Page 25 of Chris

Chris nodded, peering around to survey the grounds where they could be seen. His gaze lingered on the walkway around the pool for a second, and then two. “Sure. How about around the pool?”

Was that a walk, then?

What did it matter?

“Sure,” she said.

Chris remained quiet as they strolled down the pathway and stayed alongside the pool. Valeria noticed the way he continued to glance towards the calm water at the surface, but not in a way that said he cared for the pool.

“Swimming isn’t your thing?” she dared to ask.

His head snapped in her direction. “Pardon?”

“You stare at the water like it might bite you.”

She didn’t miss the way his throat jumped at her statement, or how his Adam’s apple bobbed reflexively.

“I almost drowned as a child,” he murmured, his tone terse, “and it’s followed me throughout my life. Water makes me nervous, that’s all. Nonsensical, considering I can swim, but I swear I can taste the water in my lungs when I’m close enough.”

Huh.

She wouldn’t have guessed that.

“I’m sorry that happened,” she whispered.

Chris shrugged and smiled again. “A long time ago, I suppose.”

And yet, she bet it seemed like yesterday to him. Because he trusted her with the truth, Valeria would never breathe a word about it to anyone else.

Everyone needed their secrets, no?

That little detail about Chris made Valeria take a second glance at him, not that she needed to be doing that at all. Still, it made him seem different to her and almost easier to ignore the fact he was here to do business with her husband.

Their conversation during the walk around the pool stayed on safe topics, and she still looked for the guards to make sure they kept an eye on her. That way, later when Jorge no doubt asked where she left to, he would confirm nothing nefarious had been going on when his back was turned.

The paranoid bastard.

Although, Chris kept a distance between them. He didn’t get too close to Valeria throughout their stroll, and his hands remained clasped at his back while he did his best to ignore the pool beside them.

“Do you like it here?” he asked.

Random, she thought.

“What do you mean?”

Chris shrugged under the nice fit of his suit jacket. “Here, Mexico. Being the wife of a cartel leader, tucked away from the rest of the world, you know? All these beautiful things surrounding you, and you must have status in your position. Do you like it?”

Not at all.

Not one fucking bit.

Valeria asked for none of those things, and instead, they forced it upon her regardless if she wanted them. When she made it clear, this was not the life for her, she faced the wrath of a man she didn’t think was worthy enough to kiss her shoes.

What choice did she have, though?

“People who live in gilded cages,” Valeria said, tone soft, “often forget that’s where they are after a while. Or we learn we need to forget it to survive.”

Chris looked her way, but she was already staring ahead at the man who had come out to stand on the back steps. Like when Chris had joined her on the steps earlier, she sensed his presence the same way she did Jorge’s now. Except his had been fine, and her husband’s was not.