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A week passed since Natalia and Francisco were attacked by the secret society.
Since then, things calmed down a lot. The surveillance cameras on Alcalá Orange Grove and Caserío Peña didn’t record any suspicious activity either by air or land which made Francisco wonder what the society would be preparing for them. He had killed six of its members; one of them, of utmost importance.
The list of names of those involved remained in his possession. He already knew it by heart and had researched every society member online. The fingers he cut off as souvenirs were vacuum packed and sent directly to the person who headed the list in his possession. He would have loved to send the bastards heads, but that would have been be more complicated to do through conventional mail messaging.
He had to send them a clear message.
He couldn’t allow these people to continue attacking them in the future. He wanted and deserved a normal life in every respect.
If his plan worked as he thought, it wouldn’t be long before they got the news and then he could negotiate with them. He wanted one meeting in person. Seeing them face to face would make them understand that he did not play games and he could end them at any time. By exposing the secret society, which they belonged and financed, to the press was more than enough.
He did not return to the site of the kidnapping. For the time being, it didn’t seem like the wisest thing to do. There might be people from the society sniffing around, still recovering from the blows and wounds of that day.
He watched Natalia walk in the direction of the house.
He smiled.
Yes she was beautiful and every day he loved her more.
The blonde came over and kissed him.
“What about Manuel?” He asked curiously.
“Well, he’s with my grandmother. Today she is teaching him how to make a special Christmas cake.” He says he will surprise us with everything they have prepared to eat.
“Then we should stop eating now in order to have space.”
They both laughed as they sat at the garden table.
The sun warmed him pleasantly even though the weather was already turning cooler.
Natalia poured coffee for them both.
“Isabel called me to invite us to the Orange Grove this afternoon to talk to Carlota. It looks like she’s going to write a second part to her last book and wants to know your story.”
“Charmed. If my brother trusts her, I will too. Also, I read very good comments from her book. I should read it.”
“It's original, I polished it off in three days. A very sweet romance story between a man who possesses eternal life and a woman who does not believe in any of those things.”
They both laughed again.
Rodrigo approached them.
“Francisco, there's someone at the door asking for you. He didn’t tell me his name. He only said that you would know who he was.”
Francisco wiped the smile off his face and although he tried to hide it due to Rodrigo not knowing anything about his condition or what happened to Natalia a few days ago, he didn’t succeed.
“Get up and lock yourself in the bedroom.” He said to Natalia, and then he looked at Rodrigo. “You stay with her.” He lifted his shirt and put a gun in Rodrigo's hands. The overseer's face changed to utter disbelief. “Do you know how to shoot a gun?”
Rodrigo nodded.
“Then do as I say, and don’t ask,” Francisco said before turning to Natalia again. “I'll come get you when I'm done. Get in touch with Juan Carlos in an hour if I have not come for you.”
She nodded and kissed him.
“Be careful, please.”
“Nothing's going to happen to me, honey. I have more weapons in the studio. If the person outside is who I believe, there will be no major problems.”
Rodrigo looked at him with bewilderment.
“It's a pending issue I have with unscrupulous people,” he told his foreman. Rodrigo accepted the explanation although he didn’t quite believe it. He thanked his foreman again for his discretion.
Francisco knew he wouldn’t ask anything now or later. However, he owed him some kind of explanation to keep him quiet. He would invent something. He gave the order to open the door and send the visitor to his office.
“I'll do it myself,” Rodrigo said as he typed a text message relaying his boss orders. “Let's go,” he said to Natalia, while in the distance a black sedan with tinted windows was approaching the property.
Francisco immediately went to his office inside the house.
A spacious room with a nice view of the back garden, dark wooden shelves from floor to ceiling full of old books. An antique solid wood desk rested in the center of the room. He opened one of the drawers and took out an automatic weapon from a secret compartment. He checked making sure it was loaded and left it in front of him.
He was sitting behind the desk when there was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
“Mr. Peña, your visitor has arrived,” said the housemaid.
“Let him in.”
A tall, thin man with thick white hair dressed in an elegant, custom-made suit entered the room.
The door closed behind him and Francisco had to make a great effort not to take the gun and shoot him without even greeting him.
The man read his intentions when he saw the weapon on the table.
He had a rather thick envelope in his hands.
“Mr. Requena, I come in peace.”
Francisco snorted.
“Nothing that comes from you comes in peace.
The man looked at him seriously.
“I am the spokesman of the society and I come to inform you that we have decided to disintegrate the secret society founded more than four centuries ago by the King and the Holy Church. Little is left of what it was and we recognize it has not been worth it at all. We have had many casualties, lost money and besides, we have not achieved what was most desired: the immortality formula you refuse to give us and you have proven it is not as effective as it seems. You and your brother now enjoy mortality as normal as mine.”
Francisco smiled wickedly.
“You are right in everything you say but I do not think they are going to dismantle such an important society for you. Why should I trust someone who has pursued me for more than four centuries and wanted hurt me to make me pay for the crimes I have committed? Who is responsible for what they did to me or to my brother? Should not they be punished?”
“Come on, Mr. Requena. For the crimes you know very well you should pay. You murdered a few in your time in order to escape. I do not blame you, of course. On the other hand, I am more than sure we can trust each other because I am a man of my word and would not have come here if you had not sent me such an important message or threat, as I would like to call it. So we just have to trust each other's word. I do want you to keep in mind the only one who wanted to quench his thirst for blood was Marcos. He was a descendant of the Inquisitor General whom you destroyed according to the legend.” Francisco nodded seriously. “Marcos is the one who made a serious mistake in skipping our orders and you see how it all ended. I think the result is positive for you and a bit negative for us so...”
“I hope I never have to see you again, because if something happens to me or anyone around me, the information will go to the press. I myself will tell the whole story. So I recommend you keep your word.”
“And you yours,” the man said.
“I will.”
The man straightened his suit as he said goodbye to Francisco with a short nod.
He left the office and Francisco could not do more than let go of all the centuries of fears and bitterness he lived through because of those bastards.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Never before had he experienced such a true sense of freedom.
He chose to laugh out loud and ran from his office to his bedroom where Natalia would be waiting for him. That woman had changed his life completely and he couldn’t think of anything more than to make her happy.
He ran into the housemaid, and when she saw him, she dropped her head immediately.
He went to her and gently stroked her arm.
“No more bowed heads.” He lifted her face to look at him. “I want everyone, from today forth, to look me in the eyes when they are talking to me, understood?”
The girl did not understand anything but was there to fulfill orders so she nodded and did not lower her head again. She wondered what had changed in her boss to make him act this way in the estate and also, why was he so happy. She didn’t know him, but she always regretted he was a lonely and somewhat embittered man.
It was noticeable next to Miss Natalia, he had changed but nothing compared to what she was witnessing now. She was happy for him. Miss Natalia had spread so much happiness it radiated his intense darkness.
Francisco heard the girl hum a song as she went up the stairs and into a bedroom. He felt human as he addressed her, looking her in the face.
Rodrigo was firm and alert at his bedroom door.
Francisco hugged him tightly.
“Thank you for all you've done for me without asking questions. You're a great person, Rodrigo.”
The foreman could not help but be touched by Francisco’s words, who, though he was not a tyrant of a boss, was not the kindest Rodrigo had ever had. Rodrigo responded to the embrace with a couple of pats on the back.
Natalia opened the bedroom door when she heard the men talking and witnessed the scene telling her from now on her and the man she loved could live a normal life.
“Take a vacation with your wife. Go on a trip, do what you have always wanted and have not been able to. Do not worry about the money. Tell Pilar to spend what is necessary. I'll take care of the expenses...” The foreman tried to interrupt him, but Francisco would not let him. “Go and don’t contradict me. I realize you have not done what you have always dreamed of. I will look after myself and take you to the plane. Is it understood?”
Rodrigo could only nod with emotion shining in his eyes.
“Thank you. Pilar has always wanted to visit the Bahamas, we will go there.”
He embraced Francisco again in gratitude. He began to walk toward the stairs when his boss called him again:
“Ah, just one thing Rodrigo!”
Rodrigo stopped to look at Francisco.
“Please come back for the wedding.” Natalia could not help but smile and jump into Francisco's arms.
“Count on it,” Rodrigo confirmed, pleased to see Francisco's life was beginning to change.
Francisco and Natalia embraced for a while.
Natalia didn’t want to let him go.
“Honey, you have to let me go because there's something I have not done formally,” Francisco said to her as she smiled with amusement. She grinned like a child waiting for the biggest surprise being given to her by her parents.
Francisco walked to his closet and removed a fake wall at the back of the room, exposing a safe. He entered the secret combination and withdrew a small wine-colored velvet box.
He walked back to Natalia, his hands trembling with emotion. Her heartbeat quickened as Francisco bent on one knee opening the precious box before her.
“Ms. Natalia Castaneda, would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
The ring was an invaluable, beauty. It did not take an expert jeweler to realize the piece was almost as old as the man she loved.
She could only nod in excitement as tears welled in her eyes.
He stood up and placed the ring on his girl's left ring finger.
He kissed the hand of his now fiancée.
“It all ended the way I planned.” He gazed at her smiling and kissed her shyly on the lips. “We can have a normal life in the eyes of the world.” He sighed and kissed her again. “But most importantly I am finally free to have a future next to you.”
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