Next to Me

Chapter Thirteen: Fully Recovered

Sergio chewed on his lip as he waited for Stefan to give the blonde the all clear, he knew that she was getting better and there was no denying it; Charlotte was eager to learn more about her boyfriend and she knew that he was hiding something big.

The Sevillian perked as he heard Stefan come out of the bedroom, he looked at the doctor; he knew that there would be no hiding now that she was recovered, he just hoped that the blonde wouldn’t leave him when she found out what he did.

“She’s fine… just keep things easy on her for a week,” Stefan said as he looked at Sergio, he knew that he was going to tell the blonde what he did for a living; the doctor just hoped that everything would be alright when he told Charlotte what was going on.

The Sevillian sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, his brown eyes looked towards the room where Charlotte was; he knew that everything was going to chance once he told her what he did for a living.

The blonde stepped out of the bedroom and leant against the door frame in the nine weeks that she had known Sergio, she had often wondered what he did; she just hoped that now he would tell her what was going on.

“It doesn’t change anything you know,” Charlotte said as she stepped towards the Sevillian, her blue eyes watched him knowing that he was worrying himself over nothing; he had saved her life and she wasn’t going to freak out no matter what he told her.

Sergio smiled at her weakly before he signalled for her to follow him into the living room, his brown eyes looked down at his hands as they sat on the couch; he took a deep breath as he tried to gather his thoughts.

“My padre is a crime lord…” Sergio began as he looked at his girlfriend, he was waiting for the moment that she would flee from him and he would lose her.

“I’ve worked for him since I turned sixteen… I do jobs, sometimes they involve me killing people,” Sergio said as he eyed the blonde anxiously, he was a little surprised when she just took a deep breath and nodded her head; the Sevillian watched her wondering when she would end things with him.

Charlotte took a calming breath as she looked at her boyfriend, she had suspected this for some time and was a little surprised that someone like Sergio could do anything like that; she remembered what she had promised herself as she waited to see what he would say next.

“The night you found me on your door step, I was meant to be dealing with a rival house but they got the drop on me and you stumbled across us before I could end things,” Sergio said as he looked at his girlfriend, she nodded her head as she watched him; the Sevillian couldn’t bring himself to look into her eyes knowing that they would hold nothing but disgust for him.

Charlotte waited for a moment before she carefully reached out and took Sergio’s hand, his eyes snapped to her face confused wondering why she wasn’t running for her life; he knew there was no way that she could still love him.

“Sergio… it doesn’t change anything, I still love you,” Charlotte whispered as she moved closer to him, she knew that he was afraid of how she was going to react but she wasn’t just going to overreacted to this; he had saved her life and she loved him more than anything.

***

“You’re not afraid?” Sergio checked as he looked at his girlfriend as they prepared dinner together, the blonde shook her head as she glanced at him; they were having chicken tikka masala with pilau rice for dinner and she knew that he was still surprised that she hadn’t tried to flee yet.

Sergio wrapped his arms around the blonde and kissed her softly, he had never experienced this before and he knew that she was keeping something from him; he held her close for a moment wondering what she was hiding from him.

“It was my brother,” Charlotte said making Sergio look at her confused as she pulled away from him and moved to check on the rice; she sighed knowing that she had to tell him what was going on and what she was hiding from him.

The blonde leant against the counter away from her boyfriend, her blue eyes watched him as she sorted through her thoughts for a moment.

“I don’t know who for… but Ethan worked for someone as a runner before he disappeared, I used to treat him in secret when he had been injured,” Charlotte said as she looked down at her hands, she wished that she had been able to do something for him before he had disappeared; she had never discovered what had happened to him.

Sergio looked at his girlfriend sadly as he walked towards her and wrapped her up in his arms, he held her close knowing that she had so many unanswered questions; he knew he would do anything to help her.

“If you want I’ll do some research… see what happened to him for you?” Sergio offered as he looked at the blonde, she looked up at her boyfriend surprised that he would do that for her; the Sevillian ran his fingers through her hair knowing that she needed some closure if she wanted to grieve for her brother properly.

Charlotte nodded her head as she cuddled closer to her boyfriend, she wasn’t sure what he would find but she needed to know what had happened to her brother; she had so many unanswered questions about him and it worried her sometimes that she had been found out what had happened to Ethan.

***

Ethan Perez Montez stared devastated down at the grave that belong to his older sister, he hadn’t believed it when he had heard that Charlotte had been murdered and had to come and see for himself.

Carefully he knelt down and put a bouquet of red roses onto the grave, he didn’t want to believe that it was true but the grave stone told him that it was; Ethan was a little annoyed that their parents had ignored his sister’s final wishes and had buried her when she wished to be cremated.

“You okay?” Ethan’s wife of two years asked him as she took his hand, she looked down at the grave knowing that he had wanted to see his sister again; Ethan nodded his head as he smiled at her weakly, he couldn’t believe that she was gone.

His wife sighed as she kissed his cheek knowing that this was a terrible shock for him, he had planned to see his sister over Christmas and now he would never have the chance.

“I’ll take the girls to the car,” she said softly as she moved away from him, Ethan smiled gently as he watched his wife walk away; he didn’t know what he would do without Joanna or their daughters, they were the only good things in his life now.

Turning his attention back to the grave, Ethan carefully knelt down and stared at the lettering on his sister’s grave stone; his blue eyes traced the lettering for a moment.

“I don’t care what it takes Charlotte… I will avenge your death, whoever did this will pay,” Ethan vowed as he pushed himself to his feet, he wished he could have taken Charlotte with him when he had left Madrid behind.

This wouldn’t have happened if he had and now he was having to deal with the death of the only member of his family he had truly cared for.