𝔩𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔩 ╱ 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔

Vivienne’s breath was stopped short as she came face to face with the familiar growing figure. The fact he was standing before her gave her relief as a little breath of gratitude left her system. She stopped for a moment, wondering what her mother was thinking right now looking down at her. Vivienne wasn’t a religious person, more spiritual if anything. And she knew exactly what Zoe Janssen was thinking. She stood here and shook her head, a part of her wanted to just run into his arms. She approached him slowly with wide green eyes observing his injuries. “No me hagas esto más difícil,” she said to him and inched closer. 

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

if things had ended different tonight, he wouldn’t have been this hostile towards her. yet he couldn’t simply just shut off his emotions now could he ? he trusted her &. he knew that was all on him. to trust someone like her, someone whose values didn’t match his. ❝  deverdad eres tan hipócrita ?  te paraste ahí con ellos mientras mataban a la hermana de la novia . ❞  he shakes his head as he inches forward but wincing at the pain in his ribs. 

a scoff escapes past his brims ❝ yes, I’m fine. ❞ he lied but she really didn’t care, did she ? why was she here ? ❝ what do your want vivienne, why did you come here for ? ❞ 

he was enjoying the fresh breeze that oceanside provided, brims pressed together as he hears the pads of shoes on his marble concrete. turning around, he sees the older president scordato walk through the patio doors. ❝ what a pleasant surprise, to what do I owe this pleasure guasparre ? ❞  he turns around slowly, still hurting from the beat down he took. ❝ margarita is cooking, will you join me for dinner ? ❞ 

it was time that the cortez family started showing their face around town, they had taken a low blow &. he thanks god that she hasn’t been there to be in danger. he looks at the brunette as he sits across from her, sill wincing from the pain of bruised ribs . looking up at his sister he takes a deep breath ❝ stop looking at me like that, I’m fine. now what this the chef have in mind ? ❞  he inquired as he looked at her, a small tense smile on his brims. 

rafael sees margarita poke her head in, smiling as he looks at the brunette he nods, hearing that someone was looking for him. making his way out of the office into the living room, he spots the brunette standing there’s &. nods his head taking a deep breath. ❝ what’re you doing here ? ❞  he might have been nicer but after everything that happened, he wasn’t paying nice with anyone. 

after what seemed like life was getting back to normal, the bruises and wounds on his body seemed to be clearing up. after putting camila down for her bed, he makes his way out to the patio where they had been talking before camila woke up. ❝ sorry, she’s kind of fussy. I guess when your used to nurses carrying you every fifty seconds, you’re bound to get spoiled . ❞  he muses towards his nephew. 

he knew that that rocco was going through it, he was just as mad as rafael had been but at this point everyone that they cared about had been in danger. amalia, carmen, rocco himself as well as rafael. ❝ things have gotten out of control, I told you that this would happen . ❞  he added as he shakes his head ❝ sage is in the fucking hospital, this act of vengeance deserves a oh back. we need to speak to guasparre, this can’t stay like this . ❞ 

Ever since talking Rafael into going to the hospital for his injuries, Olivia was on edge. She was constantly worried about him, and after learning what had happened to their daughter, she was worried about Camila as well. It was pure luck that Rafael had granted her access to visit the little girl, and she knew she had to make good use out of it. It was the least that she could do, after all. So, getting over her own fears and everything else, she gathered her strength, finally getting to hold her daughter for the first time. It was overwhelming, especially when the girl didn’t really recognize her- the bond simply wasn’t there yet- but she had to push through all of it. She knew she couldn’t expect a miracle, yet Camila wasn’t crying in her arms, and it was one of the fears that could at least attempt to get over.

Camila was recovering quickly, and so, with the permission from the doctors and the nurses, Olivia made her way through the hospital, the little girl in her arms, determined to visit Rafael. “Hey.” She greeted him softly, angling Camila well enough so that the little girl could see her father. It was enough to bring out a smile on the almost-one-year-old, enough to make her almost immediately reach for her dad as the duo approached the bed Rafael was in. “I figured you might want to see her.”

he thought that he could take it , a few days after the whole beating that he had taken. he had decided to talk to olivia about how they would handle from here and forward about camila. he began to cough,  blood splurging from his lips. it didn’t take long from olivia to take him to the hospital &. that’s where he had spent the remainder of the past few days. he had to be wrapped together tightly so that his ribs could be pressed together &. could heal properly.  

thankfully the doctors said that he didn’t need to stay here anymore, he watches as olivia walks in the room &. he sees his baby girl for the first time since the morning of the wedding fiasco. he can’t help but reach for her, almost instantly as camila had. ❝ hola, mi vida. ❞  he says  as he kisses her head, repeatedly. ❝ papi te extraño muchísimo . ❞  he adds on as he rocks the child softly &. turns to look at olivia ❝ what did the doctors say ? ❞  

After tonight’s events, she was a little shaken up. Not over the murder part, but more over the fact her mafia role had been exposed. She hoped no one remembered her face in the midst of the chaos of it all. Vivienne played a small role in the whole production and luckily, it seemed like it well to plan– not that she had exactly taken part in deciding anyways. She was just there to fulfill her duties, just like how she was raised to be. She obeyed because it was all she knew but she was smart. And she knew what she wanted. She wanted to know if he was okay despite it all. Just like he did her, she found out where the man stayed and rushed her way there after being dropped off at home by her date. Her car roared through the dark streets of Oceanside as she pulled up through the gate, getting out and running up the stairs still in her green dress from the night. No security? Even better.

Approaching the door, the brunette brought her fist to the frame and began banging on it. “Rafael!” She called out. “Are you here?” Vivienne yelled out.

the events of the night had left him destroyed, brims pressed tightly together as he laid on the couch &. looked over at margarita who had been attending his wounds. hearing the incessant knock on the door, his housekeeper opening the door. he stands up &. sees the brunette still in her dress in the doorway, margarita looks at him &. he nods his head. ❝ vete a descansar , tranquila. yo me encargo . ❞ he says &. margarita takes her leave. 

turning to look at the brunette ❝ what’re you doing here vivienne, did you come to finish your dates job or did you just come to see that you’ve made a full out of me ? ❞ 

DARKNESS FALLS

he felt helpless, trapped in this game as if they were puppeteers in some kind of snake and mouse game, all his loved ones in danger. before he can even get a word out he’s being shoved into a room , his gaze being ripped away from his sister. promising that she would be okay , even if he had to go through a hundred vipers, he would make sure that she was okay. he’s being dragged by the blonde and as he gets into the room, he tries to make a run for it but doesn’t get very far. ❝ i am going to have so much fun , ripping your inside out . ❞ each word that left his lip, tainted with the most lethal venom. 

Carmen watched the freak show begin. Her chest pounded as she was trying to catch her breath from being guided around like a little Viper rag doll. She was livid. The taste of tequila coating her mouth as she scanned the room. These people had no fucking mercy, ever. Her life was a constant cycle of her imminent death. As she heard Isaak Volkov’s voice boom through the venue, she let out a huff of laughter. As she scanned the room for her loved ones, it seemed like forever until she finally locked eyes with her older brother. Her heart flipped, feeling relief and immense wave of guilt fall over her. Everything was spinning and she just wanted to go home, whatever that meant. Her eyes fell back on Irina’s knife on her neck and she looked at Rafael again, giving him a confused expression. 

“Do you hear this fucking demon?” She whispered in Spanish to him. 

everything was perfect, the night coming to a perfect end until the vipers start disarming everyone and before he can get his gun out. he is stopped by the blonde viper, a knife pointed as his neck as he is dragged along. his eyes wander around the room &. he looks at the brunette, the one that he had tried to protect just a few hours ago, thinking that she would be in danger. he was foolish to think that he could ever truly trust her. vivienne soon leaves his mind as he sees his sister with no one less than irina petrova, they were portraying them as if they were all going to get executed in this very moment. his eyes glued to carmen as he wished that he could protect his baby sister just like he had done so many times before. 

he hears her words &. he cannot help but smile, even in the face of danger she ceased to amaze him. ❝ parece un payaso ahi arriba . ❞ he says with disgust as each word leaves his brims.  it all became to sudden &. isaak shoots julia but kate gets in the way. ❝  ijueputa ❞ he spats at the volkov as he sees the whole  scene unfold before him. turning to look at his sister as everything happens ❝  no te preocupes, no voy a dejar que nada te pase. ❞ 

Day shrugged his shoulders, not an ounce of shame detectable on his face as he continued his conversation with the other male. “Wouldn’t be the first time,” He says. He takes the shot and holds it up in a mock toast before taking the tequila down his throat. He preferred tequila to other alcohol, he never got hangovers with tequila. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my lips sealed. Wait, so who did you come with? I wanna see if I’m prettier than them.”

he lets a chuckle escapes his brims as he soothes out his beard, brushing it it with his own fingers ❝ eres terrible . ❞  he says with a small chuckle escaping his brims ❝ I’m sure you know how to keep esa boquita cerrada . ❞  his mixture of spanglish always spoken with his mall group of people &. that included day. ❝  well, I’m not going to lie to you , she’s pretty darn cute . ❞ he says smiling &. points towards the table where carrie was speaking to a few guests ❝ you know what they say, blondes are always fun. ❞ 

   “She will get better, Rafael. I promise.” Being a firm believer of affirmations, Rocco just wanted to will his own words to be reality. There was nothing to saying negativities, so he opted to keep reiterating what he wanted to be. And he truly, genuinely believed that Camila would be fine, because she had to be.

   Though of course, he couldn’t fault Rafael to not have faith; the likes of them were sinners, after all, even if it wasn’t said out loud. “She will be fine. You have gone out of your way to provide her with the best. You know this. Have faith in her.” It was one of the things they could only do, aside from having faith in the people who were paid to take care of her and heal her. 

   And while he could have gone on and on about Camila, Rocco opted to help his step-uncle out and give him some sort of a distraction. “Everything’s good with me. Not that it’s a thing, but Gio and I have reconciled, so I’ve found my peace in the meantime.” he shared, gracing the other with a small smile as he idly smoothed down the front of his suit. “So that’s one problem solved, and a few more to go.” he joked, letting out a dry chuckle.

he nodded his head &. he was sure that camila would come out of this, after all she was a cortez &. she was strong. she had a whole village of people who were counting on her to get better &. she needed to , it was as simple as that. 

He nodded his head ❝ sometimes it’s easier said than done, man . ❞ he whispers as he takes a sip of the drink and then turns to a different subject, he needed a distraction &. rocco was always good at that. hearing that him and gio were back in good terms brought a small smile to his face ❝ awh man, that’s so great . I’m so happy for you, what both of us got is special. don’t let anyone ruin that, I let that shit happen a while ago &. sometimes I wish I would have fought harder . ❞ aeva comes to mind but he pushed those thoughts away. 

talking about relationships, he thinks about the conversation he had with sage a few days ago about taking full custody of camila but now with what was happening he had decided against it. ❝  I had decided to take legal action of camila now that liv was back &. I had hired sage to represent me but I think I’m not doing it, with what happened to camila, life is short and I’m done with the fighting. you think sage is going to be upset ? ❞ 

Naomi smiled as she settled in the space next to him at the endearing name. Hearing the name of the doctor she nodded and listened intently, hoping the smile meant good news. “That’s amazing!” she exclaimed the update making the happy day even more so. “C’mon you know how much I adore her already.” she’d made sure to be as helpful as she could be. “Shall we get a drink in celebration? Or were you going to head out?” she asked the questions in succession thinking maybe that was why he was outside.

he was so relieved that she was okay, his daughter was the only person ( apart from a elected few ) in the world that he cared for more than life itself. hearing naomi speak he can’t help smile ❝ it sure is such a relief . ❞ he says looking at the brunette before him ❝ I was so terrified that things weren’t going to go our way, you know she’s so young &. for her to be going through all of this. it’s not fair . ❞ yet he knew that life was never fair, he was the prime example of that . ❝ thank you, preciosa. for showing her as well as myself all that kindness. you better believe that I won’t ever forget that .❞

   Her initial impression with tequila had since changed after being with Rafael. “Yeah, well, I eventually liked it. We drank a lot of this back then.” she mentioned, picking up the shot glass readied for her. With a coy shrug, she promptly downed the shot, followed by hastily biting into the lemon wedge, just as he had thought her before. 

   “Julia, yeah.” she nodded, affirming her place in the wedding, at least. She knew her ‘friends’ had managed to sneak in, but her invitation was rather official. “Amicable sounds… nice. Not so sure about the friends thing though. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” She wasn’t the kind of girl to even stay in touch with her exes, more so to be friends with them. But Rafael had always been an exception to her rules.

   “Yeah. I am.” There was a sudden thought that came to her, one that had her momentarily suppressing the urge to be vocal about it. Then again, they were working on their way to be at least amicable, right? “Did you, um, come with anyone?” As soon as they words left her lips, she immediately regretted asking, aware as to how that might come off to him.

rafael’s memory shifted to the times where he would buy a bottle &. pizza and they would just go to their usual spot &. look up at the stars. ❝ oh wow, it seems like a lifetime ago . ❞  he knew that time was a touchy subject for aeva so he did his best in trying to be brief with the memories but they were good ones. ❝ remember that time you got so wasted you went skinny dipping in my house &. my mom almost caught us —— thankfully I put up a good distraction. ❞  

as she confirmed that her connection was julia he nodded his head ❝ see, told ya ! ❞  he says in a time as if he was saying : told you so. ❝ which is why I said that we could be amicable, I know your feelings won’t change from the morning to the night, it’ll take time and I’ll wait as long as you need me to . ❞ &. he would, he knew what he had done and it wouldn’t change over night. 

rafael smiles as he hears her ❝ I’m glad your enjoying yourself . ❞  he muses to her, as he finishes the next shot that’s being handed to him. her inquiry almost makes him choke on the dark liquid as he wipes his mouth . ❝ uh, yeah. I came with carrie, I don’t know if you know her but we met a few weeks ago. we bonded over animated disney movies &. camila. she’s been a good help with everything. ❞ he adds on and finishes the shot as he turns to her ❝ would you do me the honor or dancing with me ? ❞ 

Her arms wrapped around his shoulders as she greeted her family friend with joy. It had been a little while since she had run into any of the Cortez’s and she was a little, shocked, to say the least. She didn’t imagine them leaving their territory in LA but half a decade of missing out on each other lead to a couple things missed. “Rafael, you never age,” she told him, letting go and looking at his suit. “You look so handsome,” she told him truthfully. While he was a little more like a brother to her, she was appreciating how he was aging. 

“I’ve been great, everything’s been great. I’m truly blessed,” she told him. After everything she had been through, she still stood strong. “You and Carmen need to come to the boutique. Incluso podrías traer tu novia, whatever she is– the lady you walked in with,” she said. 

it had been a long time since he had seen alessia , she was as close to the family cortez as anyone ever got. especially after her &. juan carlos had their own thing, it wasn’t particularly toxic but juan carlos was the type of man who needed complete control over any woman &. alessia wasn’t someone who liked being controlled. ❝ what can I say, we cortez have good genes . ❞  he makes towards the brunette beside him smiling ❝ pero tu estas hermosa. you know juanka keeps asking about you . ❞  he knew that relationship was over but he always did like the together . 

he smiles glad that her life was going so good ❝ I’m so happy to hear that . ❞ he tells her , the same sweet smile on his features.  ❝ I heard about that, estoy mad de seguro sur carmen va estar say desde que el sol amanezca. ❞ he knew his sisters dire need of shopping and there was no way that she wouldn’t spend three days out of the week there. hearing her last set of words he shakes his head ❝ no no , no es mi novia. es una amiga, la conocí y nos entendimos. Y además tu sabes que no me gusta llegar en cualquier lugar sin una muñeca en mi brazo. ❞ 

She hadn’t really thought much of it when Rafael invited her to be his date at the wedding; she was already going so she actually thought why not go with him? He was charming and never put her on the spot and, of course, he knew how to joke and smile, so it was perfect. “I try, I try” I chuckled and twirled when the music called for it. Returning to position, Carrie tilted her head to the side as he spoke. “No, no..you shouldn’t. And you don’t.” she told him in a firm tone. “You didn’t screw up anything and, if you ask m , you’re actually doing right by your daughter right this second.” Shaking her head a little, she continued. “You’d waste away if you sat there all day and you can’t actually do much for her right now.” Somehow she had straight up gotten into the brutal honesty lane with him, the blonde noticed, but she had a feeling nobody had told him all this before. “I get you want to be there, every single second, but you need to save your strength, physically and mentally, for when she’s released to you. That’s when she’ll need you most. And if you haven’t taken the time to do you, you won’t be able to keep yourself functioning for long.” Carrie took a second to gently squeeze his hand. “Take the small breaks, allow yourself a breath. It doesn’t mean you’re not committed to her.” She offered softly.

he couldn’t help but smile as he hears her, his hand resting respectfully on her waist as he swayed her through the music. ❝ sometimes I wish that I could do more, you know when she was first born I was so scared . I was alone and I walkways h to ought olivia would be there. woman have the whole maternity thing down pact &. I didn’t —— I had to ask for help &. I’ve never asked for help in my life . I’m the person that people go to help for and I felt so hopeless. ❞ he says as he dances with her, a heavy sigh escapes his lips, he didn’t know how lucky he had gotten to meet her ❝ I don’t know what yo tell you , I just want to thank you for everything. these past few days of you’ve been my friend &. you’ve been my counsel &. someone who I can lend a ear to &. I will forever be grateful to you for that . ❞