- 7 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
01:38under a second oh yeah who's she the president's wife emilio shoots him in the arm the arm around
01:43my throat goes slack i drop serena catches me no you're fucking not i don't see what happens next
01:49the world tilts go soft at the edges and i stop being able to hold myself up the last thing
01:54i feel
01:55before i feign is someone lifting me his arms his cologne that particular steadiness that shouldn't feel
02:00like safety but does the next morning a small army arrives at my door they work on me for two
02:08hours
02:08i sit in the chair and let them and feel like a doll being dressed for a party i didn't
02:12ask to attend
02:13which is technically exactly what's happening i slip out when they're arguing about earrings
02:18down the hall through the tall living room windows i spot emilio outside with diego he's in a sharp suit
02:23and he's furious jaw tight gesturing hard words muffled through the glass but unmistakably sharp he's
02:28beautiful when he's angry i 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
02:47the drawer full of condoms and understand that he has been pulling at this thread the entire time
02:51i 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
03:02tell 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
03:24a claim and a warning stay close don't talk to anyone i'm not allowed to talk to people
03:29you've caused enough trouble on your own that wasn't in the contract i'm a cartel boss mia
03:34a contract won't stop me from doing whatever i want
03:38i don't see franco until his hand closes around my arm and yanks me into the shadows
03:42hello little mia you didn't forget our deal
03:45what are you doing here emilio invited we go way back
03:48emilio invited him the information sits in my chest like a stone i think about the look on
03:52emilio's face through the window furious deliberate i think about this isn't over
03:56you've been living with him for three weeks little mia why aren't you pregnant yet
04:07what did you do to her nothing we were just talking
04:10why don't you ask her this scissors land between us like a grenade
04:14i watch emilio's grip loosen just slightly just for a moment and see it on
04:18his face the recalculation the betrayal trying to find its shape our eyes meet and i have never
04:22felt so exposed in my life then de leon is there murmuring something about engagement photos and
04:28emilio exhale through his teeth and goes i watch him walk away with his shoulders set and his jaw tight
04:33and something aching and hollow opens up in the middle of my chest you know something's wrong
04:37tell him yourself before this ends badly i can't under the bright lights of the photo area emmanuel
04:44and i stand six inches apart like strangers the photographer keeps asking us to move closer
04:49we comply in small miserable increments is it that unborable standing next to me only
04:53when you're mad at me i'm mad because you're hiding something i can't perfect now give each other a
04:57little kiss the silence that follows is approximately a thousand years long then emilio grabs my chin and
05:03kisses me it's not gentle it's a question with teeth demanding and frustrated and searingly humiliatingly
05:08effective the camera flashes go off like a small storm that was my first kiss that was my first
05:13kiss and he used it like propuntuation his mouth was just there angry and warm and nothing like i'd
05:21imagined and i have absolutely been imagining it and that is a problem i don't have time for right now
05:26he was furious and i still got turned on what is wrong with me did you sleep with him what
05:33who
05:34franco palacio is that what you're hiding is that why you wouldn't kiss me no i didn't sleep with him
05:37you shoved me away like i was contagious because i couldn't breathe i've never i haven't the fury in
05:40his expression shifts slowly like a tide going out it gives way to something quiet and more careful
05:46breathe through your nose he presses his lips to mine and this time it's nothing like before soft
05:50slow like he's asking instead of taking like he has all the time in the world and intends to use
05:55it
05:55one more i don't say no i don't say anything he kisses me again deeper one hand sliding to the
06:01back of my neck and i stop being able to think in anything but sensation warmth and the smell of
06:05his cologne and the ridiculous inconvenient certainty that i am in very serious trouble say yes ma'am yes
06:14then he stops not all at once he trails his lips down my throat unhurried while i'm still trying to
06:18remember what air is for his hands are at my waist mine are in his hair the whole world has
06:22narrowed down
06:22to this locked bathroom this basin his mouth but i don't think you deserve it yet what you're still
06:27hiding something from me you and my worst enemy i can't tell you i'm sorry he drops to his knees
06:32in
06:32front of me parting my legs and i barely have time to process what's happening before his mouth is on
06:37me and my head snaps back and i forget every coherent thought i've ever had you'll tell me eventually
06:41before it's too late he's using this against me i know he's using this against me i can't make myself
06:47care a security guard threatening to break it down promise me you'll tell me the truth or that guard
06:53walks in and finds you like this you can't that's blackmail yes i promise i'll tell you everything
06:58turns back to me eyes dark remember your promise
07:04he leaves i sit on the basin in the sudden quiet chest heaving ring glittering on my finger and press
07:09my hands to my face he used pleasure as a weapon and the worst part the part i can't stop
07:14thinking
07:14about as i slip off the basin and fix my lipstick and walk back out into the party is that
07:18i would
07:19let him do it again sleep well you don't look like you slept well i can arrange a sleep therapist
07:28you
07:29used sex to black rail me no i don't need a therapist i need a cop you think a cop
07:33would help no
07:34because you're the cartel king and you do whatever you want not everything i want not when it comes to
07:40you i don't know what to do with that i look at my hands i don't like being lied to
07:44mia i grew up in
07:45this world betrayal is the worst sin there is but i'll wait tell me when you're ready something in my
07:50chest loosens just slightly the first millimeter of relief in weeks i'll tell you at the right time
07:56i need to think it through that's all i need i have money you have peanuts buy whatever you want
08:02i'll see you tonight fiancee i look up from five credit cards in the ring on my finger and the
08:06ghost of his
08:07mouth on mine and i think about topos and franco's deadline and the promise i made in a locked
08:11bathroom i'll tell him at the right time my phone buzzes it's a message from an unknown number a photo
08:17toast beaten barely consciousness a map pin one line of text come alone i'm running some errands today you
08:24can come along let's see how long you last i know that's what it was a list of errands emilio
08:32had
08:32quietly arranged a list of things i was supposed to need a list of reasons to stay close to the
08:36house i ditched them at the corner of fifth and character slipped into a doorway while they ran
08:41past in the wrong direction and stood there for three whole seconds feeling like i'd actually won
08:45something the address was a neighborhood that had given up on itself cracked pavement board windows a
08:51smell like rust and old rain the building at the end of the block looked like it was held together
08:55by
08:56habit i pushed the door open anyway he needs me i told myself he can't hurt me yet there's no
09:02baby
09:02the whole scene arranged like something from a bad movie little mia took you long enough i had to get
09:09rid of emilio's people i'm not talking about that i'm talking about why you're not pregnant he looked
09:13up when he heard me my stomach turned he started pulling one of the women closer making a show of
09:17it
09:18watching my face
09:21when something slammed into the building from the back a sound like the world rearranging itself
09:31franco 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
09:47exactly one second then he looked at me you okay did he hurt you i couldn't make words happen i
09:55just
09:55shook my head against his chest and kept shaking take care of the rest we're leaving then he lifted
10:01me literally lifted me and carried me out of that building like i weighed nothing like it was the most
10:06natural thing in the world like he'd been doing it his whole life outside the afternoon light was so
10:11ordinary it almost hurt i kept waiting for him to put me down to say something cold to remind me
10:19that
10:19this was a contract and feelings weren't included he didn't he just held me against his chest in the
10:24back seat while diego drove and the city slipped past the windows like a film i wasn't part of
10:28he set me on the living room sofa carefully gently and told the staff to leave with a single look
10:33the
10:33room emptied in seconds it was just us and the afternoon quiet and the weight of everything that had
10:38happened in that filthy room he threatened my cousin he wanted me to have your baby so he could use
10:43the
10:44child as leverage against you why didn't you come to me he said he'd kill tomas if i did your
10:49cousin was
10:49working with belladio he owed him money they built this trap together for you the word together landed like
10:56what he gambled himself into a grave palazio owned him i stared at my hands the whole architecture of the
11:05passwords rearranged itself in my head toas weeping 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
11:40to me when you own me me espinoza body and soul as much as i own you kiss me like
11:47you own 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
11:58he took over
11:59kissing me like he'd been keeping it locked up for months which i think he had yes do whatever you
12:05want to me punish me fuck me like you own me he looked at me for a long moment something
12:11fierce and
12:12half undone in his face don't say i didn't warn you mia
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
12:25his mouth found my neck and i looked up and saw us his hands in my hair my face flushed
12:30his 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
12:53the mirror mine every time he said mine i believed him more completely than i've believed anything in
12:58my life mine mine mine afterward we lay in the dark his arm across my waist his breath slow and
13:09even
13:09i stared at the ceiling and felt the particular silence of someone who has crossed a line they
13:14can't cross back over you own me mia espinoza i pressed my face into his shoulder and tried not to
13:19feel 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
13:45herself with a warm professional smile was a woman named ollie she was in her 30s polished very pretty
13:51and 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 something
14:01in his face went immediately soft and that way it only does when it's just us hello wife i missed
14:06you
14:06he dropped kisses on my forehead i held his forearms and forgot for a moment that there was a third
14:12person in the room you must be mr reyes i'm ollie i'm helping mrs reyes with the wedding florets emilio
14:18looked at all the flowers again how many flowers does a wedding need as many as i like you told
14:24me i
14:24could have whatever i wanted he leaned in close eyes warming i was thinking of something else entirely
14:31when i said that i shoved his chest he laughed and pulled me into his side i didn't notice ollie's
14:38expression yet i would the roses were imported from bulgaria apparently perfect for expressing
14:47passion a good fit for your character sir i looked at emilio he was looking at me what do you
14:54think
14:54they look pretty ollie pivoted to lilies before i finished the sentence they open with just a little
15:00attention and her eyes lingered on emilio the way eyes linger when they're not really looking at
15:06flowers they look cheap then orchids high maintained 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
15:21it
15:22ollie gave me a polished innocent smile mrs reyes i assure you it's mrs reyes you're flirting with my man
15:30in my house in my house i don't like that emilio made a sound that was almost a laugh he
15:36lowered
15:36his mouth to my ear you're about to become a mob queen show her your claws i turned back to
15:42ollie
15:42you're fired you heard my wife security came she went the door closed emilio was grinning you called
15:51me your man because you are i told him he was sleeping on the couch in respect this was optimistic
15:59of me for what sin exactly you didn't shut her down you just stood there i was looking at you
16:05the
16:05whole time i didn't hear a word she said that's not the point couch i turned to walk away he
16:11caught
16:12my wrist i had about one second of thinking i'd won before he lifted me over his shoulder like i
16:17was a
16:17bag he was rearranging i squealed i couldn't help it put me down you'll be down when i decide you're
16:26down he carried me out of the room while i laughed and hit his back and told him he was
16:31ridiculous
16:31he ignored all of it with complete serenity on the other side of the city in the abandoned house where
16:36franco had died damien moved through the filthy rooms alone he stopped at the body crouched down studied
16:43what was left of the man who had been his instrument he stood up slowly coward he looked around at
16:50the
16:50decay the 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 you
17:34saved me you said you were a nursing school dropout the storage room the blood his voice fading in and
17:42out as i pressed gauze to his chest trying to keep him here i'm a nursing school dropout you'll survive
17:51he'd been carrying that for months i listened to everything you say he took my hand and kissed
17:55the back of it told me the semester started on the 18th two weeks he'd arranged bodyguards i started
17:59to object he said two not a convoy and i let it go then i sat very still looking at
18:05the letter the
18:0518th my period was late more than late i thought about the soreness i'd been ignoring for a week and
18:12a 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
18:37my 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
18:52out 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 the
19:03danger of it the way a baby becomes a weapon in this world whether you want it to or not
19:07i 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
19:20face stood up open the door diego was in the hall where's emilio meeting miss with damian take me to
19:30him 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 i'd ever held then amadio's voice cut through the door mia's cousin who's a clown my hand dropped
20:11i stood very still i knew i should walk away i knew that eavesdropping 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 it was leverage
20:31what the hell is going on with you i'm just saying as the east coast cartel king
20:36you 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
20:53about fixing things with her keeping tomas alive as a peace offering but the words were coming through
20:58water now muffled and distant shooting your cousin-in-law in the head tomas was dead emilio had
21:07killed 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 thinking
21:20i'd kept him safe damian said something about the forged will next lying about her inheritance just to marry
21:26her 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
21:49and emilio came through the door 20 seconds later face pale wait what are you doing what does it look
21:57like mia let's talk i don't negotiate with the devil i tried to pass him he grabbed my arm stop
22:04let's talk i jerked free you lied you killed my cousin then you lied again there's nothing left to say
22:12he
22:12exhaled sharp and frustrated is killing your scumbag cousin really that big of a deal i stared at him
22:17i waited for a moment to feel shocked but there was none left of course he said that of course
22:22he was
22:22a criminal boss who ran an empire built on violence and i had somehow convinced myself that the version
22:26of him who kissed my forehead and listened to everything i said was the real one does a human
22:30life mean anything to you i'm a criminal boss you knew that when you signed the contract
22:38which 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
23:11thought you 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
23:51give me the gun and i'll let you leave just like that yes you know i can't say no to
23:59you
24:00just give me the gun please the please undid something in my chest i hated that it did
24:08after a long moment i laid the gun in his palm he tucked it away without breaking eye contact we
24:14can
24:15fix this we can pretend none of this happened i can't pretend everything between us was built on
24:22lies he stepped closer his voice dropped thick with something he was fighting to contain my feelings for
24:28you aren't lies a tear ran down my face i looked at his face really looked at it this man
24:35who had
24:35saved me and lied to me and killed my cousin and kissed my forehead in the morning all of it
24:40true
24:40at the same time none of it simple i took his hand i placed the ring in his palm goodbye
24:45emilio
24:46he stood frozen fist closing around the ring as i walked out the door
24:53i went to serena's she opened the door before i finished knocking took one look at my face and
24:59pulled me inside without asking any questions she made tea she handed me tissues she sat with me on
25:06the sofa and let me cry until there was nothing left then she waited he killed my cousin
25:13he lied about the inheritance
25:17everything from the beginning was fabricated to get me into that house serena was very quiet she
25:24handed me another tissue
25:28too quiet i looked at her serena he killed my cousin why aren't you shocked she couldn't meet my eyes
25:42serena why do you look like you already knew a long silence the kind that means the answer is
25:48going to change things i brought domus to him the room tilted what
25:57my dad is a mafia don
26:00i heard the words i processed 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 the silence that followed was the
26:28worst silence of my life yes emilio shot your cousin in front of me i pulled away from her she
26:36reached
26:36for my arm mia 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
26:59i got to the door mia wait we're done serena i ran
27:07the street was cold serena chased me for half a block before her phone rang and she stopped i didn't
27:13look back i just walked arms wrapped around myself no destination no plan just moving because stopping
27:19felt like drowning i 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 i thought about the ring i'd
27:28left in emilio's hand and the test still folded in my pocket and the fact that i was pregnant and
27:32alone in the dark with nowhere to go the city moved around me indifferent a car slowed alongside me
27:38i 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
27:56i can take you to a safe house emmanuel won't know he watched my face patient almost gentle i can
28:04even
28:04get you out of the country i stared at him damien was smiling that easy smile hands in his pockets
28:12like he was offering him a ride to the airport nothing in his face looked wrong why would you
28:17help me you're his brother i'd like to balance out some of the bad i've done i'll handle your phone
28:22he put a tracker on it even works when it's off i looked down at my phone then at him
28:28then at the
28:30dark street stretching in both directions with nowhere to go i handed him the phone he took it
28:35and i climbed into the back seat i was so tired i was so tired of being afraid of running
28:41of trying
28:41to stay one step ahead of men with more power than i would ever have the leather seat was warm
28:46damien got into the front without speaking there's water in the back if you need it
28:52i reached for the bottle opened it took a long drink thank you damien you're a good man
28:58he watched me in the rearview mirror and something moved across his face that i didn't have time to
29:03read the 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
29:25what 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
29:39else entirely something that had been waiting behind it all along sweet little mia
29:44you have no idea what's coming for you or for my arrogant half-brother
29:53we're on our way have the island ready outside the city light slid past and fell behind us
29:59and emilio's mansion disappeared into the dark and i was gone before i knew i'd been taken
30:06i woke up to the sound of ocean that was wrong i lived in the city the city didn't sound
30:12like that
30:13steady and vast and indifferent like breathing from a long way away i lay still for a moment with my
30:19eyes closed waiting for the world to reassemble itself into something familiar it didn't i opened my
30:25eyes an unfamiliar room whitewashed walls wooden shutters light coming in sideways in gold not a hotel
30:32not anywhere i'd ever been i got up and went to the window trees ocean nothing else in any direction
30:40the 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
31:36check he'd built the trap handed tomas to franco and watched the whole thing play out from inside
31:40emilio's house franco palano was a fucking idiot but he was a useful one until your cartel king shot him
31:47in
31:48the head my cousin died because of you his expression didn't change i slapped him his head snapped sideways
31:56a beat of absolute silence then he turned back and the easy smile was gone replaced by something that
32:03had always been underneath it he grabbed my throat and slammed me into the wall you're lucky i need you
32:12him or i'd choke the life out of you right now his eyes moved over me in a way that
32:16made my skin crawl
32:17if 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 ached where
32:50his hand had been he stepped back then he started laughing really laughing the kind that fills a room
32:55and i stood against the wall and watched him and felt a cold creeping dread oh this is gold palami
33:01actually pulled it off i thought his plan to knock you up was ridiculous emilio would never never
33:05what there's a rumor he's infertile maybe it's real maybe he spread it so women wouldn't chase him
33:10either 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
33:39all 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
33:59you're on a private pacific island surrounded by a full army with bombs underneath you
34:06i pressed both hands flat against my stomach i'm going to get us out of here i didn't know if
34:12that
34:12was true i said it anyway because someone had to i thought about the note emilio had tucked into a
34:18nursing school envelope i listened to everything you say i thought about the way he'd lifted me
34:24out of franco's building like i was something worth carrying i thought about his fist closing
34:29around my ring find me i thought please find me the door stayed closed the ocean kept breathing
34:37i stayed on the floor and i waited
34:41on the third night a hand touched my shoulder i jolted awake already pulling back already opening
34:47my mouth to scream and a hand covered it a familiar weight a familiar smell mia it's me
34:52a voice in my ear barely a breath i collapsed into him he held me for exactly three seconds
34:59his arms around me his chin on my head the realness of him solid and overwhelming and then he pulled
35:05back and cupped my face and checked me the way he'd checked me in the warehouse all those months ago
35:09systematic and frantic at the same time are you hurt no how did serena and your mafia princess
35:16friend has a helicopter he pressed his lips to my forehead quick and fierce follow my lead we're
35:20heading to the chopper stay close stay quiet he had a gun in his hand he opened the door checked
35:25the corridor and guided me out into the dark we made it 30 feet damien's voice came from ahead of
35:32us
35:33easy and amused like he'd been waiting since when does the cartel king use knockout drugs to sneak in
35:40emilio 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
36:10emilio 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 damien'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 that
36:55moment 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 damien not happening
37:16then we all die his thumb moved emilio lunged he of them hit the window behind
37:22them 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
37:38ragged and desperate i ran for the door
37:44they were both on the ground outside unconscious not moving damien face down in the dirt
37:51emilio on his back with his eyes closed and one arm thrown wide and glass in his hair
37:56i heard voices serena marco 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
38:16i sat there and held emilio's hand and watched marco's face and couldn't breathe
38:22come back come back
38:24come back
38:30emilio coughed his chest heaved his eyes opened
38:35everyone let out a breath at the same time
38:38i'm okay
38:40we need to move
38:41he started to get up i helped him my hands shaking choppers ready this way
38:47emilio stood unsteady and looked at damien'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
39:09his voice was gentle but final the voice that meant he'd already decided promise you'll come
39:16i promise
39:17serena took my arm i let her pull me away looking back over my shoulder at emilio standing over his
39:22brother in the dark he didn't look back at me he was already somewhere else somewhere cold and necessary
39:27he's going to be fine he's emilio reyes we were 20 yards from the house then 30. the helicopter was
39:34somewhere ahead its blades beginning to turn i kept walking he 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 louder
40:14now someone was pulling at my arm and i couldn't move because emilio was in that house and he had
40:19promised and he was in that house the word came out of me like something being torn out
40:24no emilio serena had both arms around me from behind holding me back i fought her i don't
40:30remember deciding to fight her my body just refused to go anywhere without him
40:34mia let me in there he's mia stop marco was already running back toward the burning house
40:40calling into his radio i stopped fighting i just stood there in serena's arms and watched the fire eat
40:47the house and felt the heat on my face and thought about a man in a study saying i listened
40:52to everything
40:52you say and a man in a corridor with his shoulder dropping and his body going through glass going
40:57through glass to keep a detonator out of his brother's hand going through glass for me the
41:02flames climbed higher the night was orange and black i pressed both hands over the small life
41:08inside me and i waited and i waited and i waited and no one came
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
41:33street 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
42:09finger by finger hello brother-in-law
42:15my men take him before he can speak wait mia we should talk yes we should
42:27the basement of the reyes mansion is very quiet i had diaz repaint it new lighting a good chair for
42:34me to
42:34sit 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 mia i give the men a look they hit harder after a while i raise a hand and they
43:10stop the
43:11basement goes quiet except for damien's raggled breathing and the distant sound of the city outside
43:16i stand up and walk over to him
43:21tell me where he is damien looks up at me through blood his smile is still there somehow cracked and
43:29terrible come closer i'll tell you
43:35i lean down his mouth was near my ear and i stayed perfectly still and waited he's rotting in hell
43:43just 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
43:57my life after i'd started running this operation alone and i shot damien once he slumped i stood there
44:04for a moment and looked at him emilio's brother the man who had built every trap i'd walked into
44:09the man who had burned down the house with emilio inside it then i peeled off the other glove
44:14folded 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 read mia espinoza i frowned i thought i changed my last name on everything could be from
44:33before i took it i opened it in the study a file legal documents a will notarized witness dated three
44:49months before leshia died i read the first page and had to sit down 100 million dollars her actual
44:56inheritance not the fabricated clause amizio had invented to get me into his house the real thing
45:01the money she'd spent her life accumulating and had always meant to the niece she wrote letters
45:05to and called her girl where it all started i thought diego stood near the door mr reyes would
45:12have found you regardless of the inheritance sounds like him i turned to the last page and a small piece
45:21of paper fell out folded once the size of a fortune cookie slip i picked it up the handwriting was
45:26emilio's i'd seen it on a hundred things notes contracts the margin of a book he'd left open
45:31on the kitchen counter i'd have known it anywhere it said love at first sight i sat there holding that
45:37small piece of paper for a long time then i pressed it against my chest and closed my eyes i'll
45:41find you
45:42emirio 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
46:02wouldn't tell me and i understood why emirio 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
46:16changed 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
46:49i can't see her like this you could show up as a worm and she'd still love you i'm tired
46:55of lying to
46:55my best friend again she'll forgive you serena ground and sat down on the low wall beside his chair
47:04the mediterranean was the specific blue it gets in the late afternoon almost violet at the edges
47:09come back with me tomorrow i'm flying out in the morning no emilio i'll return when i can stand on
47:16my own feet i want her to know i'm still the man who can protect her and our baby serena
47:23stared at
47:23him for a long moment toxic masculinity from a cartel king who would have thought a beat you know
47:29you're kind of cute in a wheelchair don't let your bodyguard hear that he helps me to the bathroom serena
47:35laughed a real laugh surprised out of her she stood up and kissed the top of his head don't take
47:40too
47:40long she walked out emilio 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
47:56one she'd placed in his palm in the bedroom and walked away from he'd been carrying it since that
48:01night through the crash through the window through however many surgeries he didn't fully remember
48:06through the months of physical therapy on this balcony overlooking the sea he turned it in his
48:10fingers he thought about the night in the alley when he'd looked up from the pavement and seen a
48:14woman he'd never met pressing gons to his chest and telling him to stop moving or he'd bleed more
48:18he'd been half dead and delirious and he thought i know you i don't know you yet but i know
48:22you
48:23lietia had talked about her for years her niece the nursing student the girl who sent letters and
48:28called every sunday and had her mother's stubbornness and her own fierce particular kindness he'd carried
48:33the shape of her before he knew her face he closed his hand around the ring i'm coming back to
48:38you mia
48:39the ocean was dark 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
48:56i hate you i hate you emilio reyes almost there one more push i hate you i pushed the world
49:05split
49:06open and then there was a sound small and indignant and completely certain of itself
49:11and the doctor was saying something i couldn't hear and someone was crying and i thought it might
49:16be me ma'am you need to stay with us you haven't seen your baby but i'm just so tired
49:21i was tired in
49:22a way i had never been tired before down into the marrow my body suddenly hollow and enormous at the
49:28same time stay stay you have to stay my eyes closed someone said my name i tried to hold on
49:34then at the edge of the light a silhouette appeared in the doorway not diego not serena not a doctor
49:42a silhouette that moved the way only one person in my life had ever moved
49:49he was standing on his own feet that was the first thing i registered not that he was there
49:53not even that he was alive but that he was standing on his own two feet in the doorway of
49:57my hospital room wearing clothes i didn't recognize thinner than i remembered with a look
50:01on his face that i had no word for mia my name in his voice i had been so tired
50:06a moment ago the
50:07darkness had been pulling me down and i had been letting it because i didn't have anything left to
50:11fight with but my eyes opened emilio he crossed the room he dropped to his knees beside the bed
50:17he took my face in both hands and pressed his forehead to mine i felt him shaking this man who
50:21never shook who never showed anything who had spent 32 years building a wall around himself and had spent
50:25six months tearing it down for me he was shaking somewhere behind him a baby was crying our baby
50:29ours you came i told you i was coming back outside the hospital window the city was beginning its
50:35ordinary morning entirely aware that something fundamental had just changed inside i closed my eyes and held
50:40on to him and listened to the small indignant perfect sound of our daughter announcing herself
50:44to the world we were here both of us finally this is what i know now i know that love
50:52is not the clean
50:53safe thing i thought it would be when i was 22 and working at a fast food counter and keeping
50:57a wishlist
50:58of what my life was supposed to become i thought love would feel like arriving somewhere i thought it
51:02would be warm and certain and uncomplicated it is none of those things it is a man pressing gauze to
51:10a
51:10wound in a back room it is a ring in a palm and a door closing and a house going
51:15up in flames
51:17it is five months of running an empire i didn't ask for learning the weight of a gun and the
51:22patience
51:23required to wait for someone who promised to come back he is not a good man in the simple sense
51:28i know
51:29what he runs and what it costs and i have made my peace with the distance between who he is
51:34out there
51:34and who he is in this room holding our daughter like she's the most fragile and important thing
51:40he's ever been handed he is sitting in the chair beside my bed and she is asleep on his chest
51:44and
51:45he is not looking at anything in the room except her she has his dark eyes she has already even
51:51at
51:51one day old a particular expression of absolute conviction that i recognize from watching him walk
51:55into rooms i saved a man in an alley once i was 22 and afraid and i had no idea
52:00what i was saving him into
52:02best mistake i ever made
Comments