"Luis, what are you still doing up?" Martin wheeled into Luis's room. "You're going to wear a hole through the floor with all of that pacing, and our flight home leaves in just a few hours."

"Yeah, I know." Luis rubbed his head. "I just can't fall asleep. I'm thrilled that Paloma agreed to come home with us, but I can't help but think that I shouldn't have left Sheridan."

"Why, Luis?" Martin rolled up next to him. "Katherine is there with her, and she has a bodyguard. I'm sure she's perfectly safe."

"That's what I thought last time." Luis sat down on the bed and buried his head in his hands.

"Last time?" Martin raised his brows.

"Yeah, I left her with Hank while I went on a trip to Washington." Luis looked up at his father. "She almost died because of that decision."

Martin furrowed his brow. "How can that be, Luis? Hank is your best friend. And why did you need to leave Sheridan with him in the first place? Last time I checked, she was a grown woman who is perfectly capable of taking care of herself."

Luis sighed and settled his elbows onto his knees. "A while back—before we were married—I was assigned to be Sheridan's bodyguard. There were some hit men trying to kill her that Interpol couldn't seem to capture, so the FBI decided to fake her death. Hank was in on it, but I was not, and when the hit men that were after Sheridan captured Hank, she almost got buried alive."

Martin's mouth fell open. "That must have been horrendous for all of you."

"It was," Luis said. "I almost lost her before I had the chance to tell her I loved her—I would have died if that had happened, Papa."

"I can see why you want to get home to her," Martin said. "And why you're going out of your mind right now."

"I'm trying to stay calm, but part of me is terrified that I'm going to come home to a similar situation." Luis's voice cracked. "I just love her so much—I can't imagine my life without her."

"I can understand that, Luis." Martin frowned and folded his hands in his lap. "I never imagined I'd be ripped away from all of you. It almost killed me inside."

"How did you get through it?" Luis asked.

"I almost didn't," Martin admitted. "The only thing that kept me going was my determination to make my way back to all of you one day."

"Mama prayed for that every night," Luis said quietly. "She never gave up hope."

"What about you, Luis?"

Luis raised his brows. "Are you sure you want to know the answer to that?"

Martin cleared his throat. "Yes, I do. I'm under no illusion that things have always been hunky-dory for you—or that you haven't been angry with me."

"I'm sorry, Papa." Luis bowed his head. "I should have had more faith in you."

"How could you, Luis, when Alistair and Julian were feeding you all of those lies? When, from your point of view, I had just up and disappeared?" Martin's voice softened. "If I were you, I would have been angry, too, son. I would have been angry as hell and confused."

"Yes, but I wasted so much time being angry about nothing," Luis maintained. "What I believed was so far from the truth—I can't believe I ever doubted you."

"It's funny how things we worry about tend not to happen," Martin said. "And then something like Alistair's threatening our family or Sheridan's being buried alive springs itself upon us without a moment's notice."

"Yes." Luis shook his head. "I've never thought about that before, but you're right. Most of the bad things that have happened in my life—I've never seen them coming. But at other times, the things I have feared the most have turned out okay—no matter how much I worried about them."

"You might say that all of those things would have happened anyway," Martin suggested.

Luis folded his hands together and looked up at his father. "You're right about that, Papa. And I guess you're trying to tell me that I shouldn't be worrying right now?"

Martin tilted his head and raised one brow. "What else is it doing besides stealing your happiness, Luis?"