Chapter 30 - Confessions in the Dark
The heavy steel doors of the safe house clanged open, and Vargas practically dragged a semi-conscious Alejandro into the main concrete room.
Valeria screamed when she saw the massive amount of blood soaking through his clothes. She didn't freeze; her survival instincts instantly kicked in. She ordered Doña Socorro to take the terrified children into the back bunk room and lock the door.
"Put him on the table!" Valeria commanded, sweeping the tactical maps onto the floor.
She ripped open Alejandro’s ruined shirt, revealing the ugly, jagged bullet wound near his abdomen. She grabbed a first-aid kit from the emergency supplies and began applying heavy, agonizing pressure to the wound with sterile gauze.
"It went straight through," Vargas noted grimly, examining the exit wound on Alejandro’s back. "He’s losing a lot of blood, but the bullet didn't hit any major organs. We can't take him to a hospital. El Escorpión’s men will have eyes on every emergency room in the state."
"I can patch him up," Valeria said fiercely, her hands covered in his blood. "I watched the doctors do it when Leo was sick. Just hold him still."
For the next terrifying hour, Valeria worked frantically to clean the wound, stitch the torn flesh, and bandage him tightly. Alejandro groaned in intense pain, his forehead covered in a thick, cold sweat, but he never took his dark, intense eyes off of her.
Later that night, the bunker was quiet. Vargas was on guard duty outside, and the children were finally asleep. Valeria sat on a metal stool next to Alejandro’s cot, gently wiping his feverish forehead with a cool, damp cloth.
"You shouldn't have come back for me," Alejandro whispered, his voice incredibly weak and raspy. "You should have taken the boys and run."
"I told you I wasn't running away," Valeria replied softly, her voice thick with unshed tears.
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Alejandro reached out with a trembling, bloodstained hand and gently cupped her cheek. "I have spent my entire life building an empire of fear. But looking at you right now... you are the bravest person I have ever known. I love you, Valeria. I have loved you since the moment you stood in front of my son and refused to back down."
Valeria leaned into his rough palm, letting a single tear fall. "I love you too. And we are going to survive this."
