Page 8 of Eternally His

I swallowed hard and locked my shaking knees before they collapsed under the force of my relief. Stefano wasn’t going to punish me. I was going to survive this awful night.

He spared me a dismissive glance. “You can go now.”

Sebastián’s big hand gently gripped my elbow, and he started to steer my trembling body toward the exit.

“Sebastián.” Stefano’s voice cracked through the air like a whip. “We’re not finished yet.”

My savior stiffened at my side, and I noticed his jaw tick before he reluctantly released me. “You’ll be okay, nenita,” he reassured me with the weight of a promise. “Go home.”

“I’ll walk her out.” I suppressed a shudder at the familiar, eager tone of Carlos Silva’s voice. The young man had made a habit of following me around our family parties over the last couple years, making his interest clear.

I had no interest in him. He didn’t know me at all; he only cared about my fortune and the power that came along with joining the Vera family. My father hadn’t deemed him worthy of his kinship. And I’d never liked Carlos’ oily manner and saccharine compliments. The man was just as much of a shark as Stefano Duarte, he just wasn’t as good at subtlety.

I didn’t want to be anywhere near Carlos, but I wanted to be in this study, surrounded by Stefano’s closest surviving allies, even less. So, I suppressed the shiver of revulsion that threatened to overtake me when he placed his hand at the small of my back and guided me toward the door. My skin crawled beneath the heat of his clammy touch, a viscerally different reaction than the comfort I found in Sebastián’s steady support.

Even though I barely knew him, Sebastián had saved me tonight. He’d been enraged on my behalf when he saw that Arturo had hit me. He’d protected me from his terrifying, deadly boss. I trusted in his actions far more than Carlos’ ingratiating words of support. He hadn’t spoken on my behalf just now. The low stream of his false reassurances slid over my consciousness like oil-tainted water as I allowed him to steer me out of the room and down the long hall leading to the elevator.

I sucked in a deep breath and forced myself to keep walking beside him when all I wanted to do was cringe away and snap at him to leave me alone. I felt raw and exhausted down to my bones. I needed some time alone, so I could break down completely beneath the weight of tumultuous emotion that I’d been withstanding ever since gunfire had broken out around my home.

After what seemed an eternity, we reached the elevator. I turned to Carlos and tried to arrange my features into a polite smile, an instinctive way to disengage without angering a man. The strain around my eyes and twitch of my lips probably looked more like a grimace, but it was the best I could manage.

“Thank you for escorting me, but I’m okay,” I lied. I’d be better off once I got away from Carlos and his heavy, suffocating cologne. It mingled with the stench of stale sweat and blood. “I can get home on my own. I’m sure you need to get back to the meeting.”

I was a little surprised that he’d been invited to the meeting at all, given his friendship with my brother, the traitor. But the streak of dirt on his stubble-darkened jaw indicated that he’d accompanied Stefano on their mission to kill Daniel and rescue Carmen. It seemed that Carlos’ only loyalty was to himself. It reaffirmed my longstanding belief that his interest in me was purely motivated by ruthless ambition rather than affection.

My skin itched beneath his proprietary hand, and I couldn’t stop myself from edging away from him as I reached for the elevator call button. He shifted his lanky body to block my path, his boyishly handsome features arranging into a dramatic frown.

“I need to make sure you’re all right,” he said in a soothing tone that set my teeth on edge. There was nothing genuine about his concern, and my patience was wearing thin. I was mere minutes from a total emotional breakdown. I had to get away from Carlos and his heavy musk, or I’d vomit all over his shoes.

Maybe that would make him leave me alone for good.

I swallowed against the bile in my throat and took a step back from his cloying scent. His long fingers snagged my upper arm, drawing me close and trapping me in the sickening cloud of his overpowering cologne.

“You’ll need someone to protect you now,” he said, the words silky and meant to comfort. “We should be together, Isabel. You know I’ve always wanted you.”

You’ve always wanted my money. I bit back the retort. I didn’t have the energy to fight him, so I tried to reinforce my strained smile.

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