Chapter 4:Rivalries and Rumors

His phone broke his sleep on the table next to him. Glancing at the computer, he felt a chill down his spine at Lucia Vargas' name. The very name caused him great discomfort. From all he had collected, she was not someone who followed the rules; she was a rival mafia leader. Rafael stopped for a moment then responded. 

"Dr. Escobar," Lucia's voice came over chilly and silky, like velvet laced with poison. "I hope I'm not breaking off here." 

Rafael's hold got tighter around the phone. " What do you want, Vargas?" 

Lucia laughed softly, the sound making him shudder from top to bottom. Oh, not really. Simply a friendly caution. There was a stop and he could practically hear her grinning on the other end. "You have been really close to Sofia, Dr. Escobar. And the results will not appeal to you. 

His gut fell. He knew the day that would arrive, the one when he would be obliged to decide. But hearing from her, so directly, everything seemed way too real. Leaning back in his chair, he aimed to maintain even voice. "I have no idea what you mean." 

"You're in the middle of something dangerous," she whispered, her voice like a caress. "You will avoid Sofia if you wish not to end your life in the grave. She is playing a game different from ones suitable for folks like you. 

Rafael had witnessed Sofia run her empire, her steely accuracy of a chess expert handling everything. Her armor had flaws, though. Rafael had gotten flashes of something more deadly, more deeper. Her kingdom was based on terror, control, and treachery rather than trust. 

Following another difficult meeting with Sofia's inner circle one evening, Rafael found himself loitering in the corridor, his ideas a jumble of contradictory feelings. Though he had learnt to keep his distance and act professionally, the developing relationship between him and Sofia was indisputable. That was a hazardous draw, one that might have pulled him under. 

He heard heated voices as he went by a conference room. He pushed his ear to the door, attempting to hear the conversation within as curiosity overcame him. 

It was the strong, forceful voice of Michael Richards. "We cannot rely on her any more. We have to move before it is too late. 

"Are you sure?," Gabriela Torres asked, her voice low but tinged with a disconcerting enthusiasm. "There is a lot of risk. Still, it could be well worth it. 

The heart of Rafael skipped a beat. He understood Gabriela. She was one of Sofia's closest friends, but listening to her voice now, full of such uncertainty, he started to doubt everything. He retreated from the entrance, but his feet felt weighty as though something inside him knew he could not ignore this. Not today. 

Her finger followed the several locations of her foes as she stood before a big map. "We move tonight," she remarked, her voice chilly and firm. 

Rafael watched her off to the side. He could see the fury in her eyes, how precisely she managed the matter. But there was a gloom to it, something he found difficult to really identify. Every time she talked about the family, about their activities, it seemed as though some part of her had hardened beyond awareness. 

Her eyes softened barely a fraction as she turned to face him. Her voice quiet, but with an edge, she asked, "Are you with me on this, Rafael?" I have to know I can rely on you. 

Rafael briefly wanted to say yes. He intended to let the force between them guide her toward control of the anarchy all around her. Still, something inside him stopped. Fighting back, his moral compass echoed Lucia Vargas in his mind. The environment he had trained for was not this one. He had registered for nothing like this. 

Sofia moved toward him, her presence imposing and her nearly terrible intensity almost frightening. "You think you could leave? Not sure?" Though her voice was subdued, it contained something threatening. "You consider this to be only about saving me. Rafael, you're mistaken though. This addresses loyalty. And you are not free to pick sides. 

Rafael faced her and his emotions surged. Her power was radiating in that instant as the walls between them collapsed. She went beyond mere patience. She was the one able to demolish what he had created, his profession, his life, his present, his future. 

The ground trembled under their feet at just that, a loud blast rocking the structure. Dust from the ceiling dropped through the rumbling windows. The estate shook as though the ground itself had chosen to rebel. 

Rafael's heart missed a beat when Sofia turned to face him, her eyes wild with a mix of wrath and terror. She said, "Get ready," with icy resolve. "Their here." 

Sofia grabbed Rafael's arm harder. Her will was as unwavering as the kingdom she had created, and she was stronger than anybody Rafael had ever known. She was not immune, though, to the fragility that suddenly permeated her eyes. 

Her voice slicing through the fog of uncertainty, "We have to move," she said. 

Rafael nodded, his pulse hastening. Though he was not a soldier, he felt the pull of something darker, something he was unable to ignore in that moment. His relationship to Sofia was personal rather than only business. And no matter how hard he tried to detach himself; every second was erasing the limits. 

Rafael still felt, though, that they were not alone even as they approached the door. Glancing over his shoulder, he felt uncomfortable rising in his chest. Moving as though they had a mind of their own, shadows hung at the mansion's corners. His heart thumping in his ears, his neck's hairs on full attention. 

Just just discernible in the low light, a man stood at the furthest corner of the room. Rafael could see the faint figure of a man watching them with a terrible stillness, but the shadow was hidden. He stopped momentarily, but in that instant Sofia turned her head toward him. 

Her voice low and steady, she cautioned, not looking back. 

Though Rafael's instincts shouted at him to intervene, he moved quickly toward the door following her lead. They had not time to probe. They had not time to face whatever, or whoever, was observing them. 

Who was that? Rafael murmured, but Sofia ignored him. Her gaze locked forward, she simply continued marching. 

Everything was moving far too quickly. Too much, the explosion, the warning, the mysterious man observing them. Still, Sofia did not show any reaction. Calculating and emotionless, organizing their escape as if she had done it a thousand times before, she moved like a machine. 

Rafael kept looking across at her as they ascended into the automobile. Her gaze reflected calmness, but under it he sensed the storm building. No one could argue against Sofia's natural force. Rafael, meanwhile, was starting to wonder if she was fleeing something or toward something more perilous. 

Their speed across the streets blurred the skyline of the city as they sliced across the night. Rafael's head whirled. The events in the mansion, the shadows, the murmurs, the people meant to be allies kept him from sleeping. Were all of them in on? Who had turned on Sofia? More crucially, though, who was Rafael becoming amid all of this? 

He looked at her, her face momentarily caught in gentle glow of the streetlights. Though Sofia was engrossed in her thoughts, her clinched jaw suggested she was not only battling the outside world. She was struggling with herself. 

Rafael opened his lips to talk, but stopped. She would shut him down every time he sought to ask her something. Her walls were tall, and it was obvious daily exactly how much she was hiding. Still, he had a part of him that couldn't overlook the draw toward her, toward the power, the passion, the complexity she exuded. But there was also a threat, something sinister and merciless that would have consumed him should he get too near. 

The automobile swerved sharply, shocking him from sleep. Sofia tightened her hold on the wheel and narrowed her gaze as they neared the edges of the city. 

"Where are we going?" Rafael asked, his voice charged with eagerness. 

Sofia's lips drew a thin line, and she momentarily silence. Then she spoke, her voice almost above a whisper, without looking at him. Rafael, you are here right now. Whether or not you find appealing. 

He wanted to say something, to probe why, but the words choked him. He had decided upon already. And now he lived in her world. No turning around. 

Before an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town, the automobile shrieked to stop. Before them loomed the structure, a black shadow against the low sky. 

Sofia's eyes hardened and she turned to Rafael. She said, "Stay close," and then she got out of the car, headed deliberately toward the door.