I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry.
“This isn’t a solution,” I said finally, voice trembling now despite my effort. “This is... blackmail wrapped in silk.”
“No,” Rafael said smoothly. “It’s an offer.”
The calm certainty in his voice was somehow more unsettling than his anger.
“You keep the child you’ve become attached to. She keeps the only mother figure she remembers. And I get my daughter back under my roof—where she belongs.”
My jaw tightened.
He continued, quieter now—but no less absolute:
“Think about it carefully, Loretta.”
A pause.
One that felt deliberately timed.
“You have until the end of this conversation to decide.”
“I could be her nanny,” I said quickly, grasping for the first alternative I could find. “Surely that’s a better arrangement than marrying a man I barely know.”
The words rushed out.
“I can’t be your wife, Mr. Perez. Marriage isn’t a decision people make in a single afternoon. It’s not something you agree to without thought.”
Rafael was silent for a moment.
Then—
“You speak as though you’re negotiating.”
The calmness in his voice sent a chill down my spine.
“If I wanted a nanny, I would hire one.”
A beat.
“The last woman I trusted with my daughter sold information to my enemies. She was one of the reasons Tess disappeared.”
The room went still.
“I have no interest in repeating that mistake.”
His voice remained maddeningly composed.
“You asked to remain in her life. I offered a solution.”
A pause.
“Become my wife.”
Silence.
“Or don’t.”
Then I heard movement.
