The whole family returned home in the evening, minus a few missing members. This worried Casita because it expected to see the three young ones come back, and it hoped Bruno would be with them. It wanted to warn the remaining family that they were missing. When Felix and Pepa tried to go up the stairs to check on their two eldest, Casita made them slide back down. The tiles moved and flapped trying to get everyone's attention.

"Casita, what is the meaning of this?" Abuela asked with concern. Casita stopped all of its fidgeting and flapped a tile three times.

"Maybe Mirabel can tell us," Luisa suggested looking around. Julieta and Agustín tried calling for their youngest, but no one answered. Pepa and Felix tried calling for their two eldest, but received the same result.

"Maybe they figured something out and left to check it out," Isabela suggested. The house flapped a tile twice.

"Did they figure out who was with Bruno the other day?" Abuela asked. Two flaps again.

"They must have been gone a while if Casita is acting this way," Julieta worried. "We need to find them, now."

"I'll get some horses, we've been walking all day and it will help us find them faster," Felix said running out of the house. He came back minutes later meeting Pepa, Julieta, Agustín, Luisa, and Isabela outside the house with three horses. They paired off and galloped back to town.

Luckily it was close to midday when the cousins went in search of Bruno, so many townsfolk were able to tell the worried Madrigals which direction they went. They trotted street to street being pointed in the right direction by multiple people.

.=.

Andre reclothed Bruno roughly ignoring his pained gasps and flinches. The captor had calmed down a little when he made love to his little mouse, but his plans were severely off the rails. Bruno had gone missing before and Andre knew the town, and likely the family, would not search very hard for him. But with three other missing Madrigals, it was only a matter of time before the entire town got involved searching every house, field, and tree looking for them.

Andre threw a few things in a satchel and went to the back door. He produced a key hiding under a potted plant by the door and let himself out to prepare his horse.

Mirabel had calmed down enough to realize they didn't have much time to escape. That maniac was about to take their tio somewhere that they may never find and leave them here tied up in this house. She wasn't sure if their parents would find them any time soon.

Luckily, their kidnapper made a small error, the knife. Mirabel wiggled trying to signal her cousin about the knife laying next to her. Dolores was feeling a little dazed and disturbed but was brought back to reality by the movement. She turned her head to look at the other girl and saw her eyes looking down next to her. Spotting the knife, they moved together to get close enough to grab it and started cutting at their restraints.

Bruno lay on the couch not noticing any of this. He had not slept for nearly two days and everything that had happened with Andre had been a nightmare. His eyes were heavy with exhaustion and every twitch and movement was painful. He wished he had the strength to get up and help his family. He didn't have the strength to stop that mad man so far.

He didn't have the strength to protect himself or them. He let the deluded man hurt Camilo and threaten his nieces. He felt like it was his fault that they were here. If only he had been more careful and didn't leave the house with a stranger. If only he was strong enough to fight back, or smart enough to trick their captor. Instead, he let Andre fuck him in front of them. It was all his fault and he could only imagine how his sisters were going to react. They were going to hate him for the rest of his life.

He sat up, and cringed at the sharp pain in his shoulder. He had to at least try to save them. His feet made it to the floor and he stood and tried to take a step, only to slip on his own blood that had gushed from the bandages, and fell to the floor. "Bruno, don't try to move," Camilo said looking through his peep hole concerned, "You're hurt too badly."

"He's right," Andre said walking in, "Don't tell me a kid has more sense than you my sweet?" Andre laughed and lifted Bruno off the ground and sat him on at the table. "We need to eat before we leave. We have a long way to travel." Andre pulled out some bread and cheese. "I don't have much, I've been living the single life too long." He smiled.

Bruno didn't react to anything being said to him. He just stared ahead at nothing tiredly, hoping he'd have a chance to get the upper hand. But it was all feeling pretty hopeless considering his condition. "That reminds me, I have a surprise!" Andre smiled excitedly and pulled out a ring. At that moment the image of Andre with the ring hit Bruno like a ton of bricks.

"I remember you," He gasped, "You came to visit me early in the day, before Mirabel's gift ceremony. You wanted me to look into the future, to tell you who your future partner would be." The younger man looked on hopefully as the older man recounted the event that day. "But we didn't finish the vision, it was interrupted and we never saw a face" Bruno's brows creased in confusion. "Do you think it was me?!" He suddenly shouted making Andre slightly annoyed. "Is that why you're doing this?!"

"I've been trying to tell you, but you have a terrible memory little mouse," Andre responded satisfied that his love finally remembered their first meeting. "The vision was of you, I could tell. And it has come true." Andre lifted the ring and smiled wide. "Marry me, and you will make me the happiest man in the world."

"Let my family go," Bruno demanded angrily.

"You marry me and I let them go," Andre countered. "This is not a hard decision. I shouldn't even need to threaten your family." The large man stood pocketing the ring and slammed his hands on the table. His mood flipping to anger caused everyone in the room to pause with shock from the whiplash. "They always look down on you. They say terrible things about you; that you cause bad luck, you don't help anyone, you're useless! Rumors have spread about you, and everyone thinks you're a monster. They don't love you! They don't care!" He yelled, "They forced you to isolate yourself for ten years! Ten years I could have spent loving and caring for you. Ten years that you could finally have been happy, but it was all ripped away!"

Bruno shrunk down in the chair with his eyes staring into his lap and tears dripping down. "You're wrong," he said quietly.

"What?" Andre asked unsure he heard that right.

"You are wrong," Bruno said louder looking him in the eye, "You don't know a thing about me or my family. I love them-" Andre backhanded him in the face sending the smaller man falling to the floor.

"And they love you." Andre finished for him. "Bullshit, and more of your family's manipulation." He lifted the smaller man up in his arms, "But don't worry little mouse," He reassured as Bruno averted his eyes looking away from him. "I'm here to show you what real love is."

With time running out, Andre took his lover to the back door forgetting about food. He would waste no more time in getting their life started together.

It was in that moment that Mirabel and Dolores were finally able to free themselves. Camilo tried pounding on the lid of the chest in desperation. "He's going to get away!" The boy yelled. Dolores grabbed the key from the table where she saw Andre put it and quickly unlocked it. Camilo burst out and ran to climbed out the window just in time to see Andre and Bruno riding off on a horse.