Complicado (Queen of the South, My Season 6)

Part 26 - Vida de Hombre

Marcel got behind the wheel with the anticipation of getting to the house as soon as possible to tell Chicho that all numbers had added up, that all legal documents had been executed, and that Teresa's venture capital had officially backed up their construction of the Riviera Diamante, the new flashy name for the resort.

He had spent the afternoon and the early evening with Teresa, Kelly Anne and Louise in the venture cap's offices downtown pouring over documents and was feeling the need to unwind. It had all come to fruition! He couldn't have been happier that he had run into Teresa Mendoza on the plane a month ago!

He tuned the women's chatting out as he let the car cruise on the wide road out of town. The kidnapping of his daughter had left a sour taste in his mouth, but as James had promised him that there would be 'no loose ends', Marcel had decided to put his trust in the man. After all Teresa Mendoza did put her trust in him daily!

Then came the pickup's blinding lights in his face, the awful sound of metal hitting metal and the spinning of the car. He knew the truck would T-bone them and possibly turn them over from the driver's side and all of them would stand a very little chance of survival, so he instinctively turned the wheel to the left, the car swerved, and his front driver's side hit the big ugly face of the pickup as he took the whole impact.

All Marcel was able to do was squeeze his eyes shut and hold his breath as the car kept spinning until it came to a thudding stop without being hit again by the truck's huge body mass. He remembered hearing the terrified screams of the women.

He felt being sucked in by the vertigo and it suddenly felt easy to just let go. The thought swelled his mental muscles and was quickly outrun by the loss of blood and by the pain.

The next few moments seemed like an eternity past. His mind, which was a pool of muddy water that was getting filthier by the second, gave in and he only felt Teresa's and someone else's arms supporting him as they were trying to get him out of the car. He smelt smoke but could not turn his head to see if it was their car that was on fire; then he heard women's voices and it all became black.

===

Teresa scrambled out of the car, yanked the driver's door open, thinking that they needed to get unconscious Marcel out before the car caught on fire. The blood on him made her gag, but she pushed the thought in a compartment in her brain and stiffened up.

She saw Louise in the back seat, who had lost all her composure as Kelly Anne, who also looked like a wild animal, was trying to help her exit the car from her banged up door.

"Hold on tight, Marcel, the EMS are here...don't let go...stay with me", Teresa kept repeating as she held Marcel's hand.

She could not say when she was removed from the scene by firemen, or when they had arrived. Her mind kept replaying the instance in which she had seen Marcel's hand swerve the wheel to ensure he would take the blow, basically giving his life to save the three of them.

She could feel the tears running uncontrolled down her face as red and blue lights kept lighting up the area and emergency personnel kept talking indistinctly around her. She saw a paramedic inject her with something, then move over to Louise who had blood on her arms.

Teresa tried to ask if Marcel was alive, but the man told her something that sounded incoherent.

When she woke up, she was lying in a hospital bed, hooked to a monitor, while James and Tony sat on both sides of the bed, heads in their hands, faces pale and tired.

"Did he make it?" were her first words.

"Yes, he'll live...but he may not walk again." James said softly and bent over her to kiss her on the forehead.