Y A S M E E N The light reaches my eyes as I squint them, groaning. Not wanting to wake up, I snuggle further into the blanket until I feel a slight stinging slither across my arm. All the memories of my violent night come flooding through my mind as I notice I'm patched up. Though there isn't much pain in my body as there was before, the subtle aching left behind is still present as I try to sit up. I don't recognize the room or any part of my surroundings.Another part of that day pops up uninvited into my mind: If you keep this up, Ms. Yasmeen Yasin, the next time I see you, I'll have you pinned against the wall fucking you senseless. A blush creeps up my cheeks, heating up my whole entire body. If this man doesn't marry me after this, I might just die from heartbreak.The door opens softly, and I jump out of fear of another attack or something."Sorry, Ms. Yasin, I didn't mean to frighten you," the woman has a stethoscope around her neck and my body relaxes a bit. "I'm your docto
Z A R A"Take me home?" My voice is instantly quiet. I wrap my arms around my stomach in a firmer manner, afraid of what may happen.In minutes, Frank explains his task to infiltrate Philip's hideout but at that time, Frank wasn't informed of all the details."You're saying Alejandro knew that there would be an attempt on my life?" Frank nods. "Yet he let it happen." He nods again."I was just a pawn in his sick game?"Frank pauses, picking his next words very carefully. "Again, I was not informed of all the details—just enough to gather information and put Boss' plan into action. The knowledge of whether you were a pawn or not is not under my understanding."I don't have time to think hard about any of this. I will take Frank's help and escape this place. "Since when did your speech get so formal?"He looks at me in confusion."You sound formal, instead of rude.""I've always talked like this," he states."Right..." I give him a small smile. "How are we leaving this place?"He gives
Z A R A"Alejandro..." I call out softly. "Please, answer me.""It's no use," Marcus says coldly. "He won't snap out of it until his body recognizes that he's no longer under any kind of threats."I lay my head back on Alejandro's shoulder, closing my eyes. "Remember that time when I told you I loved white roses and you filled Yasmeen's car trunk with a bunch of white roses?" I say to him, though I know he probably can't hear me. "But you didn't specify who they were for and who they were from."Yasmeen giggles sadly. "And I mistakenly thought they were for me and wouldn't shut up about having a secret admirer."I giggled at the memory."Oh, and remember the time he scared away that one poor guy who had a crush on you?" Yasmeen says. How could I forget. "I swear all the male species in our school, no matter if they were strangers or friends, stayed far away from you after that."I chuckle softly. "Yeah, that was kind of selfish of him considering that he would barely make a move on me
Z A R A "I don't have the answer to that, my love," Alejandro answers. "You'll only find out after you pull the trigger.""You call me 'my love', yet those words don't hold any meaning for you. Why?" My voice cracks.I'm so tired. I'm so very tired. He picks up his bloodied hand, covered in the aftermath of torture that he endured, and gently places it against my cheek. I lean into his hand and squeeze my eyes shut, letting a few tears slip out.I shove the tip of the gun further against his Adam's apple, my hand shaking over the trigger. I let out a sad chuckle. Why is this so hard? I should be able to pull this trigger with no problem. This man... he did me no good, no good at all. Then, why? Why is it so difficult to end the part of my life that's causing me suffering?"I can't do it," I whisper loud enough for only Alejandro to hear. "I can't..." Yet his eyes give away nothing, he's accepted the fate that his death is from my hands."What's taking you so long, Zara?" Philip interr
"Zara, no!" I hear Alejandro shout before numerous bullets fly across the room.Miraculously, with all the pain and unstableness, I land a hit on Philip's chest right near his heart—or maybe even on his heart. I feel too disoriented to be able to confirm the exact location of the bullet. I mentally thank Charlotte for all her training. Now that Philip's out of the way, maybeAlejandro can...I look down as the adrenaline pumps through my body, numbing me, and realize the worst of it. Unfortunately, two of bullets from Philip's men ended up in my body and I instantly slump against the floor, bleeding out at an extremely fast rate.Alejandro manages to grab the gun off of my hand and in the matter of seconds, lands to shoot all four men point-blank in the forehead before they could even blink. But the only reason he was able to do so was because of the distraction I created."Where was this talent when we needed it?" I choke as I tease him one last time.He falls down on his knees, pick
Y A S M E E N I didn't know. I lied. I lied to Philip. I don't know what Elijah told him. I don't know what Marcus's true intentions were. I don't know if Philip was saying that to spite me but Marcus's reaction didn't help."You're quite obviously not his first choice", Philip's words ring in my ears. "Now that his boyfriend found a new toy, he needs something to keep him preoccupied too."I think deep down inside, I knew I was a second choice. Obviously, I was the second choice. If he was ready to get over someone, the next would be the second choice for a bit until they build the relationship up to become the first choice but..."Tell her how your initial plan was to mess with her because you were envious of her close relationship with Alejandro. How you thought you'd get to Alejandro by hurting her," Philip had said.But did he truly want to hurt me because he couldn't bear my bond with Alejandro? Were his intentions evil to begin with?If I die today, I want one last chance to a
A L E J A N D R O Minutes.Hours.Days.Weeks.How long has it been since I heard the sweet sound of her laughter? The crinkle at the corner of her eyes when she smiles? The smell of her sweet fragrance that whiffed around in the air when she passed by? What about the way her hands fit wholly in mine? The way one touch of her skin set my entire heart on fire? The way she had me wrapped around her finger without even knowing it?Will I get to feel that warmth of, not only her skin but her presence ever again? Her silhouette itself brought me enough peace to last days and now seeing her still, cold body laying motionless is just a reminder of my biggest failure yet.I'm losing myself, physically and mentally. I need her to show me where I belong, remind me of who I am, and remind me why the thought of losing her is tearing me apart.I scoff at myself. Why the fuck would she want me? Why the fuck would she want to be with me after all of this? She'd be happier drifting far away from me
M A R C U S "Alejandro's not at home," Zara says once she sees me at the door. "He'll be back soon, though. You're welcome to wait inside. I'm baking cookies!" I raise a brow, she's much cheerier than usual.The events that occurred a year ago have left a lot of us shaken up to this day. All of us took it hard but the women took it the hardest.Zara hasn't been wholeheartedly happy since then. I assume she just pretends to be okay a lot of the time. It's not hard to miss the lack of spark in her eyes.Sometimes, when she's with Alejandro, the spark does come back, very slightly but it's there. From what I heard from Charlotte, the couple has been going to regular therapy for their relationship for about a year now.I never saw Alejandro as a therapy guy but it's obvious he'd do anything to make Zara happy, she's his whole entire world.A twinge of jealousy arises through my chest. I chose Alejandro, but he chose Zara. But maybe it's not that, maybe that's not what's making me enviou