belladonna | alejandro vargas ✓

【Chapter 12】

She was glad she wasn't the biggest mess inside the building.

His gentle touch on her hand snapped her out of it.

"We saved 52 women out of there, thanks to you," he said like he was truly proud of her. Beadie blinked away the tears that wanted to come out. "We got Sin Nombre, too. It all turned out good."

Not for everybody.

"How's Isabel?" Beadie asked, her voice breaking in the middle. It felt wrong to say her name out loud, afraid to cause any more damage to the poor woman.

"She's recovering at a nearby hospital. Rudy is there to make sure she's alright."

Beadie nodded, averting her gaze again. The images of Isabel's abused body surfaced in her mind again, her chest piercing with pain and tears coming to blur her vision.

"We can stop," Alejandro offered once again, seeing how much it affected her.

Beadie shook her head and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. The material darkened where her tears got absorbed, taunting her about her weakness even more.

"I'm fine," her tone snapped, getting fed up. She didn't want to feel so weak. But she had no idea how to be strong. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Alejandro reached over to snatch a pen, flicking the cap off with a swift motion. "Tell me what you remember. Names, titles, anything that could help us. Even descriptions are useful."

So she did. Beadie spilled everything she managed to gather in that one week at the mansion. It wasn't easy to talk about some stuff like how the girls were treated during their stay, but it got a little easier with time as she talked about it more and the people responsible for it.

Alejandro took notes of everything she said, asking questions here and there, making sure they didn't skim over things. They talked for hours, ignoring how their conversation bled from the late night hours into dawn, the whole world quieting down around them.

Beadie talked for hours, her knees pulled to her chest, trying to get as comfortable as possible. She was on the verge of falling asleep but eventually, she got out everything she needed. The calm air around them, Alejandro's deep voice and the fact she didn't have a full night's sleep in a week almost made her fall asleep right then and there.

But despite her tiredness, she didn't miss the way his jaw tensed whenever he looked at her. She wondered if she did something wrong, but his words were quick to soothe her nerves.

"I think we're done here," Alejandro cleared his throat, causing Beadie's half-closed eyes to spring open.

"Finally," she murmured, starting to untangle her legs from the weird position. She didn't expect him to hear her words though, so his chuckle took her off-guard.

"I'm sorry it took so long," Alejandro leaned back in his chair, a low groan leaving his lips as he finally stretched out his muscles. "Do you have any other questions?"

Why didn't Graves check up on me not even once?

But she felt stupid for even wanting to ask that. Whenever she thought about her commander, she just felt annoyed. If it were the other way around, she wouldn't rest until she made sure her second-in-command was safe and okay. Hell, even if it was just another squad member.

She even worried for Soap's wellbeing, despite barely knowing him.

She was just disappointed, but she wouldn't let it show for nothing.

"Can I get back to my room now?" Beadie asked, standing from her seat and ignoring how her muscles ached. She felt like she could sleep for a week straight.