Next to Me

Chapter Nine: Manipulated Death

Sergio frowned as he pulled up outside the warehouse where this had all begun, he couldn’t believe that this was where Victor was holding the blonde; it had been hours since he’d received the call from his enemy and he couldn’t help but worry.

Climbing out of the car that he had borrowed, Sergio swallowed as he stared at the place that had caused all of this trouble; he wished that he had never gone on the mission that had led to this moment.

“Ramos it’s nice to see you,” Victor said as he stepped out of the warehouse, a twisted smile filled his face as he watched the Sevillian as he walked towards him; he knew that he had finally managed to get under the other man’s skin and he couldn’t wait to make him suffer.

Victor knew that Charlotte wasn’t going to last much longer, he had made sure that she wouldn’t last long with her injuries; he knew that this would hurt Sergio even more if the blonde died before he could rescue her.

“Where is she?” the Sevillian demanded as he looked around, he needed to get Charlotte out of there and as quickly as possible; he had everything prepared and was grateful for the help that he was getting from a friend, he just hoped that he had made it in time to save the blonde that meant so much to him.

“All in good time… first let’s down to business, did you bring the device that you stole?” Victor said as he led Sergio into the warehouse, he had no intentions of allowing the blonde to live and he knew that the longer that he drew this out the better; he wanted his enemy to suffer in the worst possible way.

Sergio nodded his head stiffly as he pulled the device from his pocket and passed it to Victor, he suddenly hoped that his plan would work.

***

Charlotte didn’t know how much time had passed since Victor had called Sergio, she wasn’t even sure how long it had been since she had been taken from her place of work but she knew she wasn’t getting out of this alive.

The blonde closed her eyes as she allowed darkness consume her again, she had been in and out of consciousness for a long time and she knew that she was losing a lot of blood.

A sudden explosion erupted making Charlotte blink groggily, she couldn’t shake the feeling that seemed to be drowning her; her blue eyes searched the room weakly as another explosion shook the room where she was being held.

It was then that the door to the room was flung open and light was allowed to flood the room for the first time in ages; someone hurried into the room and cursed making Charlotte wonder who had come for her.

“Mierda,” the voice said making the blonde’s memory jog to Sergio, she didn’t know why he would be in a place like this but she hoped that he was alright.

“Charlotte… come on open your eyes for me,” Sergio pleaded as he pulled the blonde into his arms, his stomach rolled as he looked at the blood that covered the floor; he knew that she needed urgent medical attention and now if he wanted her to survive.

“Sergio,” Charlotte whispered confused, she opened her eyes and tried to focus on him as he lifted her from the floor and into his arms; she wondered briefly when she had started to hallucinate.

The Sevillian nodded his head as he carried her from the room, he knew that he didn’t have a lot of time and he doubted that he could waste much more time while his friends distracted Victor; he knew that his enemy wasn’t going to be happy with what had happened.

“Hang on,” Sergio said softly as he hurried down the corridor, he glanced around hoping that he would get away without running into any trouble; he needed to get Charlotte to Stefan, so that he could save her.

The blonde was losing a lot more blood than Sergio had thought and he couldn’t believe that she was able to become conscious; she was struggling to stay awake and he knew that time wasn’t on his side.

“It’s not your fault,” Charlotte murmured as she forced herself to concentrate, she felt herself slipping away and didn’t want Sergio to blame himself for what was going to happen; the blonde cared for him to much to allow him to suffer.

“We’ll talk about this later… save your strength Charlotte,” Sergio said as he glanced down at her, he could see that she wasn’t going to last much longer; he almost sighed in relief as he spotted his car parked ready and waiting for him.

Charlotte swallowed the lump that formed in her throat, she had accepted the fact that she wouldn’t make it out of this alive and she was prepared to die but she wanted to tell him how she felt.

“There won’t be a later… I love you,” Charlotte said as she felt the darkness closing in on her, Sergio paused for a moment as he looked down at her; he watched her speechless before she went completely limp in his arms.

“No,” Sergio whispered as he moved to set the blonde on the floor, he quickly started to check her over and started mouth to mouth resuscitation so that he wouldn’t lose the blonde; he couldn’t believe that she had told him that she loved him before her heart had stopped beating.

“Don’t do this to me Charlotte…” Sergio said as he tried to resuscitate her, he felt tears burn his eyes as he realised that the one woman that he loved was going to die because of him.

***

Bethany Montez frowned as she opened the door to her home, her blue eyes widened as she looked at the young man that was stood on her doorstep; it was late at night and she didn’t know why he had come to her home.

“Sorry to disturb you senora but I’m a friend of your daughter’s,” Sergio said as he stared at the blonde before him, he swallowed wondering how he was going to tell her what had happened; he knew that this wasn’t going to be easy on anyone.

Bethany allowed him into her home, the last thing that she had heard about her daughter was that she had been abducted from work and she hoped that they had good news for her.

“I don’t know how to tell you this… I’m so sorry,” Sergio said as he felt his heartbreaking, he couldn’t believe that he was here and telling her mother this; he glanced up as David Perez as he moved to sit next to his wife, he knew that had been waiting for news about their daughter.

“Por favor is Charlotte okay?” Bethany asked softly, she had a horrible sinking feeling that something had happened to her daughter; she wasn’t sure that she could stand to lose another child and she had a feeling that she had.

“Charlotte was found murdered this afternoon,” Sergio said softly as he looked down at his hands, his heart broke knowing that he would never see the blonde again; tears filled his eyes as he thought about her broken form and knew that he couldn’t tell her parents what had really happened to her.

Bethany sobbed as she buried her head into her hands while David sat quietly shocked about what they were being told; they had known from the moment that Charlotte had disappeared that there was a chance of this happening.

They had just never thought that they would lose their daughter so soon, they knew that there was something going on and that someone had taken their daughter for a reason.