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Ayla leaned back with a sigh, used her napkin to wipe her mouth, and smiled across the table at Oz. “The chicken hit the spot.”

“I’m just relieved you’re eating.”

Nausea had passed around midday after she’d napped at the latest hotel Oz had found for them.

This room was boring compared to the previous one.

The walls were off-white and the décor consisted of a vinyl decal of the skyline of London.

It seemed a curious choice for the location, but the room had air conditioning, normal chairs with four legs, and no disco balls or faux fur blankets.

Oz had eaten a bland lunch, too, and she knew he did it for her.

The little ways he cared for her kept adding up.

She felt her heart swell. He’d shaved to keep her safe, to make himself harder to recognize.

Ayla took a moment to admire his strong chin and jawline, noticing the small nick where he’d cut himself.

She was tempted to kiss it better, but if she did that, they’d end up in bed again. As much as she enjoyed making love with Oz, there wasn’t time to waste. Not when he didn’t let her look for Io once it got close to sunset.

“Where are we searching next?” she asked.

“I think you should take it easy the rest of the day.”

Ayla frowned. “We’ve already burned daylight while I was too sick to move without wanting to throw up. Io hasn’t been seen in a week. Unless you plan to let me search after dark, we can’t afford to lose any more time.”

“After dark is not happening,” Oz said.

“I know, and I’m not asking for you to relent on that, but I also expect us to do something to locate my sister. I’m not sitting in a hotel room when it’s my connection to Io that’s going to help us find her. Besides, neither Kyle nor Baggs will put in the same amount of effort as I will.”

Oz sighed and reached for his can of soda. “I can see why you wouldn’t trust KW, but Baggs?—”

“Oziah.”

“Right. The first thing we need to do is get you a new disguise.”

Her frown deepened into a scowl. “We wasted an entire day picking out clothes and that brunette wig. It’s nearly two already and we’ve done nothing but meet with Kyle.

I’m not even sure why we bothered. He could have messaged you what little he had, and we could have been out looking for Io all day. ”

Straightening in his chair, Oz leaned forward. “You were in no condition to be out hunting for your sister. You know it as well as I do.” His voice was as intense as his posture.

“I’m not sick anymore. I ate food like I promised I would once I felt better. Now I expect you to keep your promise and help me find my twin.”

Oz surged to his feet and began pacing. It was a small hotel room with one bed, one table, and two chairs.

He had little room to vent his frustration.

And he was frustrated with her. Ayla got it.

He was dead serious about keeping her and the baby safe, and he was concerned now that the mobsters had seen her in the wig.

She understood all that, but he needed to understand how much she loved her sister.

“Oz, it’s been a week. How much more time do you think we have before something bad happens to Io? Maybe something bad has already happened, but at least I know she’s still alive. You’re asking me to risk her life.”

“I’m asking you to be safe.” He returned to the table but didn’t sit. “Pollita, Petrova would have alerted his men by now to watch for a brunette. We’ve crossed paths with them more than once and the odds we run into them again are high because they’re looking for Iona, too.”

Ayla slipped out of her chair and went to stand in front of Oz, tilting her head back to meet his eyes.

“For my entire life, Io’s always watched out for me, and not only on the travel front.

When I was bullied in school, it was my sister who took them on and made them leave me alone.

It was Io who spent hour after hour tutoring me when I was in danger of failing geometry.

And when I still needed to ace the final to pull a C, it was Io who changed places with me to take the test. Yet the one time she needs me, you’re asking me to stand by and do little or nothing. ”

“I was under the impression you regularly bailed her out of her adventures.”

It was a stall. Ayla recognized it but replied anyway. “Nothing like this.”

He took her shoulders in his hands. “Ayla, be reasonable.”

She brought her hands up, clasping his forearms, and said, “Don’t ask me to choose between you and my twin. That’s not fair.”

“And I won’t like the answer, will I?” His tone was grim.

“Io needs my help.”

It was a diplomatic response, but if Oz wouldn’t work with her to find her sister, she’d look on her own. It was stupid, and the idea alone was enough to scare her half to death, but if their positions were reversed, Io wouldn’t allow any one or anything to stand in her way. Ayla couldn’t do less.

She wouldn’t do less, even if it meant leaving Oz behind.

They were in another sedan. This one was tan, with a white door on the driver’s side. Ayla felt optimistic about her future with Oz. Maybe things could work between them. After all, they’d both compromised this afternoon.

She wore a curly wig in a reddish-brown bob style that ended at her chin.

Oz was satisfied that it disguised her well enough to prevent the mobsters from easily identifying her and the color was different enough from BD’s fiancée that no one would confuse them.

She was satisfied because they’d been in and out of the wig shop in fifteen minutes.

Ayla was in her own clothes and makeup. It raised her comfort level. Not that this was why Oz had agreed to her suggestion, but she appreciated it.

Some of her satisfaction slipped as they kept driving. And driving. “What’s our plan?” she asked.

Oz cast a quick glance her way. “I was looking at some satellite views of the terrain between San Isidro and Trujillo. I spotted a section of homes that look newer, and they’re not shacks.”

“You think Io is there?”

“I don’t know. These homes aren’t estates, not like what you’d see on the north side of the city, and what you described sounded expensive. But it’s possible that these homes could be more modest but with some high-end finishes inside.”

“And I was picking up Io when we were south,” she said slowly.

He nodded, but Oz’s attention was on the traffic. “It’s worth taking a look.”

Neighborhood, he’d said. Ayla hadn’t seen any other houses when Io had been connected to her and looking out the window, but her twin’s focus was on getting the lattice off and escaping.

If her sister hadn’t noticed other houses, then Ayla wouldn’t have seen them.

Thankfully, they’d tested numerous parameters in their youth. This would aid her search.

It took another ten minutes of driving before she started questioning Oz’s strategy. “How are we going to search those homes for Io? It’s not as if we can go door to door, especially not with you dressed in camouflage clothing.”

“We’ll drive around,” he said. “You reach out mentally for your sister, and if you pick her up, we’ll drive slower in that area and see where you feel her the strongest.”

Her head swiveled around to gawk at him. Ayla knew Oz didn’t buy into the twin connection and he was humoring her when he entertained the possibility. This was beyond that. “Are you telling me we’re going to play a game of hot or cold with my link to Io?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way.”

Of course, he wouldn’t. But that’s what they were doing. “You realize that if Io is unconscious again, I’ll get nothing, even if we cruise past the house in which she’s imprisoned.”

Oz stopped at a red light. Traffic here seemed lighter than she was accustomed to seeing in Trujillo, but it was a more industrial area.

He looked over at her, meeting her gaze evenly.

“You said your sister is smart, and she knows she’s been drugged.

With that information, don’t you think she’s found a way to avoid the narcotics? ”

“She might not be in a position to avoid them.”

“It’s still worth a look. Maybe we’ll see something that gives us some intel.” The light turned green, and they continued south.

Since she didn’t have any better ideas on where to look, Ayla nodded.

They didn’t head to the two-lane highway they’d used to travel to San Isidro.

Instead, Oz turned left and took them on a different route.

The road here wasn’t nearly as smooth, but it was paved, and he drove slowly enough that she wasn’t bumped around much.

Io might still be drugged, but if she was semi-conscious, Ayla could pick up on her emotions. Their empathic link had always been the most powerful. She opened herself, hoping for a glimmer of her twin.

Nothing.

Maybe they were too far away. Ayla didn’t know where the homes were located that Oz mentioned. “How far out are we?” she asked.

“Twenty minutes or so. We’ll hit a better road in a few miles and we’ll be able to drive faster.”

Oz wasn’t exaggerating. The road they turned on must have been built recently. The asphalt was fresh and there wasn’t a pothole to be seen. Ayla still had no sense of Io as they turned into the subdivision—and that’s what it was. The Puerto Jardinese version of a subdivision.

Most of the homes here were two stories with a ranch-style every once in a while.

Many were brightly painted in purple, seafoam, or red while others were brown, tan, or beige.

All had tile roofs, again in assorted colors.

Oz was right. These weren’t estates, but from the size of the houses, this was obviously an upper-middle-class neighborhood.

If what she’d picked up was correct, Io would be on the second floor.

“How big is this subdivision?”

He shrugged. “A few hundred homes, I think.”

Large enough that strangers wouldn’t be unusual.

Large enough that a person might not know all their neighbors.

Maybe large enough to hide her sister in an upstairs bedroom and not have anyone notice anything.

And the deeper they drove, the more spacious the yards became with more distance between neighbors.

Closing her eyes, Ayla concentrated on Io.

The longer they went without her getting anything, the tighter the knot in her stomach became. Was her sister unconscious or not in this area at all?

Emotions. That was the key. Ayla was certain of it. Io would be spitting mad if she were fully aware, but what if she wasn’t? What if she was partially conscious? What other emotion could she use?

A memory came to her, sharp and unexpected. There’d been an edge of sadness in her sister the last few times they’d been together. Nothing overt, and when Io knew Ayla was watching her, she buried it. It seemed soul-deep, but asking about it had gotten Ayla nowhere. Could she home in on it now?

They kept driving, and she kept reaching out. Nothing.

Ayla was about to give up and try something else when she felt butterfly wings brush across her brain. It might be her imagination, but she opened her eyes and glanced around. Oz reached a T intersection and turned left. She knew it was west because they were driving toward the sun.

The butterfly wings faded.

“Turn around. We need to go the other direction,” Ayla said.

“You felt something?” He sounded skeptical.

“We should have gone right, not left.”

Oz made a U-turn, and as they neared the intersection, the sensation returned.

It grew stronger and stronger the farther they drove toward the east. The homes here were larger, if not estate size, then upper-upper middle class, and the yards appeared meticulously maintained.

Nothing was painted seafoam green or purple. It was all earth tones.

Fear hit her—Io’s fear—but it was muted. Her twin was at least partially drugged. Ayla was certain of this.

It faded again. “Turn around.” Her voice was thick, choked. “We went too far.”

Without comment, Oz did as she instructed.

“Stop.”

The house was a two-story adobe and painted a taupe-brown shade.

The roof tiles were a reddish color and natural stone made up part of the facade.

It was built deeply into the yard, with a long driveway and an equally long walkway leading to the front door.

That, too, appeared to be natural stone.

If she could see the back of the house, she knew there’d be lattice over the bedroom windows.

At least one bedroom window.

Keeping her hand below the dashboard, Ayla pointed. “That’s where Io is. In there.”

For a few moments, Oz studied the house and then he pulled away from the curb, driving away.

“Wait! Where are we going? We can’t leave my sister behind.”

“What are we going to do? Knock on the door and say, hey, can we have a look around? We want to see if you’re holding a blonde woman prisoner? Even if I wasn’t dressed like a mercenary, they’d call the authorities.”

Ayla frowned. Oz had a point. “You might look like a mercenary, but I could go to the door alone and?—”

“Not a chance in hell.” It sounded as if Oz had gritted his teeth as he said that. “Besides, all we have is your sense that she’s there. We have no evidence.”

“Then why did we drive around this subdivision if you weren’t going to believe me when I felt my twin?”

Oz stayed quiet.

An instant later, Ayla sucked in a sharp breath. “You didn’t think I’d pick up anything. In fact, you were counting on it, weren’t you?”

“Ayla—”

She gasped again as realization dawned on her.

The way they’d wasted a day on her disguise when today they’d been done in minutes.

Oz’s dismissal of the trip to San Isidro as not worth the time when she first arrived.

The early stop each afternoon on the pretense that it would be dark soon when they could have continued searching for another hour, easily, before the sun went down.

And today. Playing hot or cold in some new subdivision when he was more than skeptical about her connection to her sister.

“This whole so-called search, including the drive to San Isidro, was all about keeping me out of trouble, wasn’t it?”

Something crossed his face, there and gone in an instant, but it was long enough for Ayla to feel her heart break. She’d trusted Oz to help her find her twin.

She’d trusted him.