Love or Safety?

Summary: If you had to kill the love of your life, would you for your own safety? Or would you protect them? Jackson has to decide when given the choice to kill his girlfriend, the daughter of the criminal master mind, Raul Rodriguez. But the choice isn't as simple as it seems. What will he choose?

Chapter Two

Jackson watched as Cara broke down in front of him, holding her face in her hands as she cried. He put his arms around her and stroked her soft, brown hair.

"Why would somebody want to kill me? I know that I did things in the past... But I-" she began to cry even more, gripping onto him.

Jackson avoided the real reason why she was involved in this. If he told her, he knew she'd run straight to her father, and that wouldn't end well for anyone.

"Listen, nothing's going to happen to you." He looked down at her. She met his gaze with hopeful eyes. He glanced away from her and pulled her closer to him, embracing her. "I guarantee it." He hated giving her false hope, but what else could he do?

"We should call my dad." She nodded, wiping her eyes. "He can fix this." She let go of him and began to pace. "He should fix this; I mean it's his fault I'm in this mess!" She looked at him; the look on her face said it all, the surprise and the panic of her situation just made itself known. She was terrified.

"How do you know that your father got you into this?"

"Well why else would there be a target on my head? What have I done to deserve this?"

He gulped back his guilt and sighed. "You've done nothing… He just messed with the wrong people."

She nodded in understanding. "It seems that every member of our family pays for his actions."

"What do you mean?" Jackson was confused. This was the first time he had heard anything about her father. Yes he knew that he was in the same line of work as him; Cara was too for a short period of time, but apart from that, everything else was swept under the rug.

"My mother died because of him. And they were divorced at the time. She was meaningless to him, but they still killed her."

"Who killed her?"

"Your company. They've been rivals with my father for some time now. They tried peaceful co-existence back in the day, but that came to nothing." She sighed and took a seat at the breakfast table. "My mother lost her life, and now the same thing will happen to me."

Jackson crouched beside her and put his hand over hers. "I'm sorry for what happened but I'm not going to let anything happen to you." He gave her a reassuring look and got back onto his feet. "You have my word." He turned to walk out of the kitchen.

"Jack." She called out, watching him.

He turned to look at her. "Yes?"

"I love you." She gave him a small smile.

He smiled and ran his hand through his hair. "I love you too Cara."

Jackson paced in his bedroom, his hands attached to his head and his eyes squeezed shut. Calling Raul was the smartest thing to do, for Cara but he didn't know how he was going to handle Jackson, just look at it. A man from a rival company, with his daughter who is also sent out to kill her… He didn't know if he would survive.

It had to be done. For her. For their unborn child.

Jackson locked the door and searched for Cara's phone. She was bound to have her father's number. Once he had found it, he searched her call list, hoping to find it somewhere.

"Hola?" the man's voice was deep and in the background he could hear many people talking.

"Raul Rodriguez?"

"Sí?"

"Raul, this is Jackson Rippner." He tried to sound confident; there was no room for uncertainty when it came to dealing with Raul.

"Rippner." He snarled. There was a banging noise and then the background noise disappeared. "What do you want? What business do you have to call me?"

"Sir, I need to talk to you about your daughter, Cara. She's in trouble."

"Cara…" he said quietly. "What are you doing with my Cara?"

"I need you to listen to me, I have been sent to take her out."

"What!? I swear Rippner, lay one finger on her and I swear to you I will make you wish you were never born." Raul threatened seriously.

"I don't want to hurt your daughter. I'm in love with her."

"If this is some sort of trick…"

"No trick, just truth." Jack sighed and rubbed his temple. "I need you to take Cara while I bargain for her safety. I know that you'll be able to care for her much better than I could ever hope to."

There was a long silence as Raul thought. Jackson began to grow anxious. He may as well give himself up to the company and get his misery over and done with.

"I will do it." He said finally, a much calmer tone taking over him. "Bring her to my home in Chilapa. If there is anywhere that she will be safe, it is there."

"You want me to take her to Mexico? I hate to break this to you, but right now, your daughter hates you. How am I going to convince her to go there?"

"Personally Rippner, I don't care what you tell her or how you get her here. I want you to bring her to me until you fix this mess that you have gotten her in."

A moment later the line went down. He stared at the phone and threw it onto the bed beside in frustration. He unlocked the door and returned to Cara. She was too busy worrying to even notice that he had left her.

"Cara…" he said with a sigh. She looked at him and raised her eyebrow. "I have to tell you something."

"Just come out with it Jackson." She watched him, searching his expression for any clues.

"I've asked your father to help me keep you safe. Long story short, I'm booking a flight to Mexico."

He watched her appearance grew less and less friendly. Her terror turned to anger. "Excuse me?"