Chapter 39 The Interrogation

Chapter 39 The Interrogation

Isabella's POV

Ghost sits in the concrete room like he's made of stone.

Damián stands in front of him with a gun hanging loose in his hand. The interrogation has been going on for hours. Ghost has confessed to everything. The deal with Victoria Lucci. The plan to take over the organization. The killing of Sofia.

And he hasn't shown a single moment of remorse.

"Why?" Damián asks for the dozenth time. His voice is still controlled, but Isabella can hear the violence underneath. "Why did you kill her?"

"Because she was a problem," Ghost says. His voice is calm. Matter-of-fact. Like he's discussing the weather instead of murder. "She saw something she shouldn't have seen. She was going to expose me. So I eliminated the threat."

"She was a person," Damián says. "She was someone I loved."

"Exactly," Ghost responds. He smiles, and there's nothing warm about it. "You loved her. That's the problem. You were weak. You cared about rules and honor when the cartel needed ruthlessness. You refused to traffic humans. You refused to expand into certain territories. You were running the organization like it was a charity instead of a criminal empire."

Isabella watches Damián's hands tighten on the gun.

"Sofia was an obstacle," Ghost continues. "Nothing more. You should have let her go instead of obsessing over her. It made you vulnerable. It made you into someone I could manipulate. Someone I could betray because you were too busy protecting her to notice what was happening around you."

Damián raises the gun without warning.

The first shot echoes through the containment room.

Ghost screams as the bullet tears through his kneecap. Blood sprays across the concrete floor. The scream becomes a wail of agony.

The second shot comes seconds later. The other knee explodes. Ghost collapses onto the floor, unable to stand, unable to move without pain.

"Do you understand now?" Damián asks. His voice is ice. "Do you understand that some betrayals are unforgivable?"

Ghost is sobbing now. His body convulses with pain. His screams fill the room and bounce off the walls.

Damián sets the gun on a table and walks toward the door. He doesn't look back.

"Leave him in the dark," Damián says to Teo, who's standing in the hallway. "No light. No food. No water. Just him and his pain."

The door closes, leaving Ghost alone in the darkness with his destroyed knees and his agony.

Isabella follows Damián through the estate. She can't speak. Can't process what she just witnessed. Can't reconcile the man she loves with the man who just shot Ghost without hesitation.

Damián walks to his study and pours himself a drink. His hands are steady. His expression is calm. He shows no sign that what he just did bothered him in any way.

"Does this bother you?" he asks without looking at her. Like he can read her mind.

"Yes," Isabella admits.

Damián turns to face her.

"Ghost killed Sofia," he says. "Ghost betrayed me. Ghost was planning to destroy my organization and take everything I built. And I shot him in the knees to make sure he understands the cost of that betrayal."

"You tortured him," Isabella says. Her voice is barely above a whisper.

"Yes," Damián says. "I tortured him. And I'm going to continue torturing him until he dies. Because torture is the only language he understands. The only way to make sure that no one else in my organization even thinks about betrayal."

Isabella feels something break inside her.

She came to San Isidro thinking she would encounter a monster. She thought Damián was a murderer. But what she's discovering is something worse. She's discovering that Damián is capable of incredible love and incredible violence simultaneously. That he can hold her gently in the darkness and then shoot a man without flinching.

"I understand if you can't accept this," Damián says. He sets down his drink. "I understand if this is too much. If this is the line you can't cross."

Isabella doesn't respond. She doesn't know how to respond.

"Sofia loved me despite knowing what I do," Damián continues. "She knew what I was capable of. She knew that I could be brutal when necessary. And she chose me anyway."

He moves closer to Isabella.

"The question is whether you can do the same," Damián says. "Whether you can love me knowing that I will torture and kill anyone who threatens what's mine. Whether you can accept that justice in my world looks different than it does in the federal system."

Isabella thinks about Ghost's confession. Thinks about the casual way he discussed murdering Sofia. Thinks about his complete lack of remorse.

"Justice would be putting him on trial," Isabella says. "Justice would be letting a court decide his fate."

"Your justice," Damián says. "Not mine. In my world, justice is swift and brutal. Justice is making sure that no one ever questions your authority again. Justice is fear."

He takes her face in his hands.

"I'm not going to apologize for what I just did," Damián says. "I'm not going to pretend that torturing Ghost bothers me. Because it doesn't. He killed the woman I loved. He betrayed me. And he deserves everything that's coming to him."

Isabella's eyes burn with tears.

"Can you accept that?" Damián asks. "Can you accept who I really am? Not the version of me you fell in love with, but the actual man. The criminal. The one who shoots people without hesitation."

Isabella closes her eyes.

"I don't know," she whispers.

Hours later, Damián comes to find her in the library.

She's been sitting alone with her thoughts for most of the day. Processing. Trying to reconcile the man who holds her gently with the man who tortures without mercy.

"Ghost is screaming," Damián says without preamble. "The pain is destroying him. In a few days, the infection will set in. In a week, he'll die. Slowly. Agonizingly."

Isabella doesn't respond.

"I came back down to check on him," Damián continues. "To make sure he understood why this was happening. And I shot him again. In the shoulder. Just to remind him that his pain is going to continue for as long as I decide to let it continue."

He sits beside Isabella.

"This is who I am," Damián says. "This is what love looks like in my world. It's not gentle. It's not civilized. It's brutal and possessive and willing to destroy anyone who gets in the way."

Isabella finally looks at him.

"Did you do it for Sofia?" she asks. "Or did you do it because you enjoy it?"

Damián is quiet for a long moment.

"Both," he says finally. "I did it for Sofia because she deserves justice. But I did it because I enjoy it too. Because there's a part of me that takes satisfaction in making Ghost pay. A part of me that's ruthless enough to enjoy his suffering."

Isabella realizes then that she's in love with a man who's incapable of being reformed. Incapable of becoming someone who operates within moral boundaries. Incapable of accepting justice as something that doesn't require blood.

"I need time," she says.

"You have time," Damián responds. "But understand this. You can leave whenever you want. You can walk away from this. You can go back to your federal life and pretend this never happened."

He stands and walks toward the door.

"But if you stay," Damián says, "if you choose to remain with me despite knowing exactly what I am, then you're choosing this too. You're choosing to be part of a world where violence is justice. Where torture is mercy. Where love and cruelty coexist."

He leaves Isabella alone in the library.