His Queen (18+)

Chapter LVII

THE COUPLE

I'm out of touch, I'm out of love
I'll pick you up when you're getting down
And out of all these things I've done
I will love you better now

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CHAPTER LVII

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THE CONVERSATION WITH Daniel about all the new changes about who was and what exactly I stood to gain had been long and exhausting but had gone surprisingly well. He was understanding and even though exhaustion and confusion was obvious on his face, he had only smiled and told me that we could deal with whatever me being a "Costillo" meant once I was fully healed and out of the hospital. I liked the sound of that.

Healing hadn't taken long, to my relief. According to the doctors, I would be fully up and running in no time. It turned out that Emma had a shit gun with shit bullets and the distance she had shot me at had only made it more shit. She had striking good aim though. Her bullet had hit me almost dead in the centre of my chest which would've have been worrying if my sternum hadn't been there to prevent the bullet from doing any critical damage. My main issue was just blood loss which would always be an issue with me considering the fact that I was fucking anaemic. Again.

They had been closely measuring my iron levels when I was pregnant with Teo but after I gave birth, I became too anxious to follow up treatment and so nothing was heard of it anymore. This time, as I got ready to be discharged a couple weeks later, the doctor had practically threatened me to make sure that I actually showed up for my follow up appointments; making me painfully aware of all the problems that could arise if I left my condition untreated. I made sure to take his words seriously. Not just because I wanted to get better but also because Daniel was there listening and if I knew anything, I knew he would be on my ass if I tried to skip appointments.

As soon as I had returned home though, I hadn't lasted an hour before I was making my way back out of the door, my bodyguard hot on my heels. Daniel had tried to convince me to stay home, sounding frustrated about "why I couldn't just stay in one place" according to him, but after I had explained to him what I was up to, he had reluctantly let me go and said he would join me in an hour or so.

That brought me here, in front of Pablo's apartment and unlocking his door with the spare key he had given me. Once the door had swung open, I had let myself in and narrowed my eyes on him sitting at the dining room table, seeming engrossed in his work with a glass of golden alcohol by his hands.

“Pablo,” I called out sternly as I walked in through his unlocked front door, leaving my bodyguard, Ruben, to wait for me outside. He had snapped his head up to meet my gaze at the sound of my voice, his eyes immediately filling with guilt as he stood up from his seat and just stated at me, not coming forward to give me a hug or anything.

“Araceli,” he said calmly as he averted his eyes instead to look out the window as if he couldn't bare to look me in the eyes. “You look well.”

“You never came to see me,” I pointed out instead of responding to him, deciding to skip the formalities as I let the door shut automatically behind me.

“I've been caught up,” he said, gesturing to the stacks of paper that messily lay all over his desk, making me raise an eyebrow at him.

It was so obvious that that wasn't the reason he hadn't come to see me. It was so obvious that the real reason was because he was probably blaming himself right now and had felt like I was blaming him too.