by Jewel Allen
Bikers in their leather clothes, eyeing them sullenly. They stood on the opposite side of the dance floor, but close enough for mayhem.
“Oh, no,” she muttered.
He stiffened. “What is it?”
“It’s your friendly biker gang.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Alejandro swore under his breath. “I should have just taken care of them the last time. Called the police and had them arrested.”
“For what?”
“For being ugly.” He sobered. “For attacking you.”
Worry pooled in her stomach. “These bikers...why do they come here?”
“They must like the milder weather. They bring all their problems too. Are you ready to go?”
“I’m actually kind of worried about us leaving here safely. At least in this crowd, they won’t try anything.”
“I wouldn’t count on that. I think it’s best if we leave.”
He embraced her for a moment to assure her and allowed her to lead. It was so crowded that sometimes, the only thing linking them to each other was her hand, holding his. Otherwise, they were about as far apart as their arm lengths.
“You in a hurry?” a man’s gravelly voice said in Spanish in his ear.
He stopped making his way through the crowd and pulled Isa towards him. She clung to his torso as he encircled her in his arms protectively. Casually, he pressed a button on his watch and flicked his jacket sleeve.
“Don’t have your bodyguards here?” the sneering voice continued in Spanish.
“They’re outside, waiting for us,” sweet Isa said.
The man laughed, joined by his obnoxious crew. “Nice try, madam, but we know for a fact that you came in here alone. We didn’t see anyone out there that looked like a billionaire’s peons.”
There was a bit of a scuffle, as though Isa was wrestling with something.
“Give my phone back to me,” she said.
“I can’t have you call out,” the man said.
“Let’s settle this outside,” Alejandro spoke out.
“Are you sure?” Isa whispered in his ear.
“Yes. Trust me.”
“All right.” She relaxed somewhat in his arms. She led him out, the crowd thinning as they went. Alejandro could feel the temperature of the room dropping, as they got closer to the exit and fresh air. And then they were out in the open, with a breeze and a sour smell of fight.
“Please,” he heard Isa tell someone, “you need to call the police. These people are harassing us.”
“I don’t understand,” the bouncer said in Spanish.
Someone shoved Alejandro, and his arm shot out unerringly into the man’s jaw, to a satisfying crack.
He took a punch on the jaw and staggered back.
Isa screamed. “Leave us alone. He’s blind!”
“Ah,” the man said, “blind, is he? Well, this will be more fun.”
Alejandro grabbed something out of a pocket and tossed his jacket to the ground. “Isa, tell me where they are.”
“Right, 90 degrees.”
A man screamed as Alejandro touched him with a stun gun.
“Behind you!” Isa said.
Two other men fell to his stun gun.
The ringleader said, “What is this, a weapon? You want a weapon?”
“He’s got a gun,” Isa told Alejandro from behind him.
Just then, tires squealed at the mouth of the alley.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Isa nearly jumped for joy at Reina’s arrival.
“How did she...?”
Alejandro raised his wrist, indicating his remote watch.
The car distracted everyone. Even the ringleader who turned his head and gun slightly away from them. Isa picked up and swung Alejandro’s jacket, knocking the weapon away. It clattered to the ground.
“Good work, Isa,” Alejandro said. “Kick it toward Reina.”
Isa kicked the gun and sent it sailing under the sports car. The bikers ran for the weapon and reached underneath.
Alejandro pressed another button on his watch.
Reina lowered herself and pinned the bikers under her frame. They screamed in pain.
The ringleader looked from the car to Alejandro, hatred in his eyes. “I need to take care of your boyfriend, once and for all.”
Reina blared something in Spanish. The ringleader blanched.
“What did she say?” Isa asked Alejandro.
“The police are on their way.”
Indeed, sirens sounded in the distance. The biker wasn’t done, though. In one last attempt at bravado, he lunged forward and grasped Alejandro’s throat. Alejandro grabbed his hands and tried to yank them off, but the man was relentless.
Isa looked around, desperate, and saw Alejandro’s walking stick on the ground. It had fallen out of his jacket. She pulled at its telescoping handle and whacked Alejandro’s attacker on the head.
“Ow!” he said, howling and covering his scalp with his giant hand.
“Here,” she pressed the cane into Alejandro’s hand and stepped back.
He swung it and hit the biker across his arm. The biker wailed again and nursed his elbow. A few more times, Alejandro went on the offensive, until the biker ran, right into the lights of a police car.
Isa came over and hugged Alejandro around his waist. “Thank you,” she said.
He turned so she was in his arms. He had a few bruises on his face, but they only made him look more attractive. “Gracias, mi corazon.”
“And Reina,” she said. “You can’t forget Reina.”
“And Reina, yes.” But he only cared about this woman in front of him. The woman he hoped to make his wife, if she would have him. He pulled Isa into his arms for a kiss.
A policeman cleared his throat. They pulled apart, with Isa blushing. Alejandro held her loosely against his body.
The cop asked questions in Spanish. And then he turned to Isa and spoke in English. He asked her about her passport, what she was doing in the country, and what happened tonight.
Isa answered as best as she could and was relieved when they were finally dismissed. It would be nice to get back into the castle and have that quiet evening she had craved for.
They were laughing among themselves as they entered the foyer of the castle. Alejandro pulled at her hand and into his arms playfully. Nothing could be more perfect.
A female voice said something in Spanish. Alejandro’s expression soured, and they both turned to the speaker. It was a blonde woman in a knock-them-dead mink coat, her eyes narrowed like a cat’s.
Alejandro spoke to her brusquely. She flinched as though he had slapped her. She spoke in rapid Spanish while eyeing Isa.
“English,” Alejandro said. “Isa does not speak Spanish.”
The blonde tossed her hair. “I am Alicia, his fiancée.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Alejandro couldn’t believe that Alicia would come now, of all times, to ruin things between him and Isa. He suspected that her cousin Julio had something to do with this. Julio probably tipped Alicia off that an attractive woman had come into Alejandro’s life.
Isa had withdrawn from his arms, understandably. It wasn’t an easy situation to explain, but they were all adults and he was perfectly ready to do so. But first, he needed to get everyone seated and calm.
Horatio helped get everyone in the right place where they needed to be, in one of the receiving rooms. After the butler left, Alejandro remained standing, feeling the tension between the two women.
“Alicia, you are no longer my fiancée,” he reminded her.
“You proposed to me,” she said.
His jaw tightened. “I did, but we’d broken off our engagement.”
“You drove me away.”
He flinched and turned instinctively toward Isa.
“Ah,” Alicia said. “So you haven’t told her, have you?”
“Which part?” he growled. “That you cheated on me? Or that you stole from me before you left?”
The damage was done. He could no longer protect Isa from this viciousness. “I never touched you.”
“No, but you verbally assaulted me. Do you deny it?”
An old feeling of revulsion washed over Alejandro. “I merely confronted you about your cheating. I was in an already dark place, and you goaded me...”
“Oh, right. You had gone blind.”
Alejandro shook his head. “You mocked me, like that. To deflect attention from your cheating.”
“Of course I would turn to my lover. He actually cared about me.”
Weariness seeped in his bones. “Please, Alicia. Stop the lies.”
“Maybe you should watch your back. Isa, is it? You are welcome to him. ”
Alejandro rubbed his nape. “I’m tired of this conversation. Why are you really here? You couldn’t possibly have changed your mind and decided you love me after all.”
She burst into tears, her voice catching in sobs. “I’m penniless, Alejandro. I have no money.”
He stiffened, feeling no sympathy. “I’m sorry. That’s not my problem.”
“A girl needs clothes and my lifestyle is hard to maintain...”
“Please leave, Alicia, spare me some dignity, and never come back.”
“You don’t mean that!”
“I do. I have moved on.” He angled his head towards Isa. “It’s time you did too.”
“You’d better be careful,” Alicia said, “or he’ll discard you too.” She obviously meant it in spite for Isa.
“Get out.” Alejandro’s voice was low and dangerous.
“At the very least, give me the engagement ring,” she said.
“Why should I?” he said, frowning.
“You can well afford it.”
“It’s in my bedroom. First drawer of my dresser. I’ll have Horatio escort you.”
“I’m heading there now. Tell him to hurry.”
And that was it. He was so glad to be rid of her, then and now. The silence stretched after her departure.
“I’m sorry you had to hear that,” he told Isa.
“I’m sorry, too.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“Of course not. She’s a witch.” She came over and wrapped her arms around him. “I wouldn’t want to be married to her, if I were you.”
He embraced her tenderly. “That’s music to my ears.”
“I suppose I wouldn’t be a sight for sore eyes.”
“Mmm?” he asked.
“Nothing, this American’s just trying to be funny. I’m glad to have you.”
Horatio entered. “You called, sir?”
“Alicia is on her way to my bedroom to get her engagement ring. Among the cufflinks. Do you mind making sure she doesn’t take off with anything else?”
“Of course, sir.”
“She’s untrustworthy, like her cousin. Sticky fingers.”
After Horatio left, Alejandro held her close. “I hope that she has not soured you on the discussion of...”
“Marriage?”
He nodded. “Yes, marriage.”
“Only on one condition.”
His blood hummed with excitement. “And that is?”
“That Reina is part of the deal.”
He chuckled. “That, I can manage.”
There was shouting in the hallway, with Horatio telling a shrieking Alicia to leave the premises.
“What is it?” Alejandro said, when Horatio joined them.
“Nothing to worry about, Master. Miss Alicia was just slinking around and I nipped that in the bud.”
“Very good. Thank you, Horatio.”
After he left, Isa asked, “Aren’t you afraid she could have stolen from you?”
“I don’t care. I have everything I need right here.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her tenderly.
“I need to know something, first,” she said, pulling away. “I’ve burned with curiosity since I arrived. Why aren’t I allowed in your wing of the castle?”
Her question rattled him. She would hate him surely, if she were to find out his...secret. He pulled at his collar, which seemed tighter around his neck.
“Do you really want to know?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Come then, let me show you.”
Minutes later, they had reached his closed studio door. He reached for the knob and hesitated, turning his head Isa’s way.
Should he let her in? Would she take back her “yes” to his proposal?
He gripped the knob, his heart racing wildly.
“I’m scared,” he admitted.
“About what?” she asked.
“Of losing you.”
She put her arms around him and nuzzled his neck. He held on to her for dear life. They kissed with a tinge of desperation.
“I love you,” she said.
He kissed her again.
Opening the door and gestured for her to go in. He heard her footsteps echo loudly on the marble floor, then stop.
She gasped.
His heart thudded. What she must think of him...
“You’re horrified,” he said.
“I...I don’t know what to say.”
“I painted those as my eyesight failed. My own depiction of hell.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Isa shut her eyes to the depravity, the scenes of suffering, depicted on the roughly dozen or so pieces of canvas hung on the walls.
That this was the work of an artist she admired, let alone the work of the man she loved, was inconceivable. But didn’t everyone have darkness and light inside them?
“I should have destroyed them a long time ago,” he said in a flat voice, “shouldn’t I have?”
She tore her eyes away from the nearest painting, which showed the horrors of war.
Averting her eyes, she said, “I wouldn’t want it on a wall somewhere, but this was part of your healing. So no, you didn’t need to destroy them.”
“Like some badge of honor?”
“Yes.”
He smiled slowly.
“What?” she asked.
“I had been so afraid of what you would think of me. I was sure you would leave me.”
“Now why would I do that?” She walked up to him and put her arms around his neck. “You are a brilliant artist. I think you know I’ve always felt that way. But to be able to feel so deeply, to create this? It is sheer genius.”
The stubble of his jaw felt rough against her cheek. “I can see how you came up with your art. It must not be easy to face the remainder of your life in darkness. To not be able to create art!”
“Horrific.”
She kissed him tenderly. “Besides,” she said, “we have a book to finish.”
“No need to. I can easily pay it off, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
Isa couldn’t believe her ears. She pulled away from him and took a step backwards, her eyes filling with tears.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
As soon as the words escaped from his mouth, he sensed her agitation.
“Stop, Alejandro,” Isa said, backing away. “That’s not funny.”
“Well, it’s true. We can be done. You will stay here with me, and you don’t need an income. Just walk away from your publishing job.”
She stiffened in his arms. “You are kidding, right?”
Isa slipped out of his arms. He tried to reach for her again, but he could only barely make out her form , moving away.
“Please, Isabella. Mi amor.”
“You know by now that this project means a lot to me. I will see it to completion, whether or not I have your cooperation.”
Cold fingers gripped his heart. “That sounds strange. How exactly will you finish the book without my cooperation?”
“I could simply go to your colleagues. To your family. I could talk to your father.”
His voice was icy. “No, yo
u’re not .”
“Why not? That will round up out the experience.”
He couldn’t speak. Rage consumed him. His body trembled. “After what I told you, and you will fling him to my face?”
“After all I told you,” she flung back, “and you will dismiss my career, just like that?”
“I can take care of you!”
Her voice rose to match his. “What if I don’t want to be taken care of?”
He didn’t answer for a long moment. “Then maybe we’re not a good match.” He regretted the words as soon as he said them.
“You’re right.” Her voice sounded far away, like she had moved away from him further. “Goodbye, Alejandro. This time for good.”
Her footsteps receded into the hallway until there was just silence.
He didn’t call out to her. He simply could not do it, with his pride on the line. She could grovel to his father for the book. He would denounce it with every ounce of his body.
And then he slumped over, reaching for the arm of the couch. He had behaved badly. He couldn’t blame her for walking out on him, just when they had such a promising future. They could have talked more about her career. He could have easily accommodated it.
He thought back to his mother, who never worked outside the home. He had expected his wife to be more like her, he supposed. But of course Isa couldn’t be that.
If he even was going to continue painting.
He made his way to the castle wing where her bedroom was, his steps dragging as pain engulfed him. She meant it this time. He had heard the finality in her words.
He shouldn’t have pushed it with the book. It was almost done, but now, would she even give him another chance?
Maybe it was worth a shot.
But she didn’t answer his knocks on her door. Even after he laid bare his heart with what he’d hoped sounded like a heartfelt apology.
“Isa, I am truly sorry.”
“Go away.”
“I love you.”
“If you did, you wouldn’t be so careless with what you tell me.”
“I know. I’ve been stupid.”
“Please,” she said. “I just need space, okay?”
