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“No more spankings. I’m a good girl.”
“Of course you are. You’re my good girl. You just have very little self-preservation or sense of your own limits. But luckily, Papi is here to show you what they are.”
“I shouldn’t have limits.”
He laughed. “You can think that, but it’s not true.” He kissed her lightly before forcing himself to slide free of her.
He moved away from her, ignoring her grumbling.
“I bought you a gift.” He’d seen it two days ago. Sammy had owned a jewelry shop that now belonged to Alejandro.
And as soon as he’d seen this, he’d just known it would be perfect for Cat.
He’d picked it up on his way home tonight and set it in his nightstand drawer before tracking her down to the kitchen.
Opening the drawer, he grabbed the velvet case, then moved back to where she was now sitting.
Her eyes were wide as she stared at him.
“What . . . what is it?”
“Open it.”
She carefully opened the box, her mouth dropping open. “Oh my God, Alejandro!”
“Do you like it?” He drew out the necklace. It had two golden strands that spun together at the end. In between the two ends lay an emerald surrounded by diamonds.
“It’s . . . it’s beautiful. But I can’t accept this.”
He frowned. “Why not?”
“I don’t deserve it.”
“Yes, you do,” he growled.
“No. No, I lied to you. Deceived you.”
“And I’ve forgiven you.”
“But . . . but I can’t have something this beautiful. It’s too nice for me.”
He grasped hold of her chin. “Everything I have is now yours as well, Cat. I know material things don’t mean that much to you, but you are deserving of everything I can provide for you. As soon as I saw this necklace, I knew it was perfect for you. And just so we are clear, it’s beauty and worth pales in comparison to you.”
Oh dear Lord.
How could she say no now?
She couldn’t. With a shaking hand, she ran a finger over the gorgeous necklace. She hated to think of its worth.
So don’t.
The point isn’t how much it’s worth, but that Alejandro wanted you to have it.
And it was a beautiful necklace. Light enough that she could wear it all the time. Although she wasn’t sure that she would.
With a deep breath, tears in her eyes, she nodded. “Thank you, Alejandro. It’s breath-taking.”
“Let me put it on you.”
She stood so he could place it around her neck, then walked to the mirror. He was right, it suited her perfectly. He moved in behind her, brushing her hair to one side so he could kiss down her neck.
She closed her eyes in happiness.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Yeah, just thinking about how happy I am.”
“Do you feel guilty that you’re happy?” he asked, turning her toward him.
“Crap. If you ever give up the crime business, you could make a killing as a mind reader.”
He huffed out a breath. “We’d be broke then, since the only mind I can read is yours.”
She sighed. “I guess I do feel a bit guilty. I don’t know if Mama is all right. If she’s still alive.”
“Feeling guilty won’t help anything.”
“I know. It’s just . . . she always did so much for me. To protect me. I don’t know who she was hiding from or why.”
“Where did you go after your dad died?” he asked, drawing her back over to the bed. They lay down, facing each other.
“I was young, but I know we went back to Argentina for a while before we came back to the States. We moved around a lot. Never used our real names. And then she found a place to hide us for several years.”
“Where?”
“With the Cult of the Divine.”
She waited for his reaction.
“A cult? Really?”
“Yes. They were off-the-grid. Hidden. She only knew about them because someone approached her at a bus station.”
She sucked in a breath. She was done crying. Catarina Pérez wasn’t a crier.
“We went to live with the Cult of the Divine. And after a while, Mama, well, she actually started sleeping at night. And she looked happier. Which was crazy when women were considered good for breeding and keeping house and nothing else. The Deity, who was the leader, he was a charismatic man. Persuasive. He knew how to get people to drink his crazy juice. But Mama never seemed to be under his spell. She acted like it, but I think she always saw him for what he was. Unlike the other adults living there.”
“How long did you live there?”
“I was around ten when we moved there. And we left when I was sixteen.” She looked away from him. “When the Deity chose me to be his fifth wife.”
The bed jolted as he sat up, his gaze narrowing. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“At sixteen, all girls were expected to marry someone in the Cult. The Deity decided who got which girl. And the men usually took multiple wives. He chose me.”
