"Can anyone explain to me exactly who these people are? "Colton questions no one in particular, his voice sounding nasalized and moist. It is obvious that the bleeding in your nose has not decreased at all. “Mobsters? Bloodthirsty bandits? I swear I don't understand.”Jonathan seems even more upset."Understand that a driver has just been executed for not seeing that two women were fighting and that one of them fell in the middle of the street and was run over. Understand that I'm tired of being betrayed by people who should thank me for protecting them. And understand, friend, that the only way to get out of here, alive, is to convince me that your life is worth something.”"Is that all you want? Forgiveness? I ask for forgiveness! If you want to hurt me or kill me because you think I would have the courage to do the same with Penelope... "I open my arms as I get closer. “Go ahead, Jonathan. Colton is not to blame for you being crazy. I have.”Jonathan decidedly ignores what I say an
Jonathan waits until Hunter is standing and deliberately ignores me as he studies my husband with his eyes. He will not bother to answer because he no longer serves by the real name, but above all because he is still the same Jonathan who does not think I am worthy enough to understand his actions. Thinking that he hasn't changed anything bothers me even more. Everything has always been like a little game for him, and the problem is that until today I hadn't worried about learning how to win.The gloved fingers touch Hunter's hand and the golden ring reflects under the light of the pole."I believe that, with so much time of living with the Americans, it is not necessary to continue using our language to talk to you, little brother "he hums, pulling out the alliance that does not belong to him. "It seems to have had a lot of fun since you decided to betray me and our brothers. "He releases the ring, letting it bounce on the ground and disappear between the pavement and the curb. "It's
"I think that if we agree to be honest with each other, we will avoid unnecessary headaches," warns Jonathan, occupying a seat on the sofa that circulates the table of the establishment in which we stop. A restaurant that apparently works for twenty-four hours. Boston is asleep in a sepulchral silence, the kind that happens at the end of the night and until the beginning of dawn, but this is perhaps one of the few places that it is precious for nighttime customers. “Sit yourself.”It's disconcerting to be escorted somewhere by an armed man, but I don't think it's a good idea to dispute about it, so I take a seat in front of the table with a checkered lining and sink into the excessively soft sofa of a worn red leather.Without seeming too excited about the idea, Colton sits next to me a moment later. He presses a napkin on his nose, wiping it from the blood in the best way he can. The good news is that at least the bleeding has ceased."I'm not hungry," he says."That's your problem,
"You killed a woman in front of me, Jonathan," I act.Without breaking our eye contact, he removes his coat and unbuttons the sleeves of the black dress shirt, revealing the tattoos that I still remember covering his body like a second skin. Your appearance has changed almost nothing."That's not my name, love. I would be very grateful if you could keep the respect. “He says. "I confess that I didn't have a very pleasant past. I've always followed everything my father said should be done, including these little... setbacks. It wasn't my will and I had no choice. My job was to clean the dirt, while those protected from it exported our goods. I'm not proud of that.”"Are you, like, traffickers? “Colton asks.Jonathan takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. He rubs a point above his eyebrow, seeming to want to contain a headache. We're annoying him."I prefer a merchant, actually. My father kept our company as a shield for what he really negotiated on trips abroad. When he went bankrupt,
This matches Hunter's version. When I asked about his relationship with Jon, he said it was something like a debt... I suppose he intended to bring Jonathan here since the beginning of his escape, but he must have given up halfway, because he considered me his passage back to Turkey as soon as we got married. Taking me with him, maybe he thought Jonathan would give up pouring his anger on him. He just didn't count on the fact that Jonathan never knew what it really meant to care about someone. For him, loving and hating is almost the same thing."Have you never heard of my engagement to Dean Rivers? “I ask."Oh, yes, from this I knew... But I was hoping that this idea of marriage would not last long. My brothers never found a crooked line on that guy's record, but he wasn't the faithful type. I listened to his speech, and as much as my word is not worth more than his, love, he didn't meet others just for you to feel despised. It was a habit. I think you already know that.”I am stunne
“Hunter! “I call, shaking him.He is lying on the door of my apartment, like an order delivered to the wrong address. Brown hair dirtys my fingers with blood when I try to measure your pulse by the neck. I lower myself a little more and listen to your breathing, it's low and irregular, but at least it means something.Hunter doesn't move even with the bumps I give when I try to wake him up. The face is pale, swollen, lifeless. I call him for the third time, succumbing to despair and giving light pats on his injured face. It's an even more disturbing view than the first time I found him like this, at a subway station. There I didn't know our problems were interconnected."Suzy" he moans, half-awake.With a boost, I lean over and press my lips on yours with a kiss. It's not pleasurable as usual, but it's a gesture of pure despair, relief. It tastes like blood, because the sides of your mouth are hurt. It's cold, because we're both exhausted and in shock. Hunter reciprocates the contact
When your hair stops dripping orange drops, I get a little closer and check the origin of the bleeding. It's a cut between the hair, and I'm not sure if it was done by a blow, but there is a large elevation below the slit that opened."When did you give up trying to kill me? "I ask in such a casual way that it even seems like I don't care about that at all.In fact, it's still a little indigestible to realize that Dean has been using me in a worse way than I thought, and that Hunter could have been my killer if he were truly mean. It would have been to say the least ironic to die at the hands of the same person who saved my life."Since they told me what I needed to do. "He answers. "I abandoned the contract, but no one charged me for it. I stayed here, hidden on my own, until I fell into a trap. I was grateful for you saving me, Suzy, and I will always be. But even after we had an agreement, you proved to be very hostile. In my head you were always the person Saltuk made believe he c
The taxi leaves me at the doors of a crowded bar with a pink neon sign on its dark facade. It rained in the last few hours. In fact, rain has been part of everyday life in recent days. The air is still humid and gloomy in this poorly frequented part of the city, the south side, but I don't want to think about giving up. It has to happen tonight.The first step to an alliance is direct contact with those interested. And that's what I'm doing right now. With my intuition waving for me to give up, and with my cell phone ringing silently and incessantly inside the pocket of my jeans, I keep my mind calm to have courage.Walking as naturally as I can, I go through an unkind group of drunk men and one of them stares at me. I immediately reflect that Hunter was right when he told me it was ridiculous and unnecessary to use the disguise I'm wearing tonight. It was enough to have used a taxi to mislead Jonathan's men, a wig, neutral clothes, and a snope posture would not become me less than an