85 – Personal Savior

85 – Personal Savior
Leonor...
Helplessness hits me all at once. I’m a future murder suspect about to lose the only best friend I have left.
A lump forms in my throat.
“Please, save him. For me.” I beg again for Enzo’s life.
Damien glances at him, thinking, as if he’s got all the time in the world. Then he turns back to me and presses a quick kiss to my lips.
“What’s something you ask that I don’t do with a smile, my love?”
He hugs me, and my legs give out beneath me. I don’t even know what’s happening anymore, only that I’m not okay.
“Take the reserve. Take double to compensate,” he says to someone, and I don’t have time to think about what that means.
The little that’s left in my stomach hits the floor. Damien catches my hair, snapping his fingers for someone who appears immediately with a towel and cleaning supplies.
He wipes my mouth carefully.
“Feeling better now?” he asks.
I don’t know what to say. I feel like I could throw up again any second. I close my eyes, trying to breathe. Damien lifts me into his arms and carries me to a sofa, ordering someone to bring a small glass bottle.
I sniff it. I can’t tell if it’s supposed to make me feel better or worse. It smells like nothing at all. I just do what he says and inhale slowly. Gradually, I start to calm down.
“Leo, look at me. How are you feeling?” Enzo asks.
“She’s going to be fine. Take your chance and go home,” Damien answers for me.
Enzo doesn’t move. He holds my hand, and I squeeze it gently, agreeing.
“I’ll be fine. I just drank too much, that’s all. Weddings are like that. Go home, Enzo. I’ll be fine. Damien’s staying with me.”
“That’s exactly what worries me,” he says.
My friend must have lost all sense of danger.
“Please, Enzo. You’re free now. Go home. I don’t want to get the news that I lost you too.”
He nods, steps closer, and kisses the top of my head.
“Take care, Leo. You know how to find me if you need me,” he whispers against my ear before finally leaving the room.
I curl up where I am. I don’t have the strength to handle any of this anymore. Damien picks me up again, tilting my chin up so I’ll look at him.
“Look at me, Nor.”
I obey. He smiles, satisfied, and stands with me in his arms.
I cling to him, shutting out the rest of the world. He’s all I have right now, the only one who can save me. He even defied my grandmother, and she’s one of the most terrifying people I’ve ever met.
I don’t know where he’s taking me. I just know we’re in the backseat of a car, and exhaustion is winning.
“Don’t fall asleep. Look at me, Leonor. Stay awake. Did you drink from the whiskey bottle?” he says, his words blurring in my mind.
“What bottle? What are you talking about?” I ask, holding on to him, feeling dizzy.
“Come on, answer me. What did you take to get like this? Did you drink from my father’s whiskey?”
I don’t know, probably yes, or maybe no. After the pill, my brain just… went dark. I woke up next to my husband’s dead body.
Just thinking about it makes me sick again. It’s too much for one night.
“I need my mom, Damien. She’ll know what to do. She always knows what to do.”
“I’m with you now. You don’t need her. Remember what we talked about earlier? You can’t involve her in this. She could be accused with you.”
What he’s saying makes sense. I think.
“Drink this.” He offers me something, and even though I don’t like the taste, I drink it.
I lose the fight against sleep.
When I wake up again, we’re no longer in the car. Damien’s carrying me, his expression grave.
The air is cool, the sky painted in layered colors—it’s almost dawn. I stir in his arms, trying to get down.
I feel a little better. The dizziness is gone, along with the nausea. Strangely, I feel… fine.
Damien helps me stand, holding me steady to make sure I can walk. At some point while I was out, he managed to get socks for me. They’re too big, definitely not mine, but I’m not about to complain.
“It’s better if I carry you, my love. You’re not strong enough to walk on your own yet.”
I look around. The air smells like salt, and I hear waves crashing. It’s a quiet area. I take a few steps before he lifts me again and keeps walking.
We reach a boarding area, clearly a private one.
“Where are we, Damien? Where are you taking me? Where’s my mother? What’s happening?”
I remember feeling sick, seeing Enzo, begging for his life. I’m running away with Damien, but why?
Then the image flashes, his father, dead in bed. How could I forget that? I can’t remember much else. I think I met Damien’s brothers? Drank with Romero? Everything’s a blur.
“We’re heading toward your freedom, Nor. You went through too much last night, but it’s going to be fine. You’re with me now.”
“And Leonora? Is she coming with us?” I ask again.
He explains calmly why it’s too dangerous for my mother to come. He talks about Carlota and the power struggle between her and my mother, something about me in the middle. I don’t understand it, and I let it go. I just need air.
I disagree with him, but I also agree. I don’t want to be away from my mother, not now, not after the fear of losing her. But I can’t be the reason she goes to prison. She doesn’t deserve more pain because of me.
“When can we go back?” I ask him.
Damien steps onto a ramp leading to a ship. When we reach the dock, he sets me down, holding my hand as he leads me aboard.
The place is enormous.
“We’ll go back once I clear your name from my father’s murder. Don’t worry, I’m handling everything. Until then, you’ll have plenty of time to recover from all of this.”
I glance back. The ramp that brought us here is being lifted. We’re the last passengers to board.
Just when I thought my life had been turned upside down, I didn’t realize it could still be flipped even more.
Damien holds my hand, and I go with him.