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It was tempting.
“Talk to me.” He leaned against the counter next to me, his arm touching mine.
The lab was deserted except for the two of us. The equipment needed to be scrubbed down, and the cleaning crew would be there in a few minutes to do the job. For the moment, we were alone.
“It’s about Sofia, isn’t it?”
Wow…how far I’d fallen.
“You haven’t been the same since you met her. Instead of being in a good mood from all that pussy, you’re extra pissed off.”
Because she was a pro at pissing me off.
“Talk to me.”
We teased each other all the time and were only serious when it came to work. But right now, it was obvious that he was deadly serious, that he wanted to listen to me without casting judgment, that he wanted to help me in whatever way he could. “I told her the truth.”
“About this?” he asked, nodding to the equipment we used to make crystal.
“Yeah.”
“She didn’t take it well?”
“Actually, she did.”
“Then I’m not following.”
“She’s a good girl. She’s ambitious, honest, full of integrity…so I assumed she would blow up over this. But since she’s just using me, she didn’t care at all. She didn’t blink an eye over it. She’s gonna dump me when she’s bored of me, and that will be it. So what does it matter that I’m a drug lord?”
This was the time when Damien would tease me for saying such pussy shit. He would knock me out and hope his punches would beat some sense into me. He would tell me to stop thinking with my dick and start thinking with my goddamn head. But none of that came out of his mouth. “Why did you tell her the truth in the first place?”
“I didn’t want to build a relationship on lies.”
“But she doesn’t want a relationship.”
“Now, that’s clear, more than ever before…”
“And that bothers you.”
It didn’t bother me…it drove me fucking crazy.
“Are you in love with her?”
I’d only known her for a month. I didn’t know shit about love, but I knew feelings like that built up over a longer period of time. “No.” Love was something I’d never encountered, something I’d never considered. Women were all the same—just sexy. But I wanted more than sex with this woman. “But I want to fall in love with her.” I said the words out loud, confessing my sins to the priest that was listening.
It was a testament to our friendship when Damien didn’t talk shit. “Then keep trying. She’ll come around eventually.”
“You don’t understand…she’s ice-cold.”
“But she’s still sleeping with you—and only you.”
I stared at the ground.
“Hades, you never give up on anything. You always get what you want. Why is she any different?”
“Because I’ve never been in this situation before. Women don’t mean a damn thing to me. But the one woman I actually want won’t give me the time of day. She just wants my dick—nothing else.”
“Then make her want everything else.”
I had no idea how to do that.
“Hades, she’ll get sucked in so deep, she won’t be able to walk away. You have so much power, you could make her never walk away.”
I didn’t want to force her. I’d never abused my power in that regard, and I wouldn’t start now. “No…that’s not how I want this to be.”
“Then keep trying until she changes her mind. She will change her mind.”
He had a lot more faith in my abilities than I realized.
“She’ll come around…I know she will.”
10
Sofia
I sat in Gustavo’s office and listened to him drop a bomb on me. Everything I believed about my family and its legacy were lies. The Tuscan Rose wasn’t a quaint hotel where guests made amazing memories. It was a front for crime.
A front that fooled me.
Gustavo watched me for a minute, anticipating my reaction.
I couldn’t think of anything to say, it was so shocking. “I don’t believe you…”
My stepfather lowered his gaze and sighed. “I know it’s hard to take in…but this is how the real world works.”
“No, it’s not. There are lots of people out there who earn their living the honest way.”
“But anyone who’s successful doesn’t.”
I’d had issues with my father growing up, especially with the way he treated my mother sometimes, but we’d always had a good relationship. He seemed to be ethical, to care about his shiny reputation. It was hard to believe he would be a part of this. “My father wouldn’t do that.”
“He’s the one who started it. It’s been going on for decades, Sofia. It doesn’t make him a bad man. It doesn’t make me a bad man. Not your mother either. It’s just how it works.”
“So those men who came into the hotel…”
He nodded. “They were men you shouldn’t cross. They use our hotel for meetings and drop-offs.”
“That man who committed suicide…”
“No, it wasn’t a suicide.”
I’d been ambitious about taking over this hotel, but it was a circus of crime. Hiding in plain sight, it’d been there all along…I just didn’t want to see it. “So, Hades launders your money?” Now I understand what kind of service Hades offered to my family. He was the middle man between Gustavo and the criminals who used the hotel for their own gains. “All those random deposits are from drug dealers and the mafia…”
