Antonio

When my eyelids flickered with the light that pierced through the lacy curtains, I turned over to watch the woman who drove me crazy yesterday. Adorned with a soft smile on her face, I was mesmerized by Val's carefree sleep. I wanted that for us but was willing to sacrifice mine to see her be peaceful.

A strand of brown curled lock irritated her forehead. As I tucked to behind her ears, she dipped her face into the pillow, stretching her body from her previous fetal position. Sheets slid off her silken skin, leaving her back exposed. I ran a finger over her spinal depression, stirring her. She turned, nuzzling her face into my chest. As I leaned over her face, kissing her neck, her moans confirmed her wake.

"Stubble," she rubbed her knuckles over my untrimmed beard. "It tickles."

Valentina carried all the world's seriousness over her shoulders only to surrender it to me. In a way, yesterday we both were free from out mortal hold, intertwining out souls. I felt being with a version of hers, I had never witnessed before. One who carried many layers to herself than just a killer, a trained assassin. Val was exhibiting her true form to me, one which she hid to protect herself.

Smiling, she pulled my face towards her lips, stroking it with care. Sliding out of the sheets, we held one another's naked body, dwindling into each other till we became we. Val peppered kisses over my neck, giggling before biting onto my collar.

"Ouch," I pulled her off. She smirked, instigating me for another round. Dipping her on the bed, I held her wrists over her head, running my finger between her wetness. Her eyes rolled into her head and her head, into the mattress. "Want to play, Cariño?"

Her pupils dilated, hearing me call her darling. A genuine soft smile rose on her lips. Placing mine over her swollen plumpness, I devoured her, cruising my teeth onto her lower lip.

"Antonio," she whispered in between our play. "I want.."

Ring. Ring.

Her word trail was broken. I growled, pulling my phone. Alejandro.

He never calls me. This must be something urgent. I slid the prompt asking me to pick up. Val tugged me onto her naked chest, playing with my hair. Upon hearing Al's words, my body tossed off the bed in some sort of spring action.

"What happened?" she asked, pulling a robe over her olive skin. It slid over her shoulder, unable to find friction in her smoothness. "I know something happened. What is it?"

I pulled my clothes on, zipping my pant up. "Sofia."

Those were the only words I could uttered while we both slid down the stairs and into the hall. Men scrambled around the house, checking places and the nearby areas. Our caged bird had managed to free herself.

Agustin paced around frantically, his hands stayed on his sides, occasionally balling into a fist. Al was the scorned one. His eyes burned a hole on the maroon carpet. A walkie-talkie was placed on the table near him. With every place scanned with a hawk's precision, the message confirming her absence kept emerging through voice messages.

Beep

Sofia is not found in the basement too.

Beep

Static noises emerged through the device before Al decided it was good to silence it. Tossing it over a wall, the black box smashed into smithereens. Val walked over to him, placing a hand over his shoulder.

"Who saw her last?" she asked.

He tilted his head towards the maid who stood at a distance. Val's steps quickened. She leaned next to her and the scared woman's expressions eased when Val held her hands. I had always observed the calm and ease effect Val carried with her whenever we were in a dire situation. She was an embodiment of a statue, peaceful and stable.

Alejandro had sang laurels about her 'Spanish invasion', the quote he used for her play on Santos.

When I dialed up Gabriel, he too confirmed his search parties inability to trace Sofia. Agitated, I ran my fist into a wall. Sofia was our leverage. With her gone, we had nothing. Worst, if she managed to find her way back to Spain, then Santos would do everything in his hand to finish what we started.

When I felt a calming presence near me, I turned. Val smiled and winked at me, eying my sore knuckle with a hooked gaze before sitting beside Al.

"I know where to find her," she said. Al was annoyance to the point to even reach. All he did was look away. Pulling his face back, she narrowed her eyes. "You are not able to find her because she isn't running. She is hiding. You will find her in the church."

A few men who stood at the door scrambled when Al nodded his head with Val's information. Alejandro's worry was valid. He was responsible for getting Sofia inside out house, it was his responsibility to keep her safe.

After a whole minute of foot taps and fidgeting, Al rose up. He stormed out without saying a word. The room fell silence again as Agustin followed him.

"How do you know about the church?" I asked, looking at her crumpled face.

Val turned her sight from the window that overlooked the driveway towards me. Her concern soon melted away, sliding way for anger and guilt. "I took her there. She wanted to sing in a choir and I felt that was the least I could do. What I didn't knew was that would be how she would try to run."

I held Val's shoulders, pulling her close. Her feet restrained her move. Only when I tugged onto her harder, did her body move closer. Enveloping me in her arms, she hid her face over my shirt. Guilt was eating her up. I could feel its gnawing over my chest too. What Val thought as her help for a girl, who was away from her family, turned out to be the plan Sofia concocted to get onto Valentina's soft side.

When the array of black and red painted vehicles rallied into the driveway, Val and I rushed towards the door. All men who went on hunt returned. Al hopped off the front seat on the jeep, before disappearing behind. My eyes remained strained on that particular jeep. I knew, it was either a dead or alive captive that would emerge.

My heart was pounding, waiting for some sign. My arm hung from my side, not had its companion when Val held it and gave a gentle squeeze. Looking at the eye of the tornado, we stood. What was behind the jeep? A body or a being?

How would we negotiate with Santos if his sister was dead?

Val's sigh was audible when we heard muffled screams. Gagged mouth, tied hands was the welcome sight for Sofia. She tried screaming through the cloth, only to chock on it. Al pulled her inside the house. His eyes were bloodshot, his nostrils flared while the bulletproof armor he wore over his shirt rose and fell violently.

Now that I saw Sofia, the meek girl in front of me, I pitied my men. They went with the gadgets like hunting for lion when in reality, they went searching for a mouse. A scared little being, who fought desperately under Al's hold. Although her voice didn't emerge not did her eyes met any of us, I could feel the air around her, doused with tension and fear.

Pushing her on the ground, Al towered over Sofia before fisting her hair in a ball. She screamed through her cloth.

"Enough, Alejandro," I held up my hand. Al flung Sofia back on the floor. "Don't treat her like an animal." I instructed, moving closer to our captive.

He rolled his eyes, unwilling to adhere to my instruction. Upon Val's hand wave, a maid rushed in with a knife and cut her ties. She moved carefully, slitting the duct tape off her face before peeling the cloth off her mouth. Sofia gagged, dry heaving on the floor. Air wheezed into her lungs when she tried breathing, dragging through the inflated membranes of her lungs. She must have been chocking on her gag for long.

Val dipped near her, placing Sofia's trembling hand over a bottle of water before moving back next to me. Had Sofia not managed an escape attempt, none of this would have happened. Val was the one, deeply affected by her act. She didn't bother pacifying the girl who wailed on the floor. Val only gave people one chance. Sofia's was over.

Al walked in circles near Sofia who still remained on the ground. Agustin's attempt to pick her up was blocked by me. Yes, we had treated her better in the past but Sofia misunderstood our generosity as weakness. We wouldn't portray that anymore.

"So what next?" Al watched me with hooded eyes. His attention was still looming over Sofia, as if she would bolt any minute now.

"We have to meet Santos sooner than before," I said. Sofia knew the ways around. It would be difficult to retain her back without restricting her to a room. "We can tell him our tradeoff."

"Unless," Val stepped forward. Her index finger remained in her mouth as she chewed the cuticles. She looked down upon Sofia who had managed to wipe away her tears. "We retain her as our own."

Valentina turned to me, asking for a seal of approval. As I looked over to my brothers who struggled to decipher her words, I smiled. She wasn't proposing, her plan was already in motion. Her eyes gleamed revealing it.

"Who do you think would step up?" I asked as her smiling face tiled towards Al.

"What?" he asked in his annoyed tone. "What do I have to do now?"

"Sofia will marry into this family," I announced. "Marry you, Al."

Sofia bolted on her feet, hearing those words. Alejandro was shell shocked. His mouth remained ajar but his fists coiled, turning pale with every passing second.

"All this happened because of you," he pointed a finger at Val, trotting towards her. Measuring upto her height, Al gritted his teeth. The anger he radiated could be felt my me, as I stood next to Val. "And you are okay with this? Letting this woman play with you?" he looked over to me, his teeth turned to power with sheer pressure exerted on them.

Stepping between Al and Val who looked like two predators ready for a mauling match, I moved them apart. And they thought I acted like a kid at times.

"She is your head and you better listen to what she has to say," I said, to my brother's boiled up face. There was no share of red missing from it. When I turned to Val, who mirrored his expressions, I knew better than to leave them alone now. "And you," I pointed my finger at Val. "We will decide once again when everything calms down."

Al walked away, tossing a vase to shatter on his way. Agustin stood witness to this catastrophic encounter, donning the mask of silence. Val gestured to the maid who took Sofia away. Scared and shocked, she adhered to the move without any protest.

"Are you okay?" I moved closed to Agustin whose body was sunken towards the floor. Raising his head, he nodded through his teary eyes. A part of me died, watching my youngest sibling in pain. His likeness and affection towards Sofia wasn't anything new that I witnessed. I had seen him be the lovesick boy for her since the time she used to come to our place for vacation as a child.

"I don't understand," he looked over to Val. She mimicked his expressions. Sad to have decided against Sofia being married to Agustin instead of Alejandro, I hoped Val to have a reason. "You knew I liked her. Still.."

He stopped at his words, straightening. When he tired an attempt to walking away, Val was quick to hold his hand, bringing him to a standstill. "She likes Alejandro."

Her words fell on deaf ears as Agustin tossed his hand off her hold. Love had muffed his ears to hear the truth, blinded his vision to see one either. As much as I wanted my brother to be happy, I knew better than to tie up a girl who didn't love him, in marriage.

With shrunken shoulders and eyes that which narrated defeat, Val walked over, holding my hand. "You also think I took a wrong call?"

I nodded on both sides, kissing the crown of her head. Valentina wasn't this woman when I met her. She was strong and almost impenetrable with the armor she held over herself. Things changed for us eventually and I have seen at times, a girl who was vulnerable, scared even. I saw her cry in fear and pain. Whatever notion I held about her; she being a stone hearted woman all faded away.

At this moment, she was as human as she could be. As pure and perfect as one could be. My wife, was as close to being a metahuman as one could be.

I knew she was a kind person, warm and loving. It was her softer side that made me feel things for her, which I forbid my heart from feeling. Holding her in my embrace, I let myself be engulfed by the fire that consumed us into submission. The acceptance towards what we felt for each other.

Looking down at her, I knew she decided for Sofia's happiness even if it meant breaking Agustin's heart. She decided for a stranger's happiness than her own family's. And knowing Val, I knew in my heart, she had a reason for it.

"You can never take a wrong call, especially with her."

In the aftermath of today's turmoil, a lot of things made more sense. The unravelled like pieces of puzzle before joining back to form an assembled picture.

Having born a single child, Val always longed for companionship, the one she found in Sofia. Hardened killer found hope in a girl who was the weakest she ever met. In a way, Sofia brought out Val's maternal instincts to protect her. My wife was as vulnerable around Sofia as I was, around her.

The girl who made her way into Valentina's heart, her sister from a different country, was Val's weakness. Her kryptonite. 

~

Back on track, but for how long..