And when I run out of promising leads, I just keep searching blindly.
I hire a black hat hacker to track her financials and run her photo through facial recognition. I chase down coyotes and smugglers, and even find a bribeable agent from the witness protection program. In my darkest nights, I search obituaries and lists of hospitalized Jane Does. I travel to the places people go to hide—Switzerland, Cuba, Andorra—and wander the streets, desperately waiting for a flash of red to catch my eye.
It’s like she dropped off the face of the planet.
I should have learned by now not to underestimate Selina Palacios.
But when I’m done, she’ll learn not to underestimate me.
It takes me six months, but I do it.
I finally find her.
I follow a trail of breadcrumbs to the Canadian wilderness, climbing high into the mountains despite the locals’ warnings that I’m wasting my time. My hackers and trackers and bounty hunters have all told me this is a wild goose chase, but they don’t understand.
I’ve been inextricably bound to Selina from the first moment I set eyes on her, drawn to her with a force that cannot be explained. There is nowhere in the world she could hide where that gravitational pull wouldn’t tug at me eventually. I’m in her magnetic field, and now that I’m close, I can feel her presence calling to me, a nearly physical certainty that my instincts are correct.
It’s not an easy hike, especially not for a born-and-raised Southerner like me. Cold air burns my cheeks more than the sun ever has, and the icy ground slips out beneath me every time I think I’ve finally found my footing. The atmosphere is thin up here, exponentially slowing me down the higher I go. But I refuse to give up. Every cell in my body can feel her nearness, and hope alone is enough to fuel my weary body.
It’s getting dangerously dark and deathly cold when I stumble into the small clearing. The smoke I followed for the last few miles pumps cheerily from the squat chimney of the nondescript cabin that sits placidly amongst the pines. I push open the door, and there she is. Her back is turned to me, facing the fireplace, and she’s wearing cheap flannel and has her hair cut short, but I know it’s her. I would recognize her shadow in the dark.
“Selina.”
I’m winded from the hike, breathless in the winter chill, exhausted from months of searching. Her name comes out of me like a prayer, desperate and pleading.
She turns, and my eyes slip over her thick lashes, the gentle smile on her naked lips. Her hands circle gently over her swollen belly, and finally, she speaks.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
The End
Thank you so much for reading Caged! I hope you enjoyed the conclusion of Javier and Selina’s story. If you did, please consider leaving a review. That would really help me out as a new author.
Selina and Javier’s twisted romance is complete, but I’m not done writing about their friends and enemies. To be notified as soon as the next book becomes available for pre-order, subscribe to my mailing list HERE.
To find more books by me, drop me a line, or follow me on social media, you can visit my website at www.francescabaez.com.
Caged: The Complete Trilogy Page 45
