Chapter 23: Betrayal in Segovia.

ISADORA’S POV

The text message from Valentina showed a photo of Rafael sleeping in her bed while I was lying alone in his apartment.

I dropped his phone onto the mattress because my hands were shaking so much, and I could not breathe properly. My mind was spinning with terrible thoughts as I looked at the dark screen lying on the sheets. I gave him my body and my heart last night, but he still went back to his ex-fiancée the moment I closed my eyes. 

So much pain cut through my chest so deep that I had to sit on the floor for a few minutes just to hold my knees together.

I told myself that I would not stay in his house to cry like a weak person. 

I stood up immediately, put on my clothes quickly, and grabbed my small bag from the table as I left his apartment without making any noise, and I entered my car to drive down to our family estate in Segovia.

The rain was falling heavily from the sky, washing over my front glass as I drove fast on the dark road with my eyes full of tears, but I wiped them away with my sleeve because I needed to focus on the road ahead. 

I knew Valentina would try to take everything from me now that she had Rafael on her side and my main goal was to reach the estate first and take my grandmother's heirloom jewelry out of the wall safely before anyone else could touch it.

That jewelry was the only thing I had left from my mother's family, and I could not let Valentina put her dirty fingers on it.

I arrived at the grand Segovia estate, parked my car near the big trees, and ran inside the house through the front entrance and the whole house was quiet, with the air inside very cold against my wet skin. 

Without hesitating, I walked immediately into the grand ballroom, moving straight toward the small wooden panel on the wall where the safe was hidden behind a picture frame.

I reached out my hand to open the panel, but before my fingers could touch the wood, the heavy doors behind me opened with a loud sound and I turned around immediately, expecting to see my father or some estate security guards coming to push me out.

But then, I saw it was Rafael.

He ran into the ballroom with his clothes soaked with rain and his black hair dripping water down his face as he looked out of breath, as if he had been running behind my car all the way from the city. His dark eyes locked onto mine, and he started walking fast across the polished floor toward where I stood.

"Do not touch me, Rafael," I said, taking two steps back until my back hit the cold wall near the safe.

"Isadora, please do not run away from me," Rafael said, stopping a few feet away from me with his hands open in the air. "You have to listen to what happened before you judge me." He said.

"Well, don't give me that cock-and-bull story. I saw the picture on your phone with my two eyes," I said, pointing my finger at his wet face as my chest rose up and down fast in anger. 

"You left me alone in your bed in the middle of the night so you could go and lie down with Valentina."

Rafael shook his head fast, his mouth twisting with deep distress as he stepped closer to me. 

"Valentina staged that photo to destroy us," he said, reaching out to take my wrists in his wet hands.

"Listen Isa,I never touched her, Isadora, and I swear to God that I left the apartment only to go to the shop across the road to buy your favorite breakfast."

"You are lying to me again," I whispered, trying to pull my wrists out of his grip as my voice broke into pieces. "Every single time I open my heart to trust you, another dirty secret comes out to break me into small pieces." I said as tears rolled through my eyes.

"Look at my eyes and tell me if you see a lie," Rafael said softly, his voice shaking in a way I had never heard before.

I turned my face away from him because I was hurting so badly inside my soul. I wanted to believe him so much, but the pain of seeing that photo was still burning like fire in my mind. 

I remembered how he held me last night in his bed, how he kissed my lips and told me that he loved me, and now everything felt like a big trap.

"Look, Rafeal I..i cannot do this anymore," I said, dropping my head as tears began to fall down my cheeks onto my dress. 

"I am tired of fighting you, I'm tired of fighting Valentina, and tired of being a FOOL." I spat in agony as I tried to walk past him toward the hallway, deciding in my heart that it was better to lose the estate than to stay here and let him break my heart again. But Rafael did not let me pass. 

He moved in quickly into my path, blocking the exit with his broad shoulders.

"Isa, I am not going to let you walk away from me thinking I betrayed you," Rafael said, with his voice deep and thick with emotion.

"Then get out of my way and let me then," I said, pushing his chest with my hand, but he did not move an inch.

Rafael looked into my eyes for three long seconds, and then he did something that shocked me completely. 

He dropped down onto his two knees right there on the hard floor in front of me to my greatest surprise.

I gasped softly and took a step back, my mouth staying open in pure shock. This was Rafael Fenwick, the proudest man in the whole city, a man who never bowed his head for anyone, now kneeling on the wet floor at my feet.

He reached up, took my right hand in his two wet palms, and placed it directly over the left side of his chest as I  felt his heart beating fast and hard against his ribs under his wet shirt, sending warmth straight into my cold fingers.

"I am swearing on my life right now," Rafael said, looking up into my face while a single tear rolled down his cheek. "I love you with everything inside me, Isadora, and I have never touched another woman since the day I married you."

Looking down at him kneeling on the floor, all the hard walls I had built inside my mind began to crumble into small dust. 

The heat of his heart was coming through his wet clothes into my palm, and I could feel the truth of his words in his breathing. A man like Rafael would never drop to his knees and cry unless he was telling the absolute truth from his heart.

"Please give me a real chance to prove my love to you," Rafael begged softly, bringing my hand up to his mouth to kiss my knuckles with deep tenderness. "Do not let Valentina destroy what we built last night."

My stomach flipped inside me with a huge wave of romantic relief, and I knew right then that I could not keep fighting my feelings for him anymore. 

I knelt down on the hard floor beside him and wrapped my two arms around his wet neck, pulling his face close to mine.

"I believe you, Rafael," I whispered against his lips, letting my tears mix with the rain water on his cheek.

Rafael let out a deep breath and wrapped his strong arms around my waist, pulling my body flush against his chest. He pressed his lips over mine in a wild, desperate kiss that made my whole body melt into his arms.

I couldn't hold myself as I wrapped my legs around his side and held his hair with my hands, kissing him back with all the passion and desire I had been holding inside my chest for years. 

We stayed there on the floor for a long time, holding each other tight while the rain beat against the big windows outside.

"I will protect you with my life," Rafael murmured against my neck, running his warm hand down my back as my chest rested against his.

"I know you will," I whispered back, resting my head against his shoulder and feeling safe for the first time in many months.

We held each other tightly, deciding in that quiet moment that we were going to fight my father and Valentina together as husband and wife.

Suddenly, the big doors of the ballroom burst open with a loud bang that made us both jump up immediately.

Rafael stood up fast and pulled me behind his back, keeping his broad body between me and the entrance.

My father, Peter, walked into the room with a cold smile on his face, followed closely by Valentina, who was wearing an expensive fur coat. But the person who walked in behind them made my blood run cold in my veins.

It was my twin sister, Rosalind, and she was holding a thick folder in her hand.

My father raised the white paper in the air and looked directly at Rafael and me with victory in his eyes.

"You are too late, Rafael," Peter announced, holding the signed document out as my heart dropped straight into my stomach. "Rosalind just sold her half of the Fenwick estate to Valentina. It no longer belong to her or Isadora”