This chapter has three different POV's 😅

Enjoy ❤️

~ Madison's POV ~

I was like a woman on a mission.

Once I'd dropped the twins off at preschool, I came back home to take a quick shower while Santiago lay in our bed, trying to find out the whereabouts of Sienna again.

He hadn't heard from her since that day Mackenzie ate the cookie while we all thought Sienna was watching the twins, when she wasn't.

Apparently she wasn't even in the house.

I knew he was worried. Sienna meant a lot to him. After he rescued her from Asher's whore house, I guess you could call it, she lived with him and worked with him until she was financially stable enough to live alone.

He never really admitted it too much, but she did mean a lot to him. They'd been through a lot together.

"Any luck baby?" Stopping next to his bed once I was dressed again and ready to go out on my mission, I rubbed Santi's arm to comfort him.

"No. I even tried Katia but she hasn't heard from her."

As soon as he mentioned Katia I just rolled my eyes.

We hadn't done anything about Katia and Stevie yet. Arturo and Santi tried to find Stevie but she'd completely disappeared and they hadn't bothered to speak to Katia since she was away on business right now.

They decided to leave her in the dark and wait until she was back soon to tell her that they knew what she did.

Instead of focusing on finding Sienna, he turned to look at me when he saw I was dressed to go out.

"Where are you going?" As soon as he questioned me, I began walking to our bedroom door to leave the room, knowing he would try to stop me.

"To demand answers from Arturo."

"Maddie-" Before he could say anything I left the room, heading downstairs while he jumped out of bed to follow me downstairs.

"Madison don't do anything. Just leave it, stay out of it." I shook my head at Santiago as I put my shoes on at the front door, ignoring his pleading tone.

"No."

"He's not going to be happy-"

"Well I'm not happy. She turned up here crying last night because of him! He's lucky I didn't go down there last night and kick his ass." Santiago let out a defeated sigh knowing he couldn't stop me as I grabbed his car keys before opening the front door.

I didn't wait for him to say anything as I went out to his car and got in. It only took me a few minutes to get to Arturo's house and after the pep talk I gave myself, I was definitely ready to give him a piece of my mind.

"Maddie?" He gave me a confused frown as I stepped past him and into his house, turning back around to face him.

He looked as if he'd just woken up from the tired expression on his face, his bed hair and the way he was only wearing boxers.

"You're a jerk."

Instead of saying anything, he just continued to stare at me in confusion until I finally gave him some clarity and told him why I was there.

"Lucia came to our house last night in tears. What did you say to her?"

As soon as I mentioned her name, he turned around and opened the door again.

"Get out."

"No, not until you tell me what you did to make her cry. I thought you two-"

"Madison I won't tell you again, get the hell out." Once again I just stubbornly shook my head causing him to give me a cold glare. All of a sudden he slammed the door shut and walked past me heading into his kitchen.

"Arturo!"

He completely ignored me as he went over to his coffee machine, turning it on while getting a mug out.

"Answer me. What did you say to her?"

Finally when I spoke in a raised voice at him again, he spun around to give me another glare.

"I told her the truth."

"Which is?" Ignoring the way he spat his words at me, I rose an eyebrow at him waiting for him to reply.

"That she's not my girlfriend...among other things." I knew from the second half of his sentence that he'd purposely not told me the worst things that he said.

Knowing how bad his anger could get, I wasn't sure anymore that I wanted to know what he'd said to her.

"I thought you liked her?" When I said this, he clenched his jaw, looking down at the island counter in front of him as I stood across the island from him.

"I never told you that."

"You didn't have to. Arturo what's going on?" He still just continued to ignore me causing me to let out a sigh. "If you don't tell me, I'm just going to kick your ass and get it out of you that way."

Finally he lifted his eyes to look at me, a small smile tugging at his lips at my words before he eventually let out a sigh, turning back to his coffee machine.

"You want some?"

Smooth, hot, rich, roasted coffee...

"Um...I don't think I should." When I said this, very reluctantly, he turned his head to give me a frown. "What do you mean?"

"Caffeine...it's not really recommended if you're, you know, trying for a baby or something." As I spoke, I looked away from him, instead taking in his ultra modern kitchen.

The dark, masculine vibes of his house suited him very well.

"Wait, what?" This time he turned around properly while I just now gave him a small smile. "You're having another baby?"

"Not yet...at least I don't think I'm pregnant yet. We're trying to though." A genuine smile also broke out onto his lips in response to my words. "I'm happy for you but I'll save the congratulations until you are actually pregnant. I bet Santiago's having fun with it though."

He wiggled his eyesbrows at me causing me to roll my eyes although a laugh escaped my lips, images of our activities last night on his desk coming back to me.

"Oh you have no idea."

Finally once he'd made himself a cup of coffee we sat down at his table before he started telling me what happened last night.

Well, he told me the tiniest details and I had to work to get him to tell me the full story.

"She tried to give me some hand gel and I may have told her not to touch me."

As soon as he said that my eyes widened and when I was about to shout, he put his hand up to stop me.

"I know, it was stupid. I'd been drinking just before with Santi and when she did it, the thoughts that went through my head...they scared me."

"What do you mean?"

"No one has done something like that for me ever before. She cared so much that she wanted to drive my car home and then she tried to give me the hand gel like she cared about me."

"She does care about you, anyone can see that." He let out a sigh, nodding his head.

"I know. I'm not used to it Maddie. It's pathetic but I just panicked. In that moment I suddenly felt like I...I needed her care. But, for all these years I've never needed anyone. I've always prided myself on that."

"Arturo, you're stopping yourself from letting her in. You need to stop that, just let her break the walls down." In response to my words he just shook his head, clenching his jaw as he thought for a moment.

"She'll never be mine Maddie. She works for El Dios Del Diablo. It's not possible, I've thought about it so much but nothing would work."

As he spoke I could see the pain in his eyes so clearly as he averted his gaze back down to his coffee.

"Do you love her?" As soon as I said that word his eyes snapped to mine. For a second I could tell he was about to argue with me until he eventually he looked away again.

"I think so."

His response was so quiet, I knew the only reason I heard it was because we were the only ones in the house.

"Then go and see her because I can tell you, from the way she was crying last night, she loves you too Arturo."

As soon as I suggested it, he shook his head.

"I hurt her too much Maddie. Anyway, it's better if I don't. We can't be together so-"

"Did that stop Romeo and Juliet?" When I said this, he gave me a weird look. "They both died."

When he said this I just waved him off, ignoring his point entirely.

"Eh, everyone dies eventually. Arturo please listen to me, just go and see her. You love her and she loves you. Apologise like hell and get her back, even if it's just for a few months. You never know what could happen in the future, nothing is impossible."

"Maddie..."

"Do it. What else did you say to her? I'll tell you how to apologise." When I mentioned this, he let out a sigh and shook his head. I could tell he didn't want to tell me but when I just gave him the look I use on the twins, he sang like a canary.

"I might have maybe...suggested to her that I might...call one of my whores and sleep with her...?"

His words came out in a questioning tone while I just sat there in shock until I suddenly lost it.

"You said that to her?! What the hell is wrong with Arturo? No wonder she was crying!" Arturo leaned back in his chair as I continued to give him hell for what he said for another few minutes, explaining to him that is not how you treat someone that you love.

"That's not all I said."

"How can it be any worse than telling a girl who clearly has feelings for you that you're going to-"

"Maddie I know what happened, you don't need to say it again. I told her...I told her that I was just waiting to sleep with her all this time."

Honestly I had no words for this man.

"Go upstairs, take a shower then get your ass over there and grovel until she forgives you."

~ Arturo's POV ~

She wants me to freaking grovel.

I didn't even know what that word meant until I looked it up after Maddie left.

I had no clue how to do that so I decided to do what I'm good at.

Spending my money.

"Can I get that one?"

The woman behind the counter looked down at the silver diamond bracelet before nodding her head, gently taking out.

"Would you like to see it close up or-"

"No just pack it up for me." Once again she nodded her head and did all the fancy packaging for it before telling me the total amount.

"That'll be $36,000. How would you like to pay?"

"With my freaking card, how else would I pay for it? With freaking pennies?"

Her eyes widened at my response and she quickly nodded her head, getting the card machine ready for me.

I really wasn't in the mood to deal with stupid questions like that.

By the time I was standing outside Santi's house with her bracelet, a bouquet of flowers and a box of fancy chocolates, I felt like a pussy.

An extremely nervous pussy.

"You went shopping for me? Baby, you shouldn't have." I narrowed my eyes at Santiago when he opened the door, giving me a smirk as he took in the items in my hands.

"Screw you. Where is she?" He let out a laugh at my response before pointing to the stairs.

"The guest room nearest to the twins room." I nodded my head as I let out a nervous breath and started towards the stairs. "If you have sex in there you're changing the sheets yourself and then disinfecting the entire room."

I couldn't help but laugh at Santiago's words as he closed the front door before I went upstairs to the room she was in. After a good few moments I finally knocked on the door, hearing her soft voice respond a few moments later.

"Come in."

Pushing open the door I looked around the room until I noticed her figure under the duvet on the bed. She was always an early riser so the fact she was still in bed at midday just made me feel even worse knowing it was my fault.

"Lucia?"

As soon as she heard my voice she sat up, her eyes widening when she saw me. She stared at me for a moment, taking in all the items in my hands. Unfortunately for me, her shocked expression quickly morphed into a glare.

"Get out."

"Lucia please-"

"Arturo, get out. I don't want you anywhere near me." I held her stare for a moment before I let out a sigh, closed the door and then went closer to the bed causing her glare to deepen.

"Are you deaf?"

"No, just...at least hear me out and let me give you these and then I'll leave."

"No, to both. I'm not letting you buy me back." She shook her head once more before she lay back down, pulling the covers over her head.

"Lucia please. I'm so sorry for how I acted yesterday. I know I screwed up, I'm not good at this stuff."

All of a sudden she pushed the covers away from her face, sitting up again to give me a glare, again.

"Not good? No Arturo, there's not being good at something and then just being a horrible human being. What you said last night was-"

"Freaking awful I know. Baby please just let me explain." When I said this she just let out a scoff.

"How could you possibly have an explanation for telling me that you only wanted me for sex? Or that I should stop caring about you? Or that you're going to go and have sex with another woman? Go on Arturo, tell me."

Just from the way she was speaking, I could see how much I'd hurt her and all of a sudden the words just came flooding out of me. I just wanted to take away that hurt, I hated being the reason she was in pain.

She didn't deserve it.

"I was trying to protect myself. Lucia we both work for two different cartels, we'll never be together. I've thought of everything and nothing would work. When you tried to give me the hand gel I almost felt like I needed it...I needed you to care about me, and I panicked and pushed you away. I pushed you away again when you started going on about how much I was drinking. I have all these crazy feelings for you but I know you'll never be mine so I need to protect myself."

She looked away from me as I spoke, taking a seat next on the edge of the bed while I continued with what I was saying.

"If this situation was different, I would have already asked you to be my girl. I probably would have told you exactly how I felt about you too. But Lucia..."

"We can't, because we can never be together." When she finished off my sentence, looking at me with tearful eyes, I just nodded my head.

I could see the pain in her eyes too. Maybe it was from the thought of us never being together or maybe just from what I said last night.

"I'm so sorry baby. I swear to you, I didn't mean a word of what I said. You're the only woman I've ever met that has made me feel things like this and so quickly too. It just got too much for me, I had too much to drink and...I screwed up. I'm so sorry."

She stayed quiet for a while, occasionally wiping away her tears as she looked down at her hands instead of me.

"You knew what I've been through and yet you told me you only wanted me for sex. Even if it wasn't true, how could you say something like that to me?"

Her voice broke as she spoke, causing the guilt to rise up inside me again.

"I'm-"

"And then you come here with flowers expecting me to forgive you?"

When she finally looked at me again, she was back to glaring at me like earlier.

Even though I absolutely hated being on the receiving end of her anger and her glare, part of me was proud of her for sticking up for herself and not giving in to me. She may have always been so caring and pure, but she wasn't a push over either which I liked.

If we were married she would be able to put up with me and keep me in my place.

Unfortunately for you, you're never going to marry her. You've never thought about marriage until now, so stop.

"I'm sorry. I'm so freaking sorry, I don't know why I said it. I made a mistake, a stupid mistake." As I spoke I moved closer to her, gently wiping away the tears from her cheeks. "Please forgive me baby. I'm so sorry."

She continued to stare at me for a while before she turned her attention to the box of chocolates I'd put down on the bed earlier when I sat down.

"I'll take these but nothing else." As she spoke she took the chocolates and pushed the bag with the bracelet in and the flowers back to me.

"Can you at least look at the bracelet?" When I mentioned that it was a bracelet, her eyes flashed to mine and she then looked at the bag with curiosity before shaking her head.

"Maybe later. I haven't forgiven you yet so I don't want to compliment it and make you feel good by accident."

Although she'd just told me she didn't forgive me, I couldn't help but smile at her words as she opened the chocolates and took one out.

Without a word she leaned back against the headboard of the bed and started eating them in silence. I just sat there watching as she checked the little menu with all the different types of chocolates on and then chose which one she wanted. After a few moments of silence she glanced over at me before reluctantly holding the box out to me.

"Would you like one?"

Like I always say, she's so pure.

I had to hide my smile at the way she asked me before eventually shaking my head.

"No baby, they're yours."

"Stop calling me that." She gave me another glare before eating one last chocolate, closing the box again.

"Why are you still here?"

"Because I'm not leaving until you agree to come home."

It's not her home, she'll never share a home with you idiot.

"Arturo-"

"Just come back with me. Please?" She held eye contact with me for a moment before looking away, letting out a sigh.

"You have to cook dinner today then because I'm too tired."

"Okay." Just as I nodded my head, giving her a smile, she gave me another glare.

"And, you have to draw a smiley face on a napkin for me because I do that for you everyday." I nodded my head letting out a laugh at her demand.

"Can I hug you now?"

That's the first time I've ever said that.

I would never ever dream of hugging a girl romantically and even if I did, I would never ask.

After a few moments she nodded her head before pushing the covers away from herself, moving closer to me. As soon as she was close enough, I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her onto my lap as I hugged her.

"I really am sorry Lucia." All she did was nod her head as she hugged me, choosing not to reply.

I knew she didn't forgive me yet, not that I even blamed her, what I said was disgusting.

"Why do you always draw those smiley faces on the napkin?" A few minutes passed in silence before I spoke, asking her a question I'd been meaning to ask her ever since she first made me dinner.

"To sprinkle a little bit of joy into your life." She shrugged her shoulders pulling away from me when she said this before continuing. "Everyone deserves a smile."

The longer I continued to stare at her, the more I knew exactly how I felt about her. Even though I'd only known her for about six weeks, this woman had managed to break down every single wall that I'd spent over a decade building up. She made me feel things and want things I never even thought about for. Before I could even stop myself, those three words left my mouth.

"I love you."

Her eyes widened at my sudden confession and she stilled in my arms. I'm pretty sure she could feel how fast my heart was beating as I waited for her to say something, anything.

"Arturo..." Tears filled her eyes as she looked at me in shock. "We both know how this is going to end."

"I know, but I don't care. I don't want to regret anything, I don't want to waste whatever time we have together." Using my thumb, I gently wiped away the tears falling from her eyes.

"Say something."

"I..." She looked away from me again for a moment before she eventually spoke. "I love you too."

As soon as she said it, a smile broke out on to my face and I had to use every ounce of self restraint in my body not to kiss her straight away.

"Can I kiss you now?"

Without answering me, she suddenly crashed her lips against mine, pressing her chest against mine as she kissed me.

This kiss was definitely the best we'd ever had, it was full of emotions that I'd never experienced before, no matter how many women I'd kissed.

Once it was over she just rested her head against my shoulder, staying in my arms for a while.

"Let's go home baby." Giving me a smile she stood up, leaving the bed so that she could get whatever stuff she brought with her here last night.

I didn't ever expect her to leave last night but when Santiago called me to tell me she was here, he promised he would take care of her.

The only reason I didn't go after her was because I knew she needed some time to herself, plus I was still drunk and I knew she was safe where she was.

Once she'd changed back into her clothes from yesterday, we went downstairs, going into the kitchen to say goodbye to Maddie and Santiago.

Of course as soon as Maddie saw us together she started giving me that annoying smile of hers.

Finally we left the house, heading out to my car while Lucia rambled on about what she wanted for dinner.

"Arturo are you even listening to me?" When she stopped in her tracks in the middle of the drive way, I rolled my eyes nodding my head.

"Yes, you wanted some kind of pasta with-"

"Steak! See you weren't listening. What was so distracting that you couldn't pay attention for two minutes?"

"Your ass, it looks really good in those leggings." Her eyes widened at my response as I shrugged my shoulders, giving her a smirk.

"You're...you're a..." I rose an eyebrow at her as she struggled to speak, clearly flustered at the thought of me staring at her very peachy ass.

"Whatever." With a huff she turned around, walking away from me towards my car as I let out a laugh, keeping my eyes on her ass.

"Stop staring Arturo!" Just as she reached my car, my laughter was suddenly cut off when something caught my eye.

Thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me, I slowly walked towards her, trying to find it again.

Then I saw it.

A red light was following her as she walked, moving from her head to her back and then back to her head.

Without even thinking I dropped everything I was holding and ran towards her, knocking her out of the way just as a gun shot went off, hitting my car instead of her.

She let out a pained scream as I pushed her to the ground, using my body to shield her from the other few shots that rung out around us.

Finally when they slowed down, I looked down at her to see her eyes full of tears. "Arturo my hand."

Looking down at her hand, I saw that there was a huge gash across her hand and there was suddenly a lot of blood covering it. I couldn't even do anything to help her since there were bullets still flying around us. All I could do was kiss her forehead and hold her in my arms waiting for it to be over.

~ Santiago's POV ~

As soon as I heard the gunshots I pushed her down behind the island in the kitchen.

"Stay here, don't you dare move." She just nodded her head through her confusion before I left, running down the hallway towards the front door where the sounds were coming from.

Thankfully the twins were at preschool otherwise...

Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I cracked the door open, looking around until my eyes fell on Arturo and Lucia hiding behind Arturo's car which had been pretty much destroyed.

Following the direction of the bullets, I found myself looking up into the hills in the distance.

Long distance sniper.

"Arturo, I'll cover you, you need to get back inside."

When he heard my voice he looked over at me, judging the distance that they would have to run to get back into the house.

Without waiting for him to agree, I pulled my gun out and started firing back in the shooter's direction. Of course I had no idea exactly where to fire, but my sudden round of fire seemed to catch the shooter off guard.

"Now!"

They didn't need to be told twice. Arturo ran along side Lucia, trying his best to shield her from the few shots that were fired at them while they ran until they finally reached the door.

As soon as they got in, I slammed the door shut, locking it before I turned back to face them. The two of them were out of breath, but what caught my attention was the blood covering Arturo's shirt.

I suddenly felt my heart drop when I saw it, stepping closer to him.

"You were hit."

His eyes widened a little as he turned to face me and then looked down at his body but my attention was focused on the blood covering his white t-shirt. The blood was right in the centre which meant, it was probably a fatal shot.

He probably couldn't feel it yet because of the adrenaline.

"Lie down! I need to put pressure on-"

As soon as he let out a laugh, cutting me off, I gave him a confused frown.

"Don't worry bro, it's not mine. Lucia cut her hand when I pushed her over."

When I just continued to stare at him, he gestured to Lucia who was cradling her hand with tears staining her cheeks. However she just seemed like she was in shock.

Before I could say anything, more gun shots began to ring out around the outside of the house causing us all to duck.

The panic room was upstairs which would have meant we'd have to pass the windows at the front of the house where the bullets were coming from.

"Get in the kitchen." I pushed them in the direction of the kitchen towards the back of the house and once we were inside I closed the door as Maddie stood to her feet.

"Oh my God Arturo you-"

"It's Lucia's blood, she hurt her hand." This time he didn't sound so amused as he held Lucia protectively in his arms. "Maddie can you get the first aid kit please?"

My girlfriend stood there in shock for a moment before she eventually nodded her head, snapping into action as she grabbed the first aid kit from the cupboard by the sink. She handed it to Arturo who immediately went to work helping Lucia who was stood silently, just watching him work on her hand.

"Santiago? What's going on?" When Maddie came over to me, I looked up from the text I was sending on my phone to my men to speak to her. "Someone's shooting at the house."

Once I'd typed out the message to send back up, I grabbed my gun again and went out the side door in the kitchen, trying to find any sign of the shooter. I was only out there for a few moments before the shooting started all over again but this time sounding much heavier like an automatic gun instead of a sniper.

Rushing back into the house, the four of us hid in the kitchen, waiting for the bullets to stop. No doubt the entire front of the house had been destroyed.

We all sat on the floor, leaning against the kitchen island as I was trying to comfort Maddie who was shaking in my arms while Arturo held Lucia.

"Santi I'm scared." I let out a nervous breath, pressing a kiss to Maddie's cheek. "I know baby, everything will be okay."

For the next few minutes we waited as there were multiple rounds of bullets shot at our house.

Finally about ten minutes after the last round of bullets, Arturo and I got up to go and check to make sure it was safe for us to get up. Walking through the downstairs of the house with our guns ready, we stopped at the living room which had a huge window over looking the front yard.

Pushing the door open, my eyes widened at the state of the room. The entire window was shattered and everything in the room had been shot up with bullet holes covering all the walls.

Looking out the window it seemed as if whoever had done this was gone, and after a few moments of checking the rest of the downstairs to make sure no one was in the house we both went back into the kitchen.

Walking in, my eyes landed on Maddie who was sitting with Lucia, finishing off the care for her hand while Lucia drank a glass of water probably to calm herself down.

"Is everything okay?" I let out a sigh as I put my gun down stopping next to the two of them, running a hand through my hair.

"I think so, it all seems-"

Before I could get the rest of my words out, the sound of the kitchen window smashing cut me off guard, followed by Maddie's scream. On instinct I pulled Lucia and Maddie into me to shield them from any glass that might hit them.

Seconds later, from the corner of my eye I saw Arturo go over to the item that had been thrown through the window to smash it.

"A brick." Releasing my hold on Maddie and Lucia, I watched as he picked it up and took off the rubber band that was used to tie an envelope to the brick.

"I think you can guess what's in here." He walked over to me, handing me the envelope as I suddenly felt all my nerves and anxiety turning into anger.

Without a word I snatched the envelope from him, opening it to find the red ball with the number five on like I'd expected.

After that I pulled out the note.

'#5 - I thought I'd speed things up a little. Your little girl got away last time, maybe you all got away from the bullets just now, but I can confirm to you that someone definitely didn't get away. Please check the Polaroid for further confirmation. Unfortunately for you Santiago, this is just the first person you're going to lose - the first of many.'

I felt my stomach begin to churn as I put the note down with shaking hands, picking up the envelope to pull out the Polaroid which was inside.

As soon as I turned it over, I felt my heart drop and bile rise up in my throat, my heart breaking into a million pieces.

In the picture she was lying there, her eyes wide open with blood covering her face and a bullet wound to her temple.

Sienna.

No 😔

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