His Forbidden Obsession

Chapter 4:Choose

Choose*

The alley smelled like gunpowder, rain, and blood.

It was too narrow. Too dark. Too late.

12 guns pointed at them.

At the front: *Aiden*. Black suit. Hands in pockets. Calm. The same calm he had when he was 10 and caught her stealing bread.

Behind him: *Monica*, twirling a knife between her fingers. Smiling like this was a party.

And to the side: *Damian*, rubbing his wrist where Lorenzo twisted it. His perfect suit was dirty now.

Lorenzo didn’t move. His body was a wall in front of Malia. Gun steady. Finger off the trigger. For now.

His back was to her. She could see the tension in his shoulders.

“Last time,” Aiden said. His voice echoed off the brick. “Come with me, Malia. Or I take you.”

Malia’s hands were shaking. She pressed them against her sides to hide it.

“I’m not going back to be sold,” she said. Her voice came out stronger than she felt.

“You’re not being sold,” Aiden snapped. For a second the mask cracked. “You’re being protected. Damian is family. This alliance will keep us safe.”

“Family doesn’t force,” Malia said. “Family asks.”

Monica laughed. It was high and brittle. “Oh sweetie. You don’t get it. You were _always_ currency. The day you were born, your father put a price on you. I’m just the one who reminded him.”

Malia flinched.

Lorenzo shifted, just slightly. Enough for Malia to know he heard it too.

“You talk too much,” Lorenzo said. His voice was low. Dead.

Monica’s smile widened. “And you talk too little, perro. Tell me, does she know what you did for Aiden three years ago? In Tijuana?”

Lorenzo’s jaw ticked.

“Don’t,” Malia whispered.

Lorenzo fired.

The shot cracked through the alley and hit the wall next to Monica’s head. Brick dust exploded. She screamed.

“Next one’s in your skull,” Lorenzo said, voice flat. “Move.”

Chaos.

Aiden’s men scattered. Gunshots echoed off the brick, loud enough to hurt.

Lorenzo grabbed Malia’s hand and ran. His grip was iron.

“Left!” he yelled. They ducked into a doorway that smelled like trash and urine.

Bullets hit the ground behind them. Sparks.

Malia was crying and running and her lungs burned. Her hoodie got caught on a nail and ripped.

Lorenzo shoved her behind a dumpster and turned, firing twice. Controlled. Precise.

One of Aiden’s men went down with a shout.

“Lorenzo, stop!” Damian shouted from down the alley. His voice was panicked. “You’re gonna get her killed! Just give her to us!”

“Then help,” Lorenzo shot back without looking. “Or get out of the way.”

Damian hesitated. 3 seconds. An eternity.

Malia saw it on his face. The war. The loyalty. The fear.

Then he bent, picked up a gun from the ground, and shot at Aiden’s men.

Aiden saw it. His face twisted. Ugly.

“Traitor,” Aiden said softly. Like he was disappointed.

*BANG.*

Malia screamed.

Damian clutched his shoulder. Blood bloomed through his white shirt, fast.

He dropped the gun and fell to his knees.

“Lorenzo!” Malia yelled.

Lorenzo didn’t look back. He was already moving. He grabbed Malia’s face with both hands. His palms were warm and shaking.

“Listen to me,” he said. His eyes were black. Desperate. “I need you to run. Straight. Don’t stop. Don’t look back. Mateo is 2 blocks north. Black SUV. Say the code: `obsidiana`.”

“No,” Malia said. Tears were running down her face now. “I’m not leaving you.”

“You have to,” Lorenzo said. His thumb brushed her cheek, smearing dirt and tears. “Choose me, Malia. Trust me. Please.”

Sirens. Closer. Red and blue flashing at the mouth of the alley.

Aiden was limping forward, gun raised. Blood on his leg. “You’re out of time, Reyes.”

Lorenzo looked at Malia one last time. Like he was memorizing her.

Then he leaned down and kissed her forehead. Fast. Desperate. It burned.

“Go.”

Malia ran.

Her legs moved before her brain did.

Behind her she heard more gunshots. Yelling. Aiden’s voice. “Get her!”

She didn’t look back. She couldn’t. If she looked back she would stop.

She ran past screaming people, past a man filming on his phone, past a dog barking.

Her chest hurt. Her side hurt.

*2 BLOCKS LATER. BLACK SUV.*

Mateo threw the passenger door open before she reached it. “Where is he?!”

“I don’t know,” Malia sobbed. She collapsed into the seat. “He told me to run.”

Mateo cursed in Spanish and pulled out his phone. “Boss? Boss! Contesta!”

Nothing. No answer. Just ringing.

He slammed the phone against the dashboard. “Drive,” he told the driver. “Back to the safehouse. Now.”

Malia stared out the window. She kept seeing Lorenzo’s face. The way he looked at her before he let go.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She almost didn’t answer.

*Unknown:* `He chose you. Now it’s your turn to choose.

Come to the warehouse at the docks. Midnight. Alone.

Or he dies.

- A`

The phone slipped from her hand.

*BACK IN THE ALLEY*

The sirens were too late.

Aiden stood over Lorenzo. Gun pressed to his temple.

Lorenzo was on his knees, bleeding from his side. His shirt was soaked. He was smiling anyway.

“You missed her,” Lorenzo said, coughing blood. It ran down his chin. “She’s gone.”

Aiden pressed the gun harder. “Where is Diana?”

Lorenzo laughed. It sounded broken. “Find out.”

Aiden’s face went blank.

*BANG.*

The sound was swallowed by the sirens.

Aiden stood there for a long time, staring at the body. Then he kicked it.

“Bag him,” he said. “And find the girl.”

*2 HOURS LATER. SAFEHOUSE.*

Malia sat on the floor again. Same position as last night. Back against the door.

Elena was wrapping her hands with shaking fingers. Diana was asleep in the corner, thumb in her mouth.

Mateo was on the phone in the kitchen, voice low. Face pale.

He hung up. Looked at Malia.

“He’s alive,” Mateo said. “In custody. Aiden’s people have him. Private clinic.”

Malia couldn’t breathe. The air got stuck in her throat.

“Alive,” she repeated. The word felt foreign. “Alive.”

Elena exhaled and pulled Malia into a hug. “Gracias a Dios.”

But Malia wasn’t thanking God. Not yet.

Her phone buzzed again. Same unknown number.

*Unknown:* `Midnight. Warehouse 17. Docks.

Come alone or I send you his fingers one by one.

- A`

Malia read it twice. Then a third time.

She looked at Mateo. At Elena. At Diana, small and sleeping and safe because of Lorenzo.

She stood up. Her legs were steady.

“I’m going.”

Mateo grabbed her arm. Hard. “No. That’s what he wants. It’s a trap.”

“Then what do we do?” Malia asked. Tears fell, but her voice didn’t shake. Not this time. “We wait? While he bleeds for me?”

“Malia, please,” Elena whispered.

Malia wiped her face with the back of her hand. For the first time in years, she wasn’t scared. She was angry.

“He saved me,” she said quietly. “He chose me in that alley when he could’ve run. Now I choose him.”

She walked to the closet and pulled out a hoodie. Black.

“Get the car ready,” she said. “Midnight.”

Mateo stared at her. Then he nodded once. “I’m coming with you.”

“No,” Malia said. “Alone. Or he dies. Those were the rules.”

The room went silent except for Diana’s breathing.

Malia sat back down on the floor and waited.

For midnight.

For him.

*TO BE CONTINUED...*

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