Page 90 of Game of Revenge

After what felt like an eternal walk, I finally got to Richard, who was looking at me with tears in his eyes. He grabbed me as I turned around to see if Alejandro was okay.

From what I could see, all three men were already standing by their car, with Alejandro still standing outside, looking my way, his gun still in his hand. Richard rushed me inside the back of the car and got in next to me as two of his men got in the front. Before I could digest what was going on, the car started speeding away.

I screamed as I heard three gunshots go off.

I quickly turned to look through the back window, but it was hard to tell what had happened, who had shot. I could see the other two men Richard had brought with him shooting at Alejandro’s car. Someone on Alejandro’s team was on the ground, clearly hurt, but the car was already too far for me to be able to tell if it was Alejandro.

Richard pulled me and forced me to sit low as I heard more shots.

I screamed again and started crying, praying for Alejandro to be alive and unharmed.

The drive home was silent. I pretended to sleep the whole way. I did not have the strength to pretend to be happy to be reunited with Richard. He had hugged me and told me how relieved he was that I was safe and finally free. I had thanked him and returned his hug, but then I had claimed to be tired and avoided any other conversation.

I had no idea how long we had driven until we got across the border, then eventually through the main gate of Richard’s house. We had finally made it back to California.

“You are finally home,” said Richard, grabbing my hand.

“I am so happy to be here,” I mustered, forcing my most innocent smile. “Thank you, Richard. Thank you for rescuing me.”

“Of course! I know we have not always been on the best of terms, but you are my daughter.”

I resisted the urge to slap him. His hypocrisy was remarkable. The man deserved an Oscar. I smiled when I saw my nanny, in her maid uniform, run down the stairs to the car.

I hugged her with the little strength I felt, and we started crying.

“I am so happy to see you, my baby!” said Martha as she wiped the tears from my face.

“Me too, Nana. I missed you so much!”

Martha took me into her arms, completely ignoring Richard, and guided me to my bedroom as she ordered another one of the maids to bring food to the room. I was relieved to get away from Richard. I was overwhelmed with pain and resentment, and I could snap at him anytime and blow the plan.

All I could think about was whether Alejandro was okay, fear threatening to make me lose my mind and start screaming. But I couldn’t crack—not yet. Both of our safety depended on how I handled the next couple days.

Martha was a tall, full woman with kind, golden-brown eyes and a determined, sharp nose, who was always neat and clean and never worked without her light-blue maid uniform. She almost always wore her brown wavy hair in a bun—to keep her hair from slowing her down, as she had explained when I had inquired.

“Do you want to take a bath?” she asked as we sat on the corner of the bed.

“Yes,” I said, anxious to avoid any sort of conversation about the abduction.

It was always very hard for me to lie to Martha, but for her own sake, I had to try. Martha quickly got up to go run me a bath. I eventually followed her in and waited for her to leave before going back to the room and finding my cell phone. Martha had taken it out of the bag I left behind the night of the party and had kept it charged for me. I almost cried with happiness.

Hands shaking, I emptied my pockets. I put the ring on my dresser and opened the piece of paper with all the phone numbers that I had carefully folded and put in my jeans pocket. I called Alejandro. When I heard his voice, my knees got weak, and I had to sit back on the bed.

“Alejandro? Are you okay?”

“Amelia, I was worried sick. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m in the house, in my bedroom. You didn’t get shot?”

“No, one of my men did, but he is okay. Richard didn’t do anything to you?”

“No, I’m fine. I’m good. I just…I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I thought you got shot…I thought…”

“I’m okay, I promise.” We stayed silent for a couple of seconds. “Listen,” started Alejandro, “we need to talk.” He paused. “When I saw you walk away from me, I…”

I was startled when I heard a knock on the door. George walked in before I could say anything.

“I’m so happy to see you,” he said as he walked to me.