“I don't think it's true that this swindler has something with such a beautiful woman; he must have tricked her or threatened her.” An old man grunted, shaking a cane.“She must be a prepaid model, or she's blind to getting involved with this hustler who's now coming to harm my wedding.” The groom took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, getting ready to fight.“Stop, you're wrong; we're just friends. We have known Erik for a long time, and it was very strange for us to receive an invitation from his ungrateful family. Erik has been on the verge of death several times, and no one has deigned to visit him. Even the last time, it was up to me to pay the bill, since they took away the little they gave him when he graduated from psychology.” Ximena argued indignantly, let go, and started shaking her hands.“I was right; he has them fooled; they are other victims of this climber.” Grandfather threw the cane at her and almost hit her in the forehead, but Emily“If he is a lucky whippe
“How is it possible? I gave you up for dead; I mourned you in silence.” Ximena approached to pick it up; she detailed it to check if it was indeed her ex-husband or if it could be someone similar.“Of course it's me. I didn't want you to see me; I wanted to leave you alone. I feel that my presence has hurt you. Please forgive me; besides, I still haven't been able to settle my criminal matters, and that's why I also put you in danger.” Angelo explained, looking at the huge statue of Jesus on the cross.“It is unfair, even if you should have called me or something. I suffered when I considered that I had lost myself and that my children had been left fatherless. You are insensitive. You don't consider all my suffering.” Ximena began to scream. She forgot that she was at someone else's wedding and that she was ruining it with another scandal. Her sister and Diego approached her, taking her by the arms to try to calm her down.“I sent you a letter with my lawyer; according to him, I left
“In a way, all of us here are linked to the mafia, directly and indirectly. The truth is that I launder money with my modeling agency, which allows me to pay them very well, so they can study and prosper.” Diego explained, raising his eyebrows.“You see, this gentleman and the one who left are as mafiosi as I am.” Angelo tried to grab her, but she dodged him, taking a step backward.“That's not true; anyway, you are the boss and a murderer.” Ximena wanted to touch him, so she calmed herself by biting her tongue.“Love, I didn't choose to be one of the bosses; I am because I inherited it; that's why, and I have only killed people who deserve it, never innocents.” Angelo calmed down and put the gun away.“Don't call me love; tell that to your girlfriend. Besides, you murdered my parents.” Ximena screamed at him with hate, and inside she wanted to kiss him.“That's another point; when that happened, I was a kid playing soccer at school. The one who had to see it was my grandfather; howev
“I'm serious; you can't expect everything to go back to the way it was before, as if by magic, because of that magic wand that's watching me.” Ximena stood still; a part of her wanted to move towards him, and another part wanted to run away, to tear the walls apart with her nails and run without destination, until the ocean stopped her.“Baby, calm down; you're too tense; you weren't like that your first time. Let's do something we have already done many times; remember how much fun we had.” Angelo tried to kiss her, but she turned her head away.“No, Angelo, I don't want you to touch me. Don't you dare do it; it's enough that you keep me locked up against my will.” Ximena pushed him away with both hands, feeling his chest.“Ximena, I know what you want; don't hold back; I know you very well.” Angelo came closer again, speaking in her ear.“Do you intend to do that? I also forgot that you were with that lady; is she your girlfriend or your wife?” Ximena also remembered the time she wa
“Ha, ha, ha, ha, so cute, my Angelo.” Ximena mentioned it as she passed by the guard's booth. In the brand new sports car that he used to go to important parties where he didn't need escorts, the watchman let him pass.Ximena was wearing the silk shirt of her beloved, or abandoned, and she was thrilled with that car, which demanded more speed. Without skimping on fuel, she sank the accelerator. The car bent down to lessen the wind resistance. He promised that when he returned to Colombia, he would buy one of these, no matter if he had to import it.In the meantime, at Angelo's castle, he went to the guard's room; it should be noted that first he bathed and dressed. The guards were frightened to see him.“I don't understand how they let her escape. Apparently, I'm throwing away their paychecks.” Angelo scolded the pair of watchmen, who were a bit fat because they were sitting around watching the cameras.“Sir, your wife had your keys; she mentioned she was just on her way to pick somet
“Relax; you're safe now.” Angelo hugged her, putting his head under hers. “We're going to get you out of here; this ground is very unstable; please stay still.”The men formed a human chain, holding on to the railings of the road. They were able to pull her out safe and sound.“Love, you shouldn't have escaped; this road is very dangerous; the thick fog makes everything worse, added to the fact that almost no people pass through here.” Angelo lifted her up and put her in a car. “Besides, your sister is on her way here with our babies.”“He is outside; there is an old man who helped me. Please, I promised to help him. Can you lend me a few dollars to give him as a thank you for saving me?” Ximena wiped her tears to beg for this.“My love, we didn't see anyone in the forest or on the road; no one lives here.” Angelo spoke strangely.“He told me he was hunting and that he lived in a house behind the castle.” Ximena shook her head up and down repeatedly.“The only old man who lived in a c
“Hello, sister. How are you?”“Normal, like a bride who is getting married for the third time.”“Yes, Ximena, you know that the third time is the charm. Ha, ha, ha, ha.”“Emily, you already know the plan; that makes me very nervous.” Ximena spoke to her, looking around slyly.“It's okay; we'll decorate everything with jasmine flowers, just the way you like it. I wanted to tell you, but it's hard to see you; you're locked up for your bachelorette party. I don't understand why you're getting married if you're already eating your lunch box before recess.” Emily felt like a babysitter was watching them.“It's been an exhausting day. He keeps saying it's to make up for the time. I do it to keep him happy, relaxed, and trusting me.” Ximena tried to whisper to him to avoid information leaks.“What a horrible sacrifice! How do I think of you?” Emily expressed her sarcasm to the fullest.“Don't doubt it. Sometimes it's hard for me to walk; I feel like I'm hurting all over. He is an unsatiable
He lay crying on the floor, he did not believe this would happen to him. The feeling of helplessness shook him, and he hit the floor, staining it with his blood. Ximena didn't even see him; she concentrated on the exhaust.The motorcycle accelerated along the highways towards the airport.“What? … Okay … All right.” Diego braked the motorcycle to tell his co-pilot something. “Linda, apparently, they closed the airport; never mind this; we had already foreseen it; we should go to plan B. We hired a yacht in case this happened.”The motorcycle turned and changed course. In a few minutes, they arrived at an old dock, where, on top of a small boat, her sister Emily greeted her with her two children in a double stroller.“Hurry up; we have to leave immediately.” Emily's boyfriend loomed over the bow, waving as if swatting flies.They were put in a small compartment, where it was very difficult to keep the children quiet. Darkness reigned for hours, and they grew tired of sleeping. At one p
“Angelo, I will kill your children first, then your sister-in-law, then you, although I will take my time with everyone.” The old man took a rusty poker and went to the prisoners' cage. “Sir, we are informed that Alexandros took another route; it is possible that he went wrong. Or he kind of stole the money.” A henchman arrives to inform him.“That can't be possible, and if it is, we will look for his mother, and we will apply five hundred bullets to make that rat come out of his hiding place.” Giuseppe spat on the ground and almost dropped his box of teeth.“Besides, there is something very strange; the lookouts on the road report many cars in the sector. More than usual, it is possible that it is a rescue; it would be better, sir, if you were eliminated quickly, and we leave.” The assistant lowered his head as he spoke to him.“Nonsense, that doesn't mean anything. Besides, I have been waiting for this moment for years; I am going to savor it; I will be delighted; it will be a spec
“I thank you very much for this last favor.”“Do not worry and remember it very well; I can't have friendships with a snitch. Although your grandfather also helped, the old man sold the castle and the little that was left.”“Yes, José Luis, I know; he told me that he feels very guilty about everything that happened with Ximena; he knows that he will have to pay for that when he dies.”“Angelo, enough with the sermons; we must concentrate on the operation; they shouldn't have called the police; it complicates everything.”“I didn't do it, it was up to her and Detective Das; I would have preferred something from us.”“It might be better; Max's father, whose real name is Giuseppe Latin, has more money than all of us together, therefore more men and means.”“I am confident that we will succeed, as we always do.”“Of course, Angelo, we make it, or we die, either way, for the hole we drive.”“It may happen, but at least I'll take Giuseppe with me; I'll send him to meet Max.”“At least the c
Fire trucks arrive on the scene, making their way through the curious and opportunists. The police cordon off the scene and search for witnesses to the tragedy.“Detective, a wounded soldier. He says that some very suspicious subjects were going to leave a car on the front sidewalk, and that a comrade went to stop them, and the driver shot him, so they returned fire, and that caused that terrible explosion.” A policeman informed his superior.“I knew they were going to attack Ximena. And as usual, my boss didn't listen to me.”“Detective, they took a lot of precautions, and that's why they doubled the guard.” The officer left to help the firefighters remove debris.Ximena emerged from the chaos, filthy and disoriented, accompanied by escorts.“Mrs. Ximena, are you hurt?”“Detective Das, what happened? Do you know anything about Angelo?” Ximena greeted her, hugging her detective.“It seems they were planning to blow this building sky-high to silence her. As for Angelo, I assumed he was
“I need a way out; I have to go see him.” I have repeated these words many times, every day during these weeks, and I receive the same answers, although today a doctor answers me something different.“Mrs. Ximena, you know that it is something very complex because the gentleman is in another hospital since he was more injured. On the other hand, you still require special care, and although I have news for you, you are going to get out of here.” The doctor with the face of a kindly old man purses his lips to give a dramatic pause or to wait for my answer, but I just make a puzzled grimace, so he goes on, “Yes, as you can hear, we are going to get out.”“Explain me better; I notice something strange in the way you say it.” While I speak, the old man moves his mouth between fake smiles and sucker punches.“Mrs. Ximena, the judge who is handling your case demands that you be interrogated; that's what we are going to do, and it could be that your husband is also required; suddenly you will
“Where am I? Who am I?” I have asked these questions several times. Until suddenly my consciousness becomes clear, and the memories hit me all of a sudden. I look around me; it takes me a while to realize that I am in a hospital, in a first-aid room, and the smell of anesthesia raises my blood pressure. The doctors surround me with syringes, perhaps with painkillers, although they inject them in the serum, and I think I manage to ask for Angelo and my children before falling asleep.I have no hands, no feet, no face, or anything. It seems to me that I am a painting on a wall contemplating the horizon, but suddenly I am also someone who observes the painting. I detail that it is a canvas of my life and that it was painted with tears and smiles. I see it and I see me, both screens at the same time, until a blue energy shakes us and my eyes see a great light. Furthermore, as I turn my head and observe people dressed in white and blue, I hear, “We are going to intubate her.”It is a proce
“Calm down, my children; it won't be long now until we get to Bogotá.” Ximena consoled her children and herself.The long trip was coming to an end. She arrived at the central terminal; she went downstairs normally; the freezing city air calmed her; she breathed in the aroma of progress; and she prepared to leave to board the cabs. Everything seemed perfect until she saw a man who, upon seeing her, called someone on the phone.“I'm going to get caught.” These words escaped her, and she turned around, raised her children, and walked quickly. But, rather than running to avoid suspicion, she turned her head to see that the man was following her, accompanied by two others dressed in black. She calculated that her best strategy was to return to the fleet under the pretext that she had forgotten her luggage, so she could go back to the unloading area. But instead of looking for a non-existent suitcase, she marched quickly towards the exit of the buses, crossed the avenue, walked a few meter
“How is it that such a pretty young lady with such a pair of little angels walks around this region so full of dangers?”“I was visiting my grandfather; he lives in the mountains.”“It's good to go back to the country, to know the roots; besides, as an old man, you don't know when you will see your loved one for the last time; tell me, I haven't seen my daughter for a long time.”“And that, is it, that you are angry?”“No, miss, it's just that some criminals killed her. And she had two granddaughters who were taken by an uncle who refused to allow me to see them. It was very difficult; that's why I went to the country with my wife until she died. Now all I have left are memories of my life—of what I did, what I didn't do, and what could have been. Although the truth is that I'm not from around here, I'm retracing my steps. I know that the bone is breathing down my neck; although I'm still afraid of the uncertainty of the afterlife, I also long for it because this body no longer respon
“We are going to finish off even the sow's nest.” Angelo closed his black jacket, lowered his balaclava cap to cover his face, and jumped from the helicopter held by a rope. When he touched the ground, he landed with both legs, running straight ahead with the gun. He imagined he was diving from a very high pool; he didn't even turn to see if his men were following him. He neutralized a couple of guards and, little by little, his adrenaline went down as his sadness increased.“Sir, we went all over the place, and there is no trace of a woman and two children.” The mercenary Can-Can informed him, turning his head and looking for any threat.“It can't be possible; this is the place.” Angelo kicked a table to calm his mixed feelings.“My lord is not wrong; look here; we found this dog in a hiding place.” Jose Luis came in and pushed Diego to the floor.“Damn rat! What did you do with my wife and children?” Angelo lifted Diego by the neck while he was shaking. It was hard to understand wha
“Okay, Angelo, I'll tell you.” Emily cleared her throat, her voice almost unable to come out because those strong hands were choking her. “I made a mistake in proposing that question to you.”“Please forgive me; I didn't want to go to these extremes; it's just that I'm very worried.” Angelo whispered, letting go of her neck, “I know she's in danger; besides, I'm having the same symptoms as when she was pregnant with my twins; I hope it's just my psychosis.”“Angelo, I understand you. Hold on; I'll calm down, or I'll end up in an ambulance.” Emily exhaled, speaking fast, took a deep breath, mentally repeating the mantras that helped her calm down, and continued, “Please don't tell her that I was the gossip rat.”“You can tell her that I made you; although you will have to come with me, we must plan a way to rescue her.” Angelo picked up the hamburger again to eat it.“I remember when Ximena found me after we were separated because we were adopted by different families. She took me to e