My unseeing eyes stayed fixed in his direction, not because I could see him, but because refusing to look away was the only form of resistance I had left.
“And I do hope you’ve thought this through,” I said, forcing some steel back into my voice. “A blind wife?”
I let the question hang.
“Your business partners. Your investors. The media.” A bitter laugh escaped me. “The great Rafael ‘El Mencho’ Pérez marrying a blind intern from his own company isn’t exactly the image of untouchable power you’ve spent years cultivating.”
I wanted him to hear reason.
To realize how absurd this was.
To change his mind.
Instead, he sounded almost amused.
“Society can choke on its opinion.”
The words were delivered with effortless contempt.
“I don’t seek approval, Loretta. I take what I want.”
A chill crept down my spine.
Then his voice lowered.
“I told you before that we have unfinished business.”
“Unfinished business?” I repeated. “I’ve never done anything to you.”
A dark chuckle escaped him.
“No. But your family did.”
The words lodged themselves deep inside my chest.
My family?
Was he planning to make me pay for something my family had done to him?
“Tess is the reason this marriage is happening tomorrow.”
My heart eased for the briefest second.
Then he continued. “But she isn’t the only reason.”
The relief vanished.
“Years ago, your family took something from me.”
The room seemed to grow colder.
“And unlike most men, I don’t forget my losses.”
My pulse stumbled.
“Tomorrow,” he said quietly, “you stop being a Orisini. You become a Perez by law.”
The words sent a chill through me.
