- 12 hours ago
The Blackmailed Bride: Falling in Love With a Criminal Boss
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:02thank god are you okay he didn't chain you up somewhere he's not no no dungeons i'm fine
00:09you don't look fine she's right i don't feel fine i feel like i'm playing three different
00:13chess games at once and losing all of them i start to tell her about franco about tomas
00:17about the deadline but before i can get past the first sentence are you okay you seem terrified of
00:22him of course i'm terrified his men run the entire east coast he could be listening to us right now
00:26serena you're not making sense why do you even know so much about who's your dad something shifts
00:31in her expression something serious and old and tired like she's been waiting for this question
00:35and dreading it at the same time mia it's time you know who i am the door exploding open a
00:40masked man
00:40with a gun raised screaming at everyone to get on the floor the cafe erupts into chaos i freeze i
00:46stand
00:46in the middle of it all and my body simply refuses to move like it's deciding whether any of this
00:50is
00:50real mia get down i can't move you deaf i said down the robber spots me move why can't i
00:58move
01:06for one second i think it's over marco put it down please
01:16i stand there with a stranger's arm around neck and think absurdly about the alley three months ago
01:20about how i peeked my head out and said hello like an idiot about how that one bad decision led
01:24to every
01:25bad decision after it a chain of dominoes i set off the moment i dragged a bleeding cartel king off
01:29the pavement i really shouldn't have saved him then the door opens again emilio walks in like he has
01:33nowhere else to be like this is a meeting he scheduled gun raised jaw set eyes finding me in under
01:38a second
01:39oh yeah who's she the president's wife emilio shoots him in the arm the arm around my throat
01:43goes slack i drop serena catches me no you're not i don't see what happens next the world tilts
01:50go soft at the edges and i stop being able to hold myself up the last thing i feel before
01:55i feign is
01:56someone lifting me his arms his cologne that particular steadiness that shouldn't feel like safety but does
02:04the next morning a small army arrives at my door they work on me for two hours i sit in
02:09the chair
02:09and let them and feel like a doll being dressed for a party i didn't ask to attend which is
02:14technically
02:14exactly what's happening i slip out when they're arguing about earrings down the hall through the
02:19tall living room windows i spot emilio outside with diego he's in a sharp suit and he's furious jaw
02:24tight gesturing hard words muffled through the glass but unmistakably sharp he's beautiful when he's angry
02:29i noticed this and immediately wish i hadn't
02:34you're gonna tell me why you want my baby and what it have to do with palacio
02:38who the man at your apartment he knows he's known the realization lands slowly and then all at once
02:44and i think about every moment since he showed up at my door the conference table the handkerchief
02:48the drawer full of condoms and understand that he has been pulling at this thread the entire time
02:52i don't know what you're talking about do you know what happened to the last person who lied to me
02:57i cut out their tongue and made them eat it i hate them i blink hard he's a monster i
03:03tell myself
03:03remember that this isn't over i know it's never over that's the problem
03:10i walk in on emilio's arm in a dress that cost more than three months of my old salary diamonds
03:15at
03:15my throat and i feel like a very convincing fake emilio greets people with a smile that doesn't touch
03:20his eyes and steers me through the room with a hand at the small of my back that feels like
03:24both a
03:24claim and a warning stay close don't talk to anyone i'm not allowed to talk to people you've caused
03:30enough trouble on your own that wasn't in the contract i'm a cartel boss mia a contract won't
03:35stop me from doing whatever i want i don't see franco until his hand closes around my arm and yanks
03:41me
03:41into the shadows hello little mia you didn't forget our deal what are you doing here emilia invited
03:47we go way back emilio invited him the information sits in my chest in the stone i think about the
03:52look on emilio's face through the window furious deliberate i think about this isn't over you've been
03:56living with him for three weeks why aren't you pregnant yet
04:07what did you do to her nothing we were just talking why don't you ask her this scissors land
04:13between us like a grenade i watch emilio's grip loosen just slightly just for a moment and see
04:18it on his face the recalculation the betrayal trying to find its shape our eyes meet and i have never
04:23felt
04:23so exposed in my life then dealion is there murmuring something about engagement photos and emilio exhale
04:29through his teeth and goes i watch him walk away with his shoulders set and his jaw tight and
04:33something aching and hollow opens up in the middle of my chest you know something's wrong tell him
04:38yourself before this ends badly i can't under the bright lights of the photo area emilio and i stand
04:45six inches apart like strangers the photographer keeps asking us to move closer we comply in small
04:50miserable increments is it that unborable standing next to me only when you're mad at me i'm mad because
04:55you're hiding something i can't perfect now give each other a little kiss the silence that follows
05:00is approximately a thousand years long then emilio grabs my chin and kisses me it's not gentle it's
05:04a question with teeth demanding and frustrated and searingly humiliatingly effective the camera flashes
05:10go off like a small storm that was my first kiss that was my first kiss and he used it
05:14like prepuntuation
05:17his mouth was just there angry and warm and nothing like i'd imagined and i have absolutely been
05:23imagining it and that is a problem i don't have time for right now he was furious and i still
05:28got
05:28turned on what is wrong with me did you sleep with him who franco palacio is that what you're hiding
05:35is
05:36that why you wouldn't kiss me no i didn't sleep with him you shoved me away like i was contagious
05:39breathe i've never i haven't the fury in his expression shifts slowly like a tide going out it gives way
05:44to
05:45something quiet and more careful breathe through your nose he presses his lips to mine and this time it's
05:49nothing like before soft slow like he's asking instead of taking like he has all the time in
05:54the world and intends to use it one more i don't say no i don't say anything he kisses me
05:59again deeper
06:00one hand sliding to the back of my neck and i stop being able to think in anything but sensation
06:04warmth and the smell of his cologne and the ridiculous inconvenient certainty that i am in very
06:08serious trouble say yes ma'am yes then he stops not all at once he trails his lips down my
06:17throat
06:17unhurried while i'm still trying to remember what air is for his hands are at my waist mine are in
06:21his hair the whole world has narrowed down to this locked bathroom this basin his mouth but i don't
06:25think you deserve it yet what you're still hiding something from me you and my worst enemy i can't
06:30tell you i'm so he drops to his knees in front of me parting my legs and i barely have
06:34time to
06:35process what's happening before his mouth is on me and my head snaps back and i forget every
06:39coherent thought i've ever had you'll tell me eventually before it's too late he's using this
06:44against me i know he's using this against me i can't make myself care a security guard threatening
06:49to break it down promise me you'll tell me the truth or that guard walks in and finds you like
06:54this
06:54that's you can't that's blackmail yes i promise i'll tell you everything turns back to me eyes dark
07:01remember your promise he leaves i sit on the basin in the sudden quiet chest heaving ring
07:08glittering on my finger and press my hands to my face he used pleasure as a weapon and the worst
07:13part
07:13the part i can't stop thinking about as i swipe off the basin and fix my lipstick and walk back
07:17out into the party is that i would let him do it again sleep well you don't look like you
07:26slept well
07:26i can arrange a sleep therapist you used sex to blackrail me no i don't need a therapist i need
07:32a cop you think a cop would help no because you're the cartel king and you do whatever you want
07:37not
07:37everything i want not when it comes to you i don't know what to do with that i look at
07:42my hands i don't
07:43like being lied to mia i grew up in this world betrayal is the worst sin there is but i'll
07:48wait tell me when
07:48you're ready something in my chest loosens just slightly the first millimeter of relief in weeks i'll tell
07:54you at the right time i need to think it through that's all i need i have money you have
08:00peanuts buy
08:01whatever you want i'll see you tonight fiancee i look up from five credit cards and the ring on my
08:06finger and the ghost of his mouth on mine and i think about tobos and franco's deadline and the
08:10promise i made in a locked bathroom i'll tell him at the right time my phone buzzes it's a message
08:16from
08:16an unknown number a photo toast beaten barely consciousness a map pin one line of text come alone i'm running
08:23some errands today you can come along let's see how long you last i know that's what it was a
08:31list
08:31of errands emilio had quietly arranged a list of things i was supposed to need a list of reasons to
08:36stay close to the house i ditched them at the corner of fifth and character slipped into a doorway
08:40while they ran past in the wrong direction and stood there for three whole seconds feeling like i'd
08:45actually won something the address was a neighborhood that had given up on itself cracked pavement
08:50ford windows a smell like rust and old rain the building at the end of the block looked like it
08:55was held together by habit i pushed the door open anyway he needs me i told myself he can't hurt
09:01me
09:01yet there's no baby the whole scene arranged like something from a bad movie little mia took you long
09:08enough i had to get rid of emilio's people i'm not talking about that i'm talking about why you're not
09:12pregnant he looked up when he heard me my stomach turned he started pulling one of the women closer
09:16making a show of it watching my face when something slammed into the building from the back
09:23a sound like the world rearranging itself
09:32franco got one hand on my arm before a gunshot punched through the air and he dropped
09:40emilio stood in the doorway guns still raised still smoking he looked at franco on the floor for exactly
09:48one second then he looked at me you okay did he hurt you i couldn't make words happen i just
09:55shook my
09:56head against his chest and kept shaking take care of the rest we're leaving then he lifted me literally
10:02lifted me and carried me out of that building like i weighed nothing like it was the most natural
10:06thing in the world like he'd been doing it his whole life outside the afternoon light was so ordinary it
10:12almost hurt i kept waiting for him to put me down to say something cold to remind me that this
10:19was a
10:19contract and feelings weren't included he didn't he just held me against his chest in the back seat while
10:25diego drove and the city slipped past the windows like a film i wasn't part of he set me on
10:29the living
10:29room sofa carefully gently and told the staff to leave with a single look the room emptied in
10:34seconds it was just us and the afternoon quiet and the weight of everything that had happened in that
10:39filthy room he threatened my cousin he wanted me to have your baby so he could use the child as
10:44leverage against you why didn't you come to me he said he'd kill tomas if i did your cousin was
10:49working
10:50gladio he owed him money they built this trap together for you the word together landed like a
10:56stone what he gambled himself into a grave palazio owned him i stared at my hands the whole architecture
11:05of the past roots rearranged itself in my head toe sweeping on my floor the threats all of it planned
11:10all of it aimed at me sorry isn't gonna cut it
11:16i thought he was going to be cold about it that's what i braced for the cartel king voice the
11:21gun on
11:21the table voice that i told you so wrapped in ice instead he said something i didn't expect at all
11:28you own me i dropped meetings to pull you out of that coffee shop i kissed you at our engagement
11:32party when i should have been shaking hands i couldn't kill you when you lied to my face three
11:36times and i tried i sat there and i tried and i couldn't do it don't quote that stupid contract
11:41to
11:41me when you own me me espinoza body and soul as much as i own you kiss me like you
11:47own me his jaw
11:49worked he said something about not being able to stop once he started i didn't let him finish i grabbed
11:54his collar and pulled him down to me and for one second he went still with pure shock and then
11:59he took
11:59over kissing me like he'd been keeping it locked up for months which i think he had yes do whatever
12:05you
12:05want me punish me fuck me like you own me he looked at me for a long moment something fierce
12:11and half
12:12undone in his face don't say i didn't warn you yeah
12:21there's a mirror above the dresser in his bedroom i didn't notice it until he bent me over the drawers
12:25and his mouth found my neck and i looked up and saw us his hands in my hair my face
12:30flushed his eyes
12:31burning into mine through the glass look in the mirror look how slutty you get for me i couldn't
12:37look away i'm the only one who gets to see you like this do you understand yes lift your dress
12:44watch when i take you what followed i will not describe in detail because there are no adequate
12:49words for it i'll say that every time my eyes dropped he cupped my chin and brought my gaze back
12:53to the mirror mine every time he said mine i believed him more completely than i've believed
12:58anything in my life mine mine mine afterward we lay in the dark his arm across my waist his breath
13:08slow and even i stared at the ceiling and felt the particular silence of someone who has crossed a line
13:14they can't cross back over you own me mia espinoza i pressed my face into his shoulder and tried not
13:19to
13:20feel how much i wanted that to be true don't fall i told myself i was already falling
13:27one week later i came home to flowers that's not quite accurate i came home to an abundance of
13:32flowers a proliferation a situation that had clearly escalated well beyond what any reasonable person
13:37would call a floral arrangement every surface in the living room held a different vase the whole space
13:42smelled like a greenhouse had moved in while i was out standing in the middle of it introducing
13:46herself with a warm professional smile was a woman named ollie she was in her 30s polished very pretty
13:52and she was looking at the door behind me in a way that told me exactly who she was waiting
13:55for
13:55emilio came in 30 seconds later he stopped swept his eyes across the flowers then across me and
14:01something in his face went immediately soft and that way it only does when it's just us hello wife i
14:05missed
14:06you he dropped kisses on my forehead i held his forearms and forgot for a moment that there was a
14:12third person in the room you must be mr reyes i'm ollie i'm helping mrs reyes with the wedding florets
14:18emilio looked at all the flowers again how many flowers does a wedding need as many as i like you
14:24told me i could have whatever i wanted he leaned in close eyes warming i was thinking of something else
14:31entirely when i said that i shoved his chest he laughed and pulled me into his side i didn't
14:37notice ollie's expression yet i would
14:42the roses were imported from bulgaria apparently perfect for expressing passion
14:49a good fit for your character sir i looked at emilio he was looking at me what do you think
14:54they look pretty ollie pivoted to lilies before i finished the sentence they open with just a
15:00little attention and her eyes lingered on emilio the way eyes linger when they're not really looking
15:06at flowers they look cheap then orchids high maintained in it but a man like you can definitely
15:14afford to spoil someone stop both of them looked at me i know what you're doing and i don't like
15:22it
15:22ollie gave me a polished innocent smile mrs reyes i assure you it's mrs reyes you're flirting with my
15:30man in my house i don't like that emilio made a sound that was almost a laugh he lowered his
15:36mouth
15:37to my ear you're about to become a mob queen show her your claws i turned back to ollie you're
15:43fired
15:43you heard my wife security came she went the door closed emilio was grinning you called me your man
15:51because you are i told him he was sleeping on the couch in respect this was optimistic of me
15:59for what sin exactly you didn't shut her down you just stood there i was looking at you the whole
16:06time
16:06i didn't hear a word she said that's not the point couch i turned to walk away he caught my
16:12wrist i had
16:13about one second of thinking i'd won before he lifted me over his shoulder like i was a bag he
16:18was
16:18rearranging i squealed i couldn't help it put me down you'll be down when i decide you're down he
16:27carried me out of the room while i laughed and hit his back and told him he was ridiculous he
16:32ignored
16:32all of it with complete serenity on the other side of the city in the abandoned house where franco had
16:37died damien moved through the filthy rooms alone he stopped at the body crouched down studied what was
16:43left of the man who had been his instrument he stood up slowly coward he looked around at the decay
16:51the silence the ruined plan then he pulled out his phone guess i'm on my own now
17:01the letter appeared with breakfast morning wife you got a letter
17:07i read the first line and went completely still it was an admission letter nursing school i never
17:12applied for this i did he said it casually like it was obvious like the most natural thing in the
17:18world
17:18was for a cartel boff to submit nursing school applications on behalf of a woman he'd coerced
17:22into a contract marriage how did you even know i wanted to go back he stopped moving turned to look
17:28at me with an expression i'd never seen on him before completely serious completely open the night
17:34you saved me you said you were a nursing school dropout the storage room the blood his voice fading in
17:42and out as i pressed gauze to his chest trying to keep him here i'm a nursing school dropout you'll
17:49survive he'd been carrying that for months i listened to everything you say he took my hand and kissed the
17:56back of it told me the semester started on the 18th two weeks he'd arranged bodyguards i started to
18:00object he said to not a convoy and i let it go then i sat very still looking at the
18:05letter the 18th
18:06my period was late more than late i thought about the soreness i'd been ignoring for a week
18:12and a cold plerry moved through me fast and certain bathroom i was already gone
18:22i sat on the bathroom floor for a long time the test was in my hand two lines unmistakable sitting
18:31there in the morning light like the simplest and most complicated fact in the world pregnant i pressed
18:38my palm flat against my stomach nothing felt different yet the same body the same skin but
18:43somewhere in there something had started something that was half me and half the man in the kitchen who
18:48kissed the back of my hand and said i listened to everything you say the man who had carried me
18:53out of that building who said you own me and meant it with his whole body the man i needed
18:57to tell
18:58i thought about what it meant to be pregnant with the cartel king's child the leverage of it
19:03the danger of it the way a baby becomes a weapon in this world whether you want it to or
19:07not
19:08i thought about tomos about all the traps i'd walked into already and then i stopped thinking
19:14about danger and just felt it i'm going to be a mother emilio is going to be a father i
19:20wiped my
19:21face stood up open the door diego was in the hall where's emilio meeting miss with damian take me to
19:31him please it's important the boss doesn't like to be disturbed but something in my face must have
19:38convinced him he nodded i followed him out the test folded in my palm my heart running ahead of my
19:46feet
19:50diego walked me to the study door and left i could hear voices inside emilio and damrian low and urgent
19:56i raised my hand to knock and stopped the test was still in my palm two lines the most important
20:03thing
20:03i'd ever held then amadio's voice cut through the door mia's cousin she's a clown my hand dropped i
20:11stood very still i knew i should walk away i knew that eave dropping on the cartel king's private
20:16meetings was the kind of thing that ended badly in this world i pressed my ear to the door anyway
20:22he could have been useful he's mia's only blood relative tied to palosio's mob
20:29it was leverage what the hell is going on with you i'm just saying as the east coast cartel king
20:37you could play more strategically like not shooting your cousin-in-law in the head my blood went cold
20:46i couldn't move what i have with mia is none of your business damian said something else something about
20:53fixing things with her keeping tomas alive as a peace offering but the words were coming through
20:59water now muffled and distant shooting your cousin-in-law in the head tomas was dead emilio had
21:08killed him my cousin the only blood family i'd left the person whose life i'd accepted a mob marriage to
21:14save and emilio had shot him while timonis was under his roof while i was sleeping down the hall
21:20thinking i'd kept him safe damian said something about the forged will next lying about her inheritance
21:26just to marry her a sound at the door emilio's voice sharpened who's there
21:36i turned and ran
21:39i was packing before i fully decided to pack the suitcase was open on the bed and my hands were
21:45moving
21:45and the test was still in my fist i don't know why i kept holding it and emilio came through
21:51the door
21:5120 seconds later face pale wait what are you doing what does it look like mia let's talk i don't
21:59negotiate
22:00with the devil i tried to pass him he grabbed my arm stop let's talk i jerked free you lied
22:07you killed my
22:09cousin then you lied again there's nothing left to say he exhaled sharp and frustrated he's killing your
22:15scumbag cousin really that big of a deal i stared at him i waited for a moment to feel shocked
22:19but
22:20there was none left of course he said that of course he was a criminal boss who ran an empire
22:24built
22:24on violence and i had somehow convinced myself that the version of him who kissed my forehead and
22:28listened to everything i said was the real one does a human life mean anything to you i'm a criminal
22:34boss
22:35you knew that when you signed the contract
22:39which you forged my aunt never wanted me to marry you did she
22:45a long silence he didn't deny it you added the marriage clause to trap me so what i run a
22:53mob
22:54be grateful i didn't take you by force the words landed like a slap grateful he wanted me to be
22:59grateful so grateful grateful you dragged me into this hell got my cousin killed and got me
23:06the test was still in my hand i looked down at it the two lines looked back you'll never know
23:11i thought
23:12you don't deserve to i zipped the suitcase shut
23:18just let me go emilio you know i can't in one motion i reached across him and grabbed the gun
23:24from
23:24his hip i had it pressed against myself before i thought about what i was doing the barrel cold
23:29against my ribs my hand shaking tears running down my face mia his voice had changed completely
23:36all the cold stripped out of it either you let me walk out or i pull this trigger
23:44he went very still then he extended his hand palm up the way you'd extend a hand to a frightened
23:51animal give me the gun and i'll let you leave just like that yes you know i can't say no
23:59to you
24:01just give me the gun please the please undid something in my chest i hated that it did after
24:09a long moment i laid the gun in his palm he tucked it away without breaking eye contact we can
24:15fix this
24:16we can pretend none of this happened i can't pretend everything between us was built on lies
24:22he stepped closer his voice dropped thick with something he was fighting to contain my feelings
24:28for you aren't lies a tear ran down my face i looked at his face really looked at it this
24:34man who had
24:35saved me and lied to me and killed my cousin and kissed my forehead in the morning all of it
24:40true at the
24:40same time none of it simple i took his hand i placed the ring in his palm goodbye emilio he
24:47stood frozen
24:47fist closing around the ring as i walked out the door
24:54i went to serena's she opened the door before i finished knocking took one look at my face and pulled
25:00me inside without asking any questions she made tea she handed me tissues she sat with me on the sofa
25:06and let me cry until there was nothing left then she waited he killed my cousin
25:13he lied about the inheritance everything from the beginning was fabricated to get me into that
25:21house serena was very quiet she handed me another tissue
25:29too quiet
25:31i looked at her serena
25:35he killed my cousin why aren't you shocked she couldn't meet my eyes serena
25:43why do you look like you already knew a long silence the kind that means the answer is going to
25:48change things i brought domus to him the room tilted what
25:57my dad is a mafia don
26:00i heard the words i process them in a very distant clinical way
26:06the way you process information that is too large to fit into the ordinary world you lied to me
26:15for five years i hid it to protect you so you'd never get dragged into this mob world
26:23but then emilio showed up and did you know he killed my cousin
26:27the silence that followed was the worst silence of my life yes
26:32emilio shot your cousin in front of me i pulled away from her she reached for my arm
26:38mia please my family doesn't change who i am what you mean to me
26:45you sound just like him i lied to protect you
26:51you watched him die and you didn't tell me
26:54i stood up she scrambled after me saying my name reaching for my arm
27:00i got to the door
27:01mia wait we're done serena i ran
27:07the street was cold
27:10serena chased me for half a block before her phone rang and she stopped
27:13i didn't look back i just walked arms wrapped around myself no destination
27:17no plan just moving because stopping felt like drowning
27:20i thought about my mother who had died and left me in a world i didn't understand
27:23i thought about toas who had sold me to a monster for gambling debts
27:27i thought about the ring i'd left in emilio's hand and the test still folded in my pocket and
27:31the fact that i was pregnant and alone in the dark with nowhere to go the city moved around me
27:35indifferent a car slowed alongside me i squinted emilio the door opened not emilio damien
27:49relax i'm not dragging you anywhere then what do you want i have orders to stay with you but
27:57i can take you to a safe house emilio won't know he watched my face patient almost gentle i can
28:04even
28:04get you out of the country
28:08i stared at him damien was smiling that easy smile hands in his pockets like he was offering
28:13him a ride to the airport nothing in his face looked wrong why would you help me you're his
28:17brother i'd like to balance out some of the bad i've done i'll handle your phone he put a tracker
28:23on it even works when it's off i looked down at my phone then at him then at the dark
28:30street
28:30stretching in both directions with nowhere to go i handed him the phone he took it and i climbed
28:35into the back seat i was so tired i was so tired of being afraid of running of trying to
28:41stay one
28:42step ahead of men with more power than i would ever have the leather seat was warm damien got into
28:47the front without speaking there's water in the back if you need it i reached for the bottle opened
28:54it took a long drink thank you damien you're a good man he watched me in the rearview mirror
29:00and something moved across his face that i didn't have time to read
29:06the water tasted like water that was the last thing i registered clearly then the edges of the
29:12window started to blur the street lights smeared into long yellow streaks my hand felt very heavy
29:18i looked down at the bottle in my lap and thought distantly that something was wrong
29:26what the thought didn't finish i slumped sideways and the world went out like a light
29:33in the front seat damien watched me through the mirror his easy smile had changed into something else
29:39entirely something that had been waiting behind it all along sweet little mia you have no idea what's
29:47coming for you or for my arrogant half brother we're on our way have the island ready outside the city
29:57light slid past and fell behind us and emilio's mansion disappeared into the dark and i was gone
30:02before i knew i'd been taken i woke up to the sound of ocean that was wrong i lived in
30:10the city the city
30:12didn't sound like that steady and vast and indifferent like breathing from a long way away
30:17i lay still for a moment with my eyes closed waiting for the world to reassemble itself into something
30:22familiar it didn't i opened my eyes an unfamiliar room whitewashed walls wooden shutters light coming
30:30in sideways and gold not a hotel not anywhere i'd ever been i got up and went to the window
30:37trees ocean nothing else in any direction the door opened behind me good you're awake i turned around
30:47he was standing in the frame hands in his pockets looking pleased with himself in that particular way
30:53that meant something had gone exactly according to plan where am i somewhere no one can find you
30:59not even my brother the memory came back all at once the car the water the bottle in my hand
31:07the
31:07edges of the window blurring you kidnapped me smart girl i see why emilio kept you around
31:16but not smart enough he moved into the room and i stepped back until the wall found me
31:26he told me about palacio not the way i'd understood it franco as emilio's enemy using me as a pawn
31:32damien had been behind franco the whole time he'd found my cousin the moment he ran my background check
31:37he'd built the trap handed tomas to franco and watched the whole thing play out from inside emilio's
31:41house franco palano was a fucking idiot but he was a useful one until your cartel king shot him in
31:48the head
31:49my cousin died because of you his expression didn't change i slapped him his head snapped
31:56sideways a beat of absolute silence then he turned back and the easy smile was gone replaced by something
32:03that had always been underneath it he grabbed my throat and slammed me into the wall you're lucky i need
32:11you or i'd choke the life out of you right now his eyes moved over me in a way that
32:17made my skin crawl
32:18if my cold-hearted brother is obsessed with you there must be something worth exploring he leaned in
32:25i bit him hard
32:30he pulled back with a snarl and i saw his arm draw back don't please i'm pregnant his fist stopped
32:37the room went very quiet damien stared at me the fury draining out of his face and being replaced by
32:43something more dangerous calculation you're pregnant with emilio's baby i nodded my throat
32:50ached where his hand had been he stepped back then he started laughing really laughing the kind that
32:55fills a room and i stood against the wall and watched him and felt a cold creeping dread oh this
33:00is gold palami actually pulled it off i thought his plan to knock you up was ridiculous emilio would
33:05never never what there's a rumor he's infertile maybe it's real maybe he spread it so women wouldn't
33:10chase him either way you and that baby just changed everything he headed for the door still grinning
33:15what are you going to do to me he turned one hand on the frame relax
33:22i was gonna let my men have some fun with you but now i need that baby unharmed
33:31he told me about the island pacific private surrounded by his army and buried in the ground
33:40all around the house explosives enough to bring everything down triggered by a detonator he kept
33:45on his person if emilio tries anything boom then he left me there i slid down the wall and sat
33:52on the
33:52floor and tried to think the ocean kept making its vast in a myrient sound outside the shuttered window
34:00you're on a private pacific island surrounded by a full army with bombs underneath you i pressed both
34:07hands flat against my stomach i'm going to get us out of here i didn't know if that was true
34:12i said
34:13it anyway because someone had to i thought about the note emilio had tucked into a nursing school
34:19envelope i listened to everything you say i thought about the way he'd lifted me out of
34:24franco's building like i was something worth carrying i thought about his fist closing along my ring
34:30find me i thought please find me the door stayed closed the ocean kept breathing i stayed on the floor
34:39and i waited on the third night a hand touched my shoulder i jolted awake already pulling back
34:46already opening my mouth to scream and a hand covered it a familiar weight a familiar smell
34:51mia it's me a voice in my ear barely a breath i collapsed into him he held me for exactly
34:58three
34:58seconds his arms around me his chin on my head the realness of him solid and overwhelming and then
35:04he pulled back and cupped my face and checked me the way he checked me in the warehouse all those
35:09months ago systematic and frantic at the same time are you hurt no how did serena and your mafia
35:16princess friend has a helicopter he pressed his lips to my forehead quick and fierce follow my
35:20lead we're heading to the chopper stay close stay quiet he had a gun in his hand he opened the
35:24door
35:24checked the corridor and guided me out into the dark we made it 30 feet damien's voice came from
35:32ahead of us easy and amused like he'd been waiting since when does the cartel king use knockout drugs to
35:39sneak in emilio stopped gun raised since when do you skip dinner
35:47damien stepped out of the shadows in his hand raised between two fingers like a cigarette
35:53was the detonator since the day dad handed you the cartel his thumb hovered over the button
36:01amalio moved in front of me without thinking about it blocking me with his body drop the gun brother
36:11emilio dropped it you want the cartel fine i'll give it to you i don't want the stupid mob it's
36:18you it's always been you his voice had broken open and underneath the ease and the planning and the
36:23long patient game was something rawr something that had been sitting in that house for years
36:28growing in the dark then take me do whatever you want but let mia go don't drag her into this
36:37it happened in less than a second emio crossing the corridor in two strides shoulder dropping
36:41crashing into his brother the detonator flew from damian's hand but damio's smile came back
36:46colder than before no your offspring isn't getting out today either he turned to me slowly and in
36:55that moment nothing in his face was the cartel king nothing was the man who made rooms go silent and
37:00had people removed he just looked at me like i was the only thing in the room that mattered you're
37:05pregnant i nodded his jaw set he turned back to demian not happening
37:16then we all die his thumb moved emilio lunged he of them hit the window behind
37:23them and went through it in a shower of glass and frame and night air
37:30emilio
37:33silence then the night outside was just the ocean and the dark and the sound of my own breathing
37:39ragged and desperate i ran for the door
37:44they were both on the ground outside unconscious not moving damian face down in the dirt emilio on
37:52his back with his eyes closed and one arm thrown wide and glass in his hair i heard voices serena
37:59marco running toward me i dropped to my knees beside emilio
38:06emilio emilio wake up we have to go
38:10mia marco was already beside me hands on emilio's chest pressing and counting i sat there and held
38:18emilio's hand and watched marco's face and couldn't breathe come back come back
38:30emilio coughed his chest heaved his eyes opened everyone let out a breath at the same time
38:38i'm okay we need to move he started to get up i helped him my hands shaking choppers ready
38:46this way emilio stood unsteady and looked at damian's limp body
38:53you go ahead i need to finish him
38:59i'm not leaving you you want to watch me shoot my own brother
39:04i don't care
39:07you're pregnant mia go his voice was gentle but final the voice that meant he'd already decided
39:14promise you'll come i promise serena took my arm i let her pull me away looking back over my shoulder
39:21at emilio standing over his brother in the dark he didn't look back at me he was already somewhere
39:25else somewhere cold and necessary he's going to be fine he's emilio reyes we were 20 yards from the
39:31house then 30. the helicopter was somewhere ahead its blades beginning to turn i kept walking he promised
39:38he promised he promised he promised
39:43the world turned white the sound hit me a full second after the light a wall of pressure and noise
39:49that knocked me sideways serena's grip tearing loose i turned around the house was on fire
39:55not catching fire already fire instant and total a column of flame reaching up into the dark sky
40:02the windows gone the roof already folding the air tasted like smoke
40:08i couldn't move serena was saying something marco was saying something the helicopter blades were
40:14louder now someone was pulling at my arm and i couldn't move because emilio was in that house
40:19and he had promised and he was in that house no the word came out of me like something being
40:24torn out
40:25no emilio serena had both arms around me from behind holding me back i fought her i don't remember
40:31deciding to fight her my body just refused to go anywhere without him marco was already running back
40:39toward the burning house calling into his radio i stopped fighting i just stood there in serena's
40:45arms and watched the fire eat the house and felt the heat on my face and thought about a man
40:50in a
40:50study saying i listened to everything you say and a man in a corridor with his shoulder dropping and
40:55his body going through glass going through glass to keep a detonator out of his brother's hand
41:00going through glass for me the flames climbed higher the night was orange and black i pressed
41:06both hands over the small life inside me and i waited and i waited and i waited and no one
41:13came
41:15five months later that's what the subtitle would say if my life were a movie five months later a neat
41:22jump cut all the grief and the waiting and the nights i lay awake with one hand on my stomach
41:28and
41:28the other pressed to my mouth to keep quiet compressed into three words and a hard cut to a woman
41:33on a
41:34street corner in white gloves me i'm eight months pregnant and i'm wearing white gloves and i'm standing
41:40on a sidewalk watching a homeless man run he thinks he's running from the two cars that boxed him in
41:47he's not he's running from me the car door opens i step out damien stops he looks older thinner five
41:58months on the street will do that five months knowing that the woman whose house you burnt out is carrying
42:03the air to the ray s cartel and is looking for you that will do it too i pull off
42:08one gloves finger by
42:10finger hello brother-in-law my men take him before he can speak wait mia we should talk yes we
42:24should
42:27the basement of the reyes mansion is very quiet i had diaz repaint it new lighting a good chair for
42:34me
42:34to sit in positioned at exactly the right distance i learned from the best after all i watched emilio
42:40run this house for months i know how it's done i sit with my legs rapes crossed and my hands
42:45folded over
42:46my stomach and i watched two of my men work damien screams he begs he says my name like it's
42:53a password
42:54that will open a door like some part of him still believes i'm the nursing student from the fast food
42:58restaurant who cried on a sofa and couldn't look emilio in the eye i'm not her anymore make this stop
43:04please i give the men a look they hit harder after a while i raise a hand and they stop
43:11the basement
43:11goes quiet except for damien's ragged breathing and the distant sound of the city outside i stand up and
43:17walk over to him tell me where he is damien looks up at me through blood his smile is still
43:27there
43:28somehow cracked and terrible come closer i'll tell you
43:35i leaned down his mouth was near my ear and i stayed perfectly still and waited he's rotting in hell
43:44just like you will be you stupid i straightened up i pulled the gun from the back of my waistband
43:52the one diego had started leaving on my night state three months ago after the first two attempts on my
43:57life after i'd started running this operation alone and i shot damien once he slumped i stood there for
44:04a moment and looked at him emilio's brother the man who had built every trap i'd walked into
44:10the man who had burned down the house with emilio inside it then i peeled off the other glove
44:15folded both of them together and walked out
44:20diego was waiting in the rordo with a package mail address to your name ma'am he held it out
44:25the label
44:26read mia espinoza i frowned i thought i changed my last name on everything could be from before
44:36i took it
44:40i opened it in the study
44:43a file legal documents a will notarized witness dated three months before leshia died
44:50i read the first page and had to sit down 100 million dollars her actual inheritance not the fabricated
44:57clause amicio had invented to get me into his house the real thing the money she'd spent her life
45:03always meant to be to the niece she wrote letters to and called her girl where it all started i
45:08thought diego stood near the door mr reyes would have found you regardless of the inheritance
45:18sounds like him i turned to the last page and a small piece of paper fell out folded once the
45:24size
45:24of a fortune cookie slip i picked it up the handwriting was emilio's i'd seen it on a hundred things
45:29notes
45:29contracts the margin of a book he'd left open on the kitchen counter i'd have known it anywhere
45:33it said love at first sight i sat there holding that small piece of paper for a long time
45:38then i pressed it against my chest and closed my eyes i'll find you emilio reyes wherever you are
45:47he was in sicily i didn't know that yet i knew it the way you know things when you've been
45:52running
45:52someone's empire for five months and you've learned to read diego's face there was somewhere he wouldn't
45:57look some piece of information that lived just behind his careful professional expression but he
46:03wouldn't tell me and i understood why emilio had told him not to so i waited on a balcony overlooking
46:10the mediterranean a man in a wheelchair watched the ocean he'd been watching it for weeks the light
46:17changed the water changed he watched it all with the patience of someone who has decided not to go
46:22anywhere until they're ready serena flew to sicily on a tuesday she found him on the balcony thinner than
46:29she'd left him the ocean wind moving through his hair she dropped a photograph on his lap without
46:34greeting him first in the photo damien dead emilio picked up the photo looked at it for a long moment
46:41that's my girl she's gonna be pissed if you're not there when she gives birth i can't see her like
46:51this you could show up as a worm and she'd still love you i'm tired of lying to my best
46:56friend again
46:59she'll forgive you serena ground and sat down on the low wall beside his chair the mediterranean was
47:05the specific blue it gets in the late afternoon almost violet at the edges come back with me tomorrow i'm
47:11flying out in the morning no emilio i'll return when i can stand on my own feet i want her
47:18to know
47:19i'm still the man who can protect her and our baby serena stared at him for a long moment toxic
47:25masculinity from a cartel king who would have thought a beat you know you're kind of cute in
47:30a wheelchair don't let your bodyguard hear that he helps me to the bathroom serena laughed a real laugh
47:36surprised out of her she stood up and kissed the top of his head don't take too long she walked
47:42out
47:44emilio stayed on the balcony until the light was gone
47:49he reached into his pocket the ring was small and cold and familiar mia's engagement ring the one
47:57she'd placed in his palm in the bedroom and walked away from he'd been carrying it since that night through
48:02the crash through the window through however many surgeries he didn't fully remember through the
48:06months of physical therapy on this balcony overlooking the sea he turned it in his fingers
48:11he thought about the night in the alley when he'd looked up from the pavement and seen a woman he'd
48:15never met pressing gons to his chest and telling him to stop moving or he'd bleed more he'd been half
48:19dead and delirious and he thought i know you i don't know you yet but i know you lietia had
48:23talked
48:24about her for years her niece the nursing student the girl who sent letters and called every sunday and
48:29had her mother's stubbornness and her own fierce particular kindness he'd carried the shape of her
48:34before he knew her face he closed his hand around the ring i'm coming back to you mia the ocean
48:40was
48:40dark now the stars were coming out one by one over sicily i'm coming back
48:50two months later i thought giving birth at home would be easier i was wrong it's never easy i hate
48:57you
48:58i hate you emilio reyes almost there one more push i hate you i pushed the world split open and
49:06then
49:06there was a sound small and indignant and completely certain of itself and the doctor was saying
49:12something i couldn't hear and someone was crying and i thought it might be me ma'am you need to
49:17stay
49:18with us you haven't seen your baby but i'm just so tired i was tired in a way i had
49:23never been tired
49:23before down into the marrow my body suddenly hollow and enormous at the same time stay stay you have to
49:30stay my eyes closed someone said my name i tried to hold on then at the edge of the light
49:36a silhouette
49:37appeared in the doorway not diego not serena not a doctor a silhouette that moved the way only one
49:44person in my life had ever moved he was standing on his own feet that was the first thing i
49:52registered
49:52not that he was there not even that he was alive but that he was standing on his own two
49:56feet in the
49:57doorway of my hospital room wearing clothes i didn't recognize thinner than i remembered with a look on
50:01his face that i had no word for mia my name in his voice i had been so tired a
50:07moment ago the darkness
50:07had been pulling me down and i had been letting it because i didn't have anything left to fight with
50:12but my eyes opened emilio he crossed the room he dropped to his knees beside the bed he took my
50:18face
50:18in both hands and pressed his forehead to mine i felt him shaking this man who never shook who never
50:22showed anything who had spent 32 years building a wall around himself and had spent six months tearing
50:26it down for me he was shaking somewhere behind him a baby was crying our baby ours you came i
50:32told
50:32you i was coming back outside the hospital window the city was beginning its ordinary morning entirely
50:36aware that something fundamental had just changed inside i closed my eyes and held on to him and
50:41listened to the small indignant perfect sound of our daughter announcing herself to the world we were
50:45here both of us finally this is what i know now i know that love is not the clean safe
50:53thing i thought
50:54it would be when i was 22 and working at a fast food counter and keeping a wish list of
50:58what my
50:58life was supposed to become i thought love would feel like arriving somewhere i thought it would be
51:02warm and certain and uncomplicated it is none of those things it is a man pressing gauze to a wound
51:10in a
51:10back room it is a ring in a palm and a door closing and a house going up in flames
51:16it is five months of
51:18running an empire i didn't ask for learning the weight of a gun and the patience required to
51:24wait for someone who promised to come back he is not a good man in the simple sense i know
51:29what he
51:30runs and what it costs and i have made my peace with the distance between who he is out there
51:34and
51:35who he is in this room holding our daughter like she's the most fragile and important thing he's
51:40ever been handed he is sitting in the chair beside my bed and she is asleep on his chest and
51:45he is not
51:45looking at anything in the room except her she has his dark eyes she has already even at one day
51:51old a particular expression of absolute conviction that i recognize from watching him walk into rooms
51:55i saved a man in an alley once i was 22 and afraid and i had no idea what i
52:01was saving him into best
52:03mistake i ever made
52:04mistake i ever made
Comments