Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“They’re probably in the suitcase. Come with me. We should talk for a minute before we go down.”
“I’m sure I left them in my makeup bag.”
“I’ll help you look for them later.” He smiles. “Come, sit with me for a minute. Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”
I nod, but the look on his face is serious, and it has me even more worried. “What is it?”
“The Avery family will likely be here tonight.”
The room seems to tilt. “Why?”
“I found out from Thiago that they have bought some property in Avarice.”
“Here?”
“It doesn’t matter. They don’t matter. I just wanted you to be prepared.”
“Can I ask you something? About Camilla?”
He nods.
“Were you together once?”
His eyebrows furrow. “Why?”
“Caius mentioned—”
“Caius?”
“He said you two were supposed to get married.”
Santos’s face shuts down, eyes losing that sheen of moments ago and the line of his mouth tightening. “Did he?”
“Is it true?”
“You have no reason to be jealous.”
“I’m not. I just want to know the truth.”
He studies me. “There was a moment in time that Camilla may have thought she wanted that, but I can assure you I did not, and she was far too young to make that sort of decision.”
“So were you engaged?” I push because I want a straight answer.
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Have you slept with her?”
“Fuck no.” He pauses, seeming to consider something. “I’ve only slept with one other woman in my life, and it wasn’t Camilla Avery,” he says, a sadness lingering along the edges of his words that makes me want to ask him about this woman. “Listen, Madelena, my brother has been known to stir the pot. The cuts,” he says, pausing.
I look away. I can’t hold his gaze.
“I didn’t tell him about those. As far as I’m concerned, it’s no one’s business but ours. Ana told him, and he was fucking with you. With us. That’s all.”
At that last part, I look up at him. I’d guessed it was Ana when Santos told me he hadn’t mentioned it. But the word us? That catches me off guard.
Santos smiles, lines forming around his eyes that have me smiling a small smile too. He wraps one big hand around the back of my head and pulls me toward him.
“You have to learn to trust me, okay? I won’t lie to you. I may leave things out when there is nothing but hurt that can come from my words, but I won’t lie to you. Understand?”
I bite the inside of my cheek, feeling my eyes warm. I nod. I do understand, and there’s a part of me that wants it to be real, that wants him to be honest.
That wants him to want me.
Because he’s right. I am utterly unaccustomed to being wanted. And when you know something like that, when you know it in your bones, it’s hard to un-know.
“Good.” He tilts my head up. “No tears. Not tonight.”
I nod again, still biting my lip, not sure I’ll be able to give him that. He takes my hands in his, does that thing where he weaves his fingers with mine, and God, it feels good. It feels safe and warm and good. Can I trust him? Can I trust this man who entered my life with the words forgive me on his lips just before slitting my palm open?
“Come. Sooner we make an appearance, the sooner we’ll be able to leave.”
32
Madelena
The ballroom is decorated elegantly, the floor shining like a mirror and the chandeliers sparkling with brilliant golden light. I enter on Santos’s arm. His mother, Caius, and Ana follow us in. I can feel Ana’s gaze boring into the back of my head, but I don’t focus on it. She can’t hurt me. She can’t touch me unless I allow her to.
Unless I give her power.
She may know my past, all my ugly secrets. She may share them with Caius. Hell, she already has. But she can’t hurt me unless I allow her to.
Tonight’s event is probably the most important of the three. Local lawmakers are present as well as those from the tri-state area. Since De Léon Enterprises is headquartered here, it is the most important for the business.
The Avery family is here. Most of them, at least. Camilla, Liam, and their mother are seated a few tables away, and Camilla’s voice can be heard over the crowd as she charms every man and woman at their table. I don’t understand it. Don’t people see beyond the physical? She’s lovely to look at and listen to, but she’s rotten on the inside. I felt that from the first instant I saw her.
Ana and Caius are seated at their table, probably to keep an eye on them. There is one empty chair there. I know Santos noticed because I saw how his jaw tensed when he did.
Thiago Avery is missing tonight.
My father is here. He is seated at the table farthest from ours, banished to the shadowy corners when once he sat at the head of every table. He doesn’t smile or acknowledge me in any way, but he does glare at my husband.