As we got off the bike, I looked at Montserrat for any giveaway. Any sign of fear or change in countenance. Instead of that, she flashed me her signature megawatt smile.

No murderer could return to their victim's house and still be themselves, without even showing a twitch.

This only proved that she had nothing to do with the man's death. Not that I had been doubting her.

Montserrat held my hand and began dragging me towards the house. I'd never like to be controlled, but once again, I issued no protest as she pulled me along. She pressed on the bell before looking at me.

“Don't worry. You don't have to be shy. They're good people.” She smiled reassuringly.

Good people my ass. If only she knew.

The door opened to a middle aged stout woman in a uniform and an apron. She beamed immediately her eyes fell on Montse.

“Montserrat! Oh dear, I'm so happy to see you again.”

“It's so good to see you again too Lolita!” Montse squealed, and the two of them hugged.

Lolita's eyes squinted in curiosity when she finally noticed me. She pulled out of the hug, looking at Montse inquisitively.

“Who's the young man? Is he your...”

“Oh no, Lolita!” Montserrat told her, cheeks turning crimson. “We're just friends.”

I blinked. I didn't even know that there was a 'we', much less that she and I were friends. Lolita let us into the house and went to call her mistress. A minute later, the door to the study opened, and stepped out.

“Montse, I'm so glad you...” Her voice faltered when she spotted me beside Montse, but she was quick to recover. “...decided to come.”

Mateo appeared from the study too. His arm was in a sling, probably to stabilize the joint I'd dislocated three days ago. Fear ran through his eyes when he saw me.

My instincts kicked in, and it suddenly occurred to me that he and his mother had probably had something planned. My presence was a disruption to a perfectly laid out plan.

“Who's this man if I may ask?” The woman said sweetly.

Montse beamed even more. “Oh him? He's my bodyguard, Rita.”

It was very obvious from her teasing smile that she meant that as a joke, but still, I could sense the trepidation that ran through Rita and her son.

Rita tried for a small that appeared very forced. “Oh good. But you understand that he can't be part of the discussions we're going to have right?”

“Of course, Rita, and I was only joking. He's just a friend.” Montse finally clarified, then looked at me. “You wouldn't mind me leaving you alone, would you?”

I shook my head curtly. Before they left for the study, I threw Rita and her sin a glare that spoke volumes of know that I'm watching you.

I retreated to the living room to make myself comfortable in one of those soft, fluffy couches.

Lolita brought me a glass of pineapple juice, gaze questioning her own choices. I took it so she wouldn't feel bad even if I would've preferred something much stronger.

I thought of how determined Rita and Mateo had been to kill Montse before. At least I was confident that they wouldn't hurt her now. Not when I was just a door away.

Fifteen long minutes later, the three of them finally got out of the study accompanied by a man who must've been waiting for them inside. The smile on Montse's face seemed more forced this time.

I jerked to my feet instantly and crossed over to them. “Are you okay?" I asked her, shooting Mateo and Rita a glare.

The amount of concern I felt in that moment shocked me.

“I'm fine.” Montse answered, her eyes brightening considerably when she looked at me. “Hope I haven't prevented you from doing something important? We can go now.”

She said goodbye to Mateo and his mother and went to say goodbye to Lolita. The atmosphere shifted from tensed to super tensed right after she left. I glowered at Mateo and Rita and they bestowed me with spiteful gazes.

Montse returned from saying goodbye and we finally left the house.

“Do you have any plans for the day?” She asked as we settled on my motorbike.  I didn't answer.

“Well, I take your silence as a no. So guess what?” She squealed. “You're going to spend the whole day with me!”

I kept riding on without saying anything. But this time, I wasn't protesting because I was burning with curiosity. Why was she visiting the people who'd accused her of killing her father?

Except if Rita had lied about everything just to create a story compelling enough to get me to kill her, it didn't make sense.

Montse made me take us to a restaurant after she asked me what I'd eaten and I'd answered her with silence. She even ordered my food for me. Of course I refused to let her pay

Next, she told me to ride to one of Aguazul's deserted beaches. She made us sit on the sand as she talked about the wonders of nature and how beautiful the sea was with it's rippling waters.

I was a man of little words, but she didn't seem to mind. She had enough words for the both of us. She talked endlessly and never seemed to run out of words.

“How are you related to Rita Valdez?” I finally cut through her long talk, asking the question that had been uppermost on my mind

Looking towards the sea, Montserrat let out a sigh that was so unlike her.

“I found out a year ago that my father isn't as dead as my mother had made me believe. At least, wasn't.”

She told me her lawyer, the one who'd emerged from the study with them, had sought her out to inform her that she was the daughter of the deceased Miguel Valdez, one of the richest men in the town, and that he'd included her in his will.

It'd felt like an ocean of cold water had been poured on her. Her father had been so wealthy and well-known, and yet he'd never acknowledged her as his.

She wouldn't have attended the will reading had it not been for the lawyer's tenacity.

The will had shocked everyone including herself; Valdez had left everything in her name. Not even half a percentage for his wife and son. The will had clearly stipulated that she couldn't transfers the assets or money to anyone else's name.

If due to any circumstance she didn't want the inheritance, the properties which were worth millions of dollars would be put on the market for just 1 dollar.

Otherwise, the properties and money could only be given to Rita and Mateo if Montserrat was dead.

Rita and her son had been furious, but they'd seemingly later come around the fact that it wasn't her fault. She didn't want any of what was being given to her, and they were all trying to find a way out of this mess.

I listened attentively without a word, but inside, I was fuming with rage. Rita had told me that Valdez hadn't left Montse a single penny and that was why she'd killed him.

No wonder she and her moronic son had been so desperate for Montse to die. With the clarity, I realized that Montserrat was in more danger than I'd anticipated.

Until she was dead, the properties would continue to be in her name, and obviously, Rita wasn't going to sit down idle and allow a stranger to take everything she felt so entitled to.

A need to protect the woman beside me snapped through my brains, so strong that it was almost scary. I'd never felt this much concern for any person ever since my parents were gruesomely murdered before my eyes fourteen years ago.

“Hey, are you okay?" Montserrat's eyes were filled with concern as she scanned my face.

I quickly let go of the sand I'd been fisting without even knowing and unclenched my jaw. I nodded curtly to her question.

She suddenly jerked to her feet. “We've been here for too long.” The talkative Montse was obviously back. “Let's go somewhere else. I know, let's go watch a movie!”

Looking around, I saw that twilight had already fallen and the sun was slowly disappearing behind the undulating horizon created by the sea waves. I hadn't even realized that we'd spent so much time here.I got up as well.

We went to the cinema as she suggested. Montse initially wanted as to watch one of those sappy romantic movies, but thankfully, the next on the list was a dark horror-thriller, and we settled on that instead.

It was about a guy who returns from a trip to find his wife brutally raped and murdered.

His wife had been recording a videos of herself masturbating to send to her husband which served as the perfect evidence.

After watching the video that reveals the identity of the men who killed his wife, he sets out in a quest of vengeance, killing all six rapists one by one.

The movie was packed with suspense, and the murder scenes were brutal and gruesome; bursted testis, dissected erect penises, heads chopped off and bodies maimed by bullets and knife wounds.

I could identity so much with the hero. The first thing I'd done after being trained as an assassin was to kill the four men who'd hands-on brutally murdered my parents. However, I still hadn't been able to get to the man who was the mastermind behind it all.

He was the Godfather, the Mafia boss, way too powerful and had too much influence.

I wasn't about to give up though.

After the movie, Montse asked me to take her home. It sudden occurred to me that the cabin was too dangerous for her to be living in.

It was practically in the middle of nowhere. Someone could kill her and nobody would know.

But of course I couldn't tell her that she was in danger. That would lead to many questions, and I certainly didn't want her to know that I was an assassin and I was sent to kill her three days ago.

While we'd been watching the movie, Montse had gasped and flinched whenever a gruesome scene came on, but she didn't speak a single word as I rode her home.

Even when I parked in the woods so that I could walk her the rest of the way home.

I thought that I would be glad for her silence since I'd always found her talkative nature very annoying. Instead, the fact that she'd suddenly turned so quiet made me restless all over.

“Why are you so quiet now?” I had to force the question past my teeth, unable to take her silence any longer.

“What? You've missed my voice so soon already?” She was trying to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. I wondered why.

Her cabin came into view, and I gave the cozy building a survey. “Doesn't it get scary for you here? Aren't you afraid that someone might hurt you?”

Hopefully, my questions would make her consider living somewhere else, somewhere close to a lot of people where any foul play around would be instantly detected.

She shrugged. “I've lived here all my life. Moving would be so hard. Besides, who would want to hurt a harmless woman like me?”

If only you knew.

As soon as the thought completed in my head, several gunshots sounded in quick succession, bullets rushing past us.

We were being attacked.