Page 74 of No Darker Temptation

I can’t sleep anywhere.

For the past week, I’ve shuffled between different rooms, trying to keep myself occupied. I’ll sort through books in the study before falling asleep on the couch for a few hours. Rearrange throw pillows and blankets and vacuum the carpet before dozing off on the love seat in the living room. Eventually, my obsessive cleaning isn’t enough to keep me occupied so I try calling Karina. She answers once in a while but whatever is going on between her and Brent must be intense because she hasn’t even watched the videos I sent her. She at least always does that.

Tonight, I find myself in the living room again. The television is on but muted and after a while I give up on reading the subtitles. I stare outside the window and watch as the moon makes its slow but steady travels across the evening sky. When it’s about halfway descended behind the building across the street, I hear footsteps in the hall. I’m surprised to see Diego walk in.

“Star gazing?” he asks, leaning against the doorframe.

“Contemplating life.” I rest my head against the back of the sofa. “What are you doing up?”

“Dimitrio and I just finished moving him into the apartment above the lounge,” he says entering the room. “Hell of a bodyguard. Absolute shit at assembling furniture.”

I chuckle. “We all have our weaknesses.”

He sits across from me on the sofa and I tuck my knees against my chest to make room for him. “Did you give Alejandro the summons?” I nod. “Did he read it?”

“I don’t know. I left before he opened it.”

“Did you read it?”

I contemplate lying but Diego will see right through it. “Don Enrique Villamizar is calling for a meeting of the apostles…except, for some reason, he wants to meet in Madrid.”

Diego’s shoulders stiffen and I don’t miss the way his eyes shift from crystalline to dark cobalt, as if the news has perturbed him in a way that he doesn’t want to let on.

“What?”

Diego pauses before saying, “If Don Enrique calls for a meeting, it’s a problem.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s notorious for minding his own business. He’s halfway to retirement and lives in Madrid to be closer to his daughter. So if whatever is going on here is bad enough to reach him, it’s probably more serious than we thought. Meeting in Madrid means he wants us in another city on completely neutral territory. It isn’t a good sign.”

“Is it because of what Alejandro did? Because I told him Sandro⁠—”

Diego reaches out and touches my cheek, giving me an affectionate pinch the way I often see him do to Lettie. “No, not at all. What’s going on has been brewing since long before you got here. If anything, you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Alejandro and Sandro were bound to go at each other’s throats eventually.”

“Why do they hate each other so much?” I ask. “Alejandro never gives me a straightforward answer.”

“Because there isn’t one,” Diego answers honestly. “It’s decades of build up between our two families that cannot possibly be simplified in a way that’s easier to understand.”

“Can’t you at least try?”

Diego leans back against the sofa, arms crossed over his chest. There’s very little resemblance between him and Lettie—if any—but moments like these I can see Alejandro in him. The look he’s giving me now, head tilted slightly forward, dark brows drawn together, gaze dark but not unkind, is identical to his brother’s.

“Please? It’s my life too, isn’t it?” I plead quietly. “Am I a part of this family or not?”

“Of course, you are,” he answers quickly. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to us. And I mean it, Dee. It was only us three for so long and even though we were together, we didn’t really feel like a family. Not in the proper sense. Not since Dad died and Mom left.”

He says, “With you here, everything is different. We have a real home to come back to at the end of a long day. Alejandro finally has a partner, Lettie has the female-figure in her life she’s always wanted. I have a friend. I hope you know you’re more to me than just my brother’s girlfriend. You’re one of us, Dee. You belong with us.”

I whisper, “You’re just saying that because you want the apartment with the balcony.”

Diego laughs abruptly, surprising even himself.

“Lettie already called dibs on that one. She saw the blueprints and went nuts.”

He reaches out for my hand and I let him take it. “That’s all right. Once she realizes all the stairs she’s going to have to climb in those mile high stilettos of hers she’ll get over it quickly.”

I smile and when I blink, warm tears roll down my cheeks. I brush them away quickly.