I ended the call, so I could repeat his orders to my family, my father in particular. I practically shoved them into the house. Gabriela clutched Mario to her chest, and he began to cry.
When we’d locked the doors and barricaded ourselves in the bedroom, my current nightmare mingled with my most horrific memories.
I clutched my family tight, as though I could protect them all if I just held them close enough.
My mother’s cheery yellow dress blocking my view of Gehovany. Her arms spreading wide to shield us. Her body lurching backwards in the instant the gunshot blasted through our tiny house.
Flashes of heat and icy cold rolled just beneath the surface of my skin; a nauseating, storm-tossed sea. A loud buzz filled my skull, scrambling my brain.
As the minutes stretched out interminably, a single thought coalesced in my mind: No one will die because of me. Never again.
Willing my shaking knees to support me, I got to my feet and moved toward the bedroom door in a daze. Just like on the day my mother had been murdered, I felt untethered from the world. I was nothing more than an apparition, hovering uselessly amongst the mortal terror of my loved ones.
Never again.
“Marisol.” My father’s hand grabbed my wrist when I reached for the doorknob. “What are you doing? Stop!”
“Raúl said if he’s not back by now, I should go into the garden. He wants me to be able to run if Gehovany gets here before he does.” The lies left my lips in surreal bubbles, floating from my chest without thought.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Gabriela squeaked. “Please, don’t go.”
“Raúl knows about these things. Trust me. You all should stay inside.”
My father’s fingers reluctantly fell from my wrist, and I slid away from them without looking back. If I lingered on their horrorstruck faces, I might lose my resolve.
Never again. None of them would die because of me. I wouldn’t survive the loss. I’d be as good as dead, anyway.
As I stepped out the back door, I found my phone in my pocket. It felt strangely solid in my ghostly hand, but I was able to place the call to Raúl.
“I’m almost there. Marisol? Answer me!”
“I can’t let him hurt them.” My voice was soft and light, untouched by emotion.
“Don’t you dare,” he seethed, immediately understanding my intentions. “Stay in the house. Stay the fuck inside, and wait for me.”
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see.
I would stay out of sight amongst the greenery, but if Gehovany arrived before Raúl, I would go to him. He would not touch my family.
I didn’t know if he’d immediately kill me in a jealous rage, or if his cruel possessiveness would drive him to take me away with him. He might drag me someplace where Raúl wouldn’t be able to find me.
I shoved down my budding fear before it could drag me back to the horrors of my reality.
He will not hurt my family. Never again.
“I’ll keep him here for as long as I can. Hurry.”
“Marisol, just wait for me,” he begged. “I’m coming for you. I won’t let anything happen to you. I won’t let him hurt you.”
“I love you.”
The echo of his deep, booming voice roaring my name dropped away as the phone slid from my phantom fingers. I floated to the side of the house, watching the road through the thick leaves of the lime tree that my mother had loved so much. I traced the shape of the waxy leaves, feeling her love that’d soaked into the plant through hours of toil and care.
An SUV squealed to a stop in front of the house, but it wasn’t Raúl’s sleek, black vehicle.
My heart twisted at the sight of my abuser flinging himself from the driver’s seat of the beaten-up, burgundy car. His long, shiny black hair was pulled up in a topknot, ensuring it wouldn’t obscure his vision. A few stray, glossy tendrils had fallen free to frame the face I’d once thought of as handsome. His features were harder now, mean lines etched around his scowling lips.
I stepped out of my hiding spot, revealing myself before he had the chance to shout my name. I didn’t want my family to hear his deranged bellow; I wouldn’t make them relive the events of that awful day.
His gray eyes glinted like steel when they landed on me, and his lips peeled back on a feral growl. “I knew you’d come back.” His voice was gravelly, roughened by the ravages of alcohol and cruelty.
He launched himself at me, and I didn’t resist when he grabbed my shoulders. His fingers bit into my flesh, and he shook me hard enough to make my teeth rattle.
His eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared like a provoked animal. “Don’t you have anything to say to me, Marisol?” he demanded.
When I didn’t answer right away, he shook me again. My brain reverberated against the inside of my skull, and the world shuddered around me.
“What do you want me to say?” I managed faintly.
Now that his hands were on me, my body began to feel horrifyingly solid. The remembered, toxic taint of his violent grip burned my flesh. It singed my insides, searing my core with a reminder of the raw, wrenching pain of his cock tearing into my unwilling body.
Falling into my ingrained, protective response, I began to go utterly still. When he shook me, I was like a ragdoll in his grip. If I didn’t resist his violation, he’d inflict less damage. I would survive. Raúl would come back to me, and he’d find a way to heal me again.
“What do I want you to say?” Gehovany roared in my face, spittle spraying my cheeks. “Start by begging for forgiveness. You thought you could bring some thug here to kill me, and my friends wouldn’t warn me?” His teeth snapped a hairsbreadth from my lips. “I want you to beg for my mercy. I was driven from my home because of you. I was forced to leave town. You ruined my life!”
Something jolted in my brain, smacking me back to full awareness. A sudden wave of fire rolled through my system, rage and hatred burning me up.
“I ruined your life?” I shrieked. “You beat me. You raped me. You killed my mother!”
My body acted without conscious thought, but instead of shutting down, I attacked. A raw scream burst from my chest as my hand cracked across his cheek. My nails raked over his skin, scoring his flesh with red furrows.
I registered the flash of steel in his maddened eyes just before pain exploded in my jaw. My head snapped back from the force of his punch, and the world winked out of existence for a few heartbeats.
Agony wrenched me back to reality as his boot drove into my stomach, battering my internal organs. My diaphragm collapsed, and my insides writhed. I couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t move. Pain overwhelmed me, frying every nerve ending and debilitating my physical responses.
Another deafening, monstrous roar rent the air, and I helplessly dreaded the next excruciating kick.
The blow didn’t land.
A strangled shout was drowned by a beastly snarl. The terrifying sound was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard.
Raúl. My lips formed his name, but I didn’t have the breath to speak. My insides continued to spasm, preventing even the most basic survival mechanisms.
The crushing panic lifted from my heart, and a sense of peace blanketed my ravaged body. I didn’t have to worry about my survival. Raúl was here. He would protect me.