The world tilts. Because this doesn't make sense. Carlos would never do this me. He would never have me abducted. And yet the evidence is before my eyes. He nods at the men acknowledging them and they step backwards.
"What's going on?"
My voice cracks. The betrayal feels like acid burning my throat.
"Carlos?"
His expression tightens. Instead of offering me an explanation, something to make this better, to make the nightmare end, he points the gun at me.
“Let go of the baby, Liliana,” he orders.
Panic seizes my throat, “No way in hell!”
“Make the right choice. We have guns aimed at you. There’s nowhere to run and we wouldn’t want your baby girl to be caught in the crossfire.”
He’s entirely serious. There’s no evidence of the man I knew. The one I considered a friend. Only an icy expression. One that has me fearing for my baby’s life.
“We won’t harm her, I promise,” he says to me. “Just hand her over.”
I don’t really have much of a choice. If I continue to resist, they can easily rip my daughter out of my hands. Tears slide down my cheeks as I pray to someone, anyone for help.
One of the masked men steps forward seeing my resolve cracking.
“I love you so much, Milagro,” I whisper through tears.
My baby blinks up at me, confused, her mouth parting like she wants to say something. Slowly, I hand her to the man. As soon as I do, two other men close in around me, gripping my arms.
“Wait, no! Stop,” I scream, when I see the man holding her start to walk towards the door.
I’m pulled inwards, away from my daughter into a bedroom. Carlos follows, his lips in a rigid line. They practically throw me into the room, and I crash into the floor. When I stand and try to rush back at the door, he aims a gun at me again.
“Why are you doing this?!”
“You not only had a baby with my tormentor, Liliana, you fell in love with him,” he says, rage in his voice. “This is my revenge! Can you imagine how I felt as you confessed to me that you cared for Rafaelle. That you bore his child? The man tortured me and you expected me to what? Pat you on the back.”
I breathe heavily, unwilling to believe that he had so much hatred in his heart and was still able to look at me and smile.
“I manipulated you, Liliana. Made you think that the best option for your safety was Ignacio. But that’s not true and you know it now, don’t you.”
My hands are clenched into tight fists.
“Why are you doing this?”
“For money. For revenge, like I said earlier. Your boyfriend burned down my bar and I have to make ends meet some way, don’t I?” he snarls.
I don’t think I’ve ever hated anyone as much as I hate him right now. I want him dead and I want him to suffer.
“You’ll pay for this, Carlos. If something happens to my baby girl, I’ll follow you right down to hell and even then you’ll never know peace.”
“I’d like to see you fucking try.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
RAFAELLE
If I hadn’t decided to keep an eye on Liliana and make sure she was safe. I would have never known something was wrong. If I hadn’t asked Raul to follow the SUV heading out of the Navarro estate, I wouldn’t have been able to catch sight of her getting abducted.
It all happens so fast. One minute the car is ahead of us, heading for God knows where. The next it’s been derailed and surrounded and by the time we stop behind them. Her guards are dead and she’s gone.
