THE ALTERCATION

Always give credit where credit is due, love. Even if it belongs to you.

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CHAPTER XLIV

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THE NEXT FEW nights after that, I twisted and turned in my bed. My thoughts ran a hundred miles an hour in my head and I had no idea how to handle it. My heart ached in my chest and anytime I tried to sleep, I couldn't help but imagine the worst scenarios.

I tried to remain happy throughout the days. I tried so hard to make sure the smile didn't slip off my face because I didn't want anyone leaving me because I was too depressed. I wanted them to stay with me forever.

I heard no word from Daniel. Whenever my mind wondered to him, I couldn't help but feel like he met someone better wherever he went and he was going to leave me for her.

It was irrational. I knew it was because Daniel was too respectful to do that, but I couldn't help the sinking feeling in my stomach.

I was supposed to go out on Sunday, but I couldn't because of the death threats. Yet another thing to add onto my list of things to worry about.

The one thing that was on the top of the list though came in the form of an angry Emma that was storming over to me from across the garden. Her face was twisted up into a bitter sneer and her eyes were focused on me in a hard glare.

Part of me wanted to run away from this confrontation, but I knew that I couldn't. Emma was like a storm; unavoidable and immensely destructive.

“You bitch.”

I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was when her hand struck down hard against my cheek. Even through my brown complexion, I knew the red imprint of a hand would be evident.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I yelled, holding a hand over my stinging cheek to ease the pain. “What did I do?”

“Shut the fuck up. Stop trying to play innocent when you know exactly what you've fucking done.” She raised her hand to slap me again, but I grabbed her wrist before she could and shoved her back.

“You're eighteen. Not eight. If you have an issue with someone, say it with your mouth instead of your fucking hands,” I growled, getting up in her face. She shoved me backwards, making me stumble back but not fall.

“Just because you're Daniel's plaything doesn't mean you can talk to me anyway you want.”

“Just because you're my boss doesn't mean you can touch me anyway you want. I will still beat your ass if it comes down to it.”

“I should have known that all you are is a fucking whore. Shame on me for thinking you were actually ever my friend when you were only using me to get to my brother.” She shoved me onto the ground and wasted no time to get on top of me and start landing blows to my face.

I responded immediately. I didn't care if she was my boss or not. I wasn't going to sit there and let her beat me up. I bent my knee and kicked her in the back, using the temporary weakness to roll her onto her back and pin her down.

I held both her hands above her head and sat on her legs so she wouldn't kick me. After landing one painful slap on her cheek that resonated around the empty courtyard, I glared straight down at her.

“Tell me what the fuck your problem is,” I growled lowly, keeping a firm hold of her as she tried to buck me off. “I need a reason to beat you up.”

“You're a homewrecking bitch.” I rolled my eyes at her insults, not getting up until she told me what she really wanted to say. “You were just pissed that I didn't like you with Daniel so you went and blabbed to him about my relationship with Pablo and he used it against me.”

My hands loosened around her wrists and she took advantage of that and flipped me over, placing her whole forearm on my neck and applying pressure so my breathing supply was cut off.

“You just want to break up our relationship because you know you and Daniel won't last,” she hissed as I started thrashing beneath her.

I knew how to defend myself. I knew how to get her off me, but the last time I remembered being choked this bad was with Vincent and before I knew it, images of him started flashing through my head. The lack of oxygen combined with the incoming panic attack made me violently start choking. She quickly pulled her arm off me, concern etched on her face.

I took that moment to push her off me, rolling onto my hands and knees and trying to regain my breath as best I could. Thoughts of Vincent continued zooming through my brain, the harsh breathing that haunted my thoughts being my own.

A violent cough racked through, followed by another and another until I coughed so hard, my stomach lurched and vomit came spewing out of my mouth. I half expected her to take advantage of my weakness and drive a kick to my back, but was pleasantly surprised when I felt someone's hands softly tuck my hair away from my face.

The hands were too big and too rough to be hers and looking up, I realised it was Pablo's. He was rubbing soothing circles into my back, but his eyes were elsewhere. He was staring at Emma longily as a guard pulled her punching and kicking form away.

“Pablo!” she screamed as the guard pulled her closer and closer to the house. “Pablo, get away from her right fucking now. If you don't, it's fucking over between the both of us.”

He only stared at her, no expression on his face as he stood by my side. Before I could open my mouth and tell him to leave me alone and go after her, I lurched forward again, groaning painfully as I vomited up what I had eaten for breakfast.

I coughed out a couple times and gagged a bit before rolling onto my back beside the puddle of my own puke. My stomach ached like no other, especially my lower abdomen and there was an intense pressure on my chest. I wasn't even going to talk about how it felt like my neck was going to fall off my shoulders. I just wanted to die.

Pablo sat beside me and stroked the hair out of my eyes as I looked up at the sky and willed my body to take a deep breath and recollect itself.

“I'm sorry,” he said quietly, looking down at me with regret in his eyes. “I didn't mean for this to happen to you. I didn't think—”

“Araceli!”

Both our attention snapped to where the voice came from across the yard. A smile lifted onto my face when I realised that it was Anna and I forced myself to sit up before she reached us.

As soon as she was in front of me, she kneeled beside me and pulled me into her arms.

“Oh my God, babe, what happened to you?” she asked, as I patted her back in a weak attempt to return her hug. “Are you okay?” She pulled away from me and held my face in her hands, inspecting me thoroughly.

“I'm fine,” I groaned, pulling myself away from her and her over-caring nature.

“She's not fine,” Pablo interjected from beside us, making me glare at him. He ignored it and stood up. “Emma choked her and she coughed so hard she puked.”

“Boss' sister?” Her mouth dropped open in shock and disbelief as Pablo nodded his head in confirmation.

I didn't want this getting out. I didn't need people knowing that I had actually lost a fight. And I didn't need Daniel finding out that I had fought in the first place.

The sound of an iPhone's ringtone echoed around the empty garden, making both of us look over to Pablo. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and cursed at whatever was displayed on his screen.

“Fuck you, Guillermo,” he muttered under his breath before violently swiping the screen and answering the call. “Boss—”

Whoever it was that called him immediately cut him off and he sighed and listened instead. Anna and I stared at him, wanting to know what Daniel was saying since Daniel was the only boss we knew.

“Why don't you ask her yourself?” Without waiting another second, Pablo held the phone out towards me.

With a brow raised in confusion, I rested my weight on my elbow and took the phone from him. I placed it against my ear and took a deep breath before speaking.

“Hello?”

“You already know why I'm calling,” Daniel's deep voice said from the other side of the phone as I closed my eyes and cringed.

Fuck Guillermo and his big mouth, he was probably the one who blabbed.

“Who told you?”

“Guillermo.” I knew it. “Now tell me what happened.”

I sat up and winced at the empty feeling in my stomach. “Why are you asking if you already know?”

“Because I want to hear it from your mouth.”

I sighed, finding that there was no way out of it. I mean, I could've always just ended the call, but knowing Daniel, that wouldn't have ended well. “Emma and I ran into a little... altercation.”

“What happened?” he asked again, annoyed at the way I was trying to sugarcoat it.

“We both exchanged words and... hands a little bit. It's nothing really, Daniel, I swear. We both fought.”

“Can you hear yourself talk?” he hissed into the phone, making my stomach drop with dread. “She choked you. How was she expecting you to survive?”

“I don't think she meant to. I mean, she stopped when I started choking,” I tried to defend her.

“Wow. She started choking someone, but then surprisingly enough, the person - get this - starts choking. Actually stops breathing. Mad shit, isn't it?” The pure sarcasm in his words was enough to bring a smile to my face. I would have laughed if the pain in my neck wasn't a nagging reminder of the fucked up situation I was in.

“Daniel,” I sighed, trying to hide the smile on my face, “its fine. I've got it under control.”

“If you had it under control then this wouldn't have happened in the first place.”

He pointed it. I couldn't really argue with that, but I didn't want him involving himself in an issue between Emma and I and making it look like I had gone and snitched on her to her older brother. Girl issues needed to remain girl issues. We weren't even fighting over a guy for fuck sake.

“I know that, but Daniel please don't get involved in this. I swear to God, I'll handle it.”

“What do you—”

“Please,” I begged. My voice cracked because of my throat, but it sounded like I was on the verge of tears and maybe that was what made him give in.

There's was a long silence between us before I heard him exhale loudly. “If I hear there's an issue between the two of you again, there's nothing you can do to stop me from getting involved.”

I smiled, feeling victorious at my win. “We've got a deal, sir.”

“Shut up.” I could hear the humour in his voice before he went cold again. “Give the phone back to Pablo.”

I shivered at his tone, but obliged, slowly handing the phone back to Pablo. As he got up to continue taking the call, I mouthed to him, “You're gonna get it.”

He rolled his eyes before walking away towards the house.

I turned to Anna, feeling her hands on my arm as she put all her weight into helping me stand up. I yanked myself away from her before getting up myself with only a few groans of pain here and there.

“Why are you so stubborn?” she asked, grabbing my waist even through my protests and helping me walk towards where Pablo went.

I glared at her head and huffed. “Look who's talking.”

She scoffed but said nothing else, making us go quiet as we reached Pablo pacing up and down just outside the backdoor with his phone to his ear.

He huffed and leaned against the wall, his eyes meeting ours briefly as we both exchanged worried glances.

“Yeah,” he nodded into the phone.

Anna led me into the house, but instead of following her to our rooms, I hung around the kitchen to listen to what they were talking about.

“I'm going to be here,” Pablo said angrily, putting the phone in loud speaker as he paced, maybe because he assumed we were gone. “There's no point in flying her out there to you. You'll just be wasting your time.”

“Did I ask for your input?” came Daniel's deep voice from the phone's speaker. I whipped around to look at Anna, happy that things were going right for me for once, but she only rolled her eyes and sat by the counter.

“Don't forget that you said you were going to let her handle the situation,” Pablo pointed out.

I was so lost. What were they talking about? What situation? This was the problem I always had when it came to joining a conversation late.

“I know what I said,” Daniel hissed, “and this isn't going against it. I'm trusting her to be able to handle her own problems; she's an adult. But Emma is different. I don't want to leave them alone in the same house when she's this unpredictable.”

“Theyre not alone. Guillermo and I are here,” Pablo jumped up defensively.

“And what did you do when they started fighting?” he kept silent, dropping his head in shame, making my heart break for him. I didn't think it was Pablo's fault. “Remind me again what I told you to do,” Daniel requested in a teasing voice.

I always knew the voice he used to mock people.

“You told me to watch her.”

“No, no. Quote the exact thing. In fact, you should know it. You were the one that said it first.”

Pablo let out a loud sigh and ran his hand down his face. “You told me to control my bitch.”

“And what did she end up doing?”

“You said it yourself! Emma is unpredictable,” Pablo defended loudly.

“Exactly. Do what I told you to do and get back to me when you have.”

“Yes, boss—hold on,” Pablo said, perking up suddenly. “Is this just an excuse to see her?”

“Goodbye, Pablo.”

“You are so whipped. You miss her don't you?”

“Bye, Pablo,” Daniel said in a much harsher tone that had no effect on Pablo.

“You're thinking of her right now and you're smiling.”

“Do what I said and fuck off.” And then the call was cut suddenly.

Anna and I scrambled around the kitchen to trying to get out of there as quick as we could before we got caught. Unfortunately, it was too late and Pablo came walking in with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Hey, Pablo,” I laughed nervously, about to bullshit my way out of the situation. “ I was jus—”

“Don't even try and talk yourself out of this,” he said, but the grin never faltered. “I don't have time for you right now, but pack your bags. The both of you are going on an impromptu trip tomorrow.”

That was all he said before he walked away, leaving Anna and I to look at each other.

If I was the one they were flying out, did that mean that I was the subject of their conversation?

*****

A bit of time has passed between Daniel and Araceli's last fight. I don't know if you know but like you should. I always write my time skips weirdly like even in this chapter I've just indirectly said that it's been a week since Daniel left so yeah.

Just thought you should know.

Also check out The Gang Leader. Idk why but whatever. Just do it.