The Beginning

Tess

Breathing heavily, scraping myself across the floor, I had finally made it to the front door. Pain had overtaken every other sense, and I hoped to go numb to it soon enough. The dress had torn down to almost nothing, coupled with blood loss, I had begun to run on empty.

Artificial light streamed through the windows. Headlights.

I searched for the nearest place to hide. Adrenaline, I'd thought long gone, had returned. Even then, my brightest idea was to hide behind the door. If anything else, I could slip through it while he made his way downstairs.

Heavy feet tried to move gently up the rickety steps.

My heart beat rapidly, sweat began to pour from my flesh and my imagination conjured the worst.

The doorknob turned slowly. Hinges creaked as though they were trying to alert him of my presence.

"Stay behind me." A male voice directed.

"You're not my boss." A female voice replied in a sharp whisper.

I knew those voices. "Roni?" I breathed, hopefully.

"Tess?" Her eye caught mine through the crack in the door.

Never in my life did I think I'd be excited to see Veronica De La Cruz. My speeding heart felt an overwhelming relief.

Marcelo rounded the door, and gave me a once over. "Your leg." He tucked an arm beneath mine and held my body weight. "He do that?"

"No." I limped alongside him. "There was a chain, and we were in the basement, and Lexi—Oh my God, Lexi's still down there. Then he just, he left." I wanted to tell every portion of the story all at once and found myself stumbling over more than my words.

"He's gone?" Veronica clarified.

"Yes." I nodded as we made our way to the steps.

Marcelo apologized in a whisper before lifted me off my feet.

My foot dangled limply at the end of my leg. Each movement a reminder of the trauma I'd caused.

He tucked me into the passenger seat and buckled me in. Phone in hand, pressed to his ear, I assumed he rang Nicky's number. With a curse, he looked at his screen and pressed the phone back to his ear. "Don't move." He demanded, closing the door behind him. Marcelo cursed audibly at his phone as he disappeared inside the house.

Minutes seemed like hours until the siblings reemerged with Lexi in tow.

"He's not answering." Marcelo commented as he slid into the driver's seat.

"No, Oscar." Veronica replied with annoyance. "I told you to call Oscar." She and Lexi took the two back seats.

Lexi still dawned her cuffs, this time on both wrists.

"And I told you, Veronica, he's not answering." Marcelo returned her tone.

Veronica suppressed a growl. "I misunderstood." She spoke through a clenched jaw.

Marcelo pulled off the street and pressed the pedal to the floor. "Why would they both be ghosting us?" He asked more to himself than any of us.

"Hannibal knew he was alive. The first night he was confident that he'd killed Nicky." I swallowed in an effort to hold back tears. "He knew the second night that he hadn't." I heard my voice crack the same as everyone else. Silence inside the car offered no comfort. "I tried to stall him." I offered shakily. "He wouldn't listen."

"It's okay." Veronica reached a hand across the cab. A petite hand squeezed my shoulder, dangerously sharp nails looked out of place offering solace. "Nicky's fine. He can handle himself." She assured. "This is the last thing that you need to worry about right now, okay?"

It had been the only thing I had concerned myself with the last few days. Until I set eyes on him, I wouldn't be able to force it from my head.

We had made record time getting to Santiago's house, to Nicky's side. Though the garage door sat wide open, I felt the urge to run in headfirst. My broken ankle was the only hinderance in my plan.

"Let me go in first." Marcelo advised, popping the car door open.

Wordlessly, I opened my door and stabilized my good leg on the ground. Using the car for leverage, I dragged myself out.

"Hey stop." Marcelo barked over the roof of the car.

"Hurry up!" I yelled back. "You go in first, we go in after you. You didn't say anything about that, did you?"

Marcelo cocked his head at me.

"Go." I lowered my tone.

"You sound like Nicky." Veronica noticed as she, too, stepped out of the car.

I watched on while Marcelo crept inside the darkened garage.

The minute that he was out of sight, I hobbled toward the opening.

"Jesus, Tess. You need to sit down." Veronica complained, though she tucked herself beneath my armpit to aid my movement.

"I just have to see him, okay?" With the way my voice shook, I couldn't tell if I was informing her or asking her permission. "I was caught up. I was worried that we hadn't been together long enough for it to be socially acceptable. I was scared that this was going to be like life with my parents. And I pushed him away." Too many times. I didn't allow myself to go in headfirst because when I did the universe made me a fool. For the first time in my life, I regretted denying it. Each time I'd come close to expressing true affection via verbal affirmation, I held it. Moments that I'd turned away from his affections and refused his advances haunted me.

We had traversed the garage and made it to the open doorway into the kitchen. Over what appeared to be corpses, Marcelo stood frozen. Beyond him sat a man hunched over the island. A phone pressed to his ear.

"Nicky?" I wondered, looking to Marcelo for the answer.

Marcelo's somber expression and grave downcast glance hammered my panic button.

"Nicky!" This time I called for a response. Breaking away from Veronica, I stumbled over the first body and landed near the second. A stiff arm caught my foot. I peered back, shivering from the fear that it might be him. My eyes fell on that signature slicked hair. Shark's eyes stared back at me. Hannibal loosely clutched his neck. Bullet wounds left him in a crimson bath.

Before me, hair cropped tightly to the scalp. Scraped knuckles. His hand held his jaw.

On my forearms, I pulled myself closer. "Hey." I breathed, placing my palm against his forehead.

"Tess." Marcelo murmured.

"Nicky." I ignored him.

"Come on, Tess." Veronica pleaded.

"Nic." I begged. I waited for him to take that sharp breath, come back to life. I wanted to see his eyes and hear his voice call me beautiful just one more time.

Nicky laid still. Where we should've seen the rise and fall, his chest seemed to be motionless. His usual caramel color had paled.

I turned my face into his. My forehead rested against his temple. He was as cold as the floor beneath me, the touch sent a chill through me. I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. Allowing them to wash over me in a bittersweet cleanse, I leaned into my anguish over the wave of relief. Though Hannibal wouldn't be back to torment us, I'd be without Nicky. Maybe it was selfish, perhaps I was wrong to make deals with anyone who could hear me just to have Nicky back.

Though I knew it was futile, I begged, "Come on, Nic. Please."