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My brows twitch, my anger rising once more. “You always were good at doing what you wanted without caring about the impact it has on other people, but I’m curious. What would you do if she decides she wants me instead?”
“I’ll step aside,” he states simply, sincerity in his tone.
I stare at him. Will she choose him? What will I do if that is what happens?
“I can’t promise the same thing.”
He laughs, his eyes brightening at my challenge. Fuck, I remember when I loved challenging him, pushing him to his limits and falling when we crashed together. Now though, our challenges have much more deadly consequences.
“In true Alvaro form. I’d expect no less.”
I shake my head, doing my best to hold my temper in check. “What is this information you have?”
He reaches into his suit jacket, producing an envelope with a face suddenly shrouded in sorrow as he holds it carefully in his large hands. “First, I need you to understand—no, fuck that—I need you tobelieveme when I say that your mother loved you, ‘Varo.”
My mask slips when he not only mentions my mother, but also when he uses the shortened version of my name that only he ever called.
“Natalia loved every part of you, even what you callyour shame.”
My heart stutters with rage, my mind going back to my mother’s bloody hair, the massive hole in the back of her head, her lifeless eyes.
I squeeze mine shut, my hands gripping the arm rests of my chair. “Get to the fucking point.”
He stares at me, his eyes sad as he shakes his head in disappointment. It pisses me off, making me snap.
“Don’t,” I growl as I stand and lean over the table between us. “Don’t you dare fucking look at me like that. If you, the only man I’ve ever fucking trusted—the only one I loved, dammit—hadn’t opened his fucking mouth, she would still be alive. You made me a stain in her eyes. A stain she couldn’t look at without—”
“‘Varo!” He stands with a shout, drawing the attention of Vicenta and her brother. I don’t care, I shove the table aside and step into Romero’s face, but before I can say anything, he grabs the lapels of my suit, the envelope crushed between his fingers. “She didn’t kill herself!”
He shakes the letter in my confused and angry face. “These are her last words. Written in her own hand, ‘Varo.Natalia’s words!”
He shoves me back, taking the letter with him. I pull out my gun, pointing it right at his head. “Give it to me now.”
He shakes his head. Distantly, I hear Vicenta screaming, her brother yelling her name, but I keep my focus on the motherfucker before me.
“No, ‘Varo, not until you give me your word that you will allow Vicenta to choose one of us of her own will. I will stand back as she spends time with you during this month, but only if she wants to. Neither of us will force her into anything and we will not use anyone or anything as leverage to get her. If you agree to this, then I will give you this letter. Not only that, Alvaro, but I will also help you in your vendetta against her killer.”
My hand shakes as I run through his words, breaking them down individually to find hidden loopholes and the gray areas he loves so much, but I don’t find any.
Still,I throw his words back at him. “In true Romero form, you use my mother’s death against me?”
“Fuck you, Alvaro. I’ve allowed you to lay the blame at my feet for five years. I never raised a hand to you when you took your anger out on me, blaming me, hating me. I let you break me so you wouldn’t have to. Now, I don’t give a fuck how you break. Agree to this deal and you’ll get the truth; don’t agree and I’ll burn the letterandtake Vicenta.”
“You fucking bastard,” I growl.
“Take the motherfucking deal before I lose my patience and show you a real bastard.”
I drop my gun to my side, holding my hand out with a growl. “Fucking deal, Romero. I get her whenever I want, if she so chooses, but I also get to call and text her whenever I want.”
I reach into my pocket and pull outBruja’sphone, the one her brother brought with him. No call limitations or restrictions on this one. I hand it to him before holding my hand out to shake, to seal the deal and letBrujamake her choice.
It will be me.
He takes the phone before gripping my hand more firmly than necessary. He steps toward me, his face inches from mine. “She wants her brother somewhere far away from your bitch of a father. He will stay atCerro Lcacosfor the month. Katalina will stay with us, as well.”
Before I can disagree, which I won’t, he lets me go and steps back. “El más cabrón que salga adelante.”
I smile at his words.May the baddest man come out on top.
