28
Isa
The streets of Ibiza were never empty. In the time I’d spent there, all I’d ever seen was the frenetic energy of the island. I hurried along the sidewalk as fast as I could and pulled my suitcase behind me in the eerie silence of the night. The look in Rafael's eyes when he'd stared at me in the elevator haunted me as I jumped at any sound.
A garbage can rattled around the corner, making me quicken my pace with a frightened squeak. My eyes connected with the green gaze of a cat as he made his way past in a hurry. Pausing to lean on my knees and catch my breath, I tried to shove down the paranoia suffocating me.
Having a heart attack before I made it to Chloe's hotel wouldn't do me much good. I had no clue how to get to the embassy and no phone to look up directions.
Rafael had been angry that I left him. He'd been hurt, and the glare I'd seen on his face had to be a consequence of that. Nothing more.
So why couldn't I convince myself that I didn't need to run?
I grabbed my suitcase by the handle again, picking up the pace once more as I hurried down the road. Turning the corner to the street I thought I needed to take, I halted in my tracks at the sight of what sat in the middle of the road.
A single black pawn. The marble sparkled in the dim streetlights, practically glowing against the light stone of the street itself. Taking my hand off the suitcase and abandoning it on the side of the road, I stepped up to it and bent down to grasp it in my hand as what little noise there was bled away. My thumb ran over the marble as I stood, staring down at it and the tiny fissure on the top.
The same as the first pawn Rafe had moved in our game of chess.
His first move.
I dropped it as my heart stopped, watching it fall to the stone at my feet. My vision went white as I spun to look around. There was no one in sight.
No sign of Rafael, but I abandoned my suitcase. My feet couldn't move fast enough as I ran down the road. I charged through an intersection without checking for oncoming traffic, feeling eyes on me as I went. I couldn't hear anything outside my own panicked breathing as I ran.
Pain ripped through my knees as I kicked something and then fell over my own feet. My palms sliced open on the rough stone as I caught myself. Turning to look behind me as I stood to see what I'd tripped on, my eyes landed on the Knight where it lay on its side.
I scrambled to my feet and abandoned my purse in the middle of the road where it had fallen, my throat closing in on itself as tears streamed down my face from fear. I rounded another corner to get to Hugo's hotel. If I could just get there. If I could just make it to the safety of the hotel, everything would be okay.
It had to be.
Just a few more blocks separated me from safety when I found the Bishop on the road I should have turned down. I skidded to a halt in the middle of the street, the moisture of my own blood trickling down my legs while I stared at it. I backed away from the piece, turning down the opposite block and hoping it would lead me in the right direction.
It wasn't the path I thought I knew, but Rafael's tokens waited at every corner when I followed the main road. I sprinted, willing my legs to go faster as my flip flops slickened with the blood from my scraped knees.
There was no marble piece in the street when I turned the corner to circle back around. No sign of Rafe as I heaved a breath of relief. With the hotel almost in sight, I let myself hope. For just one fleeting moment, I let myself believe that I'd make it.
That I'd go home to my boring life where men didn't chase me through the streets of an abandoned Ibiza.
And then came the Queen in the road, shining in the center of streetlamps that led to the square where the hotel was. I screamed my fear and frustration into the night, turning down another side road in desperation.
It came to a dead end as I slowed, the black King staring back at me as if he had eyes of his own. As if he could see me and feel my fear along with me. My last free breath came in a broken sob, but I shoved down my desolation.
I whirled to run, stopping short when the movement brought me face to face with Rafael's cold eyes staring down at me. He stood with his hands in his pockets, his head subtly cocked to the side. Even in the dim light, I'd never mistake the handsome face that had stolen my breath.
Lost to the nightmare that stole him away.
I backed away a step, looking at the end of the alley over my shoulder before I swallowed and turned back to him. My heart beat out of control as my lungs struggled to get air past my panic.
"Checkmate, Princesa," he murmured, stepping toward me slowly as I raised my hands defensively.
"Rafael, what are you doing?" I asked, sobbing as one of his hands reached up to stroke my cheek with a mocking gentleness.
"It's time to go home," he said, his face twisting with a moment of regret.
A startled gasp broke free as something pinched my neck, my eyes tracking down to watch him withdraw a syringe from my flesh and toss it to the side. He wrapped me in his arms, holding me through my struggles as I beat his chest with furious hands and struggled to get away.
A car engine started up at the side of the alley as my vision turned fuzzy. My body went limp in his hold while he held my gaze. “Shhh,” he whispered, his thumb making small circles on my spine. Everything felt heavy, but I fought to keep my eyes open. Fought to get away. “Go to sleep, Princesa. I’ve got you.”
“Why?” I asked, my eyes barely open as he stared back down at me intently. Leaning down, he ran his nose up the side of mine as he scooped me into his arms and carried me in the direction of the fuzzy black SUV waiting at the corner.
"You shouldn’t have left me," he said, as the sound of a car door opening hit my ears. I rolled my head to the side as the door for the back seat creaked open. Rafael climbed into the car, laying me in the seat so that my head rested on his lap. “It didn’t have to be this way,” he whispered softly. All I could make out in the darkness was the vague shape of his face and two shining eyes staring back at me.
A phantom from my memory.
My head lolled to the side as darkness crept in.
Then there was nothing.