Page 78 of Keeping My Captive

THERE’S A KNOCK on my door the next morning, and then a second later it opens. I expect to see my parents or my brother, since they’ve been checking on me religiously, but instead it’s Renato.

My breath leaves my lungs in a rush when I see his familiar, handsome face. Months ago, I would have run and jumped into his arms. But everything changed the moment I met Mateo. I’m not the same person I was before I was kidnapped. And I doubt if I’ll ever be the same again.

Renato used to make my heart skip a beat whenever I saw him, but my rhythm is steady now, unwavering. It only beats for one man, and he’s not in this room.

“Hi,” he whispers, his green eyes searching my face carefully. “How are you feeling?”

I’m not sure if my father and brother told him about the pregnancy or many details surrounding what happened to me, so I decide to play it safe. “I…I’m okay,” I say quietly.

“How’s your shoulder?” he questions, motioning to the sling.

“Not too bad. I’ve had worse pain,” I admit before cringing. That probably wasn’t the best thing to say, but it doesn’t seem to faze Renato much. I feel like he’s not really accepting of what happened to me, or maybe he just doesn’t want to. It’s probably easier that way. He seems full of anxiety, and I watch as he nervously shifts from foot to foot. He doesn’t know how to act or what to say, and I can definitely say the feeling is mutual. The last we were together, we were making out in the hallways of the compound, trying not to get caught by the security guards. And now it feels like we’re total strangers.

“How have you been?” I ask, not knowing what else to talk about.

Renato quickly swallows up the distance between us with a few big strides across the room. “It’s been hell without you here. I barely slept. I couldn’t eat. Fuck,” he rasps, taking in every detail of my face as if committing it to memory. “I’ve missed you, Aria. So much.”

Before I can even blink, he’s gathering me into his arms and holding me tight. At first, it’s innocent. Just a friendly hug. But when I feel his mouth on my cheek and my neck, placing kisses as he whispers how much he’s missed me, I quickly push him away with my good arm.

My breathing is ragged as I stare up at his wounded face, and it kills me a little inside. Even though Renato and I never discussed a future together, I know he definitely wanted one. He always wanted more than I was willing to give. I never really had a definite reason as to why I was always holding back with him, besides the possibility of losing our friendship, but I have one now. I havetwoactually.

“Renato, we can’t do this,” I try to explain.

His dark brows furrow, and he begins pacing the floor a few feet away from me, dragging his hands through his hair and pulling at the ends in frustration. “I’ve been sitting here for months, Aria, waiting for you to come back to me. I was sick to death worrying about you every minute of every day. Don’t you get that?”

Tears fill my eyes as I try to come up with words that will make this whole situation better, but I can’t. There’s nothing I can say that will make any of this okay.

He stops pacing and looks at me. “I think after you’ve had some time to think, you’ll realize what that monster did to you. You’ll realize that what you went through was trauma and —.”

“I love him, Renato,” I blurt out, ripping off the band-aid.

He winces at my words, shaking his head in disbelief. He doesn’t want to accept anything that doesn’t involve him and me. I get it, I do. Renato and I have been friends and more for years. He assumed nothing would ever change that. Maybe I did too. But fate unexpectedly intervened and set me on a different path, one that forks away from Renato and what we had. I never had to question if it felt right with Mateo or if we were better off friends. And that only solidifies my true feelings and that I’m doing the right thing. With Renato, our friendship came first, and I never wanted to ruin that. I still don’t.

“Why, Aria?” he finally asks.

“Because Mateo protected me. Because he sacrificed himself over and over again for me. Because…” My hand drops protectively over my stomach.

“You…you’re pregnant?” he asks incredulously.

Shit.So, no one told him. I had just assumed someone had. Groaning inwardly, I look up at him. “I’m sorry, Renato. I’m sorry for everything.”

“Yeah. So am I,” he says before leaving and slamming the door behind him.

I stand there for a long time afterwards, hoping that he’ll come back, but he doesn’t. I could try to go after him and fix things, but that won’t make anything easier. It will only make things harder, for the both of us.

The bottom line is that we were destined for very different things. My only hope is that, in the future, when Renato meets the girl of his dreams, he’ll finally realize the same thing that I did — that what we shared was special but only temporary.

I want him to find somebody that makes him happy. Somebody he doesn’t have to hide his relationship with. I want that for him so badly, even over my own happiness. And if that isn’t true friendship, then I don’t know what is.

CHAPTER59

Mateo

I’M LYING IN a hospital bed, barely aware of my surroundings. I’ve been in and out of consciousness for days, I think. Maybe longer. But even though my body is stationary, my brain is moving at a million miles a minute. The events that occurred and led me here are plaguing my mind in a torturous, never-ending loop.

My uncle betrayed me. I should have known all along, but I was just a young boy when he came to get me in the aftermath of my family’s death. I clung to him like a lifeline, never knowing that he was the one who had orchestrated the whole thing to begin with. He deceived his own brother for power and money, hurting and killing a lot of innocent people in the process. I was supposed to die along with them, but I survived. I was able to thrive, much to his dismay.

Now that I know the hard, cold truth, everything is starting to make sense. I have no doubt in my mind that he coordinated the attacks on my warehouses as a way to distract me. And who knows how long he’s been working with the FBI. Maybe from the first moment he laid eyes on Aria. He probably recognized her from media coverage and devised a plan to easily take me down without even getting blood on his hands. He always did take the easy way out; letting others do his dirty work for him.

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