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“What do you mean?” He sounded a little defensive, even to his own ears, but he didn’t care. His own sense of curiosity wanted to know what his sister had to say.
She tilted her head to the side. “You dumped her, remember?”
“I didn’t dump her, I moved for my career.”
“Whatever.” Gabriela waved her hand, dismissing his clarification. “The fact remains that the two of you dated for years. Dad was ready to get the family diamonds out of the safe. But then you walked away.”
“It was the right thing to do,” he muttered.
“Are you kidding me?”
Santiago looked up to find his sister staring at him incredulously. “What?” he asked.
“How was leaving her the right thing to do? You’d never been so happy.”
“What makes you so sure that was because of her? You never met her.”
“Yeah, you made sure of that, didn’t you?”
Santiago looked away. “You know why I kept her away. I wasn’t going to expose her to our parents.”
“Because you loved her,” Gabriela said, her tone making it clear he’d just proven her point.
“What does it matter now?” he asked, pushing away his plate. “That was a long time ago.”
Gabriela was silent a moment, chewing a bite of her pasta. “It was. But I think you still love her.”
Santiago choked on a sip of water. “Excuse me?” His sister was right, but how had she figured that out?
Gabriela nodded. “You do,” she said. “And I’m willing to bet she still loves you, too.”
“What makes you say that?” He heard the note of hope in his voice and hoped his sister didn’t pick up on it.
She shook her head, clearly exasperated. “She helped you at the retreat, didn’t she?”
“Well, yes, but only because I agreed to take her brother’s case.”
Gabriela leveled him with a stare. “Oh, please. Not even you are that dumb.”
Santiago’s face heated and he looked away. “It doesn’t matter,” he muttered. “We don’t have a future together.”
“Why not?”
He whipped his head around to look at his sister. “You know why.”
She gaped at him. “Because of Mom and Dad?”
He nodded, not bothering to elaborate.
Gabriela scoffed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m not.” Santiago pulled a pepperoni free from its nest of cheese and popped it into his mouth. “Our family has a terrible track record when it comes to marriage. Why would I want to go down that road, when it only leads to heartache?”
He felt his sister’s eyes on him and looked up to find her staring at him, her expression a mixture of shock, disbelief and confusion. “So you’re telling me,” she said slowly. “That you walked away from a woman who loves you, and who you love in return, because you’re afraid your relationship will wind up like our parents’?”
“Well, yeah. Look at how well things worked out for you.”
Gabriela shook her head. “That’s because I married the wrong person! Eric wasn’t right for me—I married him to get away from Mom and Dad. You and Ainsley were nothing like that.”
