Delgano: A Dark Contemporary Interracial Romance

“What does he want? A prisoner? A wife? You’re not marrying a man because you’re scared of what’ll happen if you don’t. And why do you need to even consider any kind of commitment? From what I hear, single women are very happy.”

“Single women?” she asked, her voice breaking. “Well, since you have everything figured out, I’ll be quiet.”

If the only stipulation had been that he had to sign on to this team project to help her, he would still do it, just to help her. Plus, money had to be involved, though no one had brought up the subject so far. Depending on how much money it was, he could give her that safe life where she didn’t have to be subjected to open-ended threats. Even if he had to marry her, he would do that too. Contract or not, if it would mean relocating his family to the French countryside, they wouldn’t live there without him.

She didn’t stay quiet for long. “When we get there, I need you to stay in the car.”

“No.”

“Adrían…please.”

“Where are Ahmed and Qasim?” he asked. “Are they at the house? Are they in danger?”

“No, they’re with Mrs. Kashif.”

“Does this man or these men know where Mrs. Kashif lives? Sayeda, I specifically agreed to join so that I can kill whoever’s fucking with you and your family.” A moment of clarity reached his brain. “Wait, are you going to walk in there to agree to be whoever’s wife?”

“His name is Novi.”

“I don’t care about his fucking name.”

“Don’t curse at me.”

“I’m not cursing ‘at’ you, querida.”

“I’m not your ‘querida’ anymore. As of this moment, I’ve renounced the title.”

“You’re my sweetheart as long as I say you are.”

She punched the steering wheel, her eyes glistening. Her chest moved in shaky spurts, and she continuously blew air into her cheeks.

“Sayeda, I’m very serious. If you leave that house betrothed, he’ll leave this country beheaded.”

“Think for a moment,” she said, her voice gone from cracked to thick, like she was on the cusp of tears. “I’ll go inside. You stay out here. You have to stay out here. They know you’re coming. It wasn’t Novi who contacted me.”

He studied her, eyes narrowed. “Is someone waiting for me inside the house?”

“Yes.”

“Did someone tell you to bring me here?”

“Yes…and I know you’re restless.”

“That’s all you had to say.”

Two figures appeared in the distance through a cloud of dust. He noticed her body tense as if to break, a purely instinctual response. While he couldn’t see them clearly, he had enough experience with fake barriers and barricades to know exactly what was happening. From what he could tell, there were no guns, but that didn’t mean they weren’t carrying.

“Keep your foot on the gas. If I tell you to put your head down, put your head down.”

She pressed harder.

An additional two silhouettes appeared, standing in the middle of the road. Chamas used these types of mechanisms frequently. Usually, they would go after large trucks they could steal for distribution operations, banking on the human instinct to either stop or slowly reverse.

“They’re not moving, Adrían,” she said.

“Then run them the fuck over.”

Another vehicle appeared, a pickup truck, and it propped itself across the road, blocking the pathway from one side to the next.