Chapter 22

The elevator slowed. Her stomach churned. They stepped out into the underground garage- silent, empty, scrubbed clean. A black SUV waited with its engine already running. The doors were open. The interior light glowed warm, almost inviting. Innara stopped walking. Her body refused.

"No. You said safer. This doesn't feel safe." She whispered.

The man beside her crouched down slightly, lowering himself to her eye level. His voice softened- not with the false kindness, but with something practiced and deliberate. Mockery.

"Tell me. How many times in your life has 'safe' come with locked doors and rich men?" He asked. She flinched.

"How many times has safety demanded silence? And how many times, it ended with fire?" He continued. Her breath hitched sharply.

They hadn't threatened her.

They didn't need to.

"You are surrounded by people who would kill entire cities to keep you breathing, and you feel it everyday, don't you?" He said indirectly mentioning the Fernandez family.

"The way the walls close in. The way every step you take creates risk. For him, for the child. You are not his wife. You are not protected by blood or name. You are an exception." The first man added calmly, opened the SUV door wider.

The words struck deep.

Exceptions never lasted.

"Agustín is powerful but he's predictable. He rescues. He shelters. He believes survival is enough." Innara countered back.

"But men like him don't understand what comes after survival. They don't know what to do with the aftermath." The third man replied.

Innara swallowed hard.

She felt something in her chest give away- not breaking, but loosening. The truth of it sank in with quiet cruelty. Agustín had saved her, yes. He had given her shelter, safety, medical care and warmth. But he hadn't known what to do with her beyond that. And she had felt it. Everyday.

"We are not taking you because you are weak, we are taking you because you are a liability to everyone you stay near." The man said.

The words were blunt. Honest.

"And because, the man you are with will burn the world down trying to protect you." He added.

Innara's lips trembled.

"That doesn't make him cruel." She whispered.

"No, it makes him reckless." The man agreed.

The engine hummed softly.

"The place where we are taking you, there are doctors who don't ask questions. Places without surveillance wars. No families watching every shadow." The man continued.

Her heart pounded.

"What about that man who sent you here?" She asked quietly. The men exchanged a glance so brief she might had imagined it.

"He understands the consequences because he knows what happens to the women who survive places they weren't meant to leave." The man said.

That chilled her more than any threat. Her hand tightened over her belly.

"What about my baby? You won't hurt my child." She demanded, fear finally cracking through.

The man's face dropped- not to her, but to her stomach.

"No, the child is not the target." He lied smoothly because their boss sent them with only a single mission of ending that unborn child's life. His words made her breath stutter.

"Then why take me?" She whispered.

"Because you are carrying more than a child." He answered.

"What does that mean? She asked in confusion.

"Enough talks for now." The man said not answering her question this time.

Silence swallowed the garage.

Innara looked at the SUV. At the open door. At the path closing behind her. She thought of Agustín's apartment- how it had never truly been hers. How she'd tiptoed through it, careful not to disturb a life already in motion. She thought of the way people went quiet around her, like she was an accident everyone was trying not to acknowledge. She exhaled slowly.

"If I go, you won't touch him." She said remembering he had done a lot for her.

The men nodded once.

"He won't even know where you are, not unless someone want him to." He said.

She hesitated only a second longer.

Then she stepped into the vehicle.

The door closed with a soft, final click.

The ride was smooth, the man said nothing as Madrid slipped away above them, then behind them. When they reached the private airstrip, the jet was already waiting- small, discreet, medical equipment secured inside. A doctor was present. A nurse checked her blood pressure, her oxygen, the baby's heartbeat.

Everything was calm.

Too calm.

They helped her into a reclining seat, adjusted cushions behind her back and hips, fastened the belt gently across her body.

No restraints.

No roughness.

Just efficiency.

As the plane lifted into the night, Innara stared out the window at the shrinking lights below. Spain disappeared beneath clouds, beneath distance, beneath inevitability. She rested a hand on her belly as the baby shifted again.

"I'm sorry." She whispered- not sure to whom.

By the time the plane crossed the ocean, exhaustion dragged her under. When she woke again, the new place was waiting. And somehow in the dark, a storm was already gathering for her.

_____________

A Few days later...

A private jet landed on the land of Mexico. Some men rushed to receive the guest who arrived. A man stepped down from the jet with a cold demeanor. He looked like a lion silently walking in the search of its prey. The man removed his shades and looked in front of him. The air of Mexico mixing with his scent while his jaw clenched hard. His shiny boots started moving on a foreign land but not so foreign for him.

Agustín.

When that night, he returned back to the apartment he was bewildered after knowing about the breach. His men laying unconscious, the surveillance was gone, the cameras blinded, alarms silenced and that heavenly presence was gone- Innara. He searched for her in the whole apartment even after knowing that all the things already screamed about her abduction.

He called his force immediately instructing them to find her anyhow. They searched for her in each and every corner of Spain, his men were on the roads like an army on the march. They didn't leave any camera, any footage to find her appearance but there was none as if she just vanished in the air. The men who took her, came with all the preparations. They didn't leave a single trace, a single strand of their hair as a clue.

Agustín became restless. He didn't know how careless he could be, he shouldn't have left her alone. He was blaming himself for all of it. She wasn't alone but an unborn child in her too. He was searching for her days and night but all his efforts went futile. When he didn't find her anywhere, he understood where she could be. He understood that Zavier dragged her in their rivalry and he immediately left for Mexico without a second thought.

Agustín didn't arrive in Mexico like a guest.

He arrived like a warning.

The city shimmered under heat and arrogance, its streets loud, alive, indifferent- but the estate he stormed into was carved out of silence. Armed gates opened because they were ordered to. Guards stepped aside because they were told to. No resistance. No drama. That alone unsettled him more than gunfire can ever could. Zavier wanted him inside.

Agustín walked through marble halls with fury coiled tight beneath his skin. He hadn't slept properly in days. His beard was rough with neglect, his eyes hollowed by sleepless searching, hands still faintly trembling from the moment he'd returned to an empty apartment and known- known- before the alarms confirmed him.

No blood. No struggle. No Innara.

Just silence.

Zavier waited for him in the grand hall, framed by towering arched windows, the stormless Mexican sky stretching behind him like a challenge. He wore black, as always. Unbothered. Hands clasped loosely behind his back, posture relaxed- top relaxed for a man being hunted by rage.

"Madrid to Mexico. That's a long way to travel without an invitation." Zavier said mildly, turning at last.

Agustín didn't slow.

"You took her." He spat with rage in his eyes.

Zavier tilted his head slightly, studying him as one might study a cracked mirror.

"No, I didn't." He said calmly.

The words landed flat. Clean. Certain. Agustín stopped only a few feet away from him. The air between them tightened, thick with history and hatred and blood not yet spilled. His Ocean Blue eyes clashed with his cold dark gray ones.

"My security was breached. My men were neutralized. Cameras wiped. She vanished." Agustín said, voice low and controlled only by sheer will.

Zavier's lips twitched faintly- not a smile. More like interest.

"You give me too much credit, if I wanted to take something from you, you wouldn't be standing here asking questions." He replied.

Agustín's jaw flexed.

"She's heavily pregnant. She couldn't have walked out on her own. Whoever took her knew exactly how to move around my defenses." He snapped.

Zavier stepped closer now, unhurried, his dark gray eyes sharp and unflinching.

"And you believe that must be me, because you need someone to blame for your carelessness." He said flatly.

Agustín leaned in, rage finally cracking through restraint.

"If she's hurt---" Agustín started.

"She isn't, at least not by me." Zavier interrupted coolly.

That made Agustín freeze.

The slightest pause.

The tiniest fracture.

Zavier noticed.

"I don't know where your girl is, I didn't take her, I didn't order her removal. I didn't know she was missing until you barged into my house like a wounded animal." Zavier continued evenly.

Agustín's hands curled into fists.

"You are lying." He snapped.

Zavier smiled then- slow, venomous, delighted.

"No. This is the part you hate most." He replied.

He leaned in just close enough for his words to slice cleanly.

"I don't care enough about her to move first. Yes, I was keeping eyes on her but then I thought you would be generous enough to share her with me. Just like your fathers shared your....."

Agustín lunged forward, gripping Zavier by the collar. Slamming him back against the marble pillar. The guards tensed and moved forward but Zavier lifted one finger. They stopped. Agustín's breath was hot and uneven.

"How dare you? How dare you bring my parents into all this? She is not a pawn. She is not part of our war. You disgust me." He growled.

Zavier met his gaze without fear.

"Everything you touch becomes part of our war, that's the curse of men like you." He said quietly.

Agustín shoved his away, disgust twisting his face.

"If I find out you're involved----" Agustín started.

Zavier straightened his jacket calmly.

"You'll do what? Kill me? Burn my empire?" He asked.

His eyes hardened.

"You'd still be too late." He said.

Silence swallowed the room.

Agustín stared at him, searching- cracks, lies and deception. He found none. Only cold certainty. Zavier was telling the truth. That terrified more than a lie. If he hadn't moved Innara from his apartment then who? Without another word, Agustín turned and walked out. His footsteps echoed through the hall, heavy with failure and fury. The doors closed behind him with finality.

For several seconds Zavier didn't move. Then- a cold chilling smirk appeared on his lips. He laughed. Softly, darky, amused. Scaring the men around him. He turned towards the shadows lining the hall.

"Did you hear that? He crossed an ocean for her." He said lightly.

Niccolo stepped forward from the darkness.

"She matters to him. She is becoming more than a rescued girl." Niccolo said carefully.

Zavier's smile widened- slow and predatory.

"Apparantly, enough to make him sloppy." He said.

He walked toward the window, watching Agustín's convoy disappear beyond the gates.

"So, someone took a woman from under his nose, violated his security and vanished without a trace." Zavier said calmly.

He gleamed.

"And it wasn't me. Interesting." He turned sharply.

"Find her." He instructed.

"Jefe?" Niccolo stiffened.

(Translation: Boss.)

Zavier's voice dropped, silky with intent.

"I want to know who was bold enough to steal from Agustín Fernandez. Who touch what I hadn't decided to touch yet." He said.

A pause.

"And when you find her, bring me everything. Who she's with. Who she trusts." He added, an evil smirk curling his lips.

He stepped back into the shadows.

"Because if she's important enough to make him bleed like that..." His eyes darkened.

"She's worth owning." And with that final blow he disappeared into the dark shadows.