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After I'd calmed down a bit, we got back in the car, but Hector suddenly just looked at me with concern and didn't seem to think about driving immediately.

"Are you really aware of what can happen right now? So many things could go wrong."

While his voice was serious, it was also compassionate and gentle. I nodded hesitantly, staring absently out of the windshield at the darkness, which for the first time didn't strike me as negative. That black gave me the peace of mind I needed at that moment, but I had to admit that Hektor was right.

I wasn't about to face a stranger, but someone I've known all my life...

And yet, the bad things about him far outweighed the good things, and I gave Hector a determined look to reassure him that everything that was about to happen was in accordance with my conscience.

I wouldn't regret anything...

"It will relieve me of a burden that has been a part of me for far too long. I want to be free, Hector. No more child on a faded Polaroid."

Hector nodded and, to my satisfaction, finally started the engine while my gaze wandered to the property next to us one last time. Normally I would have torched that trailer just to cover my tracks, but I already had a warrant out for my arrest and I really wanted the police to find those photos. Perhaps they would find connections to other men this pig was in contact with and thus save some children from such an experience.

Hektor drove faster and faster through the narrow streets and my heart beat against my chest more and more desperately. But it wasn't as if it was pure desperation. It was more the panic that something could go wrong. But even if we did, at least we tried to find a way that would make everyone happy.

"How long are your pills actually effective?" I asked Hector after a while, who just looked at me with irritation.

"Are you having a headache again?"

I frowned in confusion before remembering that he had given me a painkiller.

"I don't mean the pill. I mean the sleeping pills!"

"Have you taken any?" he demanded, horrified, and I just stared at him, as it sounded like taking those pills was something bad.

"No, how come?"

"Well," he said thoughtfully, glancing at me again and again as he calmly steered the car. "If I take two pieces, then I'll sleep like 9-10 hours. Why are you even asking?"

"Just like that," I said relieved and looked at the clock on the car radio. We had already been on the road for more than two hours and were therefore well on time. I wanted to be with her before she woke up. That was very important to me, because how would she feel, all alone in an unfamiliar environment. terribly lonely for sure...

"We are there."

I looked out my window at the gate of my father's villa and eyed the two guards and the porter, then turned to Hector.

"There aren't any guards inside at this hour. We send them home and go in. This has nothing to do with them and I don't want to spill any more blood than is necessary."

"All right, boss," said Hector very calmly and immediately I got out of the car ahead of him to walk straight across the street to the high, black gate, where I was immediately greeted politely.

"You can go home. I urgently need to talk to my father alone and Hektor will take over here," I instructed the three guys in dark suits, who just eyed me skeptically.

"We only take orders from-"

I raised my hand and didn't even let the guy with the bald head and the submachine gun finish. Calmly I took my wallet out of the inside pocket of my jacket and threw several 1000 euros at the feet of the men, who kept looking back and forth between the money and me with wide eyes.

"Money or death," I said without expression, and after the porter was the first to bend down to take some bills, the others immediately followed suit.

Although I was glad that my father always treated these men badly and paid them badly, this sight made it clear to me once again that loyalty always had a price...

"You didn't see anything! Got it?!", Hektor instructed the three a little rougher and they immediately put down their weapons to run off across the street behind us.

"Just a few sheets of paper with numbers on them. Someone should ask me again why I appreciate dogs more than people."

Hector looked down at the guns and I really had to agree with him. A good watchdog would never be distracted by a steak, no matter how tasty it might be.

We picked up our weapons in the stillness of the night, unlocked the gate with the key from the cottage, and walked in slowly, walking silently up the long driveway between the trees and lawn.

My mind was rattling like an unmaintained carousel, but I knew we had a plan and this plan would work. It just had to work! Anything else would be unacceptable.

"You know what to do?" I wanted to know from Hektor when we arrived at the wide front door and he immediately nodded, laying his hand on my shoulder at the same time.

"I know," it came out of him, barely audible, and I felt completely different too, with the feeling that it could soon be a goodbye forever.

"Please tell Isalie I love her and take care of her."

"Of course. You can count on that."

I hugged my only friend in the world and even though he was just my driver at first, he has become so much more to me that it almost hurt to see him for the last time.

"Let's go."

I knocked loudly on the door several times and felt my heart beating louder and more desperately against my ribs. It was painful, but even that wouldn't stop me anymore.

"Who's there?!", I heard my father's voice and at the same time, you could also hear the sound of him moving his security camera over us.

I grinned for the camera and Hektor smiled too next to me, although I really noticed when he looked at him that he put on a scary face when he seemed happy. My butterfly recognized this fact immediately. But I first had to face my death in order to be able to perceive such trivialities.

When the door in front of us opened, I tore myself from the sight of Hector and looked straight into my father's eyes, who was straightening his burgundy dressing gown with one hand and his pistol in the other.

"Are you crazy, showing up at this hour!" he hissed angrily, glancing at Hector before snapping at me again. "Do you have the-"

I didn't want to hear another word from him! No more humiliation and slammed his fist under his chin so hard that he cursed loudly and immediately staggered a few steps backwards.

"You're finally going to shut your fucking face up!" I warned him, watching as Hector rushed towards him to steal his pistol. Only when I nodded to him did Hektor disappear from the villa, giving us time to say goodbye.

"What are you doing there?!" my father asked beside himself and at the same time I saw the great panic, but also anger and hatred reflected in his eyes.

"Something I should have done a long time ago! You're a bastard! Did you send me to that son of a bitch in the trailer?! Did you want me to break on those pictures!?"

I yelled louder and louder and my anger at him was almost uncontrollable, but I finally let it out and had no intention of ever again swallowing even a bad feeling caused by him. The certainty that Mira's bedroom was upstairs and that my mother lay in bed half dead every night anyway, pumped full of antidepressants, also made me realize that nobody could hear us.

"What are you talking about?!", he wanted to know and took a step back, but I immediately ran towards him again and enjoyed it when he was standing with his back against the wall and had no chance to escape from me.

"When I was little, I often stood there like that," I said coldly, constantly looking into his fear-filled eyes. "I always called for you, but you never came..."

More and more emotion shot through me and when he tried to say something again, I knew that no matter what words would come out of his mouth, he couldn't make amends. They were desperate attempts to save his ass, because people were only brave until they were faced with someone who had nothing left to lose.

And then suddenly Isalie popped into my mind and the certainty that it was his fault she left me, if only for a little while.

"Our love is stronger than your hate," I whispered and he looked at me with wide eyes as if he didn't understand what I was talking about, but this man didn't know love anyway.

"Emilio, es tut mir-"

That's when I started punching his face with my fists uncontrollably. I kept hitting him and this time there would be no twins to prolong his miserable life. Even when he slid down the wall and his face could not be seen because of the blood, I didn't stop surrendering to this liberating high.

Tears of relief ran down my cheeks and then, just as I thought he was dead, I suddenly felt Hector's hand on my shoulder and turned around to face him, extremely fast.

My breathing came raggedly over my lips and my chest filled with air faster and faster, while I could only see Hector through my veil of tears as a blur.

But what I recognized very clearly was the pistol in his hand, which he was pointing right at me.

"I'm sorry, boss."

And then there was this loud shot that made my whole body tremble. I felt the pain, but no longer afraid.

It felt more like...

... like freedom...