She laughed. “An innocent man doesn’t grab a phone like that.” She settled back with satisfaction, as if she had just won an argument without needing the other person to concede. “I understand it, honestly. It’s nearly impossible to find wealthy people who built it entirely clean.”
“And your family?” I asked, returning to the laptop.
“Please. Would I have been wandering around half-starving with my brother if my family had any kind of legacy?” She started running her fingers through her hair. “The world is brutal, and I spent a long time trying to be decent inside it. There were moments I thought that if the right opportunity landed in front of me, I would have done whatever it took. Just to feed Cole.”
“You did,” I said. “You seem to forget that regularly.”
She groaned. “Mister Torres’s brother was the actual criminal in that situation. He walked in, destroyed everything his brother had built, and got every employee fired. So, I took what he made us all lose. That’s practically justice.”
“Hm.”
“What did he owe you anyway? A kidney?”
“I don’t remember. He caused problems in one of my clubs at some point.”
She gasped and sat up, pointing at me as I’d just confessed to something in court. “There. See? Clubs. You have multiple clubs.” Her eyes went wide. “Do you run a casino? Because that walks a very specific legal line, and I knew it. I knew you were an illegal man, I said it from the beginning.”
I looked down at her, and a smile arrived before I could decide against it—this girl.
We stared at each other for a moment.
“Take me to a casino one day,” she said.
“For what?”
“To see if you sell drugs too. I want the full picture. I could learn something useful and become a supplier. I want to be a millionaire.”
“Millionaire,” I repeated. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Why is that ridiculous? You run a multi-billion dollar organization.” She lifted her hand and studied the ring on her finger. “Caitlin said this ring alone could buy a car. Which reminds me,” she turned it. “It’s mine to keep, right? Like, once this fake marriage ends, I can sell it? That’s a reasonable position.”
I just watched her turn the ring, examining it. Her mind moved exactly how people like me do. Knowing she was related to Iker, I was no longer surprised. I couldn’t wait to see her face when she finally met her mother as a woman who runs a Mexican crime organization.
“I’m looking at this ring, and I can’t help thinking how scary marriages are,” she said almost to herself. “My parents didn’t work out, and I’m desperate for my father to wake up so I can understand everything. But what makes it worse is Caitlin’s marriage. It’s terrifying.”
Marriage was never a structure I built my life around. Women weren’t permanent in my world. But sitting here with Inna across my lap, I was already inside a version of this that felt nothing like what I loved. I was comfortable in this version, where she was in it.
“Can she stay here longer?” Inna asked. “She can’t go back to that man. I haven’t talked to her about it directly, but it is messy. If I were her, I’d divorce him without a conversation.” She clicked her tongue. “I’m glad you haven’t let Ivan near here. That monster. Does he still come to work?”
“While he’s dead?” I reached over and closed the laptop.
She turned her head. “He is dead?”
I set the laptop aside and looked down at her. She sat up slowly, shifting her whole body toward me like the new position would help her process the information better. “Wait. Ivan isdead?”
“Didn’t I tell you Akim would handle it?”
Her mouth opened and stayed there for a moment. I got up and crossed the room to the minibar. “No, wait. Do you understand what that means?”
“What does it mean?” I poured a drink.
“Why are you calm about it?” she asked.
“Was he my husband?”
She sighed. “No. But,” she moved to the edge of the cushion and began tapping the armrest with her fingers, working it out loud, “that’s a serious case. He could be arrested. Killing isn’t a last resort, and it shouldn’t even be an option.”
I set the glass down on the counter and looked at her. “Let me ask you something. Your father was in the hands of a dangerous man, guarded, not free to leave. Do you think I walked in there, politely retrieved him, and then got shot on the way out by accident?”
