Chapter 102: |Road to the end 8|

Irina slammed the door of the room, threw her purse onto the bed, ran both hands over her face, and pulled them away in frustration.

"I have to leave..." She paced back and forth as her new phone began to ring repeatedly for several minutes. Realizing who it was, she answered. "What have you found out?" she asked quickly.

"They're still looking for you, and Adler just left, leaving a strong threat: Surrender, or he'll seek justice himself." There was a brief silence. "Adler means what he says, and I don't have the resources he does to hide you much longer. I'm afraid he might do something..."

"Adler won't do anything to me. He's not the kind of man who uses violence." She let herself fall onto the edge of the bed. "I need to get more money. Can't you sell something to get me out of here?" Irina asked, more frustrated than when she arrived.

"Let me sell your car and—" Irina shook her head furiously, interrupting.

"Not my car! Sell my mother's; she doesn't use it much."

"I'll see what I can do. Your mother..."

"Tell her to sell it now, and I'll take care of buying her a new one later." There was a knock at the door. "I have to go; text me when you have the money. My food just arrived."

"Be careful, and don't expose yourself too much," and they ended the call. Another knock at the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," she complained, grabbed her wallet, and took out a hundred-dollar bill. She opened the door, and the wallet fell at her feet. She stumbled back awkwardly, not taking her eyes off the large silhouette in front of her. "How did you...?" Irina didn't finish her question, trying to close the door, but he was too quick and strong to stop it.

"Hello, bunny," Horacio greeted as he closed the door behind him. Irina swallowed with difficulty.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me? I've been very careful..." Irina tried to figure out where she might have made a mistake that led him to her.

"Clearly, you haven't." Horacio replied, glancing around the room. "I see you're not hiding in a dump." He noticed the luxury of the place. He returned his gaze to Irina, who still looked pale. "How have you survived without using your family's credit cards? No cash withdrawals, no transactions, nothing..."

"Then how did you find me?" Irina really wanted to know. If he found her, others could too.

"I know the places you frequent when you get anxious. Does a red wig and sunglasses ring a bell?" Irina remembered her visit she shouldn't have made but needed to calm her anxiety.

"Don't you think a lot of people can have red hair and wear sunglasses? It's New York!"

"I gave you a limited edition bag. Gucci? No one else in the world has it, Irina. Fate put you in front of me when I least expected it."

"Why would fate want to cross me with you?" Horacio smiled.

"To help protect you?" Irina raised her eyebrows in surprise at his words.

"You want to protect me?" Irina asked in surprise, then raised an eyebrow, not believing it could be true.

"Bunny, I love you. I always have."

"After everything you said to me that day at the hospital?"

"Despite that, despite you killing our baby."

"It wasn't your baby..." Irina said through gritted teeth.

"It was. I did the DNA tests. I got the LEGITIMATE information. The results are what I always felt they were; it was my child, our child. Not the one you gave Max, the day you almost stabbed him to death."

"The child was Max's, no matter what anyone says..." Irina repeated to herself. "And he left me no choice; if it wasn't mine, it wasn't going to be anyone's, especially not Emma's. I know who that woman is. Do you know she's pregnant and wants to pass it off as Max's child? She's a damn liar; the baby she's expecting is from her ex-fiancé, that Jamie guy..."

"That shouldn't matter to you. It's her life, her decisions, bunny. What matters right now is getting protection. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure no one touches you." Irina felt a sense of peace for the first time in a long while. She had someone other than her parents, Horacio by her side, whatever it was, and just as she had used him for her convenience, she would now take advantage of him to leave where she was. He had plenty of contacts; he would make sure to protect her against the world. She smiled seductively and began to approach him slowly. She placed her hands gently on his chest. Horacio tensed.

"It's always been you. Now I realize it. How did I never see that you're the man I really need in my life?" Those words struck deep inside Horacio.

"Have you really finally realized that I'm the man you need?" She nodded as she slid her hands behind his neck, her fingers running through his hair, a touch that drove Horacio crazy. How long had it been since she touched him like before? He also wondered why Irina had to go through so much to realize that he was a good man, that he had made a mistake falling in love with someone who was engaged, but his love for her was stronger than him.

"Yes, it was always you, bunny."