Chapter 8

The Refusal

POV: Karol Kensington

"Do not sign anything!"

The loud yell broke the quiet of the hospital room. I spun around and dropped the heavy gold pen. Standing in the doorway, pushing past Ciro's huge guards, was my mother. Esperanza Kensington.

Her hair was messy. Her expensive coat was soaking wet from the rain outside. But she did not look at me with love or worry. She looked at me with pure hate.

"Mother?" I whispered.

"Get away from him, Karol," she ordered. She pointed a shaking finger at Ciro. "Are you crazy? Are you making a deal with the enemy? Are you selling our family?"

Her words felt like a hard slap across my face.

Ciro was right. She did not ask if I was safe. She did not ask if Ciro had hurt me. She only cared about our business and our family name.

I slowly turned my head to look at Ciro. He was resting against his pillows. A dark, knowing smile was on his face. His bronze eyes looked right into mine. He did not even have to speak. His eyes simply said, "See? "I told you they do not care about you.

My heart hurt. I was stuck in the middle. My mother was cold and mean, ready to throw me to the wolves. And Ciro was a dangerous man setting a trap to own me.

I looked down at the thick white paper. Private Care Contract. It was my way out of a big lawsuit. But it was also a cage.

My hands stopped shaking. I stood up and looked Ciro right in his eyes. I forced myself to ignore the warm, confusing pull I felt toward him.

"I belong to no one," I said. My voice was loud and clear.

I grabbed the thick paper and ripped it in half. The tearing sound was very loud in the room. I put the pieces together and ripped them again and again. I tore his rules into tiny shreds.

Ciro's smile vanished. A flash of real surprise and then a very dark, scary anger crossed his handsome face.

"You are making a huge mistake, Karol," Ciro warned. His voice was completely flat now. It was much scarier than if he had yelled. "When the fire starts, I will not save you."

"I do not need you to save me," I fired back.

I grabbed my coat from the chair. I did not even look at my mother. I walked right past her and out the door, leaving them both behind in the room.

For the next two days, I did not go home. I stayed at the soccer clinic day and night.

I refused to talk to my mother. I threw myself into my work. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was a Kensington, and I was exactly where I belonged. I worked until my bones hurt. I wrapped ankles, checked muscles, and wrote workout plans for our players.

But no matter how hard I worked, Ciro was stuck in my head.

When I closed my eyes, I saw his dark, messy hair. I remembered the heavy, warm feel of his big hand grabbing my wrist. I hated him for trying to trap me. But my body kept betraying me. Just thinking about his deep voice made my heart race. It felt so wrong. Why did I want a man who was my enemy?

And worse than the confusing heat, I could not stop thinking about his warning.

“Someone in your perfect family tried to cripple me.”

He had the burned knee brace. The acid on his gear was real. He did not lie about that. Someone had done it.

By the second night, the heavy doubt was eating me alive. I had to know the truth.

The clinic was totally empty. It was past midnight. The hallways were dark and quiet. I sat alone in my office, staring at my bright computer screen.

If someone had used a strong chemical to hurt Ciro, there had to be a record. We keep all our dangerous liquids in a special room. Every single bottle is tracked by a computer list. You need a special keycard to open the door.

My hands were sweating as I typed in my secret password. I had the highest security clearance. I searched for the list from the week of Ciro's big game.

“Please let Ciro be wrong; I prayed silently in the dark. Please let the list be normal.”

The file loaded. I clicked on the folder for dangerous chemicals.

A gray box popped up on the screen.

NO FILE FOUND.

I frowned. My heart beat a little faster. I clicked it again.

NO FILE FOUND.

My blood ran cold. The records were not just missing. They were totally wiped out. Someone had erased the exact days I needed to see.

Panicked, I grabbed my cell phone from the desk. I dialed the emergency number for the night computer guy, Hector. He was a quiet, nervous man.

He answered very fast. "Hello? Ms. Kensington?"

"Hector," I said. I tried to keep my voice steady, but it shook. "I am looking at the supply list for the chemical room. The data from last week is completely gone. Did the computer breakdown?"

There was a long silence. I could hear him breathing heavily.

"Uh, no, Ms. Kensington," Hector said. He sounded very scared. "The computer did not break. Someone went into the main server and deleted the list on purpose."

Deleted?" I gripped the phone tighter. "By who? You know it is highly illegal to delete medical supply logs without a state inspector present."

"I know! I told her that!" Hector cried out.

"Told who?" I stood up so fast my chair fell over. "Give me a name, Hector!"

"It was logged as routine maintenance," Hector stuttered, sounding completely terrified. "But I didn't do it. The order came straight from the executive office."

​"Whose office, Hector? Give me a name!"

​"It was your sister," Hector whispered into the phone. "Valeria. She used her master password to wipe the system two days ago."

​The phone slowly slipped from my ear. The world seemed to stop spinning. Valeria? 

​I stared out into the dark, empty hallway of the clinic. The deadly trap hadn't been set by Ciro Restrepo at all. The real monster was already living inside my house.