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Then only an hour later, he came into my suite with a rose he’d picked from the garden and a shower of kisses. Of course I threw the rose at him and shut myself in the bathroom to keep from responding to the kisses, but he managed to make me forgive him again when he gave me some baloney about wanting to protect me. The truth of the matter was, I needed to feel his touch. He was like an addiction to me and the cravings throughout the day were bad. There was no way I could hold out for too long when he did spend time with me.

"Miss Reina?" Hetty poked her head out, phone in hand.

It was my allotted time to speak with the outside world and I jumped up, following her into my sitting area. Maksim lounged at my desk, pretending to be engrossed in a game of solitaire, but I knew he'd be hanging on every word.

As soon as I heard Lynn's voice, and she assured me that she, the baby, and Andrew were all fine, I was able to relax and settle in for a good long chat. Or at least until my hour was up.

"How's the new job going?" she asked.

About a week before I made up a fake new job at Ivan's club because it was getting too unbelievable to think I could go that long on my meager savings. "It's fine." I wanted to get onto another subject because I hated lying to her.

"And how are things with Ivan?"

Her voice took on a singsong quality because supposedly I'd been taking things slow with my new boss. Yes, more lies. But there was no way I could explain my real situation. I wouldn't be able to sell that we were happily married, and if I was that good at deception, she would have been hurt not to be invited to the wedding.

"Great," I said, trying not to choke on the words. "We're, uh, still taking things slow and getting to know each other."

I could practically hear Maksim's eyes rolling from across the room. I tried to play off a dinner in my room as a romantic night out at a restaurant to make it seem like Ivan and I were dating. Not a word about how he was cold as ice when we weren't alone or how I'd become obsessed with peering over my balcony.

Not a peep about how much I hate him but also can't keep my hands off him. As happy as I was to get to talk to Lynn, I hated thinking about my relationship with Ivan. I knew he was excited about having an heir, but I wasn't convinced he was happy. Not with me, anyway. I couldn't help but wonder as I watched the boats go by, what was going to become of me once the baby was born. I sniffled and quickly tried to hide it.

"What's wrong?" she asked, catching the sound of my misery.

"Nothing," I said quickly, with a glance at Maksim. "Just hormone craziness. You know."

That got her off the trail and we spent most of my time talking about our symptoms, doctor updates, and the curtains she and Andrew picked for the nursery.

I got all morose again since it would have been laughable trying to get Ivan to help me pick baby decor. Laughable if it weren't so sad.

"I ran into Detective Sosa at the pharmacy," she said after we switched subjects. "I wasn't sure I should say anything, but he did ask how you were."

I counted to ten to keep from taking the flash of anger out on Lynn. "I hope you told him I'd be better if he solved my dad's case," I said.

She sighed. "I'm really sorry, hon, but there wasn't anything new. He keeps hitting dead ends."

I didn't have anything to say to that except rude epithets, so I kept my teeth ground together. Maksim stood up and made a big show of pointing to his watch. It was just as well the hour was nearly up because thinking about my dad's case still being unsolved put my already sour mood right over the edge. I made a dumb excuse to end the call and chucked the phone at Maksim.

"There's no one else I want to call," I snapped.

I should have called Detective Sosa and harangued him about the so-called dead ends, but I knew I'd just end up in a puddle of frustrated tears. I looked back and forth between Hetty and Maksim, sick to death of my keepers. I barreled past Hetty and swerved around my husband’s head goon.

“Run and tattle to your master if you want, but I’m going outside and you better keep your distance if you’re going to follow me.”

Shockingly, I made it downstairs with no one on my tail, and stormed through the kitchen and out the back door. The garden was gorgeous, and I meant to see more of it than just the small area where I’d had a few dinners with Ivan and the view from my balcony. I started toward the left perimeter and followed the high stone wall, trying to get my heart to stop hurting. According to the doctor, it was important to stay calm, but I would have loved for her to explain how I was supposed to do that. Of course she’d never feel sorry for me, since she had to be on Ivan’s payroll.

I kept trying to tell myself that my beloved father didn’t need justice to be able to rest in peace. He was a good, honest, hard-working man so there was no reason he wasn’t happy where he was. But I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t at peace. The bastard who’d stolen him from me needed to rot in prison for his crime.

By the time I made it to the back corner, I felt a tiny bit better from being surrounded by all the heavy green foliage. The part of the garden closest to the mansion was well-manicured with exotic, tropical flowers that parakeets and lovebirds fluttered around. There were white, crushed shell paths and fountains with benches around them. Back here by the edges, it was wild and I could imagine I was free in the jungle, anywhere but where I really was. I stood on my toes and saw a bamboo roof sticking up above the palm fronds and headed toward it.

It turned out to be a small, windowless shed, but the corrugated metal door was open a crack, and I thought I heard voices. Getting a little closer, I definitely heard a man saying something in a harsh growl I would have recognized anywhere. But why was Ivan way out here in this dark little shed?

Something warned me to turn around and pretend I never found that spot, and the closer I crept to the open doorway, the more urgent that something tried to get me to stop. But I was in a bad, stubborn mood still and curiosity made me keep going. At the doorway, I peeked around the rusty metal edge. The single room shed was almost too dark to see anything, especially being out in the blazing Florida sun. I could hear fine, though, and the noises coming from the shed curdled my blood.

“Tell us what you know or suffer the consequences,” Ivan said from the shadowy depths. It sounded like he was just on the other side of the door.

From deeper inside the shed I heard a low groan and a weak voice muttered something I couldn’t make out.

“So you refuse,” Ivan said. Another groan. “Go ahead,” Ivan ordered.

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