Chapter 21

“If you can’t do the job I asked you to do, I’ll send someone else. Martina has just finished a contract, so she has a week free. She can do it.”

Not my fucking sister. She’s always been used as an example of how things should be done whenever I didn’t live up to his expectations.

“No, there’s no need for Martina to come.”

My father’s face on the screen goes still.

“Prove it to me. I need that information, Florencio. You have one more week to get it. If I don’t have it by then, Martina will be coming over for it and bringing you home.”

He ends the call without waiting for me to respond, but then he doesn’t want my response. He never wants to hear what I have to say. He didn’t even ask how Auntie was, though I’m not sure why that should surprise me.

I slam my laptop shut. I’m fed up with being treated like a child. He’s never done any differently and he never will. I can’t live like this any longer. I want my own life. I want to live without the threat of losing it all constantly hanging over my head.

The migraine that has been hovering all morning descends, and I manage to stagger to get some meds before collapsing back into bed.

When I wake a few hours later, the migraine is just a shadow, but I don’t feel any better about my life. I go in search of Auntie and find her in her rooms. She’s resting on a couch, Juana reading to her.

“My father has threatened to send Martina over and drag me home if I don’t give him what he wants,” I announce.

Juana gets up to leave, but I doubt there are many secrets between her and my aunt, so perhaps she doesn’t want to listen to me complaining. I can’t blame her.

“You know I’m not going to give you that information, and neither is Senor Bernat.”

I flop down in the chair that Juana vacated. I knew Auntie wasn’t going to disclose what was in her will. She told me that the day I arrived. She would welcome my company, but she knew what my father was up to and would not be indulging him. She didn’t refute my assertions that he thought she might have left everything to a cat shelter. She’d just laughed. I don’t care what she does with her money. I just care about my life, and I do not want to go back to Buenos Aires. At least, not yet anyway.

“Have you considered why your father is being so insistent? Why does he need to resort to threats?”

I haven’t, not really. I thought he might have had the money planned for a big investment opportunity that was coming up. My father has always been assertive when it comes to business, but he is becoming more aggressive, far more than I have ever seen him before. There has to be more to it than simply wanting to know his inheritance. There’s only one person I trust to find out that sort of information, so leaving my aunt resting, I go make a call.

Cooking always calms me, so I throw myself into making dinner for when Rafe and Constantin return. I try not to think about how much I’ve missed them today. I need the comfort of a familiar recipe, so I’m making pizzas. I stir the sauce while the dough is proving, letting my mind slip into the rhythm of what I need to do at each stage. I haven’t heard back from Julio yet, but then he said it would take a few days. I’m surprised he agreed to help me, but then he always did have a soft spot for me. He works in analysis management for Delgado Media. He’s amazing with data, and if anyone can find something amiss, it will be him. Still, it leaves my nerves stretched and I take a few deep breaths while I prepare the pizza bases. I make a variety, and if there are any leftovers, we can have them for lunch tomorrow.

I hear voices in the lobby of them returning, so I place the pizzas in the oven and set the timer.

“I’m in the kitchen,” I call out to them.

“Something smells good. Did you cook dinner?” Rafe asks, entering the kitchen.

“I did. Pizza. They’ll be ready in twenty minutes.” My breath catches like it always does when I see him now. I’m not used to the bubble of excitement that threatens to burst through every pore. Normally, I relish the feeling, but today it just makes me more highly strung than a violin. Does he look slightly nervous? No, maybe not. It is definitely my nerves.

“Thank you, I’m starving.” He fetches a beer from the fridge. “How are you feeling?” He comes over to me and I’m hyper-aware of his presence. “Was it awful with your father?”

“As bad as could be expected. He threatened to send my sister over to drag me home.”

“That seems harsh.” Concern creases his brow, and I wonder what it would be like to be in his arms. I could do with a hug right now. I could ask, but I don’t. Instead, I apply myself to setting out plates.

“I think there might be something else going on, so I called in a favour.”

“Oh?”

“I’ll tell you as soon as I can, I promise,” I say with a sly smile, receiving a little laugh in return.

“Wow, what is that delicious smell?” Constantin appears in the doorway. Rafe stiffens next to me. He doesn’t move or look around at Constantin, who is also taking a beer from the fridge. Constantin doesn’t look at Rafe either, and barely even looks at me. The hairs on the back of my neck rise. Something is off here; I can sense it. Did they argue? I thought I heard them talking in the lobby, so it can’t be that. But something is definitely different. I look between them, but neither of them says a word, and Rafe still hasn’t moved.

“Okay, what’s going on?” I ask.

“Nothing,” Constantin says. Taking a swig of his beer, he momentarily meets my eyes. I know that look. I’ve seen it plenty of times before. Guilt .

I back off a couple of paces so I can keep them both in my eyeline.

“What happened?”

“I said nothing,” Constantin almost growls .

“You know you’re a lousy liar, don’t you?” I say peevishly.

I flick my eyes to Rafe, who is worrying his bottom lip, refusing to speak. My stomach drops to the pit of my core and nausea takes its place. Whatever this is, I know I’m not going to like it.

“Tell. Me. What. Happened.” I spit out, folding my arms and waiting for an answer.

Rafe turns to look at Constantin. A flash of anguish crosses his face and a silent question passes between them.

Constantin shrugs and Rafe deflates slightly.

He turns back to me and takes a deep breath.

“Um, we kissed.”

I feel like I’ve been punched straight in the stomach. My legs can no longer hold me up and I sag onto a stool.

“ Noooooooooooo !” I wail loudly.

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. I thought Rafe was growing to like me. Me! I’ve wanted to kiss him for so long, but I’ve held back, waiting, finding a level of patience I never knew I had. And then Constantin just swoops in and takes him from under my nose. I don’t stop to think that Rafe might have something to do with it. No, it’s all Constantin’s fault.

I try to blink back tears, but they fall anyway.

“Are you all right?” Constantin moves to my side and places a hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off violently and he backs off slightly from my glare.

I can hardly breathe with the crushing in my ribcage. How could he do this to me? The final wire holding me together snaps and my heart falls, shattering at my feet. Anger pours through the hole in my chest.

“No, I am not all right,” I grind out. “I’m very far from all right. Everything is ruined. You’ve destroyed everything. Rafe. Was. Mine. He was mine.”

“I kind of thought you were joking,” Rafe says quietly.

“No, I was definitely not joking.” I round on Rafe this time. “Who wouldn’t want to kiss you? Have you looked at yourself recently? With your British accent, your golden eyes, and soft hair. Your sexy-as-fuck tan?—”

My outburst is cut off as he takes the two steps that separate us and cups each side of my face in his warm hands, fusing his lips to mine.

It isn’t soft either; it’s hard and grasping and primal. I can hardly breathe, but I don’t want it to stop. He takes from me, his tongue searching and exploring, and I give to him. There’s no way I can resist. Whatever I was expecting kissing Rafe to be like, it wasn’t this, and I’m very glad I was wrong about that. He deepens the kiss, his teeth grazing my tongue and making my head swim with pleasure. He’s taken my anger, and as he eventually slows, the soft tenderness kindles a new hope inside me.

I vaguely hear Constantin mutter. “Christ, that is so fucking hot.”

Rafe pulls back and rests his forehead against mine, his eyes locked onto me and his hands at the back of my neck. His chest heaves as his breath comes in short pants and his face glows with a rosy flush.

For a full minute, there’s no sound except our breathing.

The oven timer beeps, breaking the silence, and Rafe releases his hold on me, stepping back slightly.

I stop the noise of the timer and turn back round to face them.

“Sit. Eat. I think you have some explaining to do.”