Chapter 40 "Are you okay?" Charles' voice finally broke the silence as we entered my apartment. Everything that had just happened hung heavy between us. That struggle with Victor shook both of us, and even after getting through it, there was fear and uncertainty. I nodded, but my tightening chest said otherwise. "I think so," I said softly, trying to reassure myself as much as him. My eyes strayed across familiar spaces in my apartment, but with him there tonight, it looked different—a place of refuge and a reminder of all the chaos we were trying to escape. Charles followed me into the living room, his presence that held me in place. I collapsed into the couch, unable to turn off my thoughts, time and again returning to what had happened this evening: Victor's threats, our uneasy truce, this overwhelming feeling of being trapped in something far bigger than us. "I never thought it would come to this," I said, barely audible. Charles sat beside me, his hand resting on my knee, an
Chapter 41 A Calm Before the Storm Ximena took a deep breath, a murmur of life in the distance; it all seemed very far away from that little tin-can chaos they had left in Mexico City. Charles walked beside her, fingers touching lightly with hers, hand in hand. It was a small town, such was the beauty of it. Colorful old buildings looked shoulder to shoulder, as if they had been aged friends. Both had been silent, lost in their thoughts. But there was comfort in that silence between them, like an unvoiced communication that words could not explain. "You really think we could just leave it all behind?" The silence was broken as the voice of Ximena came and she leaned to look at him. He looked softly back at her. "I don't know," he muttered. "But for now, I want to believe we can. Even if it's just for a little while." At this time, she, too, had wanted to believe them: self-soothingness, that all had gone; fears and doubts replayed in her mind for too long. It availed her n
Chapter 42 The Search As soon as we entered my apartment, it felt like the city was ready to pull us back into the insanity we left. My phone beeped non-stop and each beep of the notification made me sink in my chair. Back here, there was no calm, only stress that wound itself up like a spring with every tick of the clock. Charles walked from one corner of the living room to the other, he was not as composed as he generally was because of the environment. I couldn't blame him. All the attempts to restore the relationships and some kind of ‘normal’ life were suddenly washed away and we were back to the storm. And then the news came, Miguel was missing. The man who I had once dreamt of, loved and hated was nowhere to be seen and I had never felt this lonely before. The news was quite shocking. Notwithstanding all the pains, there was still a desire in me to care. It was written all over my face and that is when Charles saw it. “He’s gone,” I whispered, my mind struggling to co
Chapter 43The RescueThe atmosphere was rather tense as Charles, Ximena, Tania, and Detective Rodriguez sat at the large wooden table in Ximena’s apartment. The artificial lighting made the faces of the people look blurred as if they were in a state of confusion. The noise of distant traffic of a city was always present, but it was barely soothing Ximena’s nerves. Ximena looked at Tania and tried to read her mind as to what she was planning on doing next. “It is getting late,” Tania said after a while. She was composed and her tone was normal but there was something else in her gaze – hatred perhaps.Ximena stiffened. The very idea of Miguel getting injured or worse, killed sends chills to her spine. Beside the lies, the betrayals and yet, she couldn’t deny the fact that she still had feelings for him. But she couldn’t allow being biased to take the lead. They had to remain vigilant. They had to remain focused. Charles laid a comforting hand on her shoulder wondering the battle
Chapter 44Ximena's POV Torn HeartsStaring at the woods through the window of the safe house, I was thinking chaotically, torn between my feelings. The last couple of days have been filled with threats and discoveries, and now that there was a break, I was overwhelmed by emotions I did not know I still had.Charles entered the room, and the sound of his steps barely reached the ears due to the worn out carpet. “Racking your brain?” he said, smiling softly at me.I looked at him and felt so relieved to see him there. “Yeah... just dealing with all of this... it has been quite a lot.”He nodded, looking at me with understanding. "I know how you feel, Ximena, you have been so strong all this time."His words comforted me but at the same time it gave me a twinge of conscience in my heart. Charles had been nothing but supportive, he even fought for his life to ensure that I got Miguel out of the building. And yet, here I was, my emotions all over the place when it came to my ex-husband.
Chapter 45Ximena's POV The Final Stand"Don't tell me you have feelings for him?" Miguel’s voice was sharp as he stormed my room without knocking and his gaze piercing through me. I looked at him and my heart was pounding. "I mean Charles, what's going between you two?" He added.How did he get to know that I was talking to Charles? Had he overheard us?The idea made my cheeks redden with shame and fury.“You don’t need to know that, Miguel,” I said angrily, though I made an effort to speak calmly. “We have other issues to attend to at the moment.”His jaw was tense and for a moment I saw a glimpse of the old Miguel – arrogant, jealous and handsome. But then he looked a little less angry and he raked his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh.“Well, you are right, I am sorry,” he replied, but his voice was very soft. “I just... I can’t stand the thought of losing you again, Ximena. “I was about to answer him when suddenly the door opened and Charles entered the room, looking
Chapter 46 Ximena sat in front of her computer and looked at the blank screen with her hands above the keys. The logo of the Antonio Group was glowing on the screen and she was reminded of how much hard she'd work. And after the recent scandals, an attempt to restore the company’s image seemed as an impossible mission that she had to accomplish with her own hands. She sighed and put her fingers on her temples. The last few weeks were filled with numerous meetings, press conferences and work on overcoming the consequences. Even as Victor Reyes was in jail, the effects of his deeds continued to be felt in the business society. A knock on her office door interrupted her from her train of thought. “Come in,” she said aloud, sitting up in her chair. Her assistant, Maria, came in. "The Marketing team is now complete and ready to show you a new campaign, Ms. Antonio." Ximena moved her head affirmatively, picking up her tablet and a notepad. “Thank you, Maria. I will be there in a few mi
Chapter 47 Heart's Crossroads Ximena's POV “Ximena, these projections look great,” Miguel said, moving closer to me to indicate on the screen. “If we are able to achieve even half of these goals, both our companies will regain the position of dominance within the year. ” I nodded, forcing myself not to pay attention to the heat he was emanating, and how our bodies were pressed against each other. “That is the strategy. We just have to ensure that the implementation is perfect.” This was the third week since we began working on this collaboration project. Three weeks of late nights, numerous arguments and, of course, achievements. But also three weeks of mixed feelings and revival of the old feelings. As Miguel got up to go get his coffee, I sighed a breath I didn’t know I needed to exhale. 'Pull yourself together, Ximena, I scolded myself. This is strictly business.' But even as I thought of it, I knew it wasn’t true. It was not business like when my heart pounded, whe
Chapter 165: The Final ReckoningThe night was unusually still, the quiet broken only by the occasional distant car passing by. Ximena had fallen into a light sleep, her body exhausted from the strain of the past few days. But the sudden sound of a floorboard creaking in her apartment jolted her awake.Her heartbeat made a sudden jump to her throat and she glanced toward the living room. The darkness caused by the streetlights outside only appeared to make things even more quiet.The man standing in the doorway leading into the living room was plain to see.Tania.She was standing there, gripping the gun firmly, her eyes were wide open and looked like they had gone mad. Ximena looked paralyzed with a cold feeling running around her body.“Well, well, here we are meeting in person,” Tania spat out her words and was clearly angry. “I knew this would be the moment every time. You never thought that I could do them, did you?”Ximena’s heart beat faster, but she did not allow her tone to
Chapter 164: A Dangerous EncounterMiguel’s fists connected with the first thug’s jaw with a sickening thud, sending the man stumbling back, his head snapping to the side. Ximena watched from her car, her breath caught in her throat. The sound of the scuffle was echoing down the alley, but she couldn't hear anything except for the pure power and perfection in Miguel's movements.He moved like a force of nature: his muscular frame twisting and turning, his every strike landing with purpose. The men surrounding him tried to overpower him, but Miguel was relentless, fury behind each punch.The night air crackled with energy, and Ximena felt a weird mix of terror and awe. She'd never seen this side of him before, yet it didn't faze her.It was the man she'd married once; the man who would go to any length to protect what he loved.In one leap, one of the thugs pounced on him with a crowbar. However, Miguel was quicker, dodging and managing to sweep a leg to drop him to the ground. In o
Chapter 163: The Return of TaniaShe stared at the photo in her hand, her heart racing wildly. How had they gotten this photo? Who watched her? She felt her stomach clench as the creeping feeling of vulnerability clawed at her.Miguel had been supportive, but even his presence could not erase the gnawing anxiety that had settled deep inside her. She could still feel the weight of his comforting words from earlier, but they did little to quell the storm brewing in her mind.Tania had kept silent for too long, and now it was as if the calm had been no more than the quiet before the storm.Miguel had insisted on staying the night, refusing to let Ximena face this alone. Now, as they sat together in her living room, Miguel was talking about taking extra precautions for her safety, adding security to her apartment, increasing surveillance around the office, but Ximena wasn't fully listening.She had heard the same promises before, and while she appreciated them, she couldn’t help but fe
Chapter 162: Shadows ReturnThe next morning, Ximena was back to work, sitting at her desk, her hands fastened on the lid of the portable computer, her fingers drumming the wooden top of the laptop. He had seen her typing away again, probably trying to complete the quarterly reports so that the board meeting in the morning would not consume all the time. Her head was not in the numbers; she was constantly thinking about the peculiarities that had been bothering her all week.The first time she’d noticed it, she thought that perhaps she was imagining it. He had seen a black sedan parked across the street from her building for two consecutive days and the face of the driver was hidden behind the tinted glass. It could have been nothing, but then there were the phone calls; two in the last two days; both of which rang only twice before the line went dead as soon as she picked up.She tried to dismiss it as a mere fluke and went on to telling herself that there was really no need for
Chapter 161: A New NormalXimena sat down comfortably in her chair and looked at the numbers that target the company’s financial performance in the following quarter. The numbers, as he could see, were fine, were good, in fact, were more than good. The Group was on its way up again in Antonio’s life. Things were finally getting a little less insane, and Ximena was able to concentrate.This lack of drama seemed to them in some way wrong, even unnatural. Living on a daily edge, ready to face the next storm, she found the lack of tumult... dangerous. But was this not what she had wanted?Her phone was ringing on the desk and she had to remove herself from her line of thinking. A message from Clara lit up the screen: “Meeting at 11:30. Coffee on the way.”Ximena, still smiling, thanked her. “Thanks, lifesaver.”Clara was not wrong, after a year, the world seemed to have returned to its normal state.Miguel came to see her later in the morning that same day with a box of pastries and a
Chapter 160: Shadows Closing InMiguel paced back and forth, his frustration evident in the sharp clicks of his shoes against the polished floor. “She’s up to something. She always is. But I can’t risk dismissing this if it’s tied to Vega.”Ximena crossed her arms over her chest, easing back into her chair. "You're giving her too much credit. This is Tania we're talking about; a master manipulator. She wants you to believe she's our ally just so she can stay close."Miguel stopped pacing and faced her. "What if this time she's telling the truth?"What if she isn't?" Ximena shot back. "Every time we let her in, she leaves chaos in her wake."______________________________________Late that afternoon, Gregorio joined them in Ximena's office. His arrival brought much-needed clarity, though his face was as tense as theirs."I did some digging after Tania's sudden appearance," Gregorio began, placing a file on the desk. "And it seems she's not bluffing entirely."Ximena's eyes slitted a
Chapter 159: A Desperate MoveTania hesitated for a moment before turning on her heel and walking away, her laughter echoing in the empty street.Miguel turned to Ximena, his jaw tight. “Are you okay?”Ximena nodded, though her hands were still trembling. “Let’s just go.”…………………………………..Ximena was staring out the window of Miguel's car. Her reflection fluttered with the streetlights as they speed-crossed the city.Miguel has his hands clutched tight over the wheel. His knuckles were white. He glanced over to her and his jaw clenched. "You haven't said a word since we left. What is going on inside that head of yours?""What's the word of the day?" Ximena replied in a quiet tone. "That I don't want to play this any longer? That I'm tired of being a target?"Miguel let out a soft breath, his eyes remaining on the road. "You are not alone in this, you know that, right?"Ximena looked at him. "Do I? Because lately, it's feeling like I'm fighting for myself."Miguel was thinking of a come
Chapter 158: Countdown to ChaosSleep was out of the question. Ximena’s instincts told her this was more than another scare tactic.By the time the sun rose, she was already seated at her dining table with her laptop open and a steaming cup of coffee beside her. The clock ticked ominously as if counting down to an unseen disaster.Her phone buzzed, pulling her out of her thoughts. Miguel’s name lit up the screen.“Morning,” she said, trying to mask her exhaustion.“Did you sleep at all?” Miguel’s voice was tinged with concern.“Not really,” she admitted, rubbing her temples. “The message... I can’t stop thinking about it.”“Neither can I,” Miguel said. “But we have a plan, Ximena. We’re ahead of them.”“Are we?” Ximena asked, doubt creeping into her voice. “Or are we just reacting to whatever they throw at us?”Miguel caught himself and responded in a lower tone. "Meet me at Antonio's Group. Gregorio probably has more news for us."______________________________________The middle o
Chapter 157: Tightening the GripXimena sat at her desk, staring blankly at her calendar. She'd spent all morning moving meetings around, trying to make sense of a schedule that had begun to feel utterly meaningless under the mounting threats.A knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts. Clara peeked in, the shine gone now from her face since the events of the past couple of days."Miss Antonio, Gregorio is here," Clara said quietly.Ximena nodded, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Send him in.”Gregorio entered, his ever-practical briefcase in hand. “Morning, Miss Antonio. Miguel should be joining us shortly. We’ve got some developments you’ll want to hear about.”Ximena gestured for him to sit. “Developments?”Before he could answer, Miguel strode into the room, his expression grim but focused.“Let’s hear it,” Miguel said, taking a seat beside Ximena.Gregorio opened his briefcase, pulled out a few files, and laid them across the desk. "We have located Vega's