“I suggest you step away from her. Now.”
The voice cut through the rain, cold and sharp as a blade.
My eyes fluttered open.
Hector stood at the end of the alley, and even through the rain and my blurry vision, I could see the absolute fury radiating from him. He held his phone in one hand, and his entire body carried a threat that needed no words to communicate.
The tall loan shark dropped me, and I hit the ground again, this time catching myself on my hands. The pavement was rough under my palms, and the rain kept falling, but all I could focus on was Hector moving toward us.
“The police are on their way,” Hector said, his voice never rising above conversational. “They should be here in a minute. I suggest you use that time to disappear.”
“This doesn’t concern you,” the shorter one said, but he was already backing away.
Hector’s eyes never left them, and something in his expression made both men take another step back.
The sound of sirens began to echo.
“I’d run now if I were you.”
They ran.
I watched them disappear into the rain, heard their footsteps fading, and only then did I realize I was shaking. My hands trembled where they pressed against the pavement, and my face throbbed where I’d been hit. The adrenaline was leaving my system, taking all my strength with it.
Hector crouched beside me, and his hand came up to touch my face with a gentleness that didn’t match the fury I’d just witnessed. His fingers were warm against my skin, careful around the place that was already swelling.
“Are you alright?” His voice had lost all its edge, going soft in a way I’d never heard before. “Sarah, look at me. Are you hurt anywhere else?”
I forced my eyes to focus on his face, and what I saw there made my chest ache. Concern, real and raw, the kind that couldn’t be faked.
“I’m fine.” The words came out rough. “Just my face.”
“You’re not fine.” His thumb traced along my cheekbone, avoiding the bruise. “You need to go to a hospital. That needs to be looked at properly.”
“No hospital.” I tried to stand, and he helped me up, his hands steady on my arms. “I can’t afford it.”
“I’ll pay for it.”
“No.” I pulled away from him, even though every part of me wanted to collapse against his chest and let someone else handle everything for five minutes. “Thank you for helping, but I’m fine. I just need to go home.”
“Sarah—”
“What are you even doing here?” The question came out sharper than I intended.
Something in his expression changed, going from concern to something more complicated. “I came to apologize. To talk about what happened.”
He’d come to apologize. Hector Valdez—who never apologized for anything—had driven through a storm looking for me. The information wouldn’t process properly, kept bouncing around my skull without landing anywhere that made sense.
“You fired me,” I said flatly. “There’s nothing left to talk about.”
“Come back to the penthouse. Let me make sure you’re okay. We can deal with everything else later—right now I need to know you’re safe.”
The offer was tempting, dangerously so, but I just wanted my privacy. I needed to be alone.
“I’m fine,” I repeated. “Thank you for helping—and for calling the police—but I can take care of myself.”
“Are you sure?” His eyes searched my face, looking for cracks in my tough facade. “Sarah?—”
“I need to go.” I stepped back, putting distance between us before I could change my mind. “Thank you again. For everything.”
