I decide to focus on something else, there’s an underlying twinge of emotion in his tone that I can’t ignore.
“You hate him. My father,” I mention.
His lips pull up in a harsh smile, “I don’t hate him, little siren. I want him dead.”
“Oh,” I mutter, finally feeling my heart clench. “What did he do to you?”
“He has a habit of getting involved in my business and messing with me. Thanks to him, a lot of good men that worked for me died. Your father’s a sadistic bastard that gets off on playing games with people’s lives.”
“And you think you’re so different?”
“I don’t play games, Liliana.”
“And yet here I am. You’re using me to get to him, aren’t you? What would you call that if not a game?”
He exhales a short breath, the muscles in his jaw clenching.
“Like I keep saying, I didn’t want to use you. You have my brothers to thank for this situation. Up until two days ago, I had no idea who or where you were. I had no clue that the lost Navarro princess was the same woman I got entangled with not too long ago.”
The lost Navarro princess? The statement is laughable. Almost.
“So you’re saying me landing in your lap was a happy accident.”
He glances at me and his lips twitch.
“I guess you could say that.”
“And now that I’m here, what comes next? Does he know about me now? My father?”
He shakes his head once, “Not yet.”
Hope flares in my chest at the admission.
“Then there’s still time. Rafaelle,” I swallow softly, knowing I’ll have to throw away my pride. It’s a good thing I’ve never had too much of it. “Please, just let me go. I have to get back home, to- to my mother. I don’t want any part in all of this. This isn’t my life.”
He stiffens and for a second I think I may have gotten through to him. But my heart plummets when he turns to look at me and I realize I must have said the wrong thing.
“Unfortunately, Liliana, this is your life now. The sooner you get used to it, the better it is for everyone.”
Heat washes up my back as resentment stirs, obliterating all traces of self-preservation.
“Screw that and screw you, Rafaelle. I will get away from here. I’ll find a way to escape and once I do, this time I’ll disappear completely. I’ll wipe myself from the face of the earth and it’ll be like I never even existed. You will never find me again.”
A growl from deep in his chest resounds in my ear.
“I’d like to see you fucking try,” he spits. “I’m trying my best here, little siren. I’m being nice. I fed you and I cleaned your wounds and I’m here telling you the truth and explaining the situation because I figured you deserved at least that. Do not make me regret it. You’re never going to be able to disappear again. In a week or so, everyone will know you’re Ignacio Navarro’s daughter.”
“But until then,” he leans in closer. My heart is in my throat but I hold my ground and his stare, “You’re mine, Liliana. Mine to do whatever it is I wish.”
Finally I snap, do what I should have done the second I saw his face. All the pent-up resentment bursts out of me and I lift my hand to slap his face, putting as much force behind it as I possibly can. The crack echoes sharply through the garden. Rafaelle’s head snaps sideways, I suspect it has more to do with surprise than physical pain.
When he looks back at me, his expression is simultaneously calm and furious. Tension licks up my spine, along with fear. I regret the slap almost immediately. Why do I keep poking a bear? He’s more than capable of mauling me to death.
“I’m fucking done being the nice guy,” he mutters, more to himself than me.
“W-what?”
He wipes the side of his cheek where the slap landed, his voice restrained.
