120

She had said the three magic words that were still rattling around in my mind, making me unable to think straight. Never in my life had mere words triggered such intense feelings as I felt that night. It was just indescribable.

Everything around me and inside me seemed foggy... A pink veil that completely surrounded me and overjoyed I put my hand on her thigh and continued to steer the car calmly in the direction where Hector lived, while my butterfly was low and tight slept next to me.

"You're beautiful," I whispered into the silence, glancing over at her. I knew that she couldn't hear me, so it was all the more surprising for me when a small smile suddenly appeared on her lips and she took a deep breath.

So tender and well protected... A woman's dream.

I gave myself completely to my touch of happiness until, after a while, we arrived at the old cottage outside Alicante where Hektor had been living alone for years. He didn't want any hustle and bustle around him and he couldn't stand people anyway. But there were dogs and cats, which was shown only too well by the fact that several animals cavorted around his wooden hut and barked excitedly when I stopped in the driveway with my car.

"Are we there?" Isalie murmured without opening her eyes and I turned off the engine with my eyes on her and leaned over to place some soft kisses on her forehead with my lips.

"Rest. I'll be right back," I told her quietly and then got out of the car, where Arco immediately ran towards me.

"Well, big one", I greeted him and he was followed by several shepherd dogs, all of whom sniffed at me with interest and were probably enjoying me.

They probably knew my perfume, like everyone in this town.

"What happened?"

Hector appeared on his porch in only gray pajama bottoms and kept glancing from my face to my car and back again. He seemed concerned, but that was nothing new.

"We need to talk," I told him out loud and ran up to him with the dogs, where he politely offered me a seat on the old Hollywood swing. He himself disappeared into the house and came back after a while with two cups filled with coffee.

"Why?" I asked curiously and turned to the old shack behind me. "Am I paying you so badly?"

"That's what lets me sleep in peace," he said, shrugging his shoulders and looking at me kind of wistfully. "You have everything and you were always unhappy, Emilio. It's not the money that lets us sleep peacefully. It's the peace."

I nodded and for the first time really understood that happiness wasn't something that could be bought. Maybe for a moment when you had something new, but this feeling left you quickly.

"So what exactly happened?"

Hector looked at me expectantly and I took a deep breath before taking a long sip of his coffee, which tasted better than any coffee I'd tasted before.

"Was ist-"

"I grind the beans myself. With patience," he smiled proudly, and it was never clearer to me than now that I didn't really know Hector. Sure, he risked his life for me often enough and often stopped me from doing stupid things, but I had never bothered to look behind his facade. I was too busy with myself and in hindsight, I was incredibly sorry for that fact.

"It tastes very good," I answered him gratefully and then looked at my car while my mind wandered to the last evening. "I almost got arrested," I finally explained, and after Hector asked what had happened, I calmly explained everything to him.

I told them that Isalie was being questioned by the police. Also about the fact that she was being followed and last but not least about the fact that my butterfly had returned to me and without her I would probably be in jail now.

"What happened to the bottle?" Hector suddenly wanted to know and I looked up at him in surprise and frowned.

"Flasche?"

"Emilio. The bottle she hit him with. Surely her fingerprints are on it."

"Fuck!" I cursed in horror, getting up in a hurry to pace nervously up and down the porch.

I hadn't thought about that at all, but there were so many people at the Fiesta. It couldn't be proven that it was her. Above all, she had certainly never committed a crime and therefore, they almost certainly did not have her fingerprints in their files.

"Hector, we need a plan and I think I already have one. Only this one is very risky and we would bloody our hands one last time."

I turned to him and watched him as he quietly drained his coffee and then placed the cup on a wooden table.

"Just tell me when and where," he said with an encouraging expression, stopping again as I slowly walked towards him.

"Tonight. One last job for my father and after that it's his turn. He has to die, otherwise Mira, Isalie and I will never be able to live in peace."

He just looked at me in silence for a while and, to my surprise, nodded in agreement. He also knew my father and it would have been fine with me if he didn't participate. However, he seemed loyal to the bitter end.

"One last time," he repeated my words with a slight smile, crouching down to pick up one of his cats, who meowed as if in pain, but apparently just wanted to be near him. "And what does your girl think of this plan, boss?"

He got up with the cat in his arms and nodded to my car. I followed his gaze and watched, my heart beating fast, as my butterfly stretched out in front of the car and then padded towards us with a smile as she greeted every dog ​​around her affectionately.

"She doesn't need to know. Too much bad has happened to her anyway," I whispered into the silence, looking over at Hector until he nodded in agreement and I made my way to my butterfly, this one, under the bright one Sun and surrounded by nature, looked just breathtakingly beautiful.

So free... so peaceful...

And that's exactly how I wanted to see her for the rest of my life...