Hope bloomed in my chest even as I struggled not to collapse to the ground in the middle of the street. People meant safety, but a glance back at Rafael confirmed he just stared at me intently. Never breaking his fixation on me or bothering to hide his presence for fear of the repercussions.
"El Diablo," the people around us murmured oddly, bowing their heads with a glance at Rafael. I knew I'd heard the words before, but as I pressed onward to find someone who would help me, I couldn't stop to think about them. Nobody moved to help me, only turning their attention to where Rafael hovered at my back, his face menacing and cruel as he watched me beg for help. One woman stepped up to him, turning her eyes to me worriedly as she spoke to him in Spanish.
He shook his head, and she ducked into her home and left me to my fate. I choked back a sob as true helplessness claimed me, turning and sprinting up the hill that the town street climbed up. "Please!" I screamed with a broken sob, waiting for someone to help me.
But as I reached the end of the town, everyone disappeared inside their homes and abandoned me to Rafael's fate. I stumbled, my bloodied feet slipping along the stone. I pushed myself up and continued up the hill, until the little town was lost to the darkness behind me and there was only the night and trees to either side of the road. It turned to dirt, fading into a space with nothing surrounding it as I climbed as quickly as I could. When I reached the top of the hill, I stopped, staring around in horror.
From the tallest vantage point, I remembered what Rafael had told me about living on a remote island. I'd thought the words a lie, assumed it was just another one of many he'd told me in our time together. Instead, I stared out at the darkness of the Mediterranean as I spun.
There was nothing. Just nothing but the water to surround us. The small town below was lit with lights and Rafael's home illuminated another part of the island just below where I stood. I could make out the pool in the back and realized I'd have saved myself a lot of time and running if I'd just gone out the back door.
There was just nothing, and the people who lived here weren't inclined to help me. They were determined to obey Rafael and leave me to my fate.
I turned to face him as he strolled up and over the crest of the hilltop, his cold face appearing as his eyes landed on mine.
My heart stalled in my chest, because I knew what came next.
And there was nowhere left to run.
8 Rafael
Her chest sunk, her body dropping as if she might fall where she stood. She caught herself, her bottom lip trembling as tears trailed down her flushed cheeks. I'd known the moment I went to bed that I'd taken my life in my hands by leaving the shards there.
I needed to know what Isa would do, given a choice, and the fact that, despite all I'd done, she couldn't bring herself to truly hurt me spoke volumes about the feelings that still consumed her.
They were just hidden beneath the surface of her anger. Of her fear.
She'd chosen to run instead, proving something I wanted to show her. Something she needed to discover for herself.
No matter what she did, or where she tried to go, there would be no getting off El Infierno without my knowledge. If I wanted it that way, she would never leave the fucking island again.
"Do you understand now, mi princesa?" I asked, slowly closing the distance between us. She backed up a step, as though she might try to flee again. Stopping herself at the last possible moment, a ragged moan tore from her lips as she forced her body to be still despite the fear waging war on her body.
"Why wouldn't they help me?" she asked. The innocence in the question tugged at whatever remained of my heart. My poor Isa was so naïve to the ways of the world, so lost with the wide eyes of her youth, that she didn't realize the simple truth that drove our world to spin.
People were selfish. She'd spoken the words to me once, but now she would fully understand the truth of it. "Because I put food on their table. Because I am El Diablo, and they worship me as their King."
Her legs shook as she fought to remain upright, pushing through her fear of what was coming as I closed the distance between us. She jolted when I reached up a hand to cup her cheek, running my thumb through the tears on her cheekbones as she turned stunning eyes to mine.
They were always vibrant, but they intensified when she cried, turning a bottled green that women everywhere would envy.
"I own this island. I own the people. If I wanted, they would watch me slaughter you and not so much as move a muscle to help you. There is nobody who can save you from me, Princesa. It is time to come to terms with your new life." She didn't move as I touched my other hand to her hip, sliding my fingers inside the hem of her t-shirt.
Her eyes danced with movement as her brain tried to find an escape. As she frantically fought against the truth she now knew.
She'd be mine until her dying breath, and then I would chase her into the afterlife.
"Why are you doing this?" she murmured, her voice quivering as she asked
