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“But–what can you do to get him to stop? You said he won’t–”
“I know what I said.” My father lets out a sigh, reaching up to stroke my hair as he looks at me ruefully. “I wish you and your sister never had to grow up, you know? It was so much easier when you were children. No one wanted to take you from me. Isabella was still willful–but you were always good. You both would listen better, then. There was less for you to fear. More for you to dream of–”
He lets out a sigh, running one hand through his hair as he looks down at me, his face taut with worry now. “I can’t blame your sister for trying to escape him. Idoblame her for the mess of things that she made with that Irishman, but she’s safe with him in Boston now, so perhaps she knew what she was doing all along.”
“Butmamafeels like she left us to pick up the pieces.” I bite my lower lip. “Is that how you feel, too?”
“Your sister should never have had to shoulder the responsibility of keeping this family safe. It’s unfair that she should ever have had to do so. I don’t want the same to happen to you.”
“I don’t want to marry Diego.” I feel a cold shudder go through me just at the thought. “He won’t be kind to me, no matter what you make him promise–”
“I know. He’ll take his anger at Isabella out on you. That’s why he wants you. And that’s why I won’t allow it.”
Gently, my father reaches for my upper arm, steering me towards the stairs that lead up to the floor where my bedroom is. “I think it’s better if you’re upstairs in your room for now, though, Elena. I have work to do, and I’ll feel better if I know where you are, with José patrolling.”
“Diego isn’t going to come here–”
“I hope not.” My father catches the expression on my face, and winces. “I shouldn’t be so honest with you. I don’t want to frighten you.”
“I’m twenty years old.” I look up at him, wrinkling my nose. “I’m not a child for you to keep secrets from any more.”
He laughs ruefully. “Twenty is still a child, Elena. You’ll understand that one day. And you’re still mine to protect, for now. So I intend to do that.”
José is coming around the corner as we walk up, making his rounds of the upper floor. He catches sight of me and my father, and stops, inclining his head respectfully. “SeñorSantiago. Is there something you need?”
“Just for Elena to stay in her room for tonight. I have business to take care of, and I’ll feel better if I know she’s here, safe and sound.”
“Of course.”
José looks at me with an unfathomable expression on his face, something darker than I’m accustomed to seeing from him. Not so long ago, when Isabella was still here, he was always in a lighter mood, teasing us and mildly flirting with my sister, though he was always quick to shut it down when she pushed it too far. We’d both always had a bit of a crush on him–it was hard not to. He’s extraordinarily handsome, deeply tanned with buzz-cut black hair, dark eyes, a strong jaw and muscled body that his fatigued cargo pants and tech shirt cling to more tightly than they really have any right to.
But recently, he’s been quieter, more sullen. He nods tightly to my father, who smiles at me as he pushes my door open. “Goodnight, Elena,” my father says pointedly, letting me know that he expects me to stay put, as he’s said.
Where would I go, anyway?It’s not as if I have the nerve to leave the compound in search of adventure or an escape, the way my sister did. It’s not as if I could go anywhere at all. The most I might do is wander to the library upstairs or go out to the garden, and it’s not a terrible loss to not be able to do that tonight. I can curl up in bed with one of my books, and float far away from here, into some kind of adventure that I’ll never be able to live in real life.
I’m about to close the door when José’s arm pushes against it, stopping me as he glares down at me with a bitter expression on his face. “Don’t make me have to chase you down,” José says irritably, once my father is out of earshot. “Just stay in your room like a good girl, alright? Don’t make my life any fucking harder than it already is.”
“I hadn’t planned on it.” I can hear a bite to my own words that isn’t usually there–it’s been a long and scary night, and I don’t quite understand why he’s been like this recently. “Is there something you want to tell me, José? It’s not as if we haven’t known each other for a long time.”
“Why would I want to tell you anything?” he asks irritably. “It’s my job to keep you safe, not talk to you.”
Something about the way he says it makes me feel more upset than before. “No one is making you,” I snap back, retreating further into my room. “I’m sorry I asked.”
He turns away, but before he does, I hear him mutter under his breath.
“Spoiled brat.”
I’m at the door in an instant, shoving it open wider as I glare at his back. “I heard you,” I snap accusingly, and I see his shoulders shake for an instant, almost as if he’s laughing–or as if he’s very angry.
Slowly, he turns around, his expression dark and hard. “I don’t care if you heard me,” José says evenly. “In fact, I’ll say it again. You’re a spoiled fucking brat, and your father should have handed you over to Diego Gonzalez long before this.”
I can feel myself start to tremble, a fine shaking spreading through me, but I tilt my chin up, staring him down. “I’m sure he’d love to hear you say that to his face.”
“It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I feel that way, if I did.” José steps closer to my door, his muscled bulk almost filling the doorway. There was a time when I would have felt my pulse leap at him being so close, but now I just feel afraid. It’s clear he’s angry, and I don’t entirely understand why.
“My brother died in the fight with the Gonzalez cartel, when he took Isabella,” José says evenly, his every word tight and harsh. “All to protect the Santiago princesses. And I’ll be expected to do the same, if it comes to it. While you face no consequences for not doingyourduty.”
He glares down at me. “Your sister should have married Diego like she was supposed to, and none of this would have happened. If she’d done her duty, my brother would be alive. There would be no war going on. And you–”
