Lahat ng Kabanata ng He Stole My Love, Heart and My Future—But I’m Taking It Back: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

The cereal section at Whole Foods should have felt normal. Bright lights buzzed overhead. People pushed their carts quietly. It was just another day of buying milk and bread. But something felt wrong. My back prickled with the feeling that someone was watching me.I pushed my cart forward and pretended to look at the healthy cereal boxes. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the same gray jacket I had noticed three aisles ago. It was a man, not too tall, not too short. His baseball cap was pulled down low over his face. He had been behind me near the fruit, standing by the bananas while I picked out apples. Now he was staring at pasta sauce like he was really interested in it. But I could tell he didn't really cook."Mateo wants the kind with the cartoon tiger on it," I said loudly into my phone. I wanted the man to hear me. Alejandro was really at his office, but the stranger didn't need to know that.My hands shook a little as I reached for a cereal box. This was Carlos's new game. He

The café was chosen carefully, neutral ground, public enough to be safe, quiet enough for private talk. I arrived ten minutes early and sat at a corner table where I could see all the doors. Old habits from months of looking over my shoulder.Marcus Yen, not Carlos's driver, but his lawyer, walked in at exactly three o'clock. Expensive suit, silver hair, the kind of confident walk that comes from decades of making problems disappear for rich clients. Carlos's attorney, the one who'd built a reputation for keeping wealthy men out of prison."Mrs. Reyes," he said, reaching out his hand as he came to my table. "Thank you for agreeing to meet.""I haven't agreed to anything except listening," I replied, not shaking his hand. "And it's Ms. Reyes now. Soon to be Ms. Vega."His smile was practiced, smooth. "Of course. Congratulations on your engagement. Mr. Vega seems like a good man.""He is. Which is why this conversation needs to be short."Yen sat down across from me, ordering coffee fro

The news broke at 6:47 PM. It interrupted every TV channel's evening shows with the same urgent headline: "RICH CEO CARLOS REYES RUNS AWAY FROM COURTHOUSE DURING TRIAL."I stood in Alejandro's kitchen, watching my husband's face fill the TV screen. It was a recent photo from some charity dinner where he had worn his fake smile of being a good person. It was ironic that they were using a picture from an event for my foundation."The FBI has ordered the arrest of Carlos Reyes," the newswoman continued, her voice serious. "Reyes disappeared from the Miami courthouse during a break in his trial for stealing money. Police believe someone helped him escape.""Of course someone helped him," Sofia said from the couch. Her laptop sat on her knees as she answered calls from reporters. "Men like Carlos don't run away alone."My phone buzzed for the hundredth time in the past hour. This time it was Detective Maria Rodriguez, the FBI agent working on my case."Emily, we need to talk," she said wit

Detective Rodriguez came to the apartment in twenty minutes, but it felt like forever. I sat on Alejandro's couch, the bullet still in its small velvet box on the coffee table. Two FBI agents looked for fingerprints and checked the package it came in."Nothing here," Agent Martinez said, pulling off his rubber gloves. "No fingerprints, no DNA. Just regular materials you can buy at any office store.""What about who delivered it?" Alejandro asked. "Someone had to bring it up here.""The building's security cameras show a man in a delivery outfit around 2:30 this afternoon," Rodriguez said, looking at her notes. "Average height, baseball cap pulled down low over his face. The cameras never got a clear look at him. He knew exactly where all the cameras were.""Someone who knows what they're doing," I said quietly."Or someone who knows this building well." Rodriguez looked worried. "Either way, this is getting much worse. Emily, I think you need police protection right away.""No." The w

The Miami Convention Centre sparkled under TV lights as three hundred guests took their seats for what would become the most important press event of my life. The hospital groundbreaking announcement—originally planned as a quiet ceremony—had grown into something much bigger after Daniela's mysterious phone call three days ago."You look amazing," Alejandro whispered, fixing my microphone as I stood backstage. His hands were steady, but I could see the worry in his eyes."I feel it," I said and meant it. Despite everything—Carlos's threats, Daniela showing up again, the constant bodyguards—I felt more like myself than I had in years. "This is what I was meant to do.""Mrs Reyes?" The event coordinator appeared next to me. "Two minutes."I nodded, then turned back to Alejandro. "If something happens—""Nothing will happen." He held my face in his hands. "But if it does, Mateo knows how much you love him. We all do."The walk to the podium felt like floating. Camera flashes went off as