“Know what?” I procrastinate, imagining the worst but hoping it's something else or a joke. “Let's talk straight, please, Ximena,” he says, raising his voice. “Let's cut the bullshit.” “So talk,” I tell her dryly, adjusting the garter belt that squeezes me. “How long have you known you were my fictitious wife, my wife of lies?” I feel the floor shudder; it's as if my stomach were being ripped out to my legs and as if I were vomiting a blow of pain. I even have an ache throbbing in my head. “Firstly, I'm not your fake wife; the wedding took place legally; that you didn't fulfill your part because of something I don't understand is another thing; and besides, you're the one who has been playing with me all this time; you knew it; your shoddy lawyer showed me all my information.” “Oh, Ximena, the truth is that I never read that investigation; that asshole is repudiated; I haven't fired him because he has been working for the family for a long time and knows about all our affairs; bes
I wake up with the rays of clarity that sneak through the curtains as rules of light. Although I have my sun lying with me, its heat burns me so much that I barely get used to it. Now it has a warmth that intoxicates me with its smell. That is my male, who wakes up because I'm watching him and yawning, and tells me, “Good morning, my pretty wife.” It is something that, since I was a little girl, I imagined they would say to me, and it fills me with joy. I kiss him, saying good morning, and that takes us to something else. No matter that we are exhausted and sore, the desire is turned on again, leading us to the struggle to give us pleasure and to love each other, which seems to end with some deep moans of his. Although we both know that it is only a parenthesis in this adventure that will be trying to merge our souls, “Let's have something to eat.” He says it to me with a childish smile. “I already ate what I wanted.” “Let's take a bath.” It's a good proposal that fills me with ne
“This time, I'm driving; I want to introduce you to someone.” I took the keys from him without receiving any protest. “You know how to drive very well; in a city like this, it takes a lot of skill,” he tells me while he looks at my legs as I combine the pedals without looking at them. “Of course, my Angelo, sometimes the traffic is chaos; the gaps and the traffic jams, added to the insecurity, make the streets a juggling scene.” “In addition to the eternal works and the heavy rains that collapse the sewage systems,” he answers, looking at my lips and tasting his own. “They collapse because people lack education; they throw garbage in the street that clogs the sewers. That's why I keep the garbage in my pockets if I don't find a trash can nearby; sometimes I come home with my pockets full of papers. I have been criticized a lot for this.” “Besides being pretty, you are ecological; I thought it would be impossible to find more virtues in you.” I feel that his words are getting close
They left for Angelo's house, who was anxious all the way, looking at the rearview mirrors, trying to smile so that Ximena wouldn't have another crisis.He decided to turn on the radio and put on his favorite rock station in German. “Please change that music; it gives me a headache; besides, I don't know what they are talking about; it bothers me, they could be giving me a hard time, and I'm happy celebrating,” Ximena stammers, pressing her temples with her index fingers. “I didn't imagine that the perfect Ximena, the German, was too big for her,” he smiles, looking at her, taking his eyes off the road, catching a pothole that made them jump. “Now you want to make me dance by force?” Ximena tries to laugh to relax. “What music do you like? I'll play you anything as long as it's not reggaeton.”“Angelo, it's what's in fashion; we even danced to it the other night.” “No, it's one thing to dance to it in a public place and another to listen to it in a private place. It makes me sad t
“Vivian, I can't believe you are being so rude; you deserve a serious punishment,” he announced with great fury.“Angelo, please excuse her; she is very drunk; she better keep telling me what you really do for a living.”“Ximena, that's no excuse for how I treat you; you are her boss; if you want, I'll kick her out once and for all.”“I'll report to Don Luis by myself; I'll give him my resignation letter, please excuse me.”“Well, we are alone again, Professor Angelo. Now if you can tell me the truth, I already know it.”“If you already know, why are you asking me? Ximena, I don't see the need to confront us.”“Angelo, I don't really know what you are—a criminal murderer, corrupt, an international thief, a terrorist, or worse, a mafioso?”“No, Ximena, I'm nothing like that,” Angelo says to her for fear of losing her.“Then tell me, I don't think a professor is that skilled with a gun and driving, at least not a university psychology professor.”“You know that I have several companies.”
A private doctor arrived at the mansion, calling Angelo: doctor“How strange,” reflected Ximena. At the same time, the very kind man greeted her,“Hello, miss, so you fell into a bullet; don't worry, you took it out without leaving a scar.”The operation hurt a lot more than the bullet; she almost fainted, but that did not prevent her from going to the hospital the next day to interrogate the man in gray, the subject present in the attack on her adoptive parents and the accident at the mine. He left when Angelo was not there; he overpowered the guards, who did not find any disavowal from the boss, Vivian.She took two escorts just in case, and because she could not drive because of the pain in her arm, when she arrived at the hospital, she pretended to be the patient's wife; she even cried. She had also been injured, and the warden refused to let her enter without identification. Then she played an infallible trick; she passed him a wad of bills, telling him,“In one of those is my pict
“It's your fault; you brought her to this; she almost died; it's for leading that double life, I mean triple life; not even you yourself can know who you really are if something happens to my friend. I swear I'll use every last bit of my fortune to finish you off; do you hear me, Angelo?” “Liz, you are absolutely right; I am to blame; I unintentionally put her in my dark world, and I could not protect her. I guarantee you that if something happens to her, you will not have to move heaven and earth to finish me; I will do it myself. I confess that I have no life without her. Not only that, but I have been here these days, waiting for her to wake up. Likewise, I talk to her day and night.” “Although she also has her own enemies like the disgusting uncle who wants to keep her company, excuse me, Angelo, anyway, everything is already done, please try to sleep, eat something, take a bath, a beggar, he looks better than you, it will be better that when Ximena wakes up she sees you as her h
That day was the best day of my life. I am exaggerating as always, but it was one of the best. On one hand, my sister Ximena woke up from her coma after surviving two attacks, and on the other hand, I saw the most beautiful man on the face of the earth, not once but twice. I have a feeling I will see him again, we will fall in love, he will ask me to marry him, and we will have a big house with many children as beautiful as his father. “What are you thinking, my little sister, my spoiled Emily?” “I'm very happy because you woke up; nothing makes me happier, that's all.” “You look like you're in love; don't tell me you've squared yourself with the Smith officer.” “Please, Ximena, although he is handsome, he is not to my taste. I don't like policemen; on the contrary, they scare me.” “By the way, my Emily is asleep; you should go back home.” “No, sis, I'm going to stay and take care of you; it's my duty as a younger sister.” “Don't worry, don't bother; that's what Liz is also ther
“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