Chapter 28

ALEX

At this moment my head is going a mile an hour. The only thing I want to do is kill the motherfucker who dared to lay his hand on Gabriela, and not only that, but who had dared to rape her. Now I can understand the way she reacted, but if he had been scared by Kevin, he's going to shit himself now.

When I get to him, he stares at me with an arrogant smile on his face, but I soon knock it off his face with a punch. "What are you doing? Are you stupid or what?" The scum asked in an annoyed tone. "The only stupid person here is you for daring to touch the woman you shouldn't. Didn't they teach you to respect a woman or what?" I asked angrily. "I don't know what you're talking about, man, really."

"I'M TALKING TO YOU ABOUT YOU DARE TO RAP MY FIANCEÉ, YOU STUPID." I shouted, "Is that what she said? That I have raped her? That's not true, I just gave him what she was asking for..." I didn't want to hear what he's going to say, the only thing I wanted to do is kill him, so I kept punching him until I noticed some arms trying to pull me, but luckily for me I have more strength than them.

"ALEX STOP NOW." I punched him one more punch before turning and looking in her direction, which is a mistake, because they separate me from him to prevent me from hitting him further and he hits me in the chest of the one I'm holding on to. "Let go!!!!" I said angrily "I can't do it. You gotta calm down, man." Kevin said "I DO HAVE TO CALM DOWN? SHIT, THIS ONE DESERVES TO BE KILLED FOR WHAT HE DID."

"Believe me, I want to do it as much as you do, but if you don't stop, Gabriela will get sick. Don't do that to her, not now everything is going ok." Kevin asked, "But…" I started to say, but I don't know exactly what he wanted to say. "I know." My fiancée's cousin agreed. "Are you really going to get some words from this guy for you to stop hitting me? That's how much you love your fiancée?"

I was going to throw myself at him to hit him again, but I stopped short the moment Gabriela put her hands on my chest. "Love... don't listen to him... it's not true..." she said "I can't allow that bastard to walk around like it's nothing." I responded through clenched teeth, trying to contain my anger. "And he won't… Santi won't take long to arrive and take him away." She answered, "Ora farai la vittima di fronte al tuo caro fidanzato? Meglio perché non ammetti che ti piaceva e che ti sei funito di più in una notte con me che con lui in tutto questo tempo? (Now you're going to play the victim in front of your dear fiancé? Better why don't you admit you liked it and you enjoyed a night with me more than with him in all this time?)

"Maledetto figlio di puttana … (Damn son of a bitch...)" I started to go in his direction again, when Gabriela puts a little more pressure with her hand on my chest "Amore, non lo ascolta." (Love, don't listen to it)" he asked "Non ascoltarmi perché sai che è vero. (Don't listen to me because you know it's true.)" continued the stupid one "Sei un fottuto figlio di puttana. Ti aspetti davvero che mi sarebbe piaciuto quello che mi hai fatto quella notte? Mi hai drogato... non potevo difendermi... ti odio con tutta l'anima. (You're a fucking son of a bitch. Do you really expect I would have enjoyed what you did to me that night? You drugged me... I couldn't defend myself... I hate you with all my soul.)"

"Per essere drogato come dici tu, beh stavi combattendo. Questo è ciò che mi piace di più di te... a cui ti opponi. (To be drugged as you say, well you were fighting. That's what I like most about you... that you oppose.)" At that moment Gabriela separated from me to throw herself towards that guy, and I would throw myself towards him, but at this moment the only thing I cared about was that she's okay and getting her away from this guy, so I walked over to her and picked her up. "Get her out of here, I'll take care of him."

"Don't let him slip away." I said, "I won't, don't worry." Gabriela was trying to get loose, but I won't going to let that happen, she had to calm down, so I took her to the terrace where she was before. As soon as she enters the house she starts crying and I don't hesitate to hug her so she can vent, because apparently, she has been carrying this weight on her shoulders for four years. I still don't know how she lasted all this time.

"Don't cry, beautiful... That guy will go to jail and won't be able to hurt you anymore... In case he wants to do that, I'll take care of him myself... I promise." Little by little, her family arrived to see what's happening, and I asked Gabriela's father to go with Kevin to help him. We were hugging for an hour or so, but the important thing was she had stopped crying, I separated her from me so I could see her, but she had fallen asleep. Thank goodness we had sat down a while ago, because I didn't want any more damage to be done.

"Alex, what is happening with Federico?" Angela asked in a worried tone. "Non dire loro niente." (Don't tell them anything)" At that moment I turn to Camila, because I think they must know, they must know what that bastard did to her. "Per favore… è qualcosa di cui dovrebbe parlare e non credo che sai in vena di spiegarlo oggi. (Please... It's something she should talk about, and I don't think she's in the mood to explain today.)"

"Bene. (Okay)" I nodded "Grazie. (Thank you)" thanked the girl "I can't say." I finally said to the rest of my fiancée family "Why?" Lara asked "Because I can't, now what matters to me is that Gabriela rests and stops thinking about what has happened, nothing more. She's upset enough and what she needs to be calm now."

"I understand that, but I would like to know what's happening to my granddaughter." Angela insisted, "Angela, dear mommy, at some point you will know, you just have to wait for her to tell it, after all." She said in a friendly tone and with a smile on her face. "It's okay, but I'm only hearing you for Gabriela, not for you, let it be clear." Angela pointed out "I know, now why don't you go, and we leave them alone? At some point this Santi guy will arrive and there must be someone to hear him."

"You should go too and leave them alone." Angela said and Camila denied "I have things to talk to Alex about." answered this "Okay, but don't do anything stupid." commented my fiancée's grandmother, "I don't do anything stupid, but I understand what you mean."

With that, everyone began to leave the terrace and Camila, Gabriela and I were alone, me caressing Gabriela's back so she could sleep. I remember one day she told me it kept her calm and helped her sleep.

"So, you know Italian." She said simply "My grandmother is Italian and taught me when I was little, I guess I'm lucky right now to know that." I admitted, knowing Gabriela would never tell me something like that. "So, you had no idea what happened to her four years ago?" Camila asked and I denied "She never talked to me about that. You didn't know anything either?" I questioned "No. "Now I understand why she reacted the way she did when I said I knew him."

"Do you know him?" I asked, focusing my gaze on her. "Know as such, no, the last time I came I went out one night, and I just bumped into him in a club, he wanted us to have sex, but I told him to go to hell and left." She admitted "I should have been with her that day, I could have prevented that from happening."

"You're not to blame for what happened to her. You had already been separated for four years and believe me, she didn't even want to see you." "I know, but I still could have done something to avoid it." I insisted, "I doubt it, you must know how stubborn Gabriela is, she wouldn't have let you get even a kilometre closer to her." Camila commented and I nodded, because I knew that's true. "Then don't torture yourself you could have done something, because that's not true."

"It hurts me to see Gabriela like this. I'm afraid we'll go back to the beginning of the pregnancy." I said sincerely, "It's going to be fine; Gabriela is strong and knows how to face her problems. You'll see that when she wakes up, she'll be the same Gabriela she was the moment I walked through the door." Gabriela's best friend assured, "Do you think Kevin knew?" I finally asked, "Kevin knows, I can tell."

"And why didn't he tell us anything?" I asked, annoyed he hadn't said anything. "Because he covers Gabriela's back with whatever. If she asks him to do something, he'll do it, it's that simple." she responded, "The same thing happens with Carlos." I pointed out and she denied, "I assure you, if Gabriela told her something like this, he would have told someone and she know it, but Kevin would keep her secret until the grave if necessary. Kevin is the one who understands her best of the whole family."

"Marcos and Carlota understand her too, I could even say you understand her." I answered, "We understand her, but there are certain things that even if we put ourselves in their place, we won't be able to understand." She responded, "One thing is what I did to her." I said, looking at Gabriela again, "I'm not going to deny what you did to her didn't hurt her, I can't lie to you about that, well, in general I can't lie. The thing is, after that it was difficult for us to get her out of that depression, because yes, she had it, to the point she had to be on antidepressants. But I can assure you she has forgotten that, in her head it's as if it didn't happen. In the time I saw you together today I know she loves you and you love her. You wouldn't be able to do anything to hurt her."

"It's weird someone who loves Gabriela sees it like that from the beginning." I said, realizing she never told me anything about what had happened between Gabriela and me. "I suppose they didn't make things easy for you, especially Sergio." commented "Much less him." I stated, "But in the end they accepted you and you're going to marry her. You have to tell me how you got it because I still don't believe it." She said with a small smile on her face "I don't even know how she accepted if I'm honest."

"If I'm honest with you, and I don't want you to take this the wrong way because from the little I know you in person, I like you and I know you're the best man she could have at her side, but I thought she and Carlos would end up together." She confessed "Many thought that, or with Marcos." I responded knowing it's something everyone expected. "If I tell you all the boyfriends she had without it being true. People talk just to talk."

"You know? Sometimes I feel like I don't know her enough." I confessed, "I think it's normal, Gabriela doesn't talk about her life practically." Camila admitted, "I know, but I want to know everything and it's not because I want to control her or anything like that, I just don't know, every time I hear something they talk about I'm fascinated." I responded with a small smile on my face. "If that's why, don't worry, I'll tell you everything I know myself, and don't take it the wrong way because you don't know many things about her, she's not one of those people who talks about the past constantly and less about telling things about her life. But I think you should talk to her. I'm sure she'll listen to and eventually accept. With you at least she hears and it's weird she doesn't accept from what you say to her."

"That's not quite so." I said, "That's what you think, but it's the truth, I can see it myself, one thing is she's going to marry you despite everything she thinks about getting married." Gabriela's best friend noted, "I guess I'm lucky." I said, "Obviously you are, but I think you two are good, you complement each other."

At that moment I hear Gabriela's stomach make a noise, a sign she's hungry and she will wake up soon because of it, so I think it's better to go get her something to eat before she wakes up. "Camila, can you take care of Gabriela for a while?" I asked, "By proxy I can, but tell me you're not going to do anything stupid."

"I'm not going to go after that guy if that's what's worrying you, I'm just going to get her something to eat, she won't take long to wake up." I replied, "It's okay, I'll take care of her, don't worry." I slowly pushed her away from me so she could lean on Camila, and I went inside the house to go get some cereal we left in the car yesterday and something to drink.