Our special place

Three Months Later

Mateo’s POV

Ninety days.

For ninety days, I couldn't find Isabella anywhere. She wouldn't take my calls. She would keep her phone switched off. She wouldn't give me her address.

She only sent short emails that made my heart bleed.

“I’m so tired, Mateo.”

“I dreamed of Elena again.”

“I don’t think I have much strength left.”

I turned the city upside down looking for her. I tried to track her through those e-mails. But she used private emails with encrypted location. I hired the best private investigators but it nothing seemed to work anymore. So, waiting was the only option left..

In these three months, Valentina had moved into the guest house. Her belly was growing larger every day. She tried to touch me, tried to comfort me, but her touch felt acidic. She kept asking when we would get married, when I would announce the baby to the world.

“Not now, Valentina!” I would say.

“Isabella is sick. I can’t divorce a woman who is on the verge of a breakdown. It would ruin my reputation.”

But it wasn't just my reputation. It was the guilt.

I lived for my birthday. Why? Because Isabella was a woman of her word. She had always been obsessed with dates and traditions. If she was going to come back, it would be today.

I sat in my office the entire night, taking sips from a bottle of bourbon and checking my phone continuously.

Bella asked for time. But time was flying.

I was starving for her. I was desperate.

Then, at dawn, my phone buzzed with a text and a pinned location.

From Isabella: “Happy Birthday, Mateo. I’m at the place where we first started. Come find your gift. I will wait for you here. It’s the last thing I have to give you.”

My heart leaped. She’s there. She chose our special place. She’s finally ready to come home.

"I knew it." I laughed breathlessly. "I knew you couldn't leave me, Bella."

I jumped into my fastest car and drove like a maniac toward the pinned location. I imagined her standing there in a white dress, her hair blowing in the wind.

I would take her home. I would tell her about the baby. I would tell her we could raise Valentina’s son as our own. I would fix everything.

I pulled over at our spot and stepped out of the car. I leaned against the car and felt the wind.

The North Cliff Road was beautiful this time of year. I remembered the first time I brought Isabella here. We were young. I had nothing but I had promised her the world that night, and she had looked at me like I was the only man on earth.

Flashback: Six Years Ago

I didn't even feel the biting cold because I was busy watching Isabella.

She was twenty-one then, wearing a simple yellow sundress and a denim jacket that was too big for her. She looked like sunshine.

And I… I was just a junior analyst with a bank account that was almost empty and a car borrowed from my cousin that rattled every time I hit forty miles per hour.

We didn't have money for a fancy dinner. I had a blanket, a bottle of grocery-store wine I’d bought with my last ten dollars.

"Is this it?" She asked, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the ocean. "The famous secret spot?"

"It’s not much." I said, feeling embarrassed as I looked at the cheap blanket. "I wanted to take you to that steakhouse downtown, but..."

"Mateo." She stepped toward me, her hand touching mine. "I don't want a steakhouse. I want this. I want the stars and the sound of the waves. And I want you."

We sat on the edge of the cliff, our legs dangling over the side. We shared the wine out of plastic cups.

She laughed at my jokes, even the bad ones. She told me about her dreams of becoming a software architect, and I told her about my plan to build an empire that would make my father proud.

“You'll do it." She whispered, leaning her head on my shoulder. "You're the most determined man I've ever met. Just... don't lose yourself along the way, okay?"

I turned to her as I felt a fierce kind of love. “I will never lose you, Bella. That's the only thing that matters."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small, silver band. It wasn't a diamond; I couldn't afford one. It was a simple knot.

"It’s a promise." I whispered. "That one day, I will buy you the biggest diamond in the city. I will give you a manor, plenty of cars, and a life where you never have to worry again."

Isabella looked at the silver knot. Tears were shimmering in her eyes. "I don't need the diamond, Mateo.” She smiled, sliding the ring onto her finger. "I just need the man who gave me this knot to stay the same."

Present Day

I opened my eyes and the memory faded.

"I kept my promise about the diamonds, Bella." I whispered to the wind.

I checked my watch. 6.00 A.M. She told me she would wait here for me. I didn't even take long. Where was she?

Ten minutes passed. Twenty.

The wind started to pick up, turning chilly.

"Come on, Bella," I whispered, checking my phone. No new messages.

I walked toward the edge of the cliff to see if I could see her car coming up the winding road below. The view was clear for miles. But there were no cars.

That's when I noticed something unusual.

There were tire tracks.

They didn’t turn. It didn’t look like the car stopped. No marks that someone tried to brake.

The grass was crushed under the tires, and the tracks went all the way to the edge of the cliff.

My stomach sank. “Hell no.” I said with a nervous laugh, shaking my head. “No. She is just hiding. This is a joke.”

I held the railing tight and leaned over, almost falling. Down there, a thousand feet below, something was glinting in the morning sun. A silver roof of a car. A shattered windshield.

Then I saw fire.

A small orange flame came from the hood. Black, oily smoke started to rise, coming up the cliff.

My eyes became blurry.

"ISABELLA!" I screamed.