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“Then I suggest we start exchanging facts about ourselves.” Alejandro gives me a soft smile that disarms me. “Every night this week, I’ll be calling to play my version of twenty questions.”
“Your version?” I quirk a brow up, and my smile broadens at the ridiculousness of it all. I’m here with a criminal, my father is the president, and he’s proposing we play a silly game to calm my worries. “Sounds interesting.”
“Good…” he pecks my lips once more and then tucks me against his chest, arms hugging me tight “…because I wasn’t giving you a choice in the matter.”
11
THERE’S A KNOCK at my door two days later, and I’m not surprised. It’s why I gave everyone but Geronimo the day off with instructions to head out into the jungle for a training session with Chiquito and my brother.
Out in no man’s land. Where those in power here are too scared to venture into.
The Amazon is unforgiving and cruel. It’ll take without asking.
“Come in,” I say and sit back, dropping the pen in my hand atop a lucrative contract with an overseas pharmaceutical giant. It’s a hefty amount on the dotted line that anyone else would sign, but I’m not most. My counter is written out just above the empty signature line, and I won’t accept anything less than what I’m asking.
“Hey, Lucas. You have a few minutes to spare?” Signio asks, sitting across from me without being offered a chair. His friend follows, eyes roaming the large office located on the first floor of the building I own in Bogota—where I enjoyed a nice little afternoon lunch with my guest’s fiancé two days ago.
I’ll put a bullet in his head before he ever says I do.
“No, but I imagine you drove over to share something of importance?” The bite in my tone is lost on both as they admire the picture of Solimar atop my desk. They don’t know it’s her as I’ve cut her face from the print, but her body is on full display. Out on the veranda, she stood with her back to the city, arms gripping the bars behind her, and head tipped up to the sun. Her chest—the tempting swell is clear to see, and so is the sinuous curve of her hip, those toned legs seemingly a mile long in the perfect little dress she wore for me.
Before Signio blinks again, I lodge a bullet into the leg of his chair, forcing him to tip forward. “What the fuck!”
When he looks up, the barrel of my 1911 is pointing at his chest. “Keep your eyes off what isn’t yours, Cortez. I won’t miss next time.”
“Understood.” He stands from the ruined armchair and places his hands atop my desk. I don’t miss the way his eyes shift over the papers in front of me. “We have a similar problem where you poached—”
“I’d be careful in how you finish that sentence, güevon.” Lowering my gun, I keep it pointing his way while I sit forward. “There’s little patience in me today.”
Signio swallows hard and holds a hand up. “I’m not trying to be disrespectful, Alejandro. I just came here to talk man to man.” My reply is to wave a hand in the air for him to continue. For a brief second, his eyes shift to his friend, who nods. “Do you know who my fiancé is?”
“You have five seconds to get to the point.”
“Solimar Quintero is important to me and—”
He’s silenced by the slam of my hand against the wooden top of my desk. “Why the fuck are you here, Cortez? Be a man and spit it out.”
“Back away from her.”
Laughter bubbles up inside of me. It’s loud and non-threatening, the first clue he should be afraid. Shitting his pants. Because while he relaxes and I show an outward amused expression, beneath my skin the ire in me is bubbling to the surface.
The demon in me is clawing its way out, and I smile. “Is that all?”
“Yes.” Cortez and his friend chuckle. They’re amused and at ease. “We both know you don’t need that kind of heat, and between us, she’s nothing more than a trophy I need on my arm.” They both miss how my hand grips the gun’s handle, finger on the trigger. “My father needs this marriage to happen and if I comply, I get a favor in return.”
And that right there sums up what Solimar means to him; a means to get what he wants. She’s an object. Nothing more.
“How long do you need to stay married and what are the terms?” Every muscle in my body has locked down, the cords trembling with the exertion to stay in my seat and not snap his neck. I want to. I will in the future. However, I’ve come to learn a few things over the years, and one is that stupid people talk. Give them a sense of comfort and they give themselves away. “For curiosity sake?”
Another laugh. Cocky. “Two years, and she needs to have given me an heir by then.”
“Okay.” Bringing my other hand to my face, I scratch my jaw. “And why do you believe that I know this girl? What gave you the cojones to come and warn me away?”
Signio tilts his head in his friend’s direction. “Samuel saw you follow her at Codicia toward the elevator but lost you among the crowd. He didn’t see you talking with her, but you were chasing.”
With a brow raised, I stare the friend down. “Is that so, Samuel?”
His throat bobs harshly. “Your eyes were set on her and—”
