Where the Library Hides (Secrets of the Nile #2)

by Isabel Ibañez

For the readers who stayed up all night agonizing over the epilogue in What the River Knows: This one is dedicated to you.

The dedication 😭😭

I had fallen in love with Whitford Hayes. I loved him with my whole heart, despite my head telling me to have better sense. But I loved him in a way that meant forever. I hadn’t known for sure until this moment, as I stared into his face, which was somehow vulnerable and remote all at once. Terror gripped me. I’d never felt so stricken, so raw, so exposed.

Did his proposal mean he cared about me? Was he as deep in as I was?

Girl ws both know he aint stop fooling yourself

A simple I adore you would have been much appreciated. Now that I thought of it, Whit hadn’t actually asked me the question. He’d said, Marry me instead, matter-of-factly.

Proposing before saying "I love you" is so freaking crazy

When you’re moving fast, hijita, it’s easy to miss what’s right in front of you.

“In the utter chaos of my life, you are the only thing that makes sense. You asked me what my reasons are, and I don’t know all of them yet, but I do know one important thing.” He took a shaky breath, his eyes never leaving my face, and the raw emotion lurking in their depths almost keeled me over. “You’re the one I want, Inez.” My lips parted. His voice dropped to a husky whisper. “Please make me the happiest man on this earth.”

“Inez, you are the love of my life,” Whit roared. “I will not lose you now.”

“Inez,” he whispered. “You want to know why I saved your life? I can think of no better act to show how much I love you. This world would not be the same without you in it, and I don’t ever want to find out what that feels like. If I have to follow you across a desert, I will. If I have to jump into the Nile, again and again, I will. If I have to leap in front of a thousand bullets, I will.” He closed his eyes, breath shuddering. “I will always love you.”

It was incredible how life could pivot so sharply. How someone you thought you knew could turn into a stranger in the space of a breath.

The man I had loved all my life was gone forever, and what killed me most was that I had never known who Papá was at all, or what he was capable of. If I had, maybe I could have protected myself from ever loving a monster.

My hands stopped shaking, my entire being focused on one thing: I would not let her die. I would burn the world twice over to save her life.