They drove out to a remote area and parked near the trees. They walked into the woods with a shovel, a tank of gasoline, booze and her torn wedding dress. They couldn’t do it at the motel’s premises, it would attract attention.
He gathered some wood and piled it. She put her dress on top of the pile, poured some gasoline on it and lit it up. The fire burned brightly under the night sky.
She looked into the fire in silence. It was a symbol. The end of her life with Armand. The love of her life. The first man she had ever loved with her heart and soul. She wondered if there is still any trace of that love left after all she had been through, because the heart is the ultimate betrayer. Time and time again he showed her who he was, somehow she always found it in her heart to forgive him.
With the new power he now possesses, she can only imagine what he will do if she had to live a life as his wife.
The fire swallowed the dress whole. All that hard work put into it burned out in flames. What a shame. It was a memory she never wanted to keep. Carolina would approve if she had known what it represents.
“Are you okay?” Diego’s voice dispersed her reverie.
“Yeah, I just … couldn’t believe I’ve come to this point,” she dusted off her hands on her jeans.
“You’ve come a long way,” he commented. He sat on the ground and started drinking the vodka. He offered it to her.
She took the bottle and sat next to him. “How do you know?”
“I’ve been watching you for the past three months … it didn’t look like you’re the kind of person who had the courage to do something like this … I thought you’re that kind of woman who would stay by his side no matter what and maybe this kidnapping thing would actually do you some good.”
She chuckled, “Is that why you took the job? You felt sorry for me?”
“No … I learned that after I took the job, I don’t complicate things with feeling … empathy.”
She turned to him and drank her vodka, “What about now? Why did you stay? You could just leave me to mend for myself, you made the delivery, you got your money.”
He paused for a moment as he looked into her eyes. He’s a professional, his job is not finished yet, at least that’s what he’s been telling himself. He was fooling himself, he felt something for her, just a bit more time with her is what he wanted. Make sure she’s safe. After three months of surveillance, he felt like he owed her that, he owed himself that, because he had fallen in love with her.
“I guess the assassin has a heart after all?” she laughed lightly.
He didn’t respond.
“Tell me about yourself … you’ve known me for months now, who are you? Why are we here?”
“It doesn’t matter who I am, I’m here to finish the job you’ve paid me to do … get you away from Armand Lombardo,” he diverted the conversation. “I made some phone calls to get you a new identity, it’ll take a few days … then we head off to Goldstone to get it, we’ll drive out of town again to a remote airport … and go our separate ways,” he explained.
She smiled, “It must be annoying for you to be stuck with me for a few more days.”
“Do you know what you’re going to do after that?” it was the thing that’s been bothering him. She had never done anything like this before, he wondered how well thought-out her plan was.
She gazed into the dark of the woods, “Survive … I guess … that’s the first thing I need to do.”
He scratched the side of his face. She was clueless, he thought. This girl was brought up in a mansion with a whole village helping her with everything. She was spoiled with money and luxuries, she had never been alone in her life before and she was always controlled by her dad and later her boyfriend.
He felt like he had just nursed a helpless puppy and was about to let it go free in a jungle. He shook his head, “There’s a lot more to it than just to survive … especially with your husband … I don’t think he’s the kind of guy who will rest before he gets you back in his clutch.”
“No … he’s not … he will never stop until he finds me, I will never be free of him until I die,” she drank her vodka.
“Or he dies …”
They looked at each other. It was an idea they have yet to exercise until now.
She shook her head, “I can’t risk it … he must be under tight security right now, after what happened at the wedding.”
“You said it yourself, you will never be free from him, and living on the run from a guy like him is not the kind of life you would want for yourself … you’re young, you’d want to have a family of your own, do you think you can have that if he’s still out there looking for you?”
She hadn’t really thought about that. “I can start a new life in another country, far from here, or a remote island somewhere?”
“You can … but that won’t stop him from looking for you … you know him well enough, his range of network is as wide as the Interpol … and he won’t hesitate to use his money and power to find you … trust me, I know how it is to run from a powerful man like him, you won’t make it alone.”
She looked at him, “What do you suggest I do?”
“You don’t have to do anything … I’d do the job for you … you’ve paid me to set you free … I’ll finish the job.”
The thought of having Armand killed suddenly disturbed her. She was not a killer, ending someone’s life was never a choice she had to make. Not even when the life was Armand’s, especially when the life was Armand’s. Her heart sank, she couldn’t believe it, even after what she had been through, her heart still felt something for him.