THE BATTLE

Deal with it,
boy you got to, I don't want you,
do what you want, but just deal with it,
'cuz I'm so over you.

***

CHAPTER VIII

*****

THE ELEVATOR RIDE back up to my apartment was silent and filled with a flurry of conflicting thoughts and emotions. If there was one thing I was sure of though, it was the fact that whether I felt bad for Daniel or not, I was still immensely overjoyed with how everything worked out.

If I were being honest, I didn't know what I would do without Mateo.

On that thought, the elevator doors pinged open and I stepped out of it onto our floor.

I walked down the hall towards our apartment and twisted the handle open, allowing us access into the warm hallway. I continued into the home after closing the door, wanting to get something to eat from the kitchen but suddenly froze in my tracks at the sight before me.

The kitchen wasn't separated from the sitting room so whenever the kitchen lights were switched on, the living room was also illuminated. The real problem came because I remembered never switching on any lights in the house before I left, yet there was a soft glow coming from the sitting room and spilling out into the hallway.

It was either I had extremely bad memory, or someone had come into the home and switched on my lights. My mind went back to the door and a crippling fear coursed through me once I realised that the door was unlocked once I had walked in but I was certain that I had locked it with my keys while leaving.

My heart thudded harder in my chest upon the realisation and I found myself unable to breathe or move in a house with an undefined amount of intruders in it. I stared wide-eyed at the window on the opposite side of the hallway, frozen in fear as I clutched Mateo to my chest harder.

Then they began to speak.

“Fuck! Where could she have gone, Jude? Where?”

The man's voice was angry and loud, but it came out muffled by the wall, giving me a sense of relief knowing that there was some kind of barrier between us.

“I don't know but I'm fucking tired of waiting,” his companion, probably Jude, replied, sounding just as angry as his colleague. I heard him let out an obnoxious sigh before he spoke. “She's bound to be back soon though. The only thing we can do is stay here until she shows up.”

“I've got things to be doing!” a third voice joined the conversation, making the fear I felt peak. There were three of them.

“I do too, but boss is going to kill us if we don't bring them to him,” the same Jude said. “They're his and he's not going to stop sending us until we finally bring them. Better get her now than later.”

There was silence between the three of them that were vocal before they all made sounds of agreement and stopped talking all together.

I, on the other hand, was on the verge of a breakdown. They were looking for both me and Teo. Why? For what? What did they want us for?

My father suddenly popped back into my head and I found the realisation slowly dawning on me because he was right. Even after what Daniel had done to me, he wasn't my biggest enemy.

The guy that had sent these men to my home was. He was the same man that was searching for me when I was with Daniel so he wasn't playing around. It couldn't have been anyone else except him.

And they weren't going to stop until they got me. Things were now a lot more serious. I had successfully kept under the radar for two years, but now all my past enemies were finding me again and targets were being placed on my head. I didn't have to wait for Vincent's friend to join 'The Hunt for Araceli' before I realised that my life and the life of my son was in serious danger.

I needed to find a solution to my problem because I couldn't keep living in fear. I couldn't keep depending on other people. I just wanted to be free for fuck sakes.

Letting out a shaky breath, I willed myself to move from my position. I crept across the dark hallway, sneaking into my room and gently clicking my door shut. With slow movements, I placed the sleeping child in the middle of my bed and smoothed his hair back with delicate fingers.

“Pray for me, my love,” I muttered, leaning down to place a small kiss on his head while my free hand grabbed the gun in my pants. “Whatever happens, know I'm not a bad person.”

With a sigh, I turned away from him and made my way out the door, only fully taking the gun out of the waistband of my pants when I had safely made sure I clicked the door shut behind me. On my toes, I silently made my way across the hall again. I stopped at the entrance to the sitting room and listened closely to make sure I had a clear scope of the living room. I peeked my head around the door, catching the large figures of up to three men.

Unfortunately, before I could remain out of sight, one of them had spun around and spotted me, making my heart still in my chest.

“Hey! There she is!” I heard him yell over the loud beating of my heart. I closed my eyes and muttered a silent prayer of forgiveness before I cocked the gun and fired non-stop as soon as I had seen somebody run out.

I hit one man in the stomach, making him fall onto the floor with his hand clutching the wound with blood streaming out. His companion I had hit in the shoulder and in the leg while he was pulling out his gun.

I walked over to both of them, running my eyes over their features briefly before stepping on both of their necks so hard I heard a crack. I couldn't risk my neighbours hearing another gunshot. The groaning had quietened down and I was surrounded by silence again.

I swooped down and picked up both of their guns, stashing them away in my pants before raising my gun up and quietly making my way into the sitting room. Despite having two killed, I knew there was still at least one more.

I eased myself into the sitting room, squinting in the bright light since I was so used to the dark. I looked right, not spotting anyone but before I could look left, someone had grabbed me from behind.

I let out a terrified scream but it came out muffled as my intruder pressed his hand to my mouth and kept my head to his chest.

“Drop the gun,” he demanded, pressing something hard and cold into my head. It didn't take me long to realise that it was his own gun and that in the position we were in, there was no way I could do anything with mine. “Drop it,” he hissed again, making me drop the gun onto the floor. “Now tell me where the child is.”

I raised an eyebrow, wondering if his pea-brain actually thought I was going to tell him.

“With his father,” I lied, keeping my tone calm and steady. “So if you want him, go after Daniel. Not me.”

“Oh, don't worry, princess. We want you too,” he chuckled, making me bite my lip to keep down a sarcastic rhetoric.

He brought his hand to my mouth again and began walking backwards with me, leading me towards the door. Before he could successfully drag me out, I bit down on his hand.

The taste of blood flooded my mouth, but I kept biting until he had let out a pained yelp and let go of me. Taking my chance, I elbowed his stomach and ran back into the sitting room where I had more space and I could actually see my surroundings.

For a long minute, the whole house was silent. Neither of us made a sound as to not alert the other of where we were. I pulled another gun out of my jeans and closed my eyes, letting out a low breath of air.

Suddenly, the house erupted with noise as my phone began ringing in my back pocket. The sound of footsteps arose again and I let out a curse when I couldn't figure out which one to focus on.

I raised the gun towards the doorway, but the first shot was fired before I could even comprehend and it wasn't by me. I jumped out of the way, dropping the gun in the process but not stopping to pick it up.

On the floor as I crawled towards the bathroom for safety, I pulled the phone out of my back pocket and looked at the caller ID. Surprise washed over me at the unsaved number before I finally realised who it was.

“I'll call you later and put my number in your phone...”

It was Daniel.

I tapped the answer button, willing myself not to come off needy. “Daniel!”

“You're not supposed to answer—”

“Help me,” I cut him off. “There's someone in my house and he's—”

I was cut off by the feel of someone grabbing my ankle and pulling me back. I let a scream of pain and fear as my assailant pressed me into the floor from behind.

“Listen here, beautiful,” he muttered as I flailed under him. “I already have some men who are coming up to get you, so there's no point in fighting cause you've already lost.”

“Two-hundred and fifty-two,” I screamed as I still continued to fight. It was so much harder to defend myself when my chest was pressed to the ground and not my back. “Eleventh floor.”

“Yes, that's the exact address they're coming to,” he said, pulling the last gun out from the waistband of my pants and throwing it away. “But before they show up, why don't we get a little closer?” I rolled my eyes, because of course he would try it. “I mean, boss said that we should bring you unharmed, but it's not like you're a virgin,” he laughed, making me glare at the wall and wish it was him.

“Please, don't do this,” I resorted to begging, knowing that with my front pressed to the floor like this, he would be able to do anything he wanted to me and I wouldn't even have the ability to stop it.

“You'll enjoy it, babe, don't worry,” he laughed, turning me around so I was finally on my back. I blew my hair out of my face before taking him entirely by surprise and sending my knee between his legs. He cupped his balls and let out a low groan, allowing me to pick up the gun from the floor and finish him off. With two shots to the head, I found myself pushing his corpse off my body and dusting myself off.

My top was now covered with blood, both his and mine, but I couldn't find it in me to care. I had to leave before the second wave of troops succeeded in finding me. I ran out of the sitting room, stepping over the two dead bodies in the hallway and making my way towards my room, but before I could get to Mateo, the front door had swung open and I was eye to eye with men I didn't recognise.

Their guns were raised, pointed straight at me at me which made me stumble away from my bedroom door.

“On the floor,” one of them demanded, using his gun to gesture to the floor. “On your knees with your hands up.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, wanting to defy them but dropped onto my knees anyway and raised my hands above my head.

“Tie her up,” the man demanded, making the two other guys with him stash their guns away and walk into the house.

The sound of a gun being fired had been the thing to stop them in their tracks. They shared looks between each other, confusion clear as they tried to figure out which one had been the ones to fire the gun when the 'leader' had suddenly dropped onto the floor, blood seeping out of the wound in his back.

As quickly as I could, I got back onto my feet, picked up the vase on the side table and smashed it into one of the intruder's head. It provided enough distraction for Daniel to fully let himself inside the house and shoot the remaining men.

The sound of their bodies hitting the floor was the last thing we heard for a solid minute before Daniel finally spoke up, his eyes hard as he glared at me.

“Where's the child?” he asked me, making me gesture with my head towards my bedroom.

I slumped against the wall, my hand on my heart as I scanned my eyes over all the dead people lying in my house. Six dead men in just under fifteen minutes. A bloody rapture.

With shaky legs, I walked over to one of the men's bodies and picked up his gun. After today, it was safe to say that I had learnt my lesson. I wasn't going anywhere without having a gun on me and that was for sure. Daniel had been right. A gun in the car meant nothing.

In that moment, he had walked out of my room with Mateo in his arms. Teo was wide awake, letting me know that he had probably been like that for some time yet he hadn't cried. Maybe he knew that I needed him to stay quiet and only listened from the other room.

I stared after the two as they walked out of the house before my senses caught up with me and I followed them out.

“Daniel, where are you going with my son?” I asked, having to jog just to keep up with him.

Daniel hadn't answered. He only continued down the hallway, taking the stairs instead of the elevator as my heart rate picked up because I knew what was about to happen.

“Daniel!” I yelled, following him down the eleven flights of stairs. “Wait, please, wait. Don't do this. You can't take him. Daniel, wait!”

It was almost as if I was invisible to him. All of my words had fallen on deaf ears. Teo stared up at me, his eyes wide and full of confusion as his father continued to take him farther and farther away from me.

“Daniel!” Still nothing even though the desperation in my voice was difficult to miss. As a last resort, I did something I had never ever thought I would do before.

I pulled my gun out on him.

I hadn't even needed to call his name. As soon as he heard the sound of the gun cocking, Daniel had spun around and stared at me with a blank expression. “Don't be stupid, Araceli.”

“Give me back my son,” I demanded, my voice low as I glared at him. Tears were spilling down my cheeks because I knew I wasn't actually going to shoot him if he said no. Shooting him meant making more enemies and I could barely defend myself from the few I had already.

Still, I wrapped my hand tighter around the gun and placed my finger on the trigger. Mateo's brown eyes met mine, his mouth open as if he was surprised. I knew he had no idea what was going on, but it was obvious he was scared by the way he clutched Daniel's shirt.

“Don't take him from me,” I said, my voice coming out weaker than I wanted. I lowered the gun a fraction, still pointing it at him. “Please.”

Daniel hitched Teo higher on his body before making his way towards me. I stumbled back, but before I could get too far away, he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him.

“I'm giving you two options.” I tried to pull my arm out of his grasp, but he only grabbed me tighter. I hissed in pain at the feel of his fingers digging into my skin but said nothing. “You either come with me and our child, or you stay here alone and fend for yourself.”

“I'll go with you,” I answered quickly, just wanting him to let me go.

He said nothing else and instead wrapped his hand around the back of my neck. He forced me forward, using his hold on me to steer me in the right direction as I forced the tears that were threatening to spill out to the back of my eyes. The last thing I needed was to start crying now.

I let him guide me down the many flights of stairs until he reached the exit doors and stepped out. The cool wind brushed through my hair, calming my burning skin as he guided us round the back to where a sleek black car sat idly.

He let go of me for a couple seconds to open the passenger door before pushing me down into the car. I winced at the painful grip he had on the back of my neck, but at this point he didn't seem to care about how I felt. When I was situated, he delicately placed Mateo on my lap before slamming the door shut behind him.

Teo had immediately rested his head on my chest, his hand gripping my shirt as he let a yawn tumble past his lips. I rested my back against the seat, letting my eyes droop once it was just the both of us alone. It would've been a good idea to run as fast as I could at this point, but all my muscles hurt and I found it difficult to even comfort Teo. Thankfully, the little I was giving him was all he needed as he drifted back into sleep.

The sound of a door slamming startled me, making me look to Daniel who got into the driver's side and started the car. Without a word being spoken by either of us, he sped down the road.

***

Daniel got off his call with one of his men after giving them the order to clean up the mess of bodies in my apartment.

We had been driving for a couple hours. We were out of the city by now, going through a small town with a single two-lane road that they called the main street. There were long stretches of fields between homes and their 'town centre' was a town square around the size of a large Walmart with a huge, old, grey-stoned church with a clock on one of its wall, a one-story community library and a small area for people to sit and socialise.

“Where are you taking me?” I finally asked, my voice coming out scratched and croaky.

He glanced at me briefly before lookinf back at the narrow road and answering. “We're going home,” was all he said.

I wanted to ask him what he meant by 'home' since my home was the place we just left, but kept my shut and stared out the windscreen instead.

He looked at me again, as if waiting for me to protest, but I had nothing to say. The worst that could happen in Cali was that I would piss him off again and he would sell me to a prostitution ring. At least that was in my control. All I had to do was not piss him off. I would also get to see Pablo and Anna again.

What was the point of hiding anymore and being scared? The worst had happened; he had found me again and yet it didn't seem to be as bad as the alternative. Living my life without Teo and risking getting captured or killed.

“How long are we going to be there?” Even though California seemed like the safest bet, I couldn't ignore the fact that I still had business in New York.

“As long as it takes me to find the man behind this attack and kill him.”

I hummed to let him know I heard him, not wanting to speak anymore.

A surprisingly calm silence ensued after that which I was grateful for because it seemed to help soothe Teo a little more. I just couldn't get how so much could happen and so much time could pass between us and I could still feel this comfortable around him. It was almost as if I believed he was two different people. One person who was calm and nice (enough) and then the other who was despicable - who would sell people to human trafficking and tie pregnant girls to doors.

I needed to start realising that Daniel was the same person before I fooled myself and got my heart broken again. But I couldn't lie and act like this wouldn't be good for Teo.

From the looks of it, him and Daniel were comfortable with each other but not particularly close although I didn't think it would take long before they were. It worried me because if I spent so much time with Daniel and Teo got attached, then it would be heartbreaking to tear them apart again.

“Are we going to stay at the old house?”

“For a bit while I fix certain things.” He paused for a second, as if contemplating whether or not he should say the next thing. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out anymore and without even attempting to adequately articulate his thoughts, he had given up.

I couldn't blame him. I had about the same amount of energy as he had and if something seemed to be too difficult to do then best believe I wasn't going to do it.

Which explained why I was dreading the moment that I would have to answer to Morgan and Derek. How could I tell them that I was with Daniel? After all that he had put me through and they had helped me through, how could I tell them that I was going back to the main cause of my trauma?

I doubted they would understand and I wasn't going to try and make them either. Instead, I was just going to make it very clear that I was as upset and annoyed about the setup as they were.

I also needed to get back to my boss. My returning was uncertain but if there was one thing I was sure of, it was the fact that I wouldn't be coming home any time soon. I was still going to work as hard as I usually did though. That was for certain.

The car pulled up, making me snap out of my thoughts and look around at where we had stopped. I had been under the impression that we were driving to California but I found myself mistaken once I realised that we were on a runway.

A man that was dressed like a chauffeur stepped by my side of the car and pulled the door opening, holding it for me to step out with Mateo in my arms. Daniel stepped out of the car too and after handing the keys to the driver, began walking down the runway.

I followed after him, not doubting the fact that he would probably leave me behind if I didn't catch up. The private jet was small - as most private jets tended to be - but was luxurious inside with a gold interior design and a rich shade of brown to accentuate the colours.

I followed Daniel in, nodding briefly at the flight attendant before continuing down the aisle until we found a place to sit. Daniel sat down first and I sat down opposite, finding it hard to breathe in the tense silence.

He didn't seem nearly as affected by his own cold behaviour as I did, so I decided to pay him no mind and focus on Teo. His tiny arms were wrapped around me, his hands clutching my shirt tight like he usually did.

I collapsed back into my seat, bringing him with me so his head rested against my chest. I rubbed his back softly in an attempt to provide comfort to him in his sleep even though I was doing it for myself too.

As I closed my eyes and the jet roared to life, I couldn't help but let my mind wander. What was going on? What was happening in my life? How could I be so confused about my own situation? How could other people know more about me than I knew about myself?

I felt so clueless. Like I knew nothing about myself anymore. Was Daniel my enemy or was it the person that sent those men after me? How could I trust Daniel and be sure that he won't hurt me worse than whoever it was that was after me?

Why was he being so cold with me? Was it not the same him that was laughing and joking about my pain in the parking lot? Why was he acting like I was the worst person to ever step foot on this planet? He was the one that sold me to human trafficking for God sakes! I should be pissed at him.

I wanted to confront him about it but I couldn't find it in myself to do so. What if he decided to take Teo from me? What if he decided that he would sell me again? I couldn't ruin everything.

I needed to keep my cool around him so this whole ordeal could end and I could move on with my life.

***

When we finally stepped off the private jet, it seemed to be mid-afternoon the next day. The sun was high in the sky, covering me and the rest of California in such hot temperature, it was almost unbearable.

“Could you hold him for a second?” I asked, holding a sleeping Teo out to Daniel to carry.

He raised an eyebrow at me but took him from me either way, leaving my hands free for a couple seconds. I quickly reached for the hem of my white, cotton, long-sleeve top and pulled it up over my head, leaving me in my white tank top that ended just before my navel with thin straps.

I bunched the wooly top up in my hands and looked up at Daniel, only to see him staring down at me. Or much rather staring down at my breasts. I didn't know why my heart skipped a beat in that second, but it did and I wasn't proud of the fact.

The only thing that this proved was that he was still attracted to me but attraction meant nothing if he hated me enough to do what he did. But then I wasn't really sure if he even hated me because if he did, why was he as willing as he was to leave Mateo in my care.

Why did he care enough about my wellbeing to give up on his own son? It was either I was missing an extremely vital piece to this puzzle or he was playing a game with me.

I didn't really care to find out. The most important thing right now was to stay with Daniel for as long as it took him to rid me of the target on my head, not catch any more feelings, not do anything stupid, not get on his bad side and then walk out of this situation with my life and my son.

And not spread my legs again for fuck sakes.

I stared up at him blankly, not bothering to snap him out of it until he let his gaze trail up my body and met my eyes. He didn't show the slightest bit of shame and instead raised his eyebrow at my blank gaze before turning around with the slightest hint of a smirk on his face.

“Let's go. The driver's here.”

*****

Yall, I need help. I'm about to reupload the book before this series (like the first ever book) but I'm not sure which cover to pick so please tell me the one you like the most.

I'm leaning slightly more towards the first one just because of how hard to miss it is. Most of my covers aren't always that bright.

Anyways, tell me what you think. And also what do you think of Daniel? Are we more pissed at him, neutral or do we like him a bit more? I don't about yall, but the way that Ara defended herself in this one... chile lemme keep quiet.