Chapter 49

I'm not giving up on us. Let me talk to you, mu?eca, please.

His messages kept coming. And as much as it made my heart bleed, I continued to ignore them. I had been staying at the Airbnb for three days already. Iris and Chloe had visited every single day to keep me company. Keisha had gone back for a court date. Chloe, as a transactional lawyer, could really work from anywhere. Iris was her own boss, so she also had some flexibility. I welcomed all the love they brought to me.

Martha had also stopped by, cleaned, even though I protested, and made sure I had healthy food to eat. Nicholas had filed a complaint against Richard for everything he had stolen from me. I also found out that half of the house was mine and that I would probably be able to get the other half as retribution for what Richard had stolen from me. I now had control of forty percent of his company—my company. Always mine, I reminded myself.

Richard was in prison, facing the trial of his life. George was under investigation, as well as the tax attorney, the notary, and frankly, the whole board and officer slate of Hotel Estrellas. I should have felt happy, but I was scared and anxious to be dealing with all these changes alone. I wanted to run to New York, but everything had changed.

I now owned a company I had always wanted to be a part of—even more so now that I knew my mother had left her shares for me. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. A position I thought I would have had in ten to fifteen years was now falling in my lap. Nicholas had explained there was no doubt Richard's fifteen percent would also become mine.

All the courses I had taken at Stanford were flowing through my brain, and before I knew it, I was writing business plans and growth strategies for the company. I knew what had to be done. I declined my job in New York. Thankfully, they were very understanding of my situation.

I needed to also adjust my perspective, I realized. Considering how dire things had been, this was a good thing.

But when I slowed down, when I was left alone with my thoughts, he always found a way back in, my mind traveling back to Alejandro. How right it felt when he held me in Richard's office. How safe I felt. I wanted to feel him again. I yearned for the times he kissed every inch of my body. I longed for the time we danced together. I kept going back to the fact that he saved my life. To the fact that he seemed legitimately hurt when I walked away from him. To the fact that he still called and texted, every single day, to ask how I was doing, to ask if we could talk. To tell me he wasn't giving up on us. I read his messages countless times, and I desperately wanted to answer. To tell him how I felt. That I wanted him. That I felt his absence in my bones.

But then I remembered Elena. I remembered how he pointed out that I didn't fit in his world, and anger and jealousy added themselves to the mix. Then came pure fear, my trust issues, my terror of loving and not being loved back.