XI

The next morning, I wake up around 8:00 and get myself together before sitting on the sofa and waiting for somebody to come get me. I sit there for about twenty minutes, quite literally twiddling my thumbs, before a knock sounds at the door.

"Come in," I call.

A moment later, the door opens, and Lucía walks in. "Breakfast time!" She yells cheerfully. 

I laugh at her as I get off the couch and follow her out the door. As we make our way through the house, I contemplate asking her about the window, but ultimately decide against it.

We take our seats in the dining room, and a servant immediately comes over and asks what we'd like to drink. Lucía orders an orange juice while I order an apple juice.

When the servant walks away, Lucía starts to laugh.

"What's so funny?" I ask.

"I'm sorry, but apple juice?" she giggles. "What are you, four?"

I laugh with her. "Sorry I don't like to ruin the rest of my breakfast by staining my tastebuds with the nasty ass taste of orange juice."

Her jaw drops in mock offense, but it's soon replaced with a smile.

"Seriously, it's like the banana of juices," I go on, causing her to laugh even harder and clutch her stomach.

"Bananas really are food bullies," she agrees. "Oh my Goddess, can you imagine if banana juice was a thing?"

"Ah yes, the juice especially crafted for psychopaths." We bust out into a fit of laughter, and Lucía even snorts which causes us to laugh even harder.

"What's so funny?" I hear from behind me. I turn around to see Alejandro, Tito, and Diego.

"Nothing, just girl talk," Lucía says wiping tears from under her eyes.

"I wanna laugh too," Alejandro says, sitting down next to me. Tito sits on the other side of me and Diego walks around the table to sit next to Lucía.

Lucía rolls her eyes. "Please, like you don't crack yourself up on the regular."

Alejandro makes a face to indicate that she's not wrong.

"So nice of you guys to join us for breakfast," I quip, as I nod to the servant who hands me my juice.

"Well, you know, we just aim to please," Alejandro reciprocates, throwing an arm over my shoulder.

I shove him off, but he doesn't lose his smug smile, and I find myself smiling too.

We're in the middle of eating when I look up to see Mateo and Santiago entering the room. They seem to be engaged in a serious conversation as they take seats towards the other end of the large table.

I catch Mateo's eye when he glances in our direction, but his face is impassive, and he quickly looks away, continuing his conversation with Santiago.

I'm zoned out as Diego, Lucía, Tito, and Alejandro talk. I sneak the occasional glance at Mateo, but he doesn't notice, and he doesn't look over here again.

I'm suddenly snapped out of my daze by Lucía calling my name.

"Time for the Monday meeting," she says, wiping her mouth with a napkin and rising from her seat.

"Monday meeting?" I ask, watching as the three brothers stand up as well.

"You'll see. Come on."

I get up and follow her out of the dining room and to the enormous living room. She plops down on a large gray sofa that rests in front of the fireplace, and I sit next to her. Tito and Diego sit next to each other on another couch perpendicular to us, and Alejandro sits next to me on the arm of the sofa.

I smile to myself as I contemplate shoving him off, but I decide to leave him be.

We're not sitting for long before a few others enter the room, followed by Mateo and Santiago. I recognize two of them as the men that accompanied Mateo when I first met him. The third, I've never seen before.

Mateo stands front and center between us and the fireplace, flipping through papers on the clipboard he's holding while Santiago sits on the other side of Lucía, and the three other guys stand behind us.

Mateo clears his throat before he begins. "Good morning, everyone. Hope you're all doing well. For the sake of our newcomer, Savannah, we'll be having this meeting in English." He makes eye contact with me and gives me a condescending wink.

I roll my eyes. Why am I even allowed at this meeting anyway? You'd think, with how secretive they are, they wouldn't want to let the "newcomer" in on anything unnecessarily. I still get locked in my room for fuck's sake.

"As you all know, it's Monday," Mateo continues, "so today's hunting party will consist of Javier, Diego, Carlos, Lucía, and Santiago."

I don't miss Lucía smiling at her name being called out of the corner of my eye.

"It looks like there might be a storm rolling in this evening, so we might want to get an early start," Santiago adds.

"Yes, and, as usual, be safe. If you see something off, alert me immediately." Mateo says, and everyone nods their head in affirmation. "Nothing new to report since last week's meeting, so, unless there are any questions or concerns, then that's it. Have a great week everyone."

At that, everyone disperses except for me, Lucía, Tito, Alejandro, and Mateo. Alejandro and Tito engage Mateo in a conversation as Lucía and I rise from the couch.

"Ah, short and sweet. Just how I like them," she says, stretching her limbs.

"I could tell you're excited about being a part of the hunting party," I comment.

"Of course!" She beams. "It's pretty much the only time I can get out of the house and do something productive."

I smile, happy for her.

"But I better get going. Santiago doesn't mess around when it comes to hunting trips, and he's going to be extra bossy and demanding since there's supposed to be a storm tonight. I'll see you later, yeah?"

I nod, and she exits the room.

When I turn around, I'm caught off guard to see Mateo standing there, Alejandro and Tito nowhere in sight. They must've slipped out without me noticing.

"Did you sleep well last night, Savannah?" He asks me.

"How do you guys do that?" I question.

He shrugs. "Do what?"

"Ask me a question in a way that always seems to have an alternate meaning behind it and implies that you have no actual interest in the answer," I state, crossing my arms.

He grins at me. "I'm not sure I understand what you're saying."

"Yeah, okay, sure."

We're quiet for a few moments while he stares amusedly at me, and I glare suspiciously at him.

I decide to be brave and say exactly what's on my mind. "Do you happen to know why my window was open last night?"

He looks away and purses his lips like he's actually thinking about it. "I don't know. Maybe the wind blew it open?"

"Don't play games with me, Mateo. You and I both know there was no opening that window. It was always locked."

He shrugs, a smug smile on his face. "I don't know what to tell you, Savannah. I don't know how it could've possibly been opened if you didn't open it yourself."

"No, no. We're not doing this," I order, approaching him and pointing a frustrated finger in his face. "You're not about to gaslight me into believing I opened the window when I've tried to numerous times before and it wouldn't budge."

His smirk remains as he looks down his nose at me. "I like to see you all riled up. It's cute."

His words cause me to immediately drop my hand and step back a few feet.

"It's not funny," I declare.

"Oh, but it is," he counters as he approaches me. I stand my ground as he steps to my left, our arms brushing.

He leans down and whispers in my ear, "I was wondering if you'd be dumb enough to take the bait. Or, smart enough, depending on how you look at it. Either way, it would've made for an eventful night. Like any apex predator, I enjoy a good chase."

At his words, I whip my head to the left and look up at him. His eyes are low, and a lazy grin forms on his face as he studies my lips. After a moment, he lifts his eyes to meet mine and winks at me before he saunters away.

Right before he exits the room, he turns and calls my name, prompting me to turn around and look at him.

"You're free to roam about as you please. Just don't do anything you might regret."

And with that, he leaves.