Page 71 of Chris

“Yeah, like this. We’re one set of two twins, and we have an older brother who was the only singleton of our siblings. My mother was also an identical twin.”

“It’s a genetic thing, then?”

Chris laughed. “Seems so.”

Valeria’s smile softened. “And you love them. I can hear it in your voice.”

“All of my family,” he agreed, “to the ends of the earth and back. I would do anything for them, and they would do the same for me. That’s how our parents raised us.”

Chris shook his head, thinking about his family, but more specifically, his twin. “I joined The League—an organization that trains assassins—because I didn’t want my twin to go it alone. I thought he needed me there to watch his back. That’s what my family taught me; no matter what, we look out for each other.”

“And did he need you?”

“Not for that, but it didn’t change what I felt. It’s like this, too, though. I need to fix things. It’s what I do, it’s who I am. All I want to do is fix this for you, to make it better, so you can be happy again. Safe again.”

“I was happy once.”

“When?”

“In New York.”

“Not before?”

Valeria sighed. “When I was a girl, too, I guess.”

“Were your parents good to you?”

That earned him another smile, but it faded fast. Chris hated that, and wanted to get her smiling again, but she was already talking.

“I was an only child, but my papa and mama spoiled me. We didn’t have a lot when I was younger, and my father had grand ideas about all the changes he thought our country needed.”

“That’s why he went into politics?”

Valeria shrugged one shoulder, her gaze dimming. “I don’t know if he thought he would be untouchable because he made it clear his loyalties didn’t lie with those who could buy him, but it didn’t matter, did it? The cartel got what they wanted when they went after the things that meant the most to him. And what good did it do to him—he’s dead, too.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I … don’t want that to be the lesson my daughter learns.”

“She won’t because her mother is better.”

Maybe it was the strength in his tone—the truth ringing out—but Valeria was quick to nod before meeting his gaze again. “I want to be, yeah. Know, no matter what happens here, or how this ends up … if I am put in a position where I have to leave without my daughter, I won’t go. I can’t.”

His hands that had slid down to her waist tightened. “I would never put you in that position. If it can’t be done my way, then we will figure out another way.”

“And what is your way?”

Well, that, he hadn’t figured out yet. Chris figured now was not the time to say that.

“And he’ll kill Maria,” Valeria added when Chris stayed silent, “if he even thinks I am planning to leave with her. It would mean hurting me, but also teaching me that if he cannot have me, no one can. She doesn’t matter to him. She is a pawn for him to use.”

“Not for much longer.”

“You say that, but—”

“I get that, Val.” Chris leaned in, and pressed a featherlight kiss to Valeria’s lips as he murmured, “I made a promise to her—and to you, in a way—and I intend to keep it. But trust me. Just trust me.”

With each graze of his lips against hers, her kisses answered him back. Soft, at first. Tentative, before each one of her kisses became more and more hungry. He hadn’t intended to come to her room for this, but her demand was a loud echo—despite their silence—as her hands grabbed at his shirt with enough force to pull the buttons from the loops.