Chapter 20

GABRIELA

When I got to my not-so-hidden hideaway, I sat down and stared at the water. That whole night was replaying in my head, and I started to cry, thank goodness I wasn't driving, otherwise I would risk having an accident, and that wasn't what I want now. I also had his words in my head, the ones he had told me an hour ago. I couldn't believe he was following me all this time. He had practically threatened to go after Ana and Nerea, which I'm not going to allow.

I saw how my hands began to shake, so I took out the bottle of pills to take a couple, I had to stay calm, for the sake of my daughters.

After a few minutes I noticed how the pills began to take effect, and with that, I was also able to focus a little more on thinking about what to do to stop that son of a bitch from getting close to my family, and the only thing I could think of is that I had to report him for what had happened four years ago, I didn't see any other way to solve it without getting myself into trouble, because another solution was to kill him myself, but I wasn't going to get into trouble, so it's the best solution I could think of at the moment.

Just at that moment my phone starts ringing, but I ignore it, I'm almost sure it's Kevin and I wanted to be alone, without anyone bothering me, I needed to think, relax completely and try to put all these thoughts aside before returning home, I didn't want anyone to know anything about what happened today, and I didn't want my day to be ruined after Andrea told me everything is going well with the pregnancy and we would be parents of two girls.

When the cell phone stopped ringing, I picked it up to call Santi, he's the only one who could help me at this moment, and I'm going to take advantage while Kevin surely dialled my number again.

"Hello Gabriela, how long. Just now I was going to call you to let you know how the search for Paula is going." I heard an excited Santi say on the other end of the line, "Hello, you'll tell me that later, right now I need you to help me with something, Santi." I said, "Has Paula shown up at your house?"

"No, it has nothing to do with her, it's something else." I assured "Are you having trouble with something?" The agent asked "Yes, but I prefer to talk about it in person. Do you think you could come?" I asked "Sure, where are you?" He questioned "I'll send you the location." I responded "Okay, I'll take as little time as I can." He said, "One more thing before you hang up." I asked before he hung up, "Tell me."

"If someone from my family calls you, it doesn't matter who it is, don't tell them you're going to meet me." I said "Wait, are you alone?" He asked "Yes, but that's the least of it, promise me in case someone calls you you won't tell them anything about you're going to meet me." I practically begged, "This must be serious if you don't want anyone to find out that I'm meeting you."

"It is" I said, "Okay, I won't tell anyone, but I don't see why anyone would call me to find out about you." He pointed out "Because you're the one who was protecting me while Mónica was around, and the one who's helping me with Paula now, so if I don't show up they will call you to help them look for me."

"Okay, don't worry, I'll be there in no time and we'll talk about that important thing you have to tell me. See you." the agent said goodbye "See you." I hung up and sent the location to Santi, and it was at that moment I realized I had fifteen missed calls and getting a new call from Kevin, but instead of hanging up on him I decided to answer him, because I'm sure he would soon get tired and tell everyone else everything, and I don't want that to happen.

"It was time for you to answer me, I was about to go home again to tell the rest everything." Kevin informed in an annoyed tone. "What do you want, Kevin?" I asked in a tired tone "What do I want? I want to know where you are and for you to explain to me what happened in the supermarket with that guy." He said "There's nothing to tell."

"Shit, hoe val ter niets te vertellen? Natuurlijk moet je het vertellen, en nog veel meer, dus ofwel vertel je me waar ik je kan vinden of ik zweer dat ik naar huis ga en alles aan anderen vertel. (Shit, how is there nothing to tell? Of course there's something to tell, and many things, so either you tell me where I can find you or I swear I'm going home and telling everyone else everything.)" Kevin threatened, first of all you relax, I'm fine."

"Ik geloof dat pas als ik je zie. Denk niet dat ik dom ben, ik weet dat je er goed in bent je gevoelens te verbergen en anderen te laten geloven wat je wilt maar in dit geval kun je me niet anders overtuigen. (I won't believe that until I see you. Don't think I'm stupid, I know you're great at hiding your feelings and making others believe what you want, but in this case you won't be able to convince me of the contrary.)" he assured "Kev, adem , ik beloof je dat het op dit moment goed gaat , er es grandkids my met mij. ( Kev, breathe, I promise you I'm fine right now, nothing's wrong with me.)"

"Je hebt de pillen toch ingenomen? (You have taken the pills right?)" he asked and I nodded even though he couldn't see me "De gezondheid van minj dochters gaat voor alles ​(My daughters' health comes before anything.)" I responded calmly "Okay, okay, I'll calm down, but at least tell me where I can find you, we have to think of an excuse for when we get home. I think grandma suspects something."

"I'll deal with that later, but you really don't believe I'm okay?" I asked, "I know you well and I know you could be lying to me right now to not worry me, so no, I'm not going to believe you're okay until I see you." He insisted "Oké , ik stuur je un de locatie ." (Okay, I'll send you the location right now.)"

"Ik zal er zo zijn, dat beloof ik je. (I'll be there in no time, I promise.)" he assured "Rijd niets als een gek Kev, alsjeblieft, ik vraag het je. (Don't drive like a crazy man Kev, please, I'm begging you.)" I asked, the last thing I needed was for him to have an accident "Ik zal er tot nu toe niet aan denken om daar weg te gaan, want ik zal niet aarzelen om thuis they pour you there. (I won't do it, until now, and don't even think about leaving there, because I won't hesitate to tell everything at home.)"

"Ik zal er zijn, maak je geen zorgen. (I'll be there, don't worry.)" With that he hung up and I looked back at the sea to organize everything I would tell Santi as soon as he arrived. It didn't take Kevin more than ten minutes to reach me, and I could see as soon as he saw me, he let out a sigh of relief. At least it's clear I wasn't lying, or at least not about everything. He sat next to me and going to put his arm around my shoulders when I turned away from him.

"Are you sure you are alright?" He questioned and I nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry, it's a reflex, it's happened to me sometimes for four years." I said "At least I found another explanation for those moments too, but don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you." He assured and I nodded, because that's something that's already clear to me. "I know."

"Can I hug you?" I nodded, because I really needed a hug, it would help me relax a little more, it wouldn't be Alex's hug, but he couldn't be with me when Santi arrived, I don't want him to find out what happened to me four years ago, I'm sure he was going after that guy and wanted to keep him from getting in trouble.

"You had this place hidden well, huh?" he said, probably to clear my head somehow. "That's what sleepless nights do." I reported "Well, at least it's a quiet and beautiful place. But now tell me, did you know the guy from the supermarket?" my cousin asked.

"Gabriela, I'm here, what did you need?" With those words, both Kevin and I turned in the direction from which Santi's voice came, Kev with a look of not understanding anything and Santi with a look of concern and partly with curiosity, probably to know who Kevin is or the reason for which I had called him. "You should sit down, it's a long story."