome to Peru, Mr. and Mrs. Cushko. Please, come this way," said one of them.

Theo did not let go of her hand and followed the two men. They went inside the building and waited while the two men talked with a lady behind an elegant reception area, handed a few papers and finally turned to them and began walking away. They followed, Theo with his confident steps and Desiree with her hesitant ones.

The emerged out of a narrow hallway and into a bridge of some kind that led to the entrance of a ship. Only that it wasn't a ship. Desiree looked up and her brows fused in confusion.

"A cruise ship?"

Theo looked over his shoulder. "What else did you expect? We're newlyweds. It's only right that we go on a honeymoon."

She did not appreciate his humor. She wanted to pull her hand back and run away. The ship was big and it would sail for weeks in the middle of the ocean. There was no way she could escape whatever was about to happen onboard.

But before she could even consider running away, Theo was leading her inside the ship. Suddenly, Desiree felt she had entered a completely different world. She could hear the engine running below them.

They were about to leave.

*****

He wasn't sure what to do next. Richard was in a hurry to give him instructions for just a short period of time. And in most of that time, he had been talking on his phone, planning whatever he was planning to do behind everyone's back. And now, Theo was left with no choice but to face this shit he had been avoiding all his life.

He was not cut out for such tasks. He was better off making deals happen.

Not letting go of Desiree's hand, he followed the two men deeper into the ship, up to their designated cabin, and waited until their luggage were carried in and he was finally alone with her. He looked around and was contented. The room was big enough for the two of them. The carpeted floor muffled the sounds of their shoes. The furnishing was classy, a combination of hard wood and glasses. There was another wooden door that led to the bathroom, an antique dresser, a study table and a floor-to-ceiling wooden cabinet for their clothes. A small dining area was at the farthest side of the room, the round and only window situated above theround table and between the two dark winged chairs . The walls were a mixture of ivory and dark wood. Two paintings hung on the wall over the bed near the dining area. A small chandelier was at the center of the ceiling. It was perfect. If not for the round window of the ship, no one would have guessed they were on a ship at all.

He picked up one of his two suitcases and threw it to the queen-size bed situated at the center of the right wall, right across the bathroom window. Desiree remained standing beside the cabin door, probably waiting for the chance to escape and jump overboard.

She had made this trip a bit of a problem in his part since they arrived in the airport. He didn't only have to watch over his own back, he also had to consider her presence and her stupid ideas of escape. As if he was left with another choice. If he as much as left her back home, he'd be coming home to a corpse because Richard would not pass up the chance to lay his hands on her. His crazy brother was mentally unstable as of the moment and Desiree dead would ruin his entire plans. She was a vital pawn to his game.

"I'll be going to start making my business tonight and I expect nothing from you but—" he stopped when he turned around and did not find her where he expected her to be. The door was open and the stupid woman tried to escape. Again.

Theo closed his eyes, pressed his thumb and forefinger on both sides of the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. He slowly let it go before walking out the door in two strides. With her high heels, she was slow but was already rounding out the left hallway. Theo took his time, taking just long strides without running. There was no way she could run away from this ship now that the bridge had been pulled away.

This was the exact reason why he planned on boarding the ship last.

"Ysabel, dear, please stop," he called out her fake name, following her to another corner. She looked over her shoulder before she climbed up the stairs leading to the deck.

Tourists with as much money as him rarely roamed the hallways at this time. They were probably at the bar, drinking or in their cabins taking a rest before they partied for the night.

"This is my last warning, sweetheart," he said as calmly as he could. He climbed up the stairs two steps at a time. "You know you can't go anywhere. The ship has sailed and unless you want to jump and swim against the current of the ship's engines, you better stop and come back to our cabin."

When he reached the top, he was greeted with the most unexpected thing: a fist right at the center of his face.

He nearly fell back down the stairs but his right hand managed to grab on the wooden railing of the staircase. He forced his vision to clear, his hand on his face. "Fuck!" he shouted.

"You deserve more than that," Desiree's voice said as she pushed her way past him and back down the stairs.

"Desiree!" he shouted after her but she continued walking.

He realized she was going back to their cabin. He tried to stretch his jaw while he leaned against one wall. One of his fingers touched his nose and it was bleeding. Not heavily, but enough to make him wince.

Theo quickly walked back to the cabin to confront Desiree but she locked him out. He knocked twice and said, "Open this door at once, Desiree, or you'll regret it," his voice full of warning.

She ignored him. The door remained lock and he remained outside, deciding what to do next. He paced back and forth in front of their cabin, his hands on his hips and his head bent.

They just arrived and she already made a big drama. He saw a crew pass by and he stopped her. "Can you open this door? My wife locked me out accidentally. She's inside and I think she's fallen asleep. Now, I'm trapped," he said with a smile.

It was clear on her face that she didn't believe him because her gaze lingered on his damaged nose for a while before she smiled and said, "I'll get someone to open the door, Mr. Cushko."

"Thanks," he said, doubting her words.

As she walked away, he saw the contempt on her face. She looked over her shoulder once more to give him a look that said, "You deserve it, you bastard."

Theo tried the door once again but Desiree was completely ignoring him.

The woman who said she would get someone clearly took her precious time because another hour had passed before a man came with a master keycard in hand. Theo stared at the card for a while before he explained his situation again.

The man apparently knew the story before he came but he did not comment and opened the door for him.

Desiree was lying on the bed, asleep when he came in.

Theo waited until the door was closed behind him. He closed his eyes again and calmed himself. There was no use hurting her at this moment though he wanted to shake her so bad. She was sleeping like an angel that he hardly believed she managed to almost knock him off his feet earlier.

But he couldn't just let that one slip. He strode toward her, grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward until she was sitting up in bed, startled and in panic after being woken at such manner. Theo did not give her time to recover from the shock and leaned down at her until his broken nose was nearly touching hers. He saw the panic in her eyes and he held them prisoner. "You do that again and you will never leave this cabin again. You'll spend the entire three weeks chained in bed and I promise you, you will not like it." He let her go and turned to the direction of the bathroom.

*****

Marco arrived before sunset. Gian left soon after to go home and go to the station to gather more evidence.

Khaye was once again left with the man.

He didn't waste a lot of time asking his questions again.

He ordered Khaye to sit down and threw photos on the table before her. She looked at them with curiosity. "What are these?"

"They are from the cameras on the day after Jamaica was killed. We managed to set them up before we started to allow people from exiting the hotel. We thought we didn't miss a thing, but obviously we did. No one suspicious was left after that day. Everyone managed to go out or escape our search and questioning. However they managed that is, sad to say, quite brilliant. Look at the photos," he motioned his head at her, "very closely and tell me if you recognize anyone there."

Khaye took a deep breath and looked at each photo with keen eyes. She immediately recognized Richard Karlsson. In the photo, he was holding out his hands, but there were no signs of tattoos. She frowned.

Marco must have seen her reaction because he asked, "What is it?"

"His tattoos are gone," she said, pointing at the photo. There was no use lying at this point. Marco showed her this photo because he saw something in it. She couldn't be caught lying twice. "This is the man, the Richard guy."

Marco nodded. "He obviously covered his tattoo well. But considering his reputation, it is not a shock to know that he managed to escape."

Khaye just nodded and turned her attention back to the next photo. She frowned down at it. It was of a red-head woman and a man standing side by side. "I am not quite sure, but I think this is Desiree." She pointed at the red-head. "But it couldn't be. Her hair is different."

"How can you say it's her?"

"The way she stands. I don't know. Being around her for a long time, I can tell. Maybe if I can watch the video, I can point out for sure. And this is the man she was with that night!" She transferred her finger to the man beside the red-head. "I am almost certain."

Marco's face was serious. He slowly nodded his head.

"You think they got away?"

He looked at her and did not say anything. "You may be our prime witness but I cannot tell you every detail about the investigation."

Her nose flared. "Then why—"

Marco turned his back at her. "From my talk with Petroff yesterday, I can assume that you easily lie about a lot of things, Khaye. So it is best to keep you in the dark like you do to us."

"And you believe that bastard—"

He turned to face her again. "I don't believe anyone. I only look at the facts. And I will get them from you sooner or later." He held her gaze as he added. "You'll watch the footages tomorrow. And after you do, I only expect the truth from you. Otherwise, you can go back on the streets and risk your own fucking life because I will not lift a finger to help you again."

Khaye realized Marco was serious.

Though she had a deal with Petroff, it was not an assurance that she would be safe.

But if she betrayed him, it could be worse.

Khaye was torn. Which side should she go with?