Valentina

Every night since the day I almost died, Antonio had walked into my room to check on me after I slept. Like a burglar, he followed a routine in the past. He would watch me without switching on any light and before moving out, turn around one last time.

Not that I was a cryptic message decipherer, yet, I was sure that there was more to his deeds that mere concern. I knew better than to trust his words anymore. Part of me blamed myself for it. Maybe Antonio came to know about my meeting with Elena. After our meet, she had maintained her radio silence.

Maybe she got caught but it was an assumption, too good to be true.

Damiela too went back after her men came to make good of our deal. None of the pieces fit together to make sense anymore. My mind revved about Elena and the Castro twins but I had nobody to talk about it. Antonio knew my reality. Sure, he didn't knew about the shift in my decision. For him, I was still the same woman, who came to murder him.

Everyone in the family has visited me. For them my recovery was a miracle; the one who almost died and returned. Only Antonio enquired in the dark of the night, donning the garb of silence.

Being in bed since past few days, every part of my body creaked like rusty door hinge. I wanted to walk outside but after having seen mama's wrath in person, I dared not to rile her. All my rebel aside, somewhere I was still the little girl who craved for her love whenever I was around her.

The routine followed today too. Food, medicines and the doctor's last check for the night, before I was tucked to sleep. I didn't know if it was my growing impatience, staying on bed for days together or the fact that my questions remained unanswered; I decided to act on it.

After the lights were dimmed and the doors shut with a narrow gap left for light to seep in, I waited patiently. There was no need to rush. If Antonio didn't make his round, I would.

But like clockwork, when the main pendulum in the hall downstairs struck twelve, the doors slid open. Antonio walked in, bolting it behind him before taking the chair the sat opposite to the bed. I, in my usual act, remained silent, tucked under the covers. My eyelids fluttered but the darkness in the room with a tiny light in the corner was too low to make it visible.

As minutes passed, I waited patiently. Antonio would walk upto me, run his calloused fingers through my forehead and towards my cheeks before snapping his hold and walking away. That would be my turn to talk. But today, something seemed different. He wasn't in a hurry. He crossed his legs and pulled a book from the table, flipping pages. Frustration stirred inside me. Come on, get up.

I only needed an answer, the one answer that was eating me alive since day one. The why of it all.

As Antonio stood on his feet, relief surged inside of me. I waited in anticipation, inhaling slowly. When he walked nearer, I could hear my heartbeats thundering inside my chest, resonating in my ears. Each pulsation, vivid and loud. I was getting nervous. Antonio's proximity was close, I felt it with the heat that radiated off his body. His warm breath hit my cheeks and a question burst in my head. What next?

Bending close to my face, I felt the mattress dip as he leaned over. "You think you are such a good actor?" he whispered. In a flash, I opened my eyes. Welcomed by the lamplight turned on, I flinched, shielding my eyes.

"What?" was my profound reaction to his accusation.

Well, technically he was right. I was acting for the past few days. The truth was privy to me. I was acting my whole life. The perfect daughter and wife, the doting daughter in law and sister. Everything was a pretense. A part of me was relieved when I knew of being poisoned. That same part which endured pain and betrayal for so long that it had its optimum.

"You keep forgetting, I can read you," Antonio's hands remained inside his pant pocket. He stood still, watching me. "Why are you awake?"

"I wasn't sleepy." He nodded, pursing his lips. A part of him wanted to confess something. I was able to read him well too. But that would be too bold now. When I saw the concerned swirl over his face, I knew he was hiding something. "What is it? Did the police come to know?"

Antonio chucked, probably at my naïve words. Sofia was expected to ask questions like these, not me. Police and government was paid in this ingdom. They belonged to us. Even if I would have been killed the other night, Antonio could have easily made it look like a suicide or an accident.

"Upon your full recovery.." he looked away, unable to match my eyes. "You have to go back to your father, never to come back."

Antonio's words may have come out soft, almost a whisper, it hit me like a slap across my face.

"Why?" I whined. This wasn't part of the deal. This was part of nothing. My heart fell all the way down to the toe, sunk with the feeling worse that what I felt before dying. I felt like death awoke again, trying to pull me back to hell, I merely had a glance of. "Why are you doing this? Did I do something?"

I was damn sure that Elena was caught and she confessed to everything. With her back, why would I be required?

But what I didn't expect was the feeling of being completely and utterly at loss. I was losing what I never consider as mine. I was losing this family and Antonio. Tears, yes, tears rolled down my face as I walked over to him. Never have I ever cried until today for someone, but when the dam burst open, it took out every inhibition. Only now, my tears told me the underestimated value of those, I was about to lose.

Antonio sprang up just as my knees were about to give up. Holding me in place, a lifeless being, he tugged me onto his chest.

"It's because I cannot appear weak. You made me weak, Valentina. You and your father decided to ruin us." His voice trembled, reenacting the state of my jaws. "That truth was out for everyone to know. Leaving you free in this place would mean only one thing," he pulled me off his chest and I gasped, for he took my air with him. "It would mean that the Moralez had become a woman's toy. I promised to protect you against it all. But what you did.."

He placed me on the chair, walking towards the window. In the darkness of the night, Antonio remained silent, letting me mull in his unfinished words.

"My allegiance towards my father ended the day I came to know the truth about my mother. I was never going to execute his wishes anymore." Antonio turned to me as I pushed off the chair. I may be strong for a lot of things but what bought be down on my knees was him rejecting me. "I was never going to harm you in any way. I couldn't even think of hurting you anymore."

A while back, I wanted Antonio to leave me alone, never bother me. It had now turned out to be my only fear. Antonio Moralez, the demon had destroyed me. The girl who came to end him was charred by the fire in him, turned to ashes. What rose in her place had a being with a heart. One that felt things for him, unwilling to be confessed.

With long strides, Antonio closed our distance. "I have lost a lot of people, one being-"

I placed a finger on his lips as his head dipped onto my forehead. "You will never lose me. I will never betray you. I will take what's coming for you onto.."

His lips crashed against mine. It was our first kiss. The first time we were melting as one. Antonio tasted like whiskey and cigar. I was riding the waves of pleasure, cursing myself for having abstained from his kiss for so long.

Dipping me over the bed, he tossed his shirt off. Peeling my attire he pulled me onto him as he turned, sitting on the bed. With a strong pull, he tugged off my tracks. There was nothing sensuous about our need. It was animalistic. Two predators, who found their mate in the wild. 

I gasped when Antonio coiled his hand into my locks and clutched it hard, tipping my face to align with his. He smirked, pulling me close to where he wanted- his mouth.

"Kiss me." he whispered.

My head dipped as I tasted him again. Our tongues fought for dominance, for survival. Parched, we found our oasis. I surrendered as he bit on my lower lip. Pulling us off the bed, I hung onto him as he carried me over to the open balcony. Under the night sky, Antonio pushed me on the couch. With darkness around, I could see his face in the faint light that flickered in the room.

Dropping his remaining attire, he peeled mine off my legs. Goosebumps formed all over my body as he knelt before me, disappearing from my sight. A warm breath of air and then wet touch made me moan. Placing his fingers inside my mouth, he licked and blew between my legs. I squirmed, widening my entrance. My hand coiled inside his hair, pulling him up before tasting me over his lips.

With jerked strokes, Antonio played me. Every tease at my entrance filled me with pleasure. I placed my hands over his lower back, plunging him inside of me. As I moaned and cussed, he whispered into my ears.

"Never ever betray me, Valentina." Our eyes matched and with every thrust, I bit my lips, moaning. "Say it," he stopped his pleasure assault. "Say you wouldn't, Val."

I missed the desire he created in me and left. "I promise, never to betray you." I whispered into his ear. I dove my head backwards as he plunged in, cruising through my narrow walls.

"Never will you be with another man," he held me up, placing me over his seated self. I grinded over his arousal which grew further inside. "Say it, Val. I want you to be mine, forever," he commanded with softer strokes, pleading voice.

"No other man," I moaned as Antonio pulled up my body, only to stab in his hardened member back inside me.

I grunted over his chest, his finger flicked my bra buckle. He dipped me back, thrusting inside while holding me straddled on his erection. With every tongue roll over my erect nipple, I moaned. Fisting his hair, I pulled him back.

"No other woman, ever. Say it."

I stared at him, pushing him down while my body took control. My hands ran over my perkiness while I moved in and out of him slowly. His head rested on a cushion and hands held me in place as I moved faster.

Picking us up, he walked inside the room, thrusting us over the balcony window. With his head dipped, sucking my mounts, his forced jerks inside me lent me to moan without any inhibition. Breathing over my wet nipples, he dragged his teeth.

"No other woman, Val. Only you."

With his face aligned closest to mine, he remained inside of me as we wrote our new marriage vows. One which were not ordained by a minister but made with devotion and respect.

"Take me," I whispered to him. I was ready to be plundered. Destroyed. Only to rebirth in his hold.

Walking back to the bed, Antonio trailed kisses over my neck while his hand played between my wet folds.

"Now," I ordered.

He smiled and nodded sidewise, plunging his face back between my legs as I growled onto the sheets. After his tongue pleasure, Antonio sprang up, only to plunder me with his hardness. With every thrust, I held his back, trailing thin lines of blood marks as my nails dug into his skin.

"Fuck," I growled into his ears, panting.

Like a revitalized horse, he paced, rocking the bed along with me. I screamed his name, that only led him on stronger.

"There.. I am there..." I moaned. "Yes..."

"Now Val, now," he dipped his head, whispering in between his panting.

I saw burst of bright light behind my eyelids and then black spots, when the last of his thrusts hit me, carrying me into a state of euphoria. I was panting beneath him, holding onto him as if my life depended on it. Before he could remove himself from inside me, I held him back.

"You still haven't answered. Why?" My question lingering in the air.

Why did he save me? Why wasn't I treated like all the others, whom he killed without a second thought.

With a smirk, Antonio rolled me over him, letting me be in control. With my grinding, his dick reared its head again. His moans were my appreciation tokens. I pressed my hand over his throat, like the times he did. His smiled, sitting upright.

"You still don't know the answer?" he plunged me back for round two. I nodded a no, waiting for him to answer.

With a peck on my lips, Antonio straddled me in place, holding my hips. "Because I couldn't lose you."

"Why?" I held the back on his neck, slowing moving him inside of me.

He tossed me over the bed, turning me on all fours. With his hand coiling my neck, teased my opening before pushing in. I leaned over the silk sheets, grabbing them in a bunch, moaning into it.

"Don't play coy," a harder thrust was my punishment. "You know the answer."

He was right, I knew the answer. But a part of me wanted him to confess it.

~..~

Finally, my babies are on the right track..

But for how long?