They were right. We drove to the border and I had to stop.
Ruiz broke the window and pulled me out of the car. How white pain exploded through my face as he slapped me on my cheek.
“Tell Solis we’ve got her”
He pushed me back into the passenger seat of the car and got into the driver’s seat. His phone rang and he picked it up.
“We chased her and I’ve caught her… Yes she’s here with me… I’m sorry, I would have checked my car first… We’ve gotten her”
Ruiz turned to me.
“Solis is broken because of you!” He shouted in my face. “He thought you loved him, you should have heard him talk… He’s finished!”
“Fuck you, Ruiz!” I managed to say, my cheek was warm from his slap.
“In courtesy of my boss, if he asks, I’ll say you bumped your head while thrashing ”
Before I could even process the meaning of his words, he punched me and I went out cold.
I woke up to soft buzzing.
My kids were heavy, I turned to the buzzing sound to see a yellow lamp, it’s light bulb was buzzing softly.
“We don’t know who they are yet, but everyone is dead”
“The girls?”
“Gone… Missing!”
“Ruiz and the others managed to stop the fire… That’s all they could do. The building is wasted”
I followed the sound of the voices. Solis was in the same room as me, there was a balcony in the room that allowed cool breeze and I was laying in a soft large bed.
“Get the car ready, we’re leaving the country”
At the mention of that, he turned to me.
A surprised look lasted some seconds on his face before it turned to pure disappointment and anger.
“Leave”
The man walked out of the room and closed the door.
“I can’t believe it was all a lie”
He looked down at his laps.
“It was too good to be true but I wanted to feel love… I was stupid and you used it against me”
“You’re not stupid, Solis”
“You still have guts to talk?”
“Let’s face it, I manipulated you but if I was never in love with someone else, I would have given my heart to you because I see why everyone likes you, you’re a good person ”
“Shut up”
Pain.. that’s all I could feel.
Ruiz really poured his anger into that single hit.
“Someone killed all my men, burnt down my mansion and took the girls ”
Instantly, I remembered the conversation I overheard when I was coming out of sleep. Could it have been Christian? If not him, then who?
“If you hadn’t tried to escape… You would have been with him by now”
I looked up and Solis was smiling at me.
“What more do you need Jenna. What others signs do you need before you realise that we were made and destined for eachother”
My hands were trembling.
“Whether you were pretending or not… While you were at it, you made me experience how good it feels to be loved by you and I don’t want that for any other man. He can take the girls… But the place we’re going, he would never be able to find you ”
***
KYLEE
Jeandre called me again but I didn’t need to pick up the call, I was already in the location. I had the keys to his house, I collected it from my purse and unlocked the door.
I passed through his almost empty living room, I was the one that had decided that he put paintings and add more colours. Even after my intervention the high looked.. dead, too clean and untouched.
I went to the basement and I saw him eating Noddles from a cardboard box.
“Baby..” he said excitedly as I walked in but I didn’t return the same energy because Elisa was sitting in the middle of the room, tied to a chair and beaten so badly that she was barely recognisable.
I almost puked into my mouth.
He must have read my expression because he hopped off the desk and came towards me.
“Let’s go, I’ve been trying to reach Christian but he wasn’t responding”
He said as a way to clear the air.
“She made a really bad life choice. How did you find her?”
“You don’t have to worry about that Baby ” he said locking the basement door.
“We spoke” I said trying to think of anything but Elisa’s swollen face, her bottom lip was torn apart already. Fuck.
“What did he say?”
“He’s not coming back any sooner. He lost Jenna again”
****
Ruiz lied to Solis, he told him I banged my head as I tried to run and he looked like he was going to kill me because Solis did not act as he had expected.
He wanted Solis to order me to be beaten or something, but instead he was still heads over heels in love with me.
“We’re getting married” Solis announced absently, as if he was staring into our beautiful future.
Ruiz balled his fists and started daggers at me.
“Find a priest, I want to get married as soon as possible so we’ll leave after”
“Okay, Boss”
“Before the end end of the today, I want to get married before the end of today. Find Greta so she’ll come and get Jenna prepared”
I rolled my eyes and pushed the plate away from me.
Ruiz left without saying a word.
“I’ll keep running away at every chance I get, one day I’ll succeed, Solis ”
He didn’t respond.
I was angry.
“I don’t understand how you’ll love someone that hates you”
“I bought you, Jenna. You have no choice but to fulfill my needs ”
I scoffed.
“I’m not a patient man, Jenna. If you don’t start doing your job, I’m going to have to force you and you’ll not like it”
“Go to fuck yourself” I spat acidly.
His threats were valid but the fact that Christian had found me in the middle of no where, gave me courage and boldness because I know he’ll find me again.