I returned to him, going up on my tiptoes to briefly brush my lips against his. I couldn’t do anything more passionate in front of my father, but I poured all the things I couldn’t say into the kiss.
“I love you,” I swore.
“I love you, corderita.” He gave me one more kiss, unable to help himself. “You’re safe.”
“I know.”
He pressed his forehead to mine with one final hum. Then, he strode away, his huge frame swelling in savage anticipation.
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Gehovany would be dead by sunset.
Barely half an hour had passed before my father’s battered, old phone rang, interrupting our joyous reunion. He ignored it, but it immediately rang a second time.
He grumbled and answered with a clipped, “What?”
His craggy face paled, and fear flashed across his dark eyes. “Are you sure?”
A second of silence.
“Thank you.” He choked out his gratitude and ended the call with shaky hands.
His featured twisted with an echo of the soul-wrenching agony that’d drawn a howl from his chest on the day my mother died. “He’s coming. I don’t know how he knows you’re here, Marisol, but Gregorio warned me that he just saw Gehovany drive past his property.”
The ground tilted beneath me, and I braced my hands on the chair before I could fall. “But that means…”
Gregorio only lived a few miles away. There was no way Raúl could get back to me before Gehovany arrived.
My chest caved in as my worst nightmare became reality. Somehow, my frozen fingers found my phone. It took two attempts before I managed to enter Raúl’s contact details correctly.
“Marisol.” He answered on the first ring, my name clipped with worry.
“He’s on his way here,” I whispered through numb lips. “My father’s friend saw Gehovany driving this way. We might have fifteen minutes. Can you get here?” The desperate question was so high and thin that it was barely audible.
“Go inside the house.” His ferocious snarl sounded over the squeal of tires burning against asphalt. “Lock the doors, and do not come out for any reason. Don’t let your father try to defend you. All of you, inside. Now.” The commands became rougher, less intelligible as rage and panic overtook him, but I understood every word.
I ended the call, so I could repeat his orders to my family, my father in particular. I practically shoved them into the house. Gabriela clutched Mario to her chest, and he began to cry.
When we’d locked the doors and barricaded ourselves in the bedroom, my current nightmare mingled with my most horrific memories.
I clutched my family tight, as though I could protect them all if I just held them close enough.
My mother’s cheery yellow dress blocking my view of Gehovany. Her arms spreading wide to shield us. Her body lurching backwards in the instant the gunshot blasted through our tiny house.
Flashes of heat and icy cold rolled just beneath the surface of my skin; a nauseating, storm-tossed sea. A loud buzz filled my skull, scrambling my brain.
As the minutes stretched out interminably, a single thought coalesced in my mind: No one will die because of me. Never again.
Willing my shaking knees to support me, I got to my feet and moved toward the bedroom door in a daze. Just like on the day my mother had been murdered, I felt untethered from the world. I was nothing more than an apparition, hovering uselessly amongst the mortal terror of my loved ones.
Never again.
“Marisol.” My father’s hand grabbed my wrist when I reached for the doorknob. “What are you doing? Stop!”
“Raúl said if he’s not back by now, I should go into the garden. He wants me to be able to run if Gehovany gets here before he does.” The lies left my lips in surreal bubbles, floating from my chest without thought.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Gabriela squeaked. “Please, don’t go.”
“Raúl knows about these things. Trust me. You all should stay inside.”
My father’s fingers reluctantly fell from my wrist, and I slid away from them without looking back. If I lingered on their horrorstruck faces, I might lose my resolve.
Never again. None of them would die because of me. I wouldn’t survive the loss. I’d be as good as dead, anyway.
As I stepped out the back door, I found my phone in my pocket. It felt strangely solid in my ghostly hand, but I was able to place the call to Raúl.
“I’m almost there. Marisol? Answer me!”
“I can’t let him hurt them.” My voice was soft and light, untouched by emotion.
“Don’t you dare,” he seethed, immediately understanding my intentions. “Stay in the house. Stay the fuck inside, and wait for me.”
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see.
I would stay out of sight amongst the greenery, but if Gehovany arrived before Raúl, I would go to him. He would not touch my family.