Chapter 40

Elena wrapped her arm around mine as I took a deep breath and walked into the devil"s den. We had gone straight from the LAX airport to Richard's office. As far as he was concerned, I had been in Europe for business and had been back in town for a week.

This wasn't our first meeting, of course. I had carefully crafted and executed a plan for the better part of a year and presented myself to Richard as a rich trust fund guy with more money than I knew what to do with. He only respected what he perceived as old money. Richard eventually bit and asked me to consider investing in a new resort he wanted to open in Miami. As far as he knew, I was very interested but still needed to be convinced.

I had even met with him while Amelia was in my care. He had played the card of the concerned father quite well, crocodile tears rolled down his face many times. He'd almost fooled me, telling me how the kidnappers were refusing any of his offers to pay for his daughter's ransom.

He didn't know he was talking to her keeper. He didn't know I was on the phone the multiple times Mathias tried to reason with him. I knew the truth, the darkness in his soul.

Today's meeting was for him to show us the latest plans the architects had put together, see if that would whet my appetite. He always seemed in a much more pleasant mood when Elena was with me, his ego flattered by the smile of a woman, so as per usual, she came with me to this farce of a meeting.

Elena was the irresistible Mexican beauty I had fallen in love with, as far as he was concerned. She made me more human, more trustworthy. That didn't seem to bother him, though, probably because she fit his expectations as my arm candy. Someone who was there just to decorate the room.

The Hotel Estrellas offices were impressive. Everything was neat and clean, but it was all glass and white marble, devoid of any semblance of life. Everyone was dressed in black, conservative suits, and no one smiled. For an entertainment conglomerate, one would have thought their offices would be more welcoming. But no, they all walked like they had a stick up their ass.

I clenched my teeth when we finally got to Richard's floor. It had gotten easier over time to resist the urge to put a bullet between his eyes and to give him fake smiles, shake his hand.

But today, it was as if I was going to meet him for the first time. I was a nervous wreck, and I wanted to strangle him slowly until I saw life leave his eyes. He had not only taken my brother, but he had tried to harm Amelia, his own family. I had to keep my composure. I had to get this fucking asshole to trust me, and I had to find a way to get access to those fucking diamonds so that Amelia could be safe.

Elena lightly rubbed her hand on my forearm when the door to Richard's office opened to allow room for the bulky, blue-eyed man who had destroyed my life as I knew it. Who had broken my mother permanently, who had taken my brother away.

The fucking irony of it all was that he was still Amelia's father, and I wouldn't have met her if this criminal hadn't taken my brother's life away. That was fucked up in so many ways.

"There you are!" he cheered as he grabbed my hand with a strong shake.

"How are you, dear?" he asked as he kissed Elena on both cheeks.

He always stared at her a bit too long for my liking. While I didn't love her, it didn't mean that I wanted her to have to subject herself to this creep ogling her.

But she, as usual, accepted him with grace and gave him her best smile as we got seated at the four-person table Richard kept in his office. A tall, skinny man dressed in brown tweed and wearing big round glasses was already seated.

"Josh, this is Rick, the investor I was telling you about."

"Nice to meet you," answered Josh as he timidly shook my hand. Rick was the name I used a part of the identity I invented to get close to Richard.

"How was Europe?" asked Richard as we sat down while he poured me a glass of whiskey and Elena a glass of wine.

He never asked; he always assumed he just knew what we must drink. I wasn't sure if it was a power move in his head or part of his desperate need to fit into a society that would always see him as the wannabe white Mexican with a slight accent he tried so hard to hide.

"Great. A successful trip, I would say. The Bacards have agreed to open the hotel on Lake Como in two years."

"Congratulations!" he said as he put his hand on my shoulder.

I flinched. It took everything in me to not remove it and break his fingers.

"Thank you, Richard."

The words felt bitter on my tongue.

He knew what that meant. It meant I had an in with one of the most prestigious French families in the world. It meant that, with me, he could belong in the aristocracy. And even if I had learned through Amelia that this man hated his own country, his own people, he didn't know I was from there.

As far as he was concerned, I was of Spanish descent and had lived most of my life in America. Fucking idiot. I did know the Bacards—they were one of my biggest clients—but the rest was all lies. And he would never get to meet them.

"What about you, Elena? Did you enjoy Italy?"

"I loved it! All the shopping I did!"

"I"m sure. You women and your purses," he joked, shaking his head toward me like we shared a secret.

"So," I interrupted, eager to get the meeting done, knowing that, by the end of it, I would agree to open the hotel with him no matter the cost, as a step closer to gaining his trust. "Show me what we have here. It"s time for another hotel, don"t you think?"

Richard beamed as he instructed the architect to walk me through the plans. I barely listened, my mind drifting back to Amelia, wondering if she was okay, if she was nervous, if she was thinking of me. She didn't understand, but I would do anything it took to keep her safe and to keep her with me, including getting in bed with the devil himself—with my brother's killer.