Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Had Been Watching Them All Along
The attackers never entered the clinic.
They didn't need to.
They wanted Tessa to know they could.
After ten minutes, the gunfire stopped.
The valley became silent again.
Security teams arrived.
There was no trace of the men.
Only shell casings.
A tire track.
And a message carved into the clinic's wooden door.
COME HOME, TESSA.
Tessa stared at it.
Priya stood beside her.
“They know where you are.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Tessa shook her head.
“I don't know.”
But she did.
Somewhere inside herself, she knew.
The past had finally caught up.
She called Raphael.
He answered immediately.
“Tessa.”
She closed her eyes.
His voice was the one thing she had not realized she missed until she heard it.
“Are you safe?”
“For now.”
“What happened?”
She told him.
Not everything.
But enough.
When she finished, silence stretched between them.
Raphael spoke quietly.
“You're not coming home.”
“I don't know.”
“Yes, you do.”
Tessa's eyes filled.
“Don't.”
“You're trying to protect yourself.”
“Maybe.”
“From me?”
“From everyone.”
“Then come home.”
“No.”
“I can protect you.”
Tessa laughed sadly.
“You still don't understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
“I can't.”
“You can.”
She closed her eyes.
“I need to finish something here.”
“You won't do it alone.”
“I'm already not alone.”
“Who is with you?”
“Priya.”
“That isn't what I meant.”
Tessa didn't answer.
Raphael's voice softened.
“You're afraid.”
She swallowed.
“Yes.”
It was the first time she'd admitted it.
Raphael was silent.
Then he said,
“So am I.”
She opened her eyes.
“You?”
“I have been afraid since you left.”
“Of what?”
“That you were never really planning to come back.”
Tessa looked down.
“I wasn't.”
The words hurt both of them.
Raphael inhaled.
“Then tell me one thing.”
“What?”
“Do you still love me?”
Her throat tightened.
“Yes.”
“Then come home.”
She shook her head.
“I love you.”
She looked toward the mountains.
“But I don't trust the world around you anymore.”
“Then let me come to you.”
“No.”
“Tessa.”
“You can't fix this by walking into it.”
“Maybe not.”
His voice dropped.
“But I can stand beside you while you fix it.”
For the first time, she had no answer.
He continued.
“I won't command you.”
“You already said that.”
“This time I mean it.”
“Why?”
“Because I finally understand what I did.”
She cried silently.
Raphael said,
“I chose the room over you.”
“Yes.”
“I chose the alliance over your dignity.”
“Yes.”
“I thought love meant protecting you from my world.”
“Yes.”
“And I was wrong.”
Tessa wiped her eyes.
“What do you think love means now?”
Raphael answered without hesitation.
“Trusting you enough to let you walk into the darkness without pretending I know better than you.”
She closed her eyes.
“Goodbye, Raphael.”
The call ended.
He stared at his phone.
Tomas stood in the doorway.
“She hung up?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to Nepal?”
Raphael looked toward the window.
“I am.”
Tomas sighed.
“You promised not to interfere.”
“I won't.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Raphael stood.
“Going where my wife is.”
He boarded a private flight two hours later.
Meanwhile, Tessa and Priya discovered another hidden file.
The file contained medical records from nine years earlier.
The patient was not Raphael.
It was a young woman.
Sloan Mercer.
She had been treated for a gunshot wound.
In Nepal.
On the same night Raphael was wounded.
Tessa stared.
“She was there.”
Priya nodded.
“Beside the attackers.”
Tessa read the report.
Sloan had lied about her identity.
She was not a civilian.
She was working with the group that had attacked the convoy.
But the hospital had treated her because Tessa insisted every injured person received care.
Even enemies.
Tessa remembered the night.
She remembered a frightened woman.
A blood-soaked dress.
A frightened voice.
A promise.
“Please.”
Tessa had saved her.
Tessa sat down.
“She was the woman I treated.”
Priya looked at her.
“Then why did she become his mistress?”
Tessa stared at the page.
“Maybe she didn't.”
“What do you mean?”
Tessa remembered something.
Years ago.
At a charity event.
Sloan had introduced herself.
She had known details about Tessa that she shouldn't have known.
At the time, Tessa thought it was coincidence.
Now it wasn't.
Sloan had been watching.
Waiting.
Tessa's phone buzzed.
A message.
YOU SAVED MY LIFE ONCE.
A second message followed.
I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU THEN.
Tessa's blood went cold.
Then another.
BUT RAPHAEL WAS ALWAYS MORE USEFUL ALIVE.
Tessa looked at Priya.
“She didn't become his mistress for him.”
She whispered,
“She became his mistress to get close to me.”
Before Priya could respond, a familiar black SUV appeared outside the clinic.
Tessa's heart stopped.
Raphael stepped out.
He looked up at the building.
May you like
For the first time since she had left New York, Tessa allowed herself to breathe.
He had come.
