Chapter 23
Trinidad tries to appear serene as she walks toward the park where she's meeting her ex-husband.
Maria walks beside her with firm steps and the businesswoman has to contain the urge several times to grab her hand so that her warmth can transmit that security she seems to have lost and stop feeling that vertigo sensation that's suffocating her.
Not even the presence of Benjamin, who walks on her other side, or Oliver, who arrived at the park a while ago and is stationed somewhere not too far away that allows him to watch her without being detected, gives her peace.
She came to feel real panic toward Ismael, and now that she's about to see him again, she realizes she's never stopped fearing him, not even when she's not thinking about him is she calm because there's always a part of her mind that doesn't relax and stays on alert.
"It'll go well, we'll talk to him, convince him to stay away from you and leave," Maria tries to calm her, somehow perceiving her nervousness although on the outside she looks like ice.
"It won't be that easy," Trinidad answers, knowing him too well.
"Of course it will. You said it yourself, back then you were alone, scared and without resources, you knew you couldn't face him and had to run, but now you have me and enough money to fight against his lawyers.
The situation has changed in your favor, Trinidad," she says as they continue walking on a path that seems endless to the businesswoman.
"And what good does that do me?"
"A lot, you can still press charges for what he did to you. It'll be hard to prove, but I assure you I'll put everything into it if you decide to take that step. We'll offer him that, if we can get guarantees that he'll get out of your life once and for all, we won't take legal measures."
Trinidad isn't as sure as Maria, she's certain that in the hospital where they treated her, there's not a single record left of her admission or her daughter's death because the family's lawyers will have made them disappear, however, she nods, because she's decided to trust Maria and, besides, she has an alternative plan if when she talks to Ismael she sees he's still the same person and that she won't be able to get rid of him no matter what he promises.
Trinidad intends to leave and be like one of those women they want to protect by taking them out of the country, there, she's sure he won't find her and she can start over, with or without Maria, though she'd like the lawyer to be with her.
"There they are," Benjamin points to the other end of the park where they've arranged to meet, where they see Ismael and who they assume is his lawyer, walking slowly toward the fountain, the place they've chosen to talk.
Trinidad, in an act of uncontrolled fear, clings for a moment to Benjamin's arm because she feels she's going to collapse.
"Don't let him see you're afraid," her trusted man advises, putting his hand on top of hers affectionately.
The businesswoman looks at him and nods before withdrawing her hand.
"Relax, he can't do anything to you," Maria tries to calm her, keeping her eyes forward.
"Stay calm and don't make a scene," says Herminio, the lawyer walking beside Ismael, "do what I told you, make peace with her once and for all because what you did hasn't expired and she can still press charges."
Herminio talks and talks thinking Ismael will follow his advice, but the man isn't even listening, for him the lawyer's voice is an uncomfortable sound buzzing in his left ear.
He's been hearing his song and dance since Trinidad's lawyer contacted him and, although Ismael has said yes to everything and shown submission, his head short-circuited as soon as he knew he was going to see her and, from that moment, he only thinks about one thing and nothing else matters anymore.
Ismael walks with his gaze fixed on Trinidad and his heart beating like hammer blows.
He sees her there, so elegant and maybe more attractive than before, and the sick jealousy that characterizes him devours his insides as if time hasn't passed.
The distance shortens between them, Trinidad, her lawyer and that old man who's always attached to her, have already stopped by the fountain.
Ismael sees nothing beyond them, not the children or the mothers or fathers around, he only has one objective in mind that not even his lawyer, who unfortunately knows him like his own son, has been able to predict.
"If she's not mine, she's no one's," Ismael announces in a terrifying whisper.
Herminio's heart races hearing him, but he has no time to stop him when Ismael reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a gun.
Benjamin is fast, but not even his years of experience have helped him imagine the scene before him, he didn't expect Ismael to be armed, much less in a park full of children where there will be hundreds of witnesses to what he plans to do.
The bodyguard moves at great speed to cover Trinidad, but doesn't have enough time and of the two detonations heard causing chaos in the middle of that children's park, the first impacts Trinidad's chest. The second impacts between Benjamin's ribs when he manages to push his protégé's body with his own—who in turn falls on Maria—and manages to fire twice at Ismael before falling to the ground.
Ismael falls forward before the stunned gaze of his lawyer who, in tenths of seconds, manages to recover and run to take cover behind a bench.
The gun has slipped between Ismael's fingers, however, still lucid after the impacts, he starts moving to try to recover it and finish what he started.
Maria, not quite knowing where she gets the courage from, abandons Trinidad's wounded body and stands up ready to run to prevent Ismael from recovering the gun, but doesn't make it in time and the psychopath's fingers get hold of the weapon and he raises it just as Maria, who has stopped dead seeing him, is in front of him.
The lawyer's mind completely blocks when in tenths of seconds, she understands she has no escape and is aware she's going to die.
Two new detonations occur and Trinidad's body shakes as if she had received them herself.
Scared and about to faint from blood loss, she struggles to lift her head from the ground and needs a few seconds for the blurry image before her to become clear.
Maria is still standing and only has time to see Ismael's empty gaze before his body collapses to one side landing in a strange and unnatural posture.
Behind him, Oliver appears wielding his gun after having taken down Ismael, and, for the first time, Trinidad takes a prolonged breath that leaves her empty. Then she faints.