Isabella
The first thing I feel when I come back to my senses is a strong desire to puke. Goddamnit. What stinks so bad?
I wince, inhale again-and a strong odor of mold and dead fish pushes a lump up my throat, forcing me back to my senses. What the hell is that? I swallow thickly and lick my lips, tasting only salt and dryness, and even before I open my eyes I feel a weird sense of swaying in my body.
Where am I?
I swallow again, slowly blinking my eyes open, and that’s when the headache finally kicks in. Shit. I shouldn’t have woken up at all. I flinch from the sudden rush of pain, but it gives me enough of a kick to force myself to focus on the present.
No, really, where am I? What happened? The last thing I remember was talking to a nurse on the phone, the news of being pregnant-which is a whole separate thing to stress out about, but right now, I gotta remember
what happened next. Did someone sneak up on me? Did they-
Shit. I open my eyes and look around as the pieces of my memories form a proper image. The Escarras got me. I gotta get out of here!
But I only have enough energy to push myself and sit up on what feels like a wooden bench before the headache and exhaustion force me to stop. My body feels hot, and my lungs can barely keep up with the movements, so I have to focus on my breathing as I lean back against the wall and study my surroundings.
The room is wooden, tiny, and horribly messy. There are pillows thrown around on the dirty floor along with empty beer bottles and plastic bags, the walls are covered with faded posters, and what I originally thought was a bench turns out to be the smallest and toughest bed I’ve ever seen. God, what is this place?
I frown, leaning on the bed with one arm, when the room moves all of a sudden and I have less than a second to catch myself from hitting the wall. I raise my arm at the last moment so that my shoulder takes all the impact. Judging by the pulsating pain at the back of my head, I should be careful with that area.
A few seconds later, while I’m still gathering myself together, the room moves in the other direction, and…goddamnit. I lean against the wall and groan under my breath. Am I on a fucking boat?
“Oh, you’re already awake. Marvelous!” Shit. You must be kidding me.
I groan louder, not even hiding the disgust and frustration that this voice sends through my heart, and Gerardo laughs as if I just welcomed him with open arms. “I’m glad to see you too, Bella!”
I force myself to look up at him, and the bright smile on his face makes me sick. He’s lost some weight and replaced the terrible mustache with an even worse goatee, but it’s hard not to recognize him. A wave of adrenaline runs through me, nudging me to get up and attack him with all the strength I have-but right now, it’s not even enough to get up on my feet.
“What did you do to me?” I grumble, leaning on the wall with my temple.
As always, Gerardo completely ignores everything he doesn’t want to talk about. “Didn’t you miss me?” he continues as if nothing’s wrong, grabbing a folded chair leaning against the wall and opening it to sit right in front of me. “It’s been a while since we saw each other ever since you and your brother betrayed us and sided with the Messinas, right?”
Gerardo says it with a wide grin on his lips, but it looks more like the smile of a shark a moment before the attack. He loves to put on a show, but in the depths of his eyes, I see the cold ire of what he really feels.
“Is that-” I have to swallow before starting over, every word scratching my throat. “Is that why you kidnapped me?”
“Partially.” Gerardo shrugs, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs. “I mean, it is kind of a punishment for spying on us. Or do you think you were so sneaky that we didn’t even notice you?”
Shit. They knew I was watching them? I purse my lips, looking away, and Gerardo must be able to read my expression well enough because he bursts out laughing a moment later, waving his hand.
“I’ve taught you everything you know, and you expected to outdo me?” He huffs and shakes his head, still smiling with amusement. “No, no,
Bella, you were obvious. Really.”
“Why did you wait for so long, then?” I grumble, glaring at him from under my furrowed brow. “You could’ve caught me a long time ago.”
“Actually, that’s the most interesting part.” Gerardo’s smile turns into a smirk as he tilts his head. “Why do you think we didn’t catch you earlier?”
Oh, come on. I roll my eyes. Is he gonna play his stupid games again? I’m not in the mood for guessing.
“I don’t know.” “Just guess!”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I frown, struggling to put my thoughts in order.
If they knew I was on their tail, why didn’t they stop me right away? What was the point of dragging it out for so long? I groan. It’s too difficult to think about it right now. The only thing that comes to mind is…
“Did you expect me to bring Riccardo to your doorstep?” I look up at him with squinted eyes, and Gerardo only laughs, clearly amused by my guess.
“No, no, I can deal with the Messinas later.” He waves his hand as if it’s the easiest thing in the world and looks at me with a dangerous smirk.
“What I do want is to get rid of Raul once and for all-and you, my dearest, are the perfect bait.”
I blink and push myself away from the wall as a wave of something cold runs through my veins. What?
“Of course, at first, it didn’t make any sense for us to kidnap you- Raul didn’t care about you that much, let’s be honest. Not the first time he makes that mistake, huh?” Gerardo chuckles, shaking his head, while my own is buzzing with questions. “But now, I’m sure he’s ready to be your knight in shining armor or whatever. After all, who wouldn’t put their life on the line for their child?”
I gasp, a hot wave of rage making me tense up and lean forward. “You know!”
“I know everything.”
He shrugs with a satisfied smile, and god, I want to kill the bastard. I even push myself up in an attempt to reach his neck, but the pain at the back of my head bursts again, weighing me down, and I slump back on the bed
with a groan. Goddamnit. How am I supposed to get out of here if I can’t even stand properly?
“Easy, darling, easy, don’t get too stressed.” Gerardo waves his hand at me with fake concern, gesturing for me to sit down. “You have to be careful now, okay? Think about the baby.” God, what a moron.
“How do you know?” I ask, breathing heavily, the headache and agitation quickly draining my energy.
“I have friends in all parts of the city, and some of them work in clinics too, you know?” Gerardo chuckles, tilting his head. “So don’t you worry, we’ve made sure that Raul knows all about your situation here.”
“You’re a monster.”
“Oh, thank you!” He smiles so brightly as if I just gave him the best compliment. Goddamn freak.
“Why would you go so far to get Raul? Why do you hate him so much?” I look at him with a frown, leaning back against the wall.
Even though I know they’re rivals, it feels as if there’s something more to it. There’s some kind of a personal grudge between the Escarras and the De Lugos that I’ve heard about before but never heard any details about. And even now, as soon as he hears my questions, the look in
Gerardo’s eyes turns cold and hostile.
“What do you mean why?” He huffs, but it doesn’t sound so amused and lighthearted anymore. “Raul took my city. When my father was at his strongest, when we almost had Tijuana in our hands, the De Lugo cartel
showed up out of nowhere and ruined our plans. Everything we had, we lost because of him.”
I quirk an eyebrow. Sure, and it wasn’t because you were a bunch of rats who only knew how to lie and deceive to get what you wanted.
“Of course, we took what mattered most to him in return.” Gerardo chuckles, leaning back in his chair, and I don’t like how delighted and proud he looks when he meets my gaze. “It was my idea, you know. To trick him into giving up his territories before killing his wife. Oh, I still think it was one of my best ideas!”
“What?” Gerardo’s words make my head spin for a moment, and I lean on my knee to catch my breath and focus on him again. Giovanni’s voice is ringing in my ears, reminding me that Raul gave his wife to the Escarras only to keep his territories, but… “You tricked him?”
“Don’t look so surprised! Why do you think your husband is so obsessed with me?” Gerardo laughs, looking at me with a patronizing look as if I’m just a child learning obvious things. “He loved Mariana to death- quite literally-and it’s actually funny how everyone decided that he just… you know, let her be killed?”
He chuckles, shaking his head, and it makes me feel sick-because I had the same thought. Because the idea of Raul not having a heart was so easy to accept. God, how could I be so stupid and naive?
“Ever since then, Raul has been chasing me to get his revenge,”
Gerardo continues his speech, getting up from the chair with a content smile on his lips. “But I believe I will make him pay for the suffering of my family first-and it’ll happen much sooner than you expect.”
What? Wait, what does that mean?
But before I can ask, the room sharply moves in one direction, and a not-so-gentle nudge tells me that the boat has hit something solid. Shit. I look around, looking for any window in this godforsaken room, and a wave of agitation rises in the middle of my chest. We have arrived, but where, I have no idea.
“Oh, it looks like we’ve reached our destination.” Gerardo looks around with a satisfied smile before looking back at me. “Be ready to get out of here soon.”
With that, Gerardo walks away and closes the door behind him, leaving me with a hot, heavy breath on my lips and a tight cage around my chest. What should I do? How can I get out of here? Gerardo’s absence finally gives me enough stimuli to get up and stumble to the door on the other side of the room. But of course it’s locked. Shit.
I lean on the wall next to it, looking around for any sign of an exit, but the ache in my heart is too strong to ignore, and my thoughts keep
drifting to the wrong questions. Raul lost the woman he loved years ago,
and now…is he ready to open his heart now? Will he ever be ready for it? I close my eyes, biting back the feeling of longing and despair, as the memories of our life together flash before my eyes.