Halsey - Castle

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The first night, after Gideon left for Germany, was harder than she thought. Rory didn't sleep a wink no matter how hard she tried. She clutched the toy rabbit close to her chest and breathe in Gideon's scent. Tomorrow, his scent will be gone since the housekeepers changed their sheets everyday.

She pressed on the toy's feet and Gideon's voice brought her a moment of calmness. God, she hated herself for being so weak. Was she not born with a backbone?

She groaned in annoyance after twisting and turning in the sheets. Rory rolled onto Gideon's side of the bed, hoping his lingering scent will help her calmly sleep tonight. Even if it was just one night.

She was wrong.

Her nightmares kept her awake, swallowing her whole each time her eyelids fluttered close. Heart racing, breath rugged and the sound of her pulse getting louder and louder. She was alone in the bedroom yet it felt like she wasn't, it felt like something or someone was here too.

Rory reached for the switch, flooding the room with bright lights. She observed the master bedroom - there was nothing in here with her.

That night she laid awake with the lights on, encasing her in a fake protection. Nothing was capable of saving her from the darkness that lived in head and her heart. Especially, if she laid, clinging onto the arms of the darkness itself.

Morning came and she moved, like a zombie, completing her daily routine.

Rory groggily headed downstairs to the dining room where Cielo and Luci were already digging into their breakfast.

"Morning," Luci said, cautiously. "Did you sleep at all last night?"

"Yes." She lied, sinking down in the seat opposite Cielo.

Her hands were practically shaking as she poured herself a cup of coffee - black, no sugar. Everyone watched with a warily expression, it was unlike her to drink coffee, she was tea and hot coco type of girl.

"I just need the kick." She sighed, lifting the cup to her lips.

Grimacing at the bitterness, Rory placed the cup back down and picked up her cutlery, digging into the traditional Colombian breakfast. Her mind drifted to Gideon, wondering if he made it to Germany. What would he be doing if he was? Probably killing someone he didn't like.

The scrambled eggs go down roughly at thought of him going to Germany to simply kill someone. It's what he did besides providing two sides of a war weapons to destroy each other. Gideon killed people who wronged him and no one was the exception to his rule.

~*~

It was noon when Alvaro found Rory at the dog's kennels, stroking the coat of Mariposa and Zorro. The look in her eyes said she wanted to unchain Feliz and, thankful he gotten there before she did. Otherwise, the mutt would've taken a chuck out of her too.

He sat beside her, on the platform, and flashed him a small, tired smile. She hadn't slept, he noticed from the dark bags under her eyes and the prominent red veins on her eyeballs.

"Want to go on a drive?" He offered, rubbing Zorro's belly.

Without a word, Rory nodded letting him lead her to a beat up, white truck with mud caked on its side. She slide into the passenger and strapped on her seat belt. She was in a complete dazed and her movements were evidently fuelled by her exhaustion. Rory desperately held onto her consciousness.

Perhaps if she forced herself to stay awake despite her need to sleep, she'd pass out by the time night came.

They drove along the trail, windows opened and radio blaring music in Spanish. Rory hung her head out, feeling the afternoon breeze brushing against her pores and her hair. The fresh air slowed her heart and a tranquility settled over her.

She felt so at peace as if nothing could scare her nor hurt her.

Rory felt her lids become heavier, no longer able to hold the weight of her exhaustion. So, she welcomed sleep with opened arms.

Glancing over the passenger seat, Alvaro's lips curled into a small, content smile at the view beside him. She looked serene in her sleep - hair curtaining her face, lips parted and long lashes grazing her cheeks. In that moment, he saw why Gideon fell in love with her. Her beauty was enticing.

He turned the truck back to the mansion, pulling up as closest to the front door as possible.

She weighed light as a feather in his arms. Her head fell onto his chest causing his heartbeat to race at their closeness. He could smell her flowery scent pulsing from her skin and the minty shampoo on her head.

Alvaro admired her sleeping figure after he laid her on the couch in the lounging room. He tucked a pillow under her head and covered her with a thin blanket.

The urge to reach out and trace her features were strong. Not even Gideon's nor Sebastian's warnings, in that moment, scared him. He let his fingers run gently around her lips - they were full and soft. He let his imagination run wild, picturing how her lips would feel against his own.

Because, that was all he could do without her husband skinning him alive when he found out.

"Alvaro."

Luci stood with a sleeping Cielo in arms. She placed her daughter on an empty couch and straighten up, eyeing him with wariness.

"How did the drive go?" She asked in a hushed voice.

"I barely got to talk to her, she fell asleep right away." He told her.

Luci had begged him to take Rory for a drive. To talk to her and find out what she felt for Gideon and her situation. She wanted to know how far Rory has fallen into her brother's darkness. Was she worth saving?

"There's not a lot of time left. My brother will return in a couple of days unless my contacts can stall him long enough." Luci mumbled, brows frowning in concentration.

Alvaro observed her nervously, not sure who she was mumbling too. She came to him a few nights ago, cornering him to reveal his true feelings for Rory. Feelings he wanted to bury in fear for his own life.

But, she promised she keep it a secret from her brother as long as he helped her. All Luci required was for him to follow her orders.

She pulled a crinkled white envelope from her back pocket, handing it too him. He carefully opened it and pesos, in hundred thousands, stared back at him. She also handed him two passports with flight tickets inside them - Italian passports, one for him and one for Rory.

"Gideon has no power in Italy. They aren't fond of him over there." She said, "Take her to Italy, you'll have to stop in Madrid for a layover but you cannot leave the airport. We have distant relatives there and they'll help Gideon without question if he asks."

Alvaro searched her face, expecting to find a hint that she was joking. He wondered if this was a test, a test of loyalty - was he loyal to Gideon? Loyal enough to report to him if his wife wanted to leave and that his sister was scheming against him.

He found nothing. She was dead serious.

It was a plan she had formulated since she met Rory - the crying bride on her wedding day. She pitied Rory ever since. She saw herself, what her future could've been if she stayed with him, if nobody saved her.

She was going to save Rory.

"What if she doesn't want to go? What if she doesn't want to leave him?" He asked her.

The servants gossiped about how close the two had been recently, about how Rory clung onto him for comfort. They talked about Gideon, how he looked at her with so much love, how he'll do anything for her.

Alvaro wasn't sure if she wanted to give up this life - a life of luxury - to be with him. They'd be on the run for the rest of their lives.

Luci clenched her jaw, closing her eyes as she thought.

"Tell her she's just blinded by her terror. Gideon won't her hurt, he loves her, no, he's too obsessed with her to harm her to death." She opened her eyes again, revealing the same dark eyes as Gideon's.

Even if she was too scared, there was something else stronger than Rory's fear of Gideon. Something that Luci had difficulty getting to.

"Someone that Rory has been desperate to see is waiting for her at the airport. She'll know when she gets there and sees that person." She told Alvaro with fierce determination.

Luci was certain that all of Rory's terror will diminished once she saw who was waiting for her.

She glanced down at Rory, squatting beside the couch and taking her hands. Her eyes fell on her engagement and wedding ring, and slide them off her finger. Sebastian told her that the rings contained micro trackers in them that's how they were able to find Rory when she went missing and when she ran away.

As long as the ring was kept here, no one will suspect Rory had ran until it was too late.

In her slumber, Rory stirred - her face twisting in fright. Another nightmare haunting, grabbing onto her until she had no power to fight back. Luci was there once too and now, she was hardly the same girl from all those years ago.

Sometimes she slept peacefully, cradling her daughter and other times she woke in sweats.

Cielo had asked questions even cried when she accidentally gripped her daughter to tight in her sleep.

She was also another reason why Luci was determined to help Rory. She simply did not want her daughter, beautiful and innocent, to end up like them.

Especially when her uncle and her father where Made Men - Mafia Men. Unlike the men, women in the mafia only had one worth that's why they were easily given up. They were just commodities, something men owned and sold to help them gain power.

Luci will not subject her daughter to that, not as long as her father was still alive. His life meant that someday, he'll come for her and sell to the person who offered him the most power.

"Tomorrow evening," She instructed, walking up to Alvaro. Although, Luci was shorter than him, he felt intimidated by her presences. "Get Rory out of Colombia. I'll give you more money in pesos and euros. You'll be safe."

She lifted her sleeping daughter in her arms and give him one last nod before heading up the stairs. Alvaro clutched the passports and cash tightly in his hands. He would have a new life and a new identity in Italy, both of them will and Gideon won't find them.

😭😭😭