Raul making coffee for me, working in the living room instead of his office, asking about my days… For the last few weeks, he’s been trying to look after me in one way or another, but I ignored it. Every time, I told myself that it was impossible for him to actually care about me because, well, he’s Raul Jose de Lugo. He doesn’t care about anything but himself.
But is it true? I bite my lip, staring at the ceiling. Does Raul have feelings for me? Or do I just remind him of Mariana?
I don’t have the answer, and soon enough, I forget all about it when I hear steps behind the door. There are at least three men, and if I were in a better condition I’d probably be able to take them down-which doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try.
As soon as the door opens, I lunge at them with a threatening cry and an empty beer bottle in my hand. I manage to hit the first guy in his jaw and kick the other one in his knee, but when I try to leap past them to the light at the end of the hallway, someone grabs me by the hair. The pain goes directly to the bruise at the back of my head, blinding me for a moment, and by the time I come back to my senses, I’m already on the floor with my hands tied behind my back.
“Hello again.” I hear a deep voice behind me and groan out loud as a pair of hands push me up onto my feet. Hugo. Of course.
“I should’ve killed you in that store,” I hiss, staring right in front of me.
Hugo chuckles, nudging me to walk forward. “You tried, Bella and you failed.”
The rustle of waves and the cold wind of Lake Michigan hit me as soon as I step on the deck of the Escarras’ fishing boat-because, of course, what else would it be? It’s already dark outside, the lights of Chicago illuminating the night, but I see enough to recognize the frozen sandy stretch of Loyola Beach.
“So here we are again, huh?” I catch Gerardo’s voice in the distance while Hugo pushes me again, guiding me closer to the land. “Who
would’ve thought?”
“I would,” I hear a deep, cold voice respond to him, and my heart skips a beat. “Only a rat like you would fall so low twice.”
Raul? I walk faster despite myself, frantically looking for their figures on the beach-and of course, there they are. As soon as my eyes adjust to the darkness, I see a group of people a dozen feet away from the boat. Gerardo and a few of his men stand on one side while Raul is on the other, and…wait, where are his men? Why is he alone?
My heart starts beating faster with a mixture of fear and adrenaline, and I tug at my tied hands-pointlessly, of course-and raise my voice,
“Raul, no! Don’t trust them! Get out of-”
Hugo immediately covers my mouth with a cloth, but my voice was enough to attract their attention. I can even see the outline of Raul’s face, blurry in the darkness, and I know that he’s looking at me-it makes something in my heart twist painfully. Why did he come here? Doesn’t he know that it’s a trap?
“Ah, and here comes Isabella. So fearless and eager to help you! Isn’t it cute?” Gerardo chuckles, gesturing for his men to hold me while I get off the boat. The layer of frost crunches under my soles. “Almost like Mariana, don’t you think? No wonder you-”
“What do you want from me?” Raul cuts him off with a growl, agitated by the mention of his wife, and for some reason, it pinches
something deep inside of me. She’s still so important to him. Is he still in love with her?
“Don’t be so rude, I only-”
“What do you want from me?” Raul repeats, slower and with clear hostility in his voice.
Gerardo sighs theatrically. “Okay, okay. What do I want from you?”
His voice suddenly drops, and even though I can’t see his face, I’m pretty sure Gerardo’s expression has turned cold. “I want you to bring back all of my men you have killed and all the territories you have stolen.”
“Rightfully claimed,” Raul clarifies, and Gerardo huffs mockingly.
“Sure. So, do you think you can do it?”
“You know I can’t,” Raul says after a confused pause, and I’m already close enough to them to see Gerardo nod a few times.
“That’s what I thought. So the only thing you can repay me with is blood. Yours or your wife’s, it’s up to you.”
What? That fucking piece of shit! I try to yell at him, but my lips are still covered and all I can get out is an incoherent string of muffled noises.
Goddamnit. I look at Raul with my heart pounding. He’s not gonna be enough of an idiot to listen to Gerardo, right? He knows better than to follow his stupid orders, right?
But after a few seconds of silence, I feel cold spreading through my chest. No, no, you can’t-
“God knows I’d kill you right now if I could,” Raul finally says with a low chuckle, and something inside of me drops.
You still can! Do it! Do it now! But even before I can grumble it through the cloth, I feel a touch of something against my temple and I don’t have to turn my head to know that it’s a damn gun. Of course. I clench my jaw, glaring at Gerardo. He’s not gonna buy it, Raul is gonna-
“Okay,” Raul says, and my heart drops when I hear the note of surrender in his voice. “You can kill me, just…let me hold her. One last time.”
No, no, it’s bullshit, it’s-I immediately turn to Raul and shake my head despite the throbbing pain in my head, the invisible claws squeezing my throat. He can’t let Gerardo win. He can’t give up just like that!
“Raul,” I whisper as soon as Hugo pulls down the cloth from around my mouth and unties my hands, allowing me to run to my husband. “What are you doing? You can’t do it, you can’t!”
Raul catches me in his arms and pulls me close while my own arms wrap around his neck. I shut my eyes, feeling the surface of his coat under my hands. I’ve never seen this coat on him before, but right now that’s the last thing I care about. With tears burning in my eyes, I pull back and look up at him, keeping my hands on his shoulders.
“You can’t leave me like this, do you hear me?” I whisper, looking into his gray eyes. My fingers are shaky, my heart is bleeding in my chest,
and I refuse to believe that this is the first and last time I can hold him so gently.
“But I can’t let them take you,” Raul murmurs, placing his hand on my cheek with a soft smile on his lips. “You are more important than
anything else in my life.”
The tears finally break through, and I clutch his shoulder, shaking my head. There should be a way out of it, there should be! But there are at least five guns aimed at him, and no matter how skillful we are, there’s no way we can get out of here alive.
“No…” I whisper, his face blurring from the tears, and I hear him chuckle, his hands holding my face.
“I love you, Isabella,” Raul whispers, and before I know it, his dry lips press to mine with the most gentle kiss he’s ever given me.
At the same moment, the Escarras open fire.