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“He can do whatever he wants because you agreed to his terms. This is the cost of doing business together.”
“And here I thought the cost was fucking you.”
Ricardo is silent for a beat. “Was it so bad for you?” He drums his fingers on the countertop. “I know what I said to you, that I acted like I didn’t care. And I meant what I said when I told you it would not happen again. But was it really so bad?”
I’d asked him the same thing last night, and he hadn’t given me a satisfactory answer.
Now it’s work to not be petty and tell him I’ve had much better and he needs to up his game. The rock in my throat from last night makes a reappearance, and I swallow hard. Everything else gets stuck on the opposite side of it.
The honest answer? No. Being with him was everything I wanted and more because it was us, and there is something about Ricardo I’m powerless to resist.
He must see something on my face because his throat bobs, and he nods. He drops the rose into the sink, and with the flick of a wall switch, the garbage disposal groans to life and grounds the delicate flower into nothingness.
“We’re going to figure it out,” he says with his back to me. His words are barely audible above the growl in his voice. “Trust me. I don’t expect you to give up the family trade routes or any other bit of private information. We’ll find a way around this.”
“I’m not sure how I’m going to show my face after this.” I clench my teeth to keep Ricardo from seeing the way my lips tremble. My reaction only proves my sister right.
I’m weak and useless and horrified.
It’s a terrible combination.
“Isa—”
“I have to go into my family’s compound and steal from them, and it violates everything I believe in. There’s no way out of it, Ricardo, don’t you get it? Drago has us trapped.”
The rose apparently suggests their necks are on the line, so what’s worse? To lose them to betrayal, but they keep their lives or stand up for them and lose them?
“I have no plan to hand over our exact trade routes,” he reiterates. He draws in a breath, his nostrils flaring. “There are ways to make changes to them, to hide our real routes while sticking close enough to the truth to be beyond reproach. Let’s hope we figure out a way to bring him down before turning over any information.”
My stomach churns. “It seems like too close a line to toe.” And there’s no time. Drago has already proven himself to be shrewd and lethal. He barely batted an eye at the loss of his third in command.
“We’ve gotten this far.” Just like that, Ricardo is back to the same carefree playboy I’m used to seeing. “It’s all going to work out. It might not play the way we plan but it will work out. Better than we can imagine.”
His optimism is blind and misplaced. Any fool can see it.
“Last night…” I trail off, come to a stop. Everything inside of me stills. “I’m not sure it went well. It doesn’t seem like it went well. Did it? We lost a little ground, didn’t we?”
Ricardo’s face goes stern. “No. We underestimated him, yes, but it won’t happen again, and now we know exactly what we’re up against.”
“He has a video of us.” Oh god, and what will happen if he decides to share it?
“If it gets out, then we will deal with it,” he replies firmly.
“It can’t always be damage control. I’m trying to stay optimistic, and it’s really damn hard. I’m not sure how you’re managing if I’m being honest.”
“I’ve got a few things in place in case this happened.” Ricardo drums his fingers on the countertop. It’s the first time I’ve seen him show a few loose threads. Normally, he is composed and polished. The epitome of a confident and disgustingly egotistical male who knows his worth and his attractiveness.
“What things?”
“Alternate maps,” he answers without hesitation. “Information designed to be fed to competitors should any of them get past our defenses.”
I stare at him with wide eyes. “So you knew something like this would happen? Or did you plan on using them for yourself down the line?” Do the Balestras have the same fail-safes in place for such an occasion? And if they do, will they be convincing enough to fool someone like Drago?
I have serious doubts about it.
My belly has long since stopped grumbling as any hint of hunger disappears with my newest wave of anxiety.
Ricardo doesn’t want to answer me, though, and the secrets between us keep building and building. Soon enough, they will be so massive I might be able to climb out into the light of truth. I have my doubts, and they are loud enough to fill my head with screams.
