Chapter 27
RAUL
…present day
The door buzzes with a harsh electric rasp, and my eyes slam shut on pure instinct as panic claws through my chest. I have no idea who's about to step into this concrete cage, but every possibility feels like a fresh hell.
Forcing my eyes open takes everything I have left in me.
And there she is. My body somehow knew it was her before my mind could catch up.
Olivia.
Relief floods me like a dam breaking, raw and overwhelming, tears spilling hot and messy down my face with no chance of holding them back.
I watch her cross the room with slow, deliberate steps.
Each one tightening the vise around my heart until reality crashes in.
She hasn't read the letter yet. She doesn't know the full truth of how I feel, the depth of it all.
"Hi," she says, her voice barely above a whisper as she nears the glass. "I'm sorry. I know you probably hate seeing my face right now."
"Olivia." The word sticks in my throat like broken glass. Silence stretches heavy between us before I finally force out the rest. "I wrote you back."
"You did?" Shock cracks through her voice, genuine surprise widening her eyes. She never thought I'd actually do it.
"Olivia. I love you." The confession rips out of me, gut-deep and unfiltered.
She freezes for a moment, the words hitting her like a physical blow as they sink in.
Tears erupt from both of us then, ugly and unstoppable, sobs tearing through the air between the bars.
"I think I always have," I continue, voice ragged. "I just never knew how to say it. How to show it without fucking it all up."
My foot taps anxiously against the floor, the chain around my ankle rattling faintly like a warning.
"I'm so fucking sorry. For every mean word I threw at you. Every time I tore you down and made you feel small. You didn't deserve any of that shit. Not one second."
"Raul." Her fingertips press hard against her lips as a sob breaks free, choking her.
"I thought pushing you away was the only mercy I could offer.
Forcing you to run to someone clean, someone worthy.
You'll see it all laid out in the letter.
But God, Liv, you're the most beautiful thing I've ever touched.
Incredible. No one else ever cracked through my walls like you did.
You smashed them wide open and made me less of a monster.
I'm sorry. So goddamn sorry for all of it. "
We shatter completely after that, full-bodied sobs wracking us both, echoing off the cold concrete walls that trap me here.
"So now what?" she manages through a watery half-laugh, swiping at the tears streaking her face.
"Olivia, be mine. You're way more than a girlfriend to me, but we can start there if that's what it takes."
"Raul, I've been telling everyone you're my man for years already." A real laugh bubbles up through her tears, soft and broken but true.
"Shit. You knew it before I did." I try to wink, but it lands weak and shaky, my gaze dropping heavy to the thick chains coiled around my ankle and the cold steel bars locking us apart.
"From the first day, I knew it was you. It was always you. But what about this mess?"
"The plea deal's moving forward. Manslaughter charge if it sticks. My aunt's tangled in another lawsuit that loops my case right into it. Since no firearm was used, they'll push for ten years maximum, maybe seven with good behavior. It's the cleanest exit I can claw out of this hole."
She stares at me across the divide, her eyes sharp and searching, almost like she's weighing every word, every consequence, turning it over in her mind.
"Olivia, I won't ask you to wait through this shit. If you meet someone else…"
"Shut the fuck up." Her voice cuts clean, fierce. "I've waited years already. We'll burn that bridge if we ever get to it."
"You sure?" My voice cracks raw, splintering at the edges. I don't deserve her. Never will.
"I've never been more sure. I love you, Raul."
"I love you, Liv."
The words hang in the air between us, simple and true, finally free after years of choking them back. For the first time since the bars slammed shut behind me, something inside my chest loosens. Not all the way, but enough to breathe. Enough to feel human again.
I stare at her, her face still streaked with tears but glowing now, fierce and unbroken.
Telling her was like lancing a wound that's been festering since the day we met.
All those nights I pushed her away, convinced myself she deserved better than my poison, my chaos.
The guilt that's been rotting me from the inside starts to lift, slow at first, like fog burning off under the sun.
Regret still lingers. The sharp edges of every cruel word I spat, every time I made her feel like nothing.
But it doesn't crush me anymore. Not with her here, choosing me anyway.
I finally said it. Out loud. No more hiding behind "just friends" bullshit or half-truths about the life I dragged her toward.
She knows everything now, or she will once that letter hits her hands.
The cartel ties, the hits, the storage units full of shadows.
And she's still sitting there, loving me through it.
That hits harder than any plea deal, any sentence.
It's redemption I never earned, but fuck if I won't spend every day of these seven to ten years making it right.
For once, the chains feel lighter. The future doesn't look like a grave.