AUTHORS POV Tessa sat upright on the hospital bed, her swollen belly resting gently against the clean white sheets. She had spent more time than she expected because a series of tests had to be carried out. Her pelvic area hurt from being on the run and the doctor recommended total rest. The soft beeping of monitors and distant footsteps echoed through the corridor leading to her room, she could hear it all as though her pregnancy dealt her with an enhanced hearing. Don Ramón settled into a chair beside her, the pale afternoon sun casting long shadows across his lined face. He cleared his throat, eyes filled with remorse. “Tessa, you need to understand exactly how this all began.” She crossed her arms. “Tell me.” Even though she wasn’t in the right spirit, she was tired and wanted peace. But she knew the only way she would quell the two decades of anger she was feeling was if she listened to her father to know why everything turned out the way they did. Why he wa
AUTHORS “Good,” he said. “We’ll get you stabilized.” He caught Don Ramón’s eye. “Your husband?” “Father,” Don Ramón corrected, tightening the hem of his coat. The doctor nodded. “Understood. Right now we need blood. You’ve lost too much. Nurse!” A stocky nurse hurried over. “Type and cross?” “Tessa Lorenzo,” Don Ramón said, slipping off his jacket. “My blood’s type O-positive.” The nurse raised an eyebrow. “Right. We’ll draw two units.” She wheeled Tessa into a curtained bay. As Tessa closed her eyes against pain, Don Ramón sat at her side, hand brushed over hers. “You’re going to be fine,” he whispered. “I’m here.” *** Down the hall, the nurse prepared vials. Under harsh fluorescent light, she scrubbed Tessa’s forearm with alcohol. Tessa flinched, and the nurse stifled a sympathetic glance. “Relax, dear. Just a pinch,” she said, inserting the needle. Blood filled the tube. She labeled it: Patient: Tessa Lorenzo; Test: Type & Crossmatch. Then, glancing at the
AUTHOR’S POV The taillights of Denzel’s car disappeared into the night, leaving only silence and dust in their wake. Tessa stood still on the edge of the gravel road, her arms wrapped tightly around herself as the wind picked up. The darkness around her felt thick, pressing in from the woods on either side like a suffocating cloak. There were no houses in sight, no signs of life—only the endless road stretched ahead and behind like a black ribbon cutting through nowhere. She turned in slow circles, unsure of which direction to take. Her legs were aching, her back heavy, and her heart throbbed with the raw sting of separation. She had told Clarissa it was for the best—but the cold night and silence whispered a different truth. Doubt settled in. Suddenly, the low rumble of voices broke the stillness. It scared her into a frenzy. “Look what we have here,” one of them said—a raspy male voice with the kind of slick amusement that chilled her spine. Tessa spun toward the sound
AUTHOR’S POVNight deepened. Tessa crept to the window and peered through the bars. She remembered the night Aunt Norah told her to run and she refused.A thousand and one voices told her to slap herself across the face several times for being such a disobedient twart, but she stopped herself.Empty street—too quiet. She returned to the pockets—what little cash remained, maps with hastily scrawled routes. She traced a path in her mind: a hidden exit through an alley, a network of safehouses George had arranged with allies during their plan that time. How did she not think of it all this while?She reached for her bag—wanted only to grab the forged travel ID and burner phone Denzel had provided. Then her eyes fell on the battered keys Clarissa had filched from Ferdinand’s room, the cold metal in her palm another reminder of how near death had taken so much from her.Panic hit again. Without them… no escape at all.Footsteps outside. Tessa’s pulse hammered. Clarissa hushed Sofia and pre
AUTHORS POV Just when they thought they had found peace in their new settlement, Ferdinand’s men gave them a hot chase out of no where. At some point, Tessa was confused as to how the men were able to track them and she knew the only person to pull this kind of search pursuit was her husband pedro, she was beginning to suspect he was the one after her and not ferdinand. Because to the best of her knowledge, these men did not look so educated to track him so upclose, they just got to the old inn for Godsake. That night the crescent moon hung low in the sky, they had been running for hours and was exhausted, a pale silver blade piqued against the midnight blue—or so Tessa wished she could appreciate. Beside her, Clarissa slipped through the undergrown path, Sofia clutched in her arms, the baby’s soft whimpers muffled by the thick cotton of her mother’s dress. Tessa guided the way, her heart pounding with every snapping twig and rustling leaf. Clarissa was grateful that she had li
AUTHORS POV Hours passed, the storm raging outside, trapping them in the cabin, it was all the sign Tessa needed to know that the storm she badly wanted to be over was far, very far from being over. It seemed as though, God had turned a deaf ear on her prayers and had the devil having a field time tormenting her ever since the day Pedro found the way to her house and claimed her as his bride.Tessa sat against the wall, forehead pressed to the cool plaster, when a sharp pain exploded in her abdomen. She gasped, hands clenching at her sides. Clarissa shot to her feet. “Tracy? Sorry Tessa?”“At this point, any one goes” Tessa replied, folding her hands akimbo.“I am trying to get used to calling you by your real name, and I must because its you who lied” Clarissa tried to tease even though the air was so tense.Suddenly, the pain Tessa was feeling in her stomach struck her hard but she winced and groaned a bit. Tessa’s face twisted with pain. “My… my stomach.” She slid to her kne