"Forgive my delay," said Izabel, hurrying with a platter of passion fruit mousse in her hands and two bags in her arms. She leaned over to kiss her daughter on the face and turned to me. "Hi, Tasha, my beautiful. It's a pleasure to meet you in person.”"It's my pleasure, Mrs. Iza," I replied, mirroring the smile she gave me."And you, who is it? "She asked curiously.Flynn got up from the hug he gave me and stretched out a hand in the direction of the plump woman."I'm Flynn," he said. " Tasha's boyfriend.”My heart suddenly inflated."Nice to meet you," she said, holding his hand briefly. Although she still smiled, Izabel frowned lightly as she stared at Flynn. "Do you feel good?”I turned around in the chair to look. Flynn frowned and also looked at me, making an expression of those who find someone else's question amusingly strange. Beatrice, who watched the scene while moving a spoon in a jar of juice, narrowed her eyes slightly towards her mother."I am, of course," said Flynn, s
So, when dinner was over and we went back to the living room until the food settled down and we could eat dessert, I was very happy and anxious. Flynn was always by my side, with one of his arms on my shoulder, while talking nonchalantly with Gildeon and Beatrice. I spent much of that moment observing his expressions, wanting to write down every spontaneous gesture and every curve of his features. Not that I still needed that for my book. I had already advanced much of the work, and now I was just reviewing some scenes before sending the manuscript to Beatrice's editor. I was doing that out of a real fascination, the reason I could no longer hide.Flynn Ashton has become the axis of my world. So that despite every turn, despite every action I took or choice I made, it would be he who would bring me back to my place of peace when I needed it. Flynn managed to break down the barriers I've been keeping around my heart, to deliberately prevent anyone from reaching the place where I wanted
I turned my head very quickly in the direction of Flynn. Not that I really believed that Izabel could say something genuinely worrying, since despite liking her presence very much, it was inevitable not to consider her a charlatan. I just didn't want to pay to see if Flynn's ancestors were already aware of my plans for his future."Yes, I would like to, ma'am," said Flynn, leaning lightly on the couch. "What do you need to see my future?”Izabel seemed to inflame, as radiant as she could be to see that someone unknown was interested in hearing her predictions. Beatrice deeply regretted, but obeyed when her mother asked for the witches' deck, and left dragging her feet to bring the item to the room. So Izabel began a series of preparations to make the environment more susceptible and pleasant to her deities, and this caused Beatrice to have to turn off all the lights and light candles. I started to feel a little weird. First, I had drunk because I didn't feel vulnerable in front of tho
The next day, I woke up in the morning and sent a good morning message to Flynn. He preferred to come home on Christmas Eve, so after drinking and laughing with Beatrice and Gildeon we said goodbye with a hot kiss and he left. I was surprised that I didn't receive a good night message, and I stopped that he hadn't even seen the last message I sent at dawn asking if he had arrived well. The symbol next to the message indicated that he had not received it, and that he would probably be without internet. I thought it was strange, but, very influenced by the fear that Izabel's words had given him some warning about my intentions, I decided to give him space so that he could think and realize that I only did well in his life. Even if that good was just to acquire your trust.So I got up without receiving a single message from him and tidied up my house while trying to distract my head. I danced alone while cleaning the kitchen, and hummed a trendy song, while getting ready for lunch at Beat
Even though my couple of friends dedicated themselves hard to improving my mood, I spent the entire journey of our trip to Flynn's house watching nothing and thinking about any reason that Flynn might have indicated that he was wanting to get away. For a moment I remembered Izabel's words. That a man would get close enough to take everything away from me, and then leave me alone. I kept getting messages from Cristiano, and almost had a heart attack with emotion thinking it was Flynn, so I ended up blocking my ex-boyfriend so I wouldn't have to curse him for keeping me busy when I needed to be aware of the slightest signs that Flynn was alive.I kept sending messages, but he didn't answer, and they didn't even arrive. A very strange kind of fear was writhing inside my stomach. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but one thing was for him to want to avoid me, and a totally different thing was to disappear from the map like that, being a person who needed the cell phone to be in contac
"I'm going to call the police and report the disappearance," Philip said with determination. "Flynn would never disappear that way. He always left at least one person aware of each of his steps. He just doesn't leave the house and leaves everything behind like this. Even on trips he takes the dog. Not to mention that he didn’t call his dad last night. They talk to each other every day.”"Wod he not want to disappear even if he was sad? "I asked."Wor would he be sad? "Philip asked, frowning. "Are you done?”"No... It's just that last night he ended up falling into the conversation of a friend of mine who likes to make predictions about other people's future... She said about seeing a shadow in him that indicated that he would be sick at some point, in which he ignored and asked her to see some things in gypsy letters to him. And I thought he would be bothered by what she said, although in the end it was a good thing.”Paul listened carefully, although his expression was distant, as if
I've always been the kind of person who avoided going to hospitals. If it was to make an appointment or in order to treat something urgent. I only entered a hospital when I thought there was no medicine in the world to improve what I was feeling. I was the kind of person who believed that as long as there was hope for improvement, I shouldn't pass by the door of a hospital. Not out of belief or fear, but simply because I didn't trust anyone who studied for more than ten years to learn how to cut and sew bodies. Medicine was a delicate subject for me. And I thanked him every day for not being a person who fell so easily by any illness, because that way I was free to cross my path with some doctor.Meanwhile, in the face of what happened with Flynn and the constant presence of the police in my life, I had to surrender to that distrust and start attending one of the few private hospitals in the city. I didn't have much to complain about my country's health system as a whole, since I was
Flynn pretended not to listen, and went to where I was, taking me by one hand and directing us to the door. His father kept talking, raising his voice so we could listen, but I heard Paul try to calm him down and then the sound of footsteps in a quick race. The sun hit our faces when we got to the courtyard, and Flynn didn't say anything, although he still held me firmly, and again I had the impression that he feared I would run away."Flynn" called Paul, in which Flynn just pressed the step, dragging me along with him. Paul got in our way and held out his palms in front of his friend to prevent him from continuing to walk. "Flynn, listen to me. You will need a car to leave. I have a car. I'll take you wherever you want. You don't have to run away. You can't disappear with so many questions that still need to be answered. If you keep hiding like this, people will end up thinking that your disappearance was on purpose for it to be found at the crime scene. You can't keep making things
I almost no longer needed to use the tracker I had installed on Flynn's cell phone at the beginning of everything. I only used it because I still couldn't stop that mistrust when I noticed that he spent too much time working. But the conversations were always the same with the customers. And I didn't suspect that he was going out with other people, because there was no time when we weren't together. Still, I couldn't totally trust him. There were days when I didn't sleep. Not until I was really alone at home.My sleep problems remained the same. Always caused by that fear of being vulnerable next to someone else, and also by the constant nightmares about the murders I've been orchestrating with the help of someone else. I never told my therapist the truth. I never let him reach more than the edge of my feelings. At the same time I was policing myself to act and speak the way everyone expected Tasha Santos to do, although deep down there was that rabid animal that was always ready to a
"Can you behave like educated children? "He scolded my sister, pulling one of my nephews by the ear. "That's why I never go out with you!”" Jenyfer, it doesn't have to be so hard," countered my brother-in-law, reaching the smaller child who wouldn't stop climbing on the couch and throwing the cushions up. "They are too small to understand. And I'm sure your sister doesn't mind them playing, does Tasha?”"They will understand very well when their aunt put them on platters and bake for our lunch," shouted Jenyfer, looking with her eyes for any confirmation that I would be really furious.I left the platter with pasta in white sauce on the table and stretched my neck to see through the open door of the kitchen, finding my brother-in-law with my three-year-old nephew on his lap who kicked and shook his golden curl hair, in a desperate attempt to get back to mess up everything he found on his way. While my sister held her eldest son, ten years old, by the tip of her ear. It should be hurt
I still hid many secrets from Flynn. The biggest of them was also a surprise that left me in shock for at least three days, until I remembered that I needed to act normally so that he had no idea what was happening to my body, until I found the perfect opportunity to use this against him. At the moment, we were fine. We had sex every day. We ate in fancy places. We slept in the moonlight. And sometimes we resumed the sexual provocations and attacks within the company.Everything seemed very good in my life. So good that sometimes I even wondered where the hidden cameras of the prank were. Because trying to compare the woman of months ago who barely had time to eat and sleep because of the two jobs that they couldn't even pay the bills, and trying to find similarities with the woman who was having the life of dreams, was impossible. I still worked during the day and dedicated myself to writing in my free moments, wanting to reach higher and higher levels in that achievement, and willin
I knelt before the well-kept and immaculate tomb of one of the farthest cemeteries in the city, depositing my set of small yellow flowers below the concrete tombstone, which read "Diana Garcia. 08/23/1991. 12/24/2020."Despite bringing a handkerchief in my hands and touching it from time to time in the waterline of my eyes, I wasn't crying. In fact, the only emotion I felt was the pure satisfaction of having accomplished all my goals without anyone realizing where I was wanting to go. Diana Garcia had been the woman who gave the bad luck to cross her path to mine, when she decided to mistreat me and demoralize in front of her ex-husband, and my current fiancé, Flynn Ashton. I persuaded an unstable and deeply shaken man to take his life. I manipulated and orchestrated every step taken, and I still became some kind of national victim who was too traumatized to give clear statements to the police. Diana Garcia was my perfect victim, and Landon the criminal who freed me from paying for an
"What's going to happen now? "I asked against your chest. "What do we do with life? With the police? The investigator was here earlier. He asked me about my relationship with Leo, the man who held me hostage at the end of the robbery. In the researcher's opinion, I seemed to be too friendly with someone who always presented unstable behaviors.”"I knew," he said, leaning his chin on my head. "They want to discredit us in every way, Tas. But you don't have to worry. I have a real team of lawyers. No one will get enough arguments to cause fear. They have nothing to suspect, at the end of the day. The point is that it is much more interesting to focus on the relationships we had with the people involved in the crime, than to actually solve it. That's the problem with the police in this place.”"I'm still afraid, Flynn. "I commented in a trembling voice. "I'm still afraid that they might catch me off guard and make me confess something I didn't even do. I've never been in front of police
"I don't feel vulnerable," I said, already feeling in which direction that conversation would take. I had to show that I was very stubborn and the owner of my own will. "And I think this whole situation may have made you a little paranoid, Flynn. I'm not criticizing. I think anyone in their normal state would become a little suspicious. But if you're suggesting that I need security guards, I refuse. I can’t work every day knowing that when I leave the supermarket I will get into a car with two armed men and that they will leave me at home, or that they will take me to your house, because you no longer trust the people who live in my building, and that’s why you prefer to avoid it. I don't want bodyguards, just like you don't want to either. And I don't think that being with you will make me a target. I think this can even increase my security, since no one will want to mess with someone so powerful.”"I know the question is strange to you," he said, still without looking me in the eye
Flynn totally entered the room, and seeing him was like opening the curtains in a dark room. He was my sun on that rainy night outside, and I was really happy to see him. The hair was loose on his shoulders, and the smooth and silky strands slipped smoothly to make the face even more beautiful and shiny. He took off his mask and kept it in his pocket, while still watching me, looking as happy and radiant as I should be."The nurse told us that the number of visits was limited," Cristiano said somewhere far from my attention. "I don't think she'll be happy to see so many people in here. Tasha just went through a traumatic situation. She needs rest. You can't keep getting so many people in the room like that.”"You're right," said Flynn, looking away for a quick moment to observe Cristiano. "You can leave now. I've arrived.”"I'm not going out," Cristiano said with a dull giggle. "I arrived first.”"Oh, for God's sake! "Beatrice grunted, rising from a jump. She pulled Cristiano violentl
"Look, Cris... I really like you. I really loved you more than anything in this life. But you're not the guy I can call when the situation gets tight, you know? "I said, performing a mouth-in-mouth. "You're the guy who amuses me, makes me laugh, but that's all. All you do besides that is hurt me. And I know you may be being sincere in saying that you really realized that we were born for each other and that we should continue together, but now, after all, you no longer fit into my life, Cris.”"No, Tas. You don't have to say anything. "He interrupted, pretending that I hadn't really said anything. "I understand that you are already with someone else. And I don't want this guy to suffer, thinking that you'll be able to love him as you love me. I know you can't love anyone the same way you loved me, and I think he'll need some time to understand that. But I don't want to force anything. I don't want you to tell him out of nowhere that you don't want to see him anymore. We can make it wo
Beatrice snorted, but went to sit in one of the chairs, watching Cristiano like an eagle watching the chicks in her nest."What do you need to know? "He asked."How did the police arrive so fast? "I asked Beatrice, disappointing Cristiano's expectations. "How did they know what was happening in the supermarket, if the employees were surrendered before they had time to call them?”"The police had been following Flynn since the first crime," she replied, undoing the angry expression. "They considered him a suspect, yes, but the point was that they believed that the bandits would not leave Flynn alive to tell the story of what had happened. And, being a billionaire man in the middle of Brazil, they took on the role of following his every step to know if they would not meet the bandits at some point. And the moment came when Flynn came to pick you up that night. They were waiting across the street, in plainclothes, when they noticed that masked men entered the establishment. All we really