Page 109 of Game of Revenge

“There is nowhere I would rather be than by your side, Amelia.”

She shook her head. “Alejandro.”

“Please, Amelia.”

“Just, please…don’t,” she begged when I got closer to her. I gently took her face between my hands.

“I’m not losing you, baby,” I promised as my throat closed up.

“I can’t.”

“You’re scared. I get that. Your life got turned upside down in a matter of months. Pero no me voy a dar por vencido. Me entiendes?”

“You know we were doomed from the beginning, Alejandro. This will never work between us.”

“Why? Richard is dead. Mathias is gone. There is nothing stopping us.”

“I can’t do this,” she said as a sob escaped from her mouth.

God, I would give my life to remove the pain that haunted her, darkening her aura. My strong girl, my loving girl, my loyal girl… Seeing her in pain was a knife to the stomach. Her tears burned a thousand times more than the bullet. I took a step closer, wrapped my hand around her wrist and pulled her close to me.

“I love you,” I said, and before she could say anything, I kissed her.

She gasped, but I didn’t care.

I was desperate.

Desperate to feel her, desperate to love her, desperate to hear that she loved me too.

I needed her, body and soul, and I was running out of options. It felt as if she was slipping through my fingers the longer we were away from each other.

“Please, Alejandro,” she begged as she pushed slightly against me.

“I need time. I need some time.”

My heart shattered into pieces.

But I took her face between my hands again, not giving a fuck about all the eyes staring at us. I kissed her again, tasting her tears. I would have given anything to erase them, to make her feel better.

“Ok, mi muñeca, if that’s what you want, even if I am breaking inside, I will give you space. But understand this, I am not losing you. I am not going away. I belong to you, mi niña, and you belong to me.”

She put her hands on mine, still framing her face. She nodded her head up and down ever so slightly before she turned around and went to her friend. The brunette I knew to be Chloe took her in her arms as she stared at me, her anger gone. There was only sadness there, a deep need to take her friend’s pain away. The blonde I knew as Iris walked up to me.

“Thank you for saving her life. Give her some time…just a little more,” she whispered, seemingly making sure others didn't hear her.

She had no idea how much her words meant to me. It meant Amelia didn’t hate me. It meant she confided in her friends. It meant they knew she loved me, even if she wouldn’t admit it to me, or to herself. I looked in her direction one more time. She had her sunglasses off and was looking at me, a small smile on her lips. There was hope. There had to be. Because a life without Amelia…that wasn’t a life worth living.

Chapter 54

Amelia

A WEEK LATER

It had been a few days since I came to Napa. After attending Richard’s funeral, it all was more than I could handle. I had been feeling a bit guilty about his demise. I had helped get him charged with murder, after all, but I couldn’t think like that.

The funeral had been a discreet affair that I could not have put together without Martha and my friends. I toyed with the idea of not doing anything. But I did it for me, for closure. Barely anyone showed up, which was what I expected. After all, no one wanted to be seen at the funeral of a murderer.

But Alejandro…he came.