Page 85 of Game of Revenge

“Where were you all day?” Not only had I broken the silence, but I couldn’t even pretend not to care anymore, annoyed at myself.

“Trying to fix this mess,” he answered coldly, slowly turning toward me. “But you won, Amelia. Tomorrow, I am taking you to Richard.”

Alejandro got up, his back turned to me. I stood up to go to him, but stayed frozen.

“What do you mean?”

“Your plan worked. There is no convincing Mathias now. He wants you to go back home and get him the diamonds. So tomorrow evening, I will drive you to an abandoned factory by the border. Richard will meet us there.”

“But is this safe? What if things turn out wrong?”

“They won't. I will have backup. I will make sure you are okay and that he doesn’t try to hurt you again.”

“Isn’t tomorrow a little soon? I thought—”

“You thought what?” he asked brusquely, turning around to face me. “You got what you wanted, didn’t you?”

Alejandro closed the distance between us, standing in front of me with his jaw clenched. I didn’t know what to say. It was all becoming too real.

Yes, I had gotten what I wanted, but it was far off from what I needed. He shook his head and stared at the floor. I couldn’t talk, my heart was bleeding, I wanted him to hold me, but I was stuck in place. He started heading towards the door but changed his mind and walked back to me.

“You didn’t leave.”

“What?”

He looked up at me, the intensity in his eyes threatening to consume me.

“When we came here. You didn’t leave. You had my phone, you had my keys, hell, you even had cash. You could have left, but you didn’t. You stayed with me. You took care of me, nursed me back to life. Why did you? Why didn’t you leave me here?”

“I…I don’t know.”

I felt my throat burn with the tears I was fighting too hard to keep from showing.

“You don’t know?” he pushed, as he grabbed my arm. “You had your freedom at the tip of your fingers, Amelia. But you chose to stay. You chose us. You. Chose. Me.”

“Alejandro, please, don’t. It’s too late.”

I felt defeated. He wanted me to look inwards, to admit something to him. To admit what shouldn’t be. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It would ruin everything.

He brusquely let go my arm and took a step back, and shook his head to himself.

“Be ready by 5 p.m.,” he said as he quickly left the room.

I sat down. I couldn’t believe it all had happened so fast. I had hoped I would have had a few more days to savor every last minute with Alejandro before this had to end. I wiped the tears off my face. I was conflicted.

Part of me regretted what I had done, and I felt guilty, like I had betrayed Alejandro. But I was doing this for him. He was caught in an impossible situation, a sort of limbo state, and I was caught in it with him. This had to end somehow so we could both move on with our lives. I also did it for my own good.

The longer I stayed with him, the more I would love him and not want to leave him. The harder my heart would break when we eventually went our separate ways. There was no point in delaying the inevitable.

I got up, knowing what I wanted to do, not caring about any consequences. We had one last night together after all. I was going to make the best of it.

I went to Alejandro’s room. I didn’t knock. He was standing by his bed, wearing his dark-blue silk pajamas, shirt open. He was staring at me, confused and frowning. I walked straight to him, put my hands on each side of his face, and pulled him to me for a kiss.

Alejandro kissed me but removed my hands from his face, holding me at a distance while he took a good look at me. My cheeks flushed, feeling the weight of what felt like rejection, but he was not letting me go, still holding my hands, an inquisitive look on his face.

“Tell me what you need,” he asked between shallow breaths, showing me he needed me as much as I needed him.

So I bit my lip and took a risk.