Never in her life had Letty been so furious and so hurt by Dom. His actions were appalling to her. What the fuck had this year really been about?
It wasn't even comprehendible. If in their time apart Dom had wanted to be with someone else, he would have come here like a man today and told her. No, the Dom she knew would have told her immediately so she didn't wait for him.
Him wanting to be with anyone else more than physically was absurd by itself. They were apart and both were big kids and could deal with that. No kids and no feelings was how they had lived their time apart.
This was too much.
Nothing about this situation made the least bit of sense.
Now she wanted answers. But in that moment she just needed to get away from him before she murdered him in the streets of Rio.
She had to get out of Rio. She wasn't going to be able to keep it together if she saw his face. He was not going to see what he'd done to her.
Letty ran over to the phone and booked a flight out of Rio for the first thing in the morning. Nothing was available for tonight.
She'd spent the last nine months in India. She'd head back there to the life she was living and try to get past the pain she was feeling right now.
Dom couldn't get his thoughts together in order to think about what came next. He went to every hotel nearby looking for her.
She had kept their date to be here in Rio today.
How was that possible? Where had she been?
Letty had been expecting to meet him here and had been greeted with his lips on Elena's mouth. He unconsciously wiped her away with the back of his hand. Then he felt the sting of Letty's slap.
He wanted her in front of him slapping him. Punching him. Kissing him. Kicking. Screaming. Anything! Anything would do! He needed her back with him.
"Please God! Please don't take her from me again," Dom pleaded in a low voice. "I won't survive this again."
Dom went to the next hotel.
Nine Months, Seven Days Ago
Letty called Manuel as she fled the drug exchange. This was completely crazy, Fenix was killing off these kids after they lost their usefulness. Probably to prevent anyone from telling about the tunnels.
"Fuck! He's killing them!" Manuel says in shock.
"Yeah, I can lose him," Letty says confidently.
Manuel thinks quickly. "Anyway you can stay far enough ahead of him to switch drivers?"
Letty is unsure of the question but answers in the affirmative. Fenix was an idiot and she could outdrive him without issue.
"Okay, I'm close to where we were set to meet. Tell me where to be."
Letty and Perez exchange all the information they need. Then Letty leads Fenix on a chase.
Minutes later Letty hops out and a female agent jumps in her car and she takes off with Perez.
"What is she going to do?" Letty asks, worried about the woman's safety. "Fenix isn't playing tag."
"She's going to wreck your car and we're going to make it look like you died in the wreckage," he explains to her.
"No!"
"Yes! Two of Pennings' men were in the building when you left my office. They saw you and put two and two together. This is the best way to keep you out of danger."
Letty thinks it over for a few seconds. "I need paper and a pen."
Manuel looks at her and then gestures towards his briefcase in the backseat. Letty turns and reaches over the back and grabs a notepad and a pen.
She quickly jots down a message to Mia.
Mia I promise you this is me. I was not in that car and I'm laying low. Tell your brother that I'm looking forward to Carnavale. He will know without a doubt it's me. I love you and will explain myself soon.
"Get this to my sister!" Letty says handing Perez the folded piece of paper.
"Letty!"
"No! Get this to Mia! I'm not letting her think I'm dead. She'll keep the secret safe."
He takes the note and nods his head. "I'll get her the note."
"Good. Now where am I going for my vacation?"
Dom arrives at the Copacabana Palace Hotel and the lobby is overrun with people just like everywhere else in Rio this time of year. He takes no notice of the people as he makes his way to the first desk and asks for Letty Ortiz.
The concierge looks around and doesn't find her on the computer on his guest list. Dom walks away feeling defeated and not knowing what his next move should be. Elena had offered her resources as a cop to help find Letty. Maybe he should call her.
Anything was better than allowing her to escape his grasp. He needed her, even if she only slapped him again. Feeling her skin against his again was a necessity.
A thought hits him and he walks back to the desk.
"Can you check under Letty Toretto? T.O.R.E.T.T.O."
The results are immediate.
"Yes, she is here. Room 309. She's been expecting you and I'm supposed to give Mr. Toretto a key when he arrives looking for her in case she's not in."
The man eyes him suspiciously. How had he not known his wife's last name?
Dom pulls out his old expired license and hands it over to concierge. Once the man is convinced of his identity he hands over the key to the room as the guest had ordered.
Dom can't be bothered to the wait in the line for the elevator and takes the stairs up to Letty's floor. He runs down the hall towards her room. His palms are sweating like the night he snuck into her room and kissed her at 16.
She'd punched him that night. After he had finally convinced her that he was serious and wasn't out for just ass they'd made out for an hour on her bedroom floor. This was scarier.
Dom gets to the door and inhales a steadying breath. What if this wasn't what he thought? What if she wasn't really behind that door? He pushes it open harder than he'd meant to as his fear starts to overtake him.
Letty jumps out of her skin as the door opens wide and Dom enters her hotel room wild eyed, looking like a crazed animal. She doesn't know what to say when she sees him standing there. Twelve hours ago, this was the one thing in the world she had wanted more than anything. Now…
He was so beautiful. The sight of him stopped her heart and then sped it up. But his perfect exterior didn't do anything for the images in her mind.
"Letty," the word is cracked and broken coming out of his lips.
The sight of her is too much for him to bear. He walks around the bed to stand in front of her and drops to his knees before her. The weight of the moment was much too heavy. He was being crushed.
Letty couldn't maintain her rage looking at him on his knees in front of her. This was so confusing. Her feelings and his actions.
He reaches shaking hands out to her. He hesitated to touch her. What if she disappeared when he puts his hands on her? Finally, he pulls her to him. He rests his face against her stomach and crushes her against him in a death grip.
He sighed into her skin. Slight belly exposed brushing against his lips. He moved his mouth over the flesh and moaned into her. It was her.
Letty clenches her fists at her sides, unsure of what to do with her hands. She was fighting her instinct to hug him. It was a difficult fight, but she didn't want to make a mistake. This was so insane given where his mouth had just been.
He kissed someone on their day and their place. Disgust runs through her. She tries to pull away but he grips her tighter, not allowing her to free herself from his touch.
After standing like this and feeling his mouth on her she can't resist and wraps her hands around him tightly. She caresses him and holds him close to her.
"How could you come here today with another woman knowing you were meeting me?" Letty's voice breaks and he looks up and loosens his hold with confusion on his face. He had no idea what she was talking about.
Letty steps out of his arms and around him to shut the door that he'd left open when he entered. She needed some space to think. She leans her back against it and wraps her arms across herself in a protective gesture. She couldn't fall apart in front of him, but she didn't want him to go. She wanted to push him away and pull him close.
What was wrong with her? How could she be so weak?
"Letty, I thought you were dead," Dom says turning to her with his eyes misting over. "I thought you died nine months and 6 days ago. I would never come here like this if I knew you were here. If I knew you were anywhere on earth. Some piece of shit named Fenix murdered you. He took you from me."
Letty's eyes bulge and she pushes off of the door and takes steps towards him.
What the hell was he saying to her right now?
"You didn't get my message Dom?" Letty starts to panic at the implication. What this would mean he'd been going through? Had he thought her dead for all this time?
Her chest starts to hurt and both hands move to it unconsciously. Fear flashes in Dom's eyes at seeing her in pain. He stands up and closes the space between them.
"Letty, I didn't get a fucking message! I thought you were dead! I was at your damn funeral! I couldn't even grieve in the fucking open! I thought you were dead! What message?"
Letty runs to him and gives him a real hug. An embrace like she would have given him hours ago at the parade. She wraps her body tightly around his and kisses his face all over.
"Baby," she whispers.
She kisses the spot on his lip where she slapped him and deepens the action. Dom's mind goes blurry with her mouth on his. He couldn't question her if his brain couldn't form words.
"I'm sorry!" Letty says into his mouth. "I sent you a message telling you I couldn't wait to see you here today! To make sure you knew I was alive."
She pulls back and tries to send the apology to him with her eyes.
Dom pulls her mouth back to his and starts kissing her furiously. Willing this to be real and not an elaborate hoax of his mind. Not a final psychotic break from reality.
He pulls back gasping for breath. He sinks to the floor again with her on his lap. He's weak from the emotion as he stares into her face. Pressing the hair out of the way. Savoring her features.
"Why were you dead Letty? Why? What?" He begs her for answers with his mouth, eyes and touches. "I don't understand. Make me understand why you did this to me." Dom pleads as an emotion he'd never felt towards her starts to overtake him. It starts to chip at his happiness and he didn't want to feel that.
"I can't say anything that could make up for hurting you Dom! Other than I never never intended to. I don't know how to explain away your hurt. Nine months worth." Letty grabs him by the collar of his shirt and shakes him, willing him to understand. "God Dom, I don't even know what to say right now."
Dom grabs her hands and looks at her. She seems foreign to him. It hurts. His Letty never apologized, but she rarely had reason. His Letty wouldn't do this.
"Tell me! You were working for Brian and Fenix killed you after a run! That's what I know. Tell me!" Dom raises his voice at her and squeezes her hands much harder than he means to.
Letty's face contorts at the agony in his features and in his voice. She leans forward and kisses him willing some of his hurt into her own body. She had never been more sorry in her life.
"I was working for FBI Internal Affairs to get them some dirty cops. Working for Brian was just a cover for what I was really doing. Someone found me out and we took an opportunity that arose to make me disappear. But I always thought you knew! I couldn't do this to you Dom! I always always thought you knew!"
Dom slides her off of him and away from her a bit. "I didn't know! I didn't know Letty! I knew that you were dead in the ground and that I was dead too! What were you thinking? You were supposed to go home and let me take care of us."
Letty's will to fight battles her will to gain forgiveness.
"I was thinking I didn't want to spend one day away from you again! I was thinking there had to be a better way than hiding for the rest of our lives! I was thinking that I couldn't leave Mia alone again."
Letty slides forward and puts her arms around him and kisses him. "I was thinking that I'm selfish and I wanted everything. But I was never ever thinking I was hurting you. I called Mia as soon as I could and she was gone. Han wasn't where he was supposed to be. So I had to wait until today. I didn't want to dig while you were laying low until I had your freedom in my hands, which was only three weeks ago. I would never hurt you Dom."
Dom stands up quickly. "But you did hurt me Letty!"
Letty puts her face in her hands. She couldn't take this all in. She had never envisioned this. Him alone thinking of her dead somewhere.
"You hurt me so badly Letty."
"I didn't mean to Dom. I came here today thinking I was meeting you and you had been waiting for this moment."
Dom moves closer to her and sits back on the floor in front of her.
She looks up into his eyes. A shell of the fiery Latina who looked like she wanted to throw him off the balcony at the parade.
"What can I do Dom?"
Dom down looks on Letty for a few moments and pulls her to her feet. He picks her up into his arms.
"Nothing. You did it all by walking back into my life."
Letty locks her arms around him and buries her face into his neck.
"Don't you know I would never do this Dom." Letty swears to him. "I couldn't walk around thinking you were dead. I would never want that for you."
"Thinking you were dead hurt me in a way that I can't even explain."
Dom carries her to the bed and sits her down and starts kissing her on the lips.
"I'm sorry I hurt you Dom," Letty says grimacing. She shakes her head back and forth feeling the full affects of her guilt. Her eyes sting at the thoughts of what he endured. Had she ever thought she lost him to this earth she'd go crazy.
"Just heal me," Dom begs into her perfect lips.
She nods her head against his and closes her eyes at the contact.
She reaches and pulls the shirt over his head. She runs her hands over his body and chills run through her at touching his exposed skin.
Dom kisses her stomach and up her body pushing the shirt up as he goes and pulls it off her. As Dom kisses her cleavage Letty reaches behind herself and takes off her bra.
Both his hands fly to her breasts and he kneads them in his palms. Letty places her hands on top of his and puts her head back at the touch.
Dom leans forward and allows his tongue to taste the skin on her neck. They both groan.
This was surreal.
Letty moves her hips off the bed, pushing into the hardness between her legs.
Dom takes one hand and puts it between them and unbuttons her jeans and slides them down her legs.
He looks down at her and his body starts to ache for her. He stands and pulls out of his pants and a swift motion. He removes her panties as she continues to massage her own breasts in her hands.
Stroking himself up and down he crawls back over her and takes hold of her leg and pushes the tip of his penis into her.
He digs into her hip from the contact. This was seriously happening. This feeling was proof that she was still alive.
Letty's hands fly to his arms, as he makes his way inside her. Her fingers lock around them and she shivers under him.
Dom pushes into and pulls out of her slowly before moving all the way inside. Her body arches off the bed trying to get as close to him as possible.
"I don't ever want to miss you again," Dom whispers leaning over her to kiss her while he sets the pace for their coupling.
When their lips part Letty burrows her face into his shoulder and tightens her grasp on him.
"You won't."
Early the next morning, Letty gets out of bed with a sleeping Dom and goes over to her bag and grabs out the paperwork that cleared his warrants and gave him a second chance at freedom. What a mess these papers had caused!
She hadn't done so much as a 'Google' search of him in India and didn't know about any of the mess back here. She hadn't known Dom had killed Fenix, broken out of prison and been on the run. She was in a bubble in India waking up happy in the morning and going to bed missing him but hopeful.
She'd been doing exactly what he wanted from her after she'd caused damage that she wasn't even aware of.
What the hell had she done? She'd only caught a glimpse of what she had done to him. Even thinking of how bad it must have gotten for him was suffocating.
She stands and looks over at Dom and grimaces. What if he hadn't been here last night? How long would it have taken her to get back to him?
Letty got up and went out to her balcony with her cell phone and called Perez. He had a lot of explaining to do.
"Perez."
"It's Ortiz."
"Letty…"
"You didn't give Mia my message!" she says, but not angrily. More drained. "You lied to me. You didn't even tell me about what was going on with Dom and my family when we talked. I walked into this shit completely blind!"
"Please let me explain," Manuel begs on the other end of the phone.
"Do it!"
Nine months, Six Days Ago.
Hours after Perez picks her up, Letty is on a plane out of the country. She'd make a stop and end up in India. An interesting pick. Not where he envisioned Leticia Ortiz.
Manuel walks back to his car after watching the private plane take off. His boss is standing leaning against the car with Letty's note in hand. He hadn't even heard him drive up with the noise of the plane in his ears.
"What is this Perez?" The older man asks.
"Ortiz wrote a note for her family. It was part of her deal."
"Did you read it?"
Manuel shakes his head. Now he was suddenly wishing he had. That note would never see the light of day.
Perez's boss rips the note into quarters and sticks it in his own jacket pocket.
"Sir! There is no need for the family to think she's dead. The last thing they going to do is clue in the cops!"
"Everyone would sell out their mother for the right price!"
Manuel fights to honor his word, "We can't do this. I promised her. She did everything we asked of her, faster than we could have imagined. We can still go see the sister and give her the note."
Perez's boss pushes off of the car and moves closer to his subordinate.
"Let's be clear! If you go anywhere near the Toretto girl with this, your career is over. For the first time we have an airtight case against guys we've been trying to get for years. I'm not risking them finding out she's alive and taking care of the evidence that she pointed us to before we can act on it."
"You can't do this! I made a deal with her."
"A deal you weren't authorized to make! Not happening; end of discussion."
His boss walks away leaving him standing there.
Letty listens to his story and squeezes her eyes shut.
"How could you not tell me when I saw you three weeks ago?" Letty demands, struggling to keep her voice down.
She looks down at the crowds below thinking about the impossibility of them finding each other in this madness. Yet they had been only steps apart.
"I was going to! But…you scare the shit out of me! I knew that telling you after I waited this long, you'd kill me!"
Letty can't help smirking on her end of the phone. She doesn't say anything to let him off the hook.
Manuel exhales on the other end of the phone. "I can't say anything to make this right. I do, however, have a peace offering."
"No thanks," Letty answers coolly. She didn't want to trust his word again.
"I took care of Mia and Brian's charges too! Without Toretto's most of their charges went away, but I fought hard for what was left! It was the least I could do."
"It's the very least you could do. Send it to my P.O. Box in Rio and in India."
Letty hangs up the phone in his ear without any formalities. She was done with that chapter in her life for good. It wasn't all bad. Her man was free and running and hiding was over for them.
She looks up to find Dom sitting up in bed watching her on the balcony with a contented look in his eyes.
"Come back to bed," Dom says, reaching out a hand to her.
She walks back into the hotel and pulls the door shut behind. She walks over to him in her robe and takes his hand. He kisses her palm and holds it to his mouth as she climbs across his stomach and sits down. Tossing the phone aside to be lost in the sheets and blankets.
"What's that?" Dom indicates the papers that she's still holding in her other hand.
Letty gives them to Dom and smirks as he reads it over and realizes what it is. There was some good in this craziness. She had to keep telling herself that or she'd die knowing how she hurt him.
Dom throws the papers on the floor when he's done. "Stop that." He reads her mind easily.
"What?"
"Feeling bad. We're done with that. I feel bad and guilty about putting your life in danger all these years. You feel bad for this. We're wasting the time we have. We can't waste our time together anymore."
Dom rolls her over and opens her robe. He slides down and latches on to her clit and licks down into her. He uses his tongue to clear all thoughts from her mind. He continues until he's sucking down the new taste of her orgasm in his mouth.
He sits up when she relaxes under him and smiles looking at the pleasure in her slightly closed eyes. He had time to bring that look to her eyes again. He had a chance to drive her body insane again. He had so much time now, when he thought he'd had all he was going to have with her.
After she catches her breath she sits up on her elbows.
"I have a question," her tone too serious in the moment.
Dom crawls up her body and kisses her again. "Ask."
"Don't you think nine months is a little soon to have a girlfriend?" She pulls all the way back to look at his face.
Dom rolls off of her and lies back on the bed next to her, placing his a hand casually behind his head.
"Don't you think one day is a little soon to come back from the grave busting my balls?" Dom replies. Not even resurrection could give them time off from fighting.
"No," Letty replies honestly. "Answer."
"Yep, it's definitely too soon! That's why I do not have a girlfriend." Dom looks over at Letty. There is no reaction to the words. "Elena and I have only seen each other a couple times. She visited me at home once and she invited me here for Carnavale since she's from Rio."
Letty groans and sits all the way up. "I invited you here first!" Letty doesn't even hide the pout on her lips.
"Really? A tantrum?" Dom teases her and sits up next to her, trying not to laugh at her.
"Yes!" Letty whines, annoyed at him making fun of her. "I don't like coming here seeing you kissing on some woman when you're supposed to be meeting me!"
Dom rubs his face where she slapped him the night before. "I know! And I'm ever grateful you didn't punch me!"
"I should have!" Letty starts the rant that she'd been holding in. "It was disgusting. I waited a year for this day and there you are kissing someone! Your mouth belongs to me!"
Dom moves quickly and kisses her shutting her up instantly. Her eyes close as their mouths caress each other.
"My everything belongs to you," Dom answers her argument pulling back. It takes Letty a little longer to open her eyes. "I promise that if you ever fake die again that I'll never kiss, touch, or think about another woman again! That make you happy?"
Letty pretends to think over his question for a long moment. Then she nods, "Actually it does."
"Good. Now, get on there and teach me a lesson!" Dom looks down indicating his erection.
Letty looks down at it and bites her lip in anticipation. Then she smiles and takes the open robe completely off and throws it off the bed onto the floor. She climbs onto his erection and sinks all the way down over him.
They both close their eyes. This was good. This was perfect. This was true love.
As Letty starts to move over him, Dom is flooded with a sense of completion that he hadn't felt in one year and one day. Since the moment he willed himself out of that chair in the Dominican Republic.
He sits up and places a soft kiss on her cheek.
"God Letty, everything I thought I knew about you…"
"Turned out to be true," she finishes, picking up the pace.
It Is Finished!