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“Why did you come to see me at the school? Why did you tell me about my grandfather stealing from us?”
“Because it was truth. That’s one thing you’ll get with me, Sofia. Truth. I won’t lie to you.”
“So what? I mean, it doesn’t make it easier.”
“This isn’t about being easy. There is no easy.”
“Do you hate me that much?”
“I don’t hate you. I hate your name,” he snapped.
His sudden anger startled me. The attendant returned with our drinks and dropped off a dinner menu. I took mine but didn’t bother to look at it. I knew he didn’t either, even though his attention seemed riveted on the thing.
“The last time we saw each other, you told me to forget what had happened. I told you it’s not an option. That doesn’t mean I don’t want it to be,” he said. “There are things I would give years of my life to forget, Sofia.”
Those last words he spoke so quietly, they made me stop. Made me study him, his face, his eyes, which he kept on the menu rather than looking at me. Part of me understood. I understood why he felt he had to do this. It didn’t make it right, not by a long shot. And I’d still be the one punished for sins I’d not committed. I’d be the one—
He cut off my thoughts when he turned to me suddenly.
“It doesn’t have to be terrible for you. Three years, then you’re free. A marriage in name only. I’ll even make sure you’re not out on the street afterward, if you’re a good girl.”
The blue of his eyes shone. So much emotion swirled like a deadly twister behind them.
“What if I say no?” I asked.
It took him a moment to answer, and he only did so after studying my face, my eyes.
“You already said yes.”
“I can change my mind.”
“This conversation is a waste of time. You won’t change your mind, because if you do, I will destroy your family. Even if you don’t care that your grandfather will rot in jail, you do care about your sister.”
He said it with such spite, such hate, I physically felt nauseous at his words.
“You and Lina are very close.”
It was such an abrupt change of subject, it surprised me. “I love her. I will do anything to protect her.” I dropped my gaze to my lap.
“I know. That’s what makes this so damn easy.”
The flight attendant returned to take our dinner order, and the man I glimpsed, the one beneath the hate, vanished.
“I’m not hungry,” I said, handing back the card.
“She’ll have the steak. We both will.”
“I said I’m not hungry.”
“You need to eat.”
“I’m fine.
“Steak,” he repeated to the attendant.
“I don’t eat red meat.”
He looked at me like he didn’t believe me but went along with it. “Make it the chicken for my fiancée, then. And another drink for me, please. I’m obviously going to need it.”
She nodded and walked away.
“I’m not hungry. I won’t eat it.”
“You will. You’ve become too skinny.”
“Anticipation of my future.”
“Ouch.”
“If it’s true, what you said my grandfather is doing—stealing from us—” To say it out loud made it real. “Can I protect Lina’s inheritance?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “I can help you, or I can hurt you. Choose the battles you fight with me carefully.”
What the hell did that mean?
“Tell me something.” He leaned in close to whisper. “Pretty girl like you. You must have had boyfriends at that school?”
All seriousness had vanished. He was cocky, arrogant, asshole Raphael again. I glared at him then shifted my gaze out the window at the darkening sky. We’d be flying overnight.
“No boyfriends?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Come on, it’s a long flight. And it’ll be a long three years.”
“It wasn’t allowed. Besides, the boys at school didn’t interest me.”
“I can see that. You seem older than your age. You need a man to manage you.”
I faced him. “And you think you’re that man?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.
“I do.”
I licked my lips and sipped my drink. His gaze fell to my mouth, and the look in his eyes made my belly flutter, my face flush with heat.
“I’ve seen how your body reacts to me, Sofia,” he said in a low, menacing whisper. “Did you know arousal even has a scent? Yours is lovely. Soft. Virginal, perhaps?” he asked, searching.
I didn’t answer, but I probably didn’t have to, not with how hot I suddenly felt.
Raphael’s eyebrows rose, and he set his hand on my knee and slid it up along my inner thigh. I should have worn jeans. A big, baggy pair of mom jeans. Instead, I had on a cute summer dress.
I pushed his hand away. “Don’t touch me. My body doesn’t react in any way to you.”
“I beg to differ.” He tickled the back of my knee. “Even now, your pupils are dilating, your nipples are hard, you’re licking your lips. And…”
