by Julia Sykes
He pressed a kiss against each of my cheeks, one after the other. “My Marisol.”
The lump in my throat trapped my response, but eventually, I managed to speak. “Raúl brought me back home.”
I gently extricated myself from my father’s hug, so I could reach for the man I loved. His warm, solid presence enfolded me in the calming bubble that surrounded him, and I leaned into him with a shaky sigh.
His big hand settled on my lower back, silently supporting me.
“Papá, this is Raúl. He saved me. He’s made it possible for me to come home.”
My father blinked away the tears that still obscured his vision. “Saved you?” His mouth tightened with renewed anguish. “Where have you been, mija?”
I held my hand out to him, guiding him to one of the garden chairs. “Let’s sit, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
The abridged version, at least.
We all settled down in our own chairs, even though Raúl looked like he might crush the aging furniture with his massive body. A fond smile curved my lips, and I allowed myself to relish the absolute, impossible perfection of the moment. I had my family back, and I had Raúl; my own personal miracle.
After a few minutes of cautious skepticism, I managed to coax Mario to sit on my lap. The fact that my four-year-old baby brother barely remembered me sent a pang through my heart, but it quickly healed. I would be here for him from now on. For the rest of his life, we’d have constant contact. He would never forget me again.
I hugged him tight while I told my family the carefully curated version of my arduous journey and my relationship with Raúl.
My father’s slight frown indicated that he was well aware that I was softening the jagged edges of my story, but he didn’t press for details. He respected that I didn’t want to share them, and he probably didn’t want to hear them. Neither of us wanted to add another layer of pain to all the agony we’d been through.
When I finished, his eyes turned to Raúl, dark and solemn. “Thank you for bringing my daughter home. Thank you for reuniting our family.”
All Raúl could manage was a nod of acknowledgement, and I noticed his throat working as he swallowed hard. I wasn’t the only one who’d been stalled from speaking by a wash of emotion.
I laid my hand on his corded forearm, calming him with my touch. He blew out a sigh and relaxed immediately, focusing his devoted smile on me.
“I love Raúl.” I spoke to my family, but I didn’t take my eyes from his. “He saved me, and he’ll protect and provide for me for the rest of my life.”
I forced my attention back to my father, begging him to understand and accept my decision. “I’m going to live in with him in his home outside Mexico City. But we are all going to be part of each other’s lives. We’re a family, but Raúl is family now, too.”
I didn’t say Raúl was my family. He was part of our family, and I made sure everyone heard it. We were an inseparable unit, bound by my love. They would grow to love one another, too. After seeing Gabriela’s hero worship, I knew it would happen.
“You’re leaving again?” I hated the renewed pain in my father’s voice.
“I will come back here to see you often, and I’ll call every day,” I swore. “Raúl is going to make sure Gehovany won’t be able to threaten you ever again. That monster won’t be able to keep us apart.”
My father’s eyes narrowed slightly on Raúl, and his jaw worked. There could be no doubt about what I meant. A chill settled over us as the truth of our intentions rang out: Raúl was going to kill Gehovany.
“What kind of business did you say you run in Mexico City?” he asked incisively, his eyes sharp on the man I loved.
Raúl wrapped his brawny arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his protective embrace. “My primary business is in private security.”
My father’s lips thinned, clearly not buying this as the full story. But as his eyes moved from Raúl’s fierce, stony features to my perfectly relaxed posture, his wrinkles eased from the deep, forbidding lines they’d formed.
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said gruffly. “I approve of your relationship with my daughter. You’ve made it possible for her to return to us.” He rapidly blinked the fresh sheen from his eyes. “Of course, I give my blessing.”
I shot to my feet, closing the distance between us and wrapping him in a grateful hug. He stood to meet me, returning my warm embrace.
“I should leave you all to catch up,” Raúl rumbled. “I’m going to handle Gehovany.” The last was a dark promise.
I returned to him, going up on my tiptoes to briefly brush my lips against his. I couldn’t do anything more passionate in front of my father, but I poured all the things I couldn’t say into the kiss.
“I love you,” I swore.
“I love you, corderita.” He gave me one more kiss, unable to help himself. “You’re safe.”
“I know.”
He pressed his forehead to mine with one final hum. Then, he strode away, his huge frame swelling in savage anticipation.
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Gehovany would be dead by sunset.
Barely half an hour had passed before my father’s battered, old phone rang, interrupting our joyous reunion. He ignored it, but it immediately rang a second time.
He grumbled and answered with a clipped, “What?”
His craggy face paled, and fear flashed across his dark eyes. “Are you sure?”
A second of silence.
“Thank you.” He choked out his gratitude and ended the call with shaky hands.
His featured twisted with an echo of the soul-wrenching agony that’d drawn a howl from his chest on the day my mother died. “He’s coming. I don’t know how he knows you’re here, Marisol, but Gregorio warned me that he just saw Gehovany drive past his property.”
The ground tilted beneath me, and I braced my hands on the chair before I could fall. “But that means…”
Gregorio only lived a few miles away. There was no way Raúl could get back to me before Gehovany arrived.
My chest caved in as my worst nightmare became reality. Somehow, my frozen fingers found my phone. It took two attempts before I managed to enter Raúl’s contact details correctly.
“Marisol.” He answered on the first ring, my name clipped with worry.
“He’s on his way here,” I whispered through numb lips. “My father’s friend saw Gehovany driving this way. We might have fifteen minutes. Can you get here?” The desperate question was so high and thin that it was barely audible.
“Go inside the house.” His ferocious snarl sounded over the squeal of tires burning against asphalt. “Lock the doors, and do not come out for any reason. Don’t let your father try to defend you. All of you, inside. Now.” The commands became rougher, less intelligible as rage and panic overtook him, but I understood every word.
I ended the call, so I could repeat his orders to my family, my father in particular. I practically shoved them into the house. Gabriela clutched Mario to her chest, and he began to cry.
When we’d locked the doors and barricaded ourselves in the bedroom, my current nightmare mingled with my most horrific memories.
I clutched my family tight, as though I could protect them all if I just held them close enough.
My mother’s cheery yellow dress blocking my view of Gehovany. Her arms spreading wide to shield us. Her body lurching backwards in the instant the gunshot blasted through our tiny house.
Flashes of heat and icy cold rolled just beneath the surface of my skin; a nauseating, storm-tossed sea. A loud buzz filled my skull, scrambling my brain.
As the minutes stretched out interminably, a single thought coalesced in my mind: No one will die because of me. Never again.
Willing my shaking knees to support me, I got to my feet and moved toward the bedroom door in a daze. Just like on the day my mother had been murdered, I felt untethered from the world. I was nothing more than an apparition, hovering uselessly amongst the mortal terror of my
loved ones.
Never again.
“Marisol.” My father’s hand grabbed my wrist when I reached for the doorknob. “What are you doing? Stop!”
“Raúl said if he’s not back by now, I should go into the garden. He wants me to be able to run if Gehovany gets here before he does.” The lies left my lips in surreal bubbles, floating from my chest without thought.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Gabriela squeaked. “Please, don’t go.”
“Raúl knows about these things. Trust me. You all should stay inside.”
My father’s fingers reluctantly fell from my wrist, and I slid away from them without looking back. If I lingered on their horrorstruck faces, I might lose my resolve.
Never again. None of them would die because of me. I wouldn’t survive the loss. I’d be as good as dead, anyway.
As I stepped out the back door, I found my phone in my pocket. It felt strangely solid in my ghostly hand, but I was able to place the call to Raúl.
“I’m almost there. Marisol? Answer me!”
“I can’t let him hurt them.” My voice was soft and light, untouched by emotion.
“Don’t you dare,” he seethed, immediately understanding my intentions. “Stay in the house. Stay the fuck inside, and wait for me.”
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see.
I would stay out of sight amongst the greenery, but if Gehovany arrived before Raúl, I would go to him. He would not touch my family.
I didn’t know if he’d immediately kill me in a jealous rage, or if his cruel possessiveness would drive him to take me away with him. He might drag me someplace where Raúl wouldn’t be able to find me.
I shoved down my budding fear before it could drag me back to the horrors of my reality.
He will not hurt my family. Never again.
“I’ll keep him here for as long as I can. Hurry.”
“Marisol, just wait for me,” he begged. “I’m coming for you. I won’t let anything happen to you. I won’t let him hurt you.”
“I love you.”
The echo of his deep, booming voice roaring my name dropped away as the phone slid from my phantom fingers. I floated to the side of the house, watching the road through the thick leaves of the lime tree that my mother had loved so much. I traced the shape of the waxy leaves, feeling her love that’d soaked into the plant through hours of toil and care.
An SUV squealed to a stop in front of the house, but it wasn’t Raúl’s sleek, black vehicle.
My heart twisted at the sight of my abuser flinging himself from the driver’s seat of the beaten-up, burgundy car. His long, shiny black hair was pulled up in a topknot, ensuring it wouldn’t obscure his vision. A few stray, glossy tendrils had fallen free to frame the face I’d once thought of as handsome. His features were harder now, mean lines etched around his scowling lips.
I stepped out of my hiding spot, revealing myself before he had the chance to shout my name. I didn’t want my family to hear his deranged bellow; I wouldn’t make them relive the events of that awful day.
His gray eyes glinted like steel when they landed on me, and his lips peeled back on a feral growl. “I knew you’d come back.” His voice was gravelly, roughened by the ravages of alcohol and cruelty.
He launched himself at me, and I didn’t resist when he grabbed my shoulders. His fingers bit into my flesh, and he shook me hard enough to make my teeth rattle.
His eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared like a provoked animal. “Don’t you have anything to say to me, Marisol?” he demanded.
When I didn’t answer right away, he shook me again. My brain reverberated against the inside of my skull, and the world shuddered around me.
“What do you want me to say?” I managed faintly.
Now that his hands were on me, my body began to feel horrifyingly solid. The remembered, toxic taint of his violent grip burned my flesh. It singed my insides, searing my core with a reminder of the raw, wrenching pain of his cock tearing into my unwilling body.
Falling into my ingrained, protective response, I began to go utterly still. When he shook me, I was like a ragdoll in his grip. If I didn’t resist his violation, he’d inflict less damage. I would survive. Raúl would come back to me, and he’d find a way to heal me again.
“What do I want you to say?” Gehovany roared in my face, spittle spraying my cheeks. “Start by begging for forgiveness. You thought you could bring some thug here to kill me, and my friends wouldn’t warn me?” His teeth snapped a hairsbreadth from my lips. “I want you to beg for my mercy. I was driven from my home because of you. I was forced to leave town. You ruined my life!”
Something jolted in my brain, smacking me back to full awareness. A sudden wave of fire rolled through my system, rage and hatred burning me up.
“I ruined your life?” I shrieked. “You beat me. You raped me. You killed my mother!”
My body acted without conscious thought, but instead of shutting down, I attacked. A raw scream burst from my chest as my hand cracked across his cheek. My nails raked over his skin, scoring his flesh with red furrows.
I registered the flash of steel in his maddened eyes just before pain exploded in my jaw. My head snapped back from the force of his punch, and the world winked out of existence for a few heartbeats.
Agony wrenched me back to reality as his boot drove into my stomach, battering my internal organs. My diaphragm collapsed, and my insides writhed. I couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t move. Pain overwhelmed me, frying every nerve ending and debilitating my physical responses.
Another deafening, monstrous roar rent the air, and I helplessly dreaded the next excruciating kick.
The blow didn’t land.
A strangled shout was drowned by a beastly snarl. The terrifying sound was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard.
Raúl. My lips formed his name, but I didn’t have the breath to speak. My insides continued to spasm, preventing even the most basic survival mechanisms.
The crushing panic lifted from my heart, and a sense of peace blanketed my ravaged body. I didn’t have to worry about my survival. Raúl was here. He would protect me.
The world was a blur, but I could make out the massive, fiercely powerful form of the man I loved. Gehovany’s face was an indistinct smear of tanned skin and flashes of the whites of his eyes, but I could clearly hear the gagging sounds of his failed, desperate attempts to draw in oxygen. A sickening crunch crackled through the air, but my stomach was twisting too viciously for the sound of death to increase my nausea.
My abuser’s body dropped to the cracked pavement with a final, definitive thud.
My vision began to clear, and his bloodshot, blank gray eyes stared at me. His neck was cocked at an impossible angle, and his tanned cheeks were still flushed purple from oxygen deprivation.
Before my budding revulsion could bloom into horror, Raúl’s huge body blocked the awful image. He crouched beside me, and his luminous green eyes filled my entire world.
“Raúl.” I managed to croak his name.
“Corderita.” His thick fingers trembled as he slowly reached for me, as though he was afraid his immense strength might cause him to accidentally crush me, too.
Determination to soothe him enabled me to turn my cheek into his hand by sheer force of will.
Bright lights popped in front of my eyes at the slightest movement of my head, and I went limp again.
He carefully lifted me to cradle me against his chest, but even his gentlest handling didn’t stop the jarring pain from lancing my skull. The achingly sweet comfort of his strong arms around me was the last thing I experienced.
As the world dropped into blackness, calm enfolded me. I was completely safe in the arms of my fierce protector, the man I loved.
Chapter 26
Marisol
Raúl appeared in the bedroom doorway, hovering behind my family. They’d gathered around me where I laid on my childhood bed, but he didn’t push past them to get
to me.
Papá and Gabriela had been doing their best to make me comfortable, and I tried not to move more than absolutely necessary. My head throbbed, and my entire body ached as though I’d been hit by a truck.
But it was the furious tension in Raúl’s hulking frame that made my heart twist; a fresh burst of pain for him. His corded muscles rippled with aggression, continuing to radiate savage, lethal energy even though Gehovany was dead.
I knew that the sight of my injuries would be shredding him. In his mind, he’d failed to protect me. He’d only just started to let go of his self-loathing, tentatively accepting that his love for me brought out the best in him.
Now, I’d been hurt, and the damage to his soul could be far more irreparable than the bruises in my flesh. His belief in his own goodness was rooted in his obsession with keeping me safe. The fact that Gehovany had been able to attack me was shaking the foundations of his newfound belief that he wasn’t evil.
I could practically see him slipping away from me, his eyes hardening to jade as his worst fears threatened to consume him.
“I really am okay.” My promise was meant to soothe everyone, but I kept my eyes on Raúl.
My father turned to face my fierce protector, cringing slightly when Raúl’s violent aura pulsed toward him. Papá swallowed hard, but he managed to remain focused on our most pressing concern. “Is Gehovany…?”
He and Gabriela understood that Gehovany was dead, even if they hadn’t witnessed the gory scene. I was glad they’d been spared new nightmares. They’d already suffered so much.
Raúl had brought me directly into the house, and he’d tasked my family with tending my injuries before he’d gone out again immediately. He couldn’t leave evidence of his defeated quarry laying in our driveway. With his powerful cartel contacts, I knew he could probably make the police go away if they came to investigate.
But I didn’t want him to have to face his old demons again, especially not when he was so emotionally raw after seeing Gehovany beating me.
I wanted to hold him close, to soothe the maddened beast inside him with my touch. I’d forced myself to wait, giving him time to clean up. Avoiding a conflict with the cops was more important, so I hadn’t protested when he’d left us briefly. He’d needed to get rid of the body.
