The rain had stopped, but the night hadn't forgiven her yet.
Kelly Mayor ran barefoot through the dripping woods behind Alejandro Luis's mansion, her breath ragged, her heart a wild drum in her chest. Her soaked dress clung to her legs, heavy with mud and water. Every step felt like it could betray her — every snapped twig was a gunshot in her mind.
Freedom was close. She could see the faint glow of the road through the trees — the path that led away from him, away from the gilded prison called a house she'd been kept in for weeks.
Her pulse surged. Just a few more steps.
But the woods were too quiet.
No guards shouting. No pursuit. Just the whisper of rain sliding from leaves and the steady pound of her heartbeat.
That silence frightened her more than footsteps ever could.
Then she heard it — a voice. Low. Calm. Familiar enough to make her knees weaken.
"You really thought you could run from me, mi cielo?"
Kelly froze.
He was behind her — close enough that his breath brushed the back of her neck, warm against her rain-chilled skin.
Alejandro stepped out of the shadows, dressed in black, water still dripping from his hair. The silver of the moonlight caught on his face, carving his features into sharp lines — the beauty of a man sculpted by control and danger.
"I told myself you wouldn't try this again," he said softly, his tone almost amused. "But you never listen."
Kelly turned slowly, her throat tight. "You kept me locked away in that house even when I told you I wasn't her. When you know I'm but queen Isabel.
What did you expect me to do? Stay silent forever and held captive forever?"
Alejandro's eyes — a piercing green even in the dark — studied her. "I expected you to trust me. To understand that keeping you there was the only way to protect you."
"Protect me?" she snapped, though her voice trembled. "You don't lock someone in a cage to protect them."
"Am a human for crying out loud".
"I should have freedom "
He took another step toward her. She moved back until her spine pressed against a wet tree trunk. The cold bark against her back only made his nearness feel hotter, heavier.
He leaned close, one hand braced beside her head. "You have no idea what waits outside those walls," he murmured. "If I let you go, what would will you do? You are in a strange land — people won't be as kind as I am."
Her pulse fluttered, torn between anger and something far more dangerous. "Kind? You call this kindness?"
"I have Philip my heart belongs to him"
"I love him"
His eyes grow cold, she could tell that he was mad
Very mad
"Are you sure you love him mi cielo?"
The words sent a shiver down her spine. She hated that even now — even with fear clawing at her — his voice could unravel her so easily.
He tilted his head, eyes narrowing slightly. "Why do you run from me, Kelly? Tell me."
Her lips parted, but no words came.
"Is it fear?" he asked, his voice a velvet whisper. "Or is it because every time I look at you like this…" His hand lifted, fingers brushing along her jaw. "You feel the same thing I do."
She wanted to deny it. She should have. But her body betrayed her — her breath hitched, her heart racing against her ribs like a caged thing.
"Alejandro…"
He traced a droplet from her cheek down to her throat, slow, deliberate. "You say my name like it means something you don't want to admit."
She caught his wrist, trying to push him back, she could betray the one she loved can she?but his touch was a promise and a warning all at once.
"I'm not yours, I belong to someone else" she said, though the words shook.
He smiled — a dangerous, devastating curve of his lips. "No? Then why do you tremble when I'm near?"
The air between them was alive, charged, the distance shrinking until there was none at all. Kelly could feel the warmth radiating from him, the scent of rain and smoke clinging to his skin.
She wanted to hate him. She wanted to scream at him for stealing her freedom.
But all she could do was stare into his eyes — eyes that saw too much, felt too deeply.
"I should let you go," he murmured.
"Then do it."
He didn't.
Instead, he lowered his head, his breath brushing the shell of her ear. "You don't want me to."
Her breath caught. The world seemed to narrow to the space between them — a heartbeat, a whisper, the slow slide of air that felt like lightning.
"You're wrong," she whispered, though her voice betrayed her, softer than she intended.
"Am I?"
His hand slipped from the tree to the curve of her waist, hovering there — not holding, not claiming, just a question waiting to be answered.
Kelly's heart pounded so hard it hurt. She could have pushed him away, could have run again — but she didn't move.
He leaned closer until his forehead rested against hers, his voice low enough to be a confession. "Every time I see you like this… I forget the world outside exists."
"Then remember it," she said, though the tremor in her tone made it sound like a plea.
He gave a soft, almost broken laugh. "I can't."
The silence stretched, thick and trembling. Then, slowly, his fingers brushed along her waist, tracing the fabric of her dress. His movements were careful, reverent, as though he were memorizing her instead of touching her.
Kelly's breath came in shallow bursts. The cold air and his warmth tangled until she didn't know where one ended and the other began.
"Tell me to stop," he said, his voice rough with restraint.
She looked up at him, eyes wide and glassy. "Would you listen if I did?"
He smiled faintly. "No."
Before she could speak, he leaned in — his lips barely ghosting over hers, a whisper of a kiss that burned hotter than fire. It wasn't about dominance or surrender; it was a storm — the quiet kind, the one that started in the space between two breaths.
When he finally kissed her, it wasn't gentle, and it wasn't cruel. It was everything they hadn't said — longing, anger, confusion, and something too deep for either to name.
She responded before she could stop herself, her hands gripping his shirt, feeling the strength beneath it. He deepened the kiss just enough to draw a sigh from her, then pulled back, eyes searching her face.
"This is why you can't leave me," he said softly.
She shook her head, breathless. "You can't keep me here with a kiss."
His expression darkened, his voice dropping low. "It's not the kiss keeping you here, mi cielo."
And for one dizzying moment, she believed him.
Then — a sound.
Sharp, distant, wrong.
Alejandro froze. His head lifted slightly, eyes narrowing toward the mansion through the trees. Another sound followed — the unmistakable crack of gunfire.
The spell shattered.
Kelly gasped, instinctively stepping back. Alejandro's hand dropped from her waist, and in an instant, the softness vanished from his expression. The warmth in his gaze turned to cold steel.
"Stay here," he ordered, already reaching for the weapon holstered beneath his jacket.
She stared at him, still shaking. "Alejandro—"
He turned to her, and for a fleeting second, the dangerous man and the man who had just kissed her were the same — conflicted, torn between two worlds.
"Don't move," he said again, softer this time. "Please."
And then he disappeared into the night, his footsteps silent against the wet ground.
Kelly stood alone beneath the dripping trees, her lips still tingling, her body trembling with everything she couldn't name.
The rain began to fall again — light, cold, cleansing.
She closed her eyes, whispering into the storm, "You'll never let me go… will you?"
In the distance, the sound of gunfire answered her.