Page 51 of The Queen's Serpent

Only one person other than my mother would know that Isabella Stratford is leaving this jungle pregnant: Raphael. I have to make sure he doesn’t make it out alive during the attack on the compound. He must die.

What about Isabella? She will be out there alone in the world somewhere with Diego’s child.Perhaps I should rethink what I am about to do; it is unforgivable to take a man’s child away from him. Doubts whisper in my mind, reminding me of my faults and how this can go terribly wrong in so many ways.

No, I need to stand firm; in this case, it is the best that can be done, the only thing that can be done. That child will tie Diegoforever to that woman, and with it, she will ruin him until there is nothing left. I have to protect him from her, and from himself. My hands are tied, and my priorities lie in the promise I made to Julia to protect him, even if that means protecting him from himself.

In a few short hours, Isabella will be gone from our lives forever, and we will be able to get back to business, as if she was just a minor blip in our history. Manuel assures me he has already lined up a marriage alliance with one of the other cartels to strengthen us. Diego will still have children to rule, and carry the line forward,ones he will be aware of. All will be well in the end, I hope.

Chapter twenty-eight

Issy

“I’ll always want him. Until every sun goes dark in every sky, until I am nothing more than long-forgotten cosmic dust, I will want him.And even then, I suspect my particles will long for his.”

Ann Aguirre, Doubleblind

The vibration of various sounds accosts my ears, and increases my heart rate. It sounds like we are under attack. I can hear the loud and terrifying echoes of gunfire, explosions, and the screams of what must be injured men. The walls shake in my bedroom, making it seem like they are about to fall in on me.

Terror races through me with the understanding that my grandmother’s hired men have finally reached the compound, and are attacking us. Fear for Diego, and his safety, has my lungs seizing. I want to race out there and go to his side, tell him I love him, but my limbs quiver and refuse to move toward the door.

Santiago’s words repeat on a malicious cycle in my head, until I fear they will never end. That man hates me, but he loves Diego, and although I wanted to deny the verity of his words, the truth is they are accurate. I’m poisonous and destructive, and mine and Diego’s love is toxic, if you can even call what we have love. I need to get away from him, for my own safety as well as his.

The door slams open, and an apprehensive Santiago rushes inside. “Isabella, come with me now. We must go,chica!”

For a moment, I don’t move as panic sets in, and I want to run in the other direction, to get away from him, but at Santiago’s stern expression, I know that he will drag me out of here kickingand screaming. One way or the other, he plans to remove me from Diego’s life by force. Whether I’ll still be breathing by the night’s end is a mystery.

He grabs onto my bicep and drags me forward, my mind reeling on whether I should fight his hold or not.Get it together, bitch. Stay strong; this is our one chance to get out of here.I pull back on Santiago’s hold until he releases me, and I glare at him, daring him to try that shit again.

“You either come willingly, or I will put a bullet in your head, Isabella. You choose whether you want this to be your last night on earth.”

His words mimic my thoughts and bring a chill to my spine. “I will go, but please tell me he’s safe.”

“He will be safer when you are no longer here,chica. Come now, we have only a small window of time to get you out of the compound unnoticed.”

I follow him like a lost puppy, through winding hallways into a section of the compound I have never entered, until we reach a room in the farthest western point. Santiago moves forward, rips open a window with no bars on its frame, and then turns back to face me. “This way. This is the furthest part of the compound. We must climb out of this window and move silently through the trees. I will climb out first and help you. Don’t try to run, Isabella. I was not bluffing. I will kill you.”

I watch as he heaves himself out of the window, and then reaches back to help me. I climb out the window on trembling legs that threaten to buckle under my weight. His arms instantly surround me and yank me forward, until we both stand precariously on a small pile of wooden pallets. We jump off the four-foot height, and Santiago urges me towards a thick area of trees. “There keep going, head towards the trees.”

I follow his instructions, the material of my lightweight dress snagging on the thick branches as we move through the trees.Up ahead, I see a small firelight, and Santiago urges me in that direction. The sounds of gunfire erupting all around us, and screams in the distance, help to block out the noise of my panting and my racing heart. When we come closer, I notice a man dressed all in black, with two dark backpacks resting at his feet, and a machete gripped in his hand. The menacing look on his face doesn’t exactly give me warm and tingly feelings, and once again, I wonder if I just walked myself to my own death.

“Isabella, this is myprimo, Francisco. He will lead you through the jungle, and to one of the trading villages just over eighty miles away. There, I have a man who will have your new identification ready, and will help you get out of the country. Remember your promise to me, Isabella.”

He grabs onto both my arms and shakes me until my teeth rattle. “You must let Isabella Stratford die in this jungle, and never contact your family again. I am giving you a chance at a new life. Don’t make me regret it.”

“How… how do I know… you’re not trying to… kill me. That you don’t plan… to kill me or have me killed in the… jungle?” I question with terror. I meet his dark gaze, and I witness fear, and what I also believe is hope. He wants me gone, as he honestly thinks I will be the end of Diego, which terrifies him and motivates him to help me escape.

“You can’t know that, and I won’t promise you that you won’t die out in that jungle trying to escape, but it won’t be by my hands or my orders. Your fate is in yours and God’s hands now,chica. I hope for your sake he hasn’t forsaken you.”

He turns away from me and clasps his arms with Francisco in a burly man hug, slapping his back. “May God keep you safe on your journey. Get as far away from here as you can. Do not stop until you can no longer hear the sounds of gunfire, and even then, keep going,primo.”

“Dios te bendiga a ti también, primo. Te veré cuando te vea, mantente a salvo.”Francisco releases him and grabs one of the bags, throwing it over his shoulders and slipping his arms through it, before handing me the other one.

“Let us go,reina de las serpientes.Time is a-wasting, and death breathes down our necks.”

I throw the heavy pack around my shoulders, its weight both cumbersome and reassuring. They wouldn’t bother with supplies if they planned to kill me in the jungle, would they?

Francisco steps forward towards the thicker fauna, and I fall into step with him. I turn to look back over my shoulder, and see nothing but Santiago’s retreating back. Fuck, am I actually doing this, running away from the man I love? Leaving him to face my grandmother’s army, and possible death, while I escape. I either don’t love him enough, or love him too much, but which is the most accurate description of my feelings for Diego? The truth is I don’t know anymore; my mind and heart are all tangled up.

What other choice is there? Diego will die trying to keep me. He will never let me go, and will end up killing me with his obsession, and irrational need to control me and make me stronger. Santiago has given me a chance to leave this frail and useless woman behind here in this jungle, and be reborn as something stronger. A person with no past, and no defined future, all I have to do is keep going and not look back, and let my heart irrevocably break.

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