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Prick.
“So, to quote my American friends, the buck stops with you. You’ll be the one to restrict my movement.” Not a big change from the way my father operates.
“I hope not. But you need to be reasonable. Everyone named Huntsman, as well as your parents and the Russos, will be taking fewer risks until we know more about the traffickers. It’s not a personal attack on you or your freedom. It’s common sense.” He takes a breath. “But yes, I’ll have the final word on anything that involves your safety.”
Anyone listening to this conversation would be surprised I haven’t told him to take his proposal and stick it. But I’m not anyone. I’m the daughter of a notorious Brit with the power to make almost anything happen. This puts me at substantial risk. I’ve lived with security all my life, and I’ll live with it until the day I die. It’s a given.
What I’m weighing is whether Rafael’s protection will be less onerous than my father’s. I’m not even considering what we did on this very island the other day. Not yet. That would make things even more difficult to sort through. Although it is the elephant in the room, and someone needs to address it before it pisses on the furniture.
“Why are you doing this?”
36
ALEXIS
He gazes at me for a long moment. “Because you deserve to live the life you want, and I believe you can do that safely. I won’t pretend it’ll be easy, but the alternative is untenable. You’re far too precious to lose. That’s something your father and I easily agreed on.”
You’re far too precious to lose. If I think about it too long, my resolve will melt, and I don’t intend on negotiating for my freedom with a soft heart. I can think about his words later, after this is settled.
“If I want to visit friends or my mother?”
“Negotiate with your guards.”
“Oslo?”
“Negotiate with your guards.”
This feels too easy. “These aren’t just empty promises to mollify me, are they?”
He shakes his head. “Not my style.”
“Is there anything else I should know?”
“A couple more things.” He reaches for my hand and rubs circles with his thumb, on the palm, until my pussy flutters, like the damn distraction it is. “You’ll be required to have a tracking device, on your person, that must be enabled at all times. It’s not negotiable.”
I’ve worn tracking devices my entire life. My mother has them too. At Saint Phil’s, sometime between Latin class and water polo, I learned how to disable them from the older students. Rich girls with overprotective daddies stick together when it comes to evading security measures.
But Rafael isn’t going to track me like I’m an inmate on home confinement. I won’t agree to it.
“Because I’m an unreliable prisoner?”
He squeezes my hand hard and doesn’t let go. “No. Because you’re too goddamn important not to have a way to find you, if you’re missing.”
He says it with such oomph, such heart, that I have to swallow the emotion lodged in my throat.
“Will you be monitoring my every move?” I ask softly, praying he’ll say no, because I want to choose his protection. I want to choose him.
“I will not do that.”
“Give me your word.”
His phone vibrates, and the temperature of the room cools as he glances at the message.
“You know what, Lexie, your father will be in Porto in a couple of days. If you can’t trust me without a multitude of assurances, go home with him, because it’ll never work between us.”
My father is coming to Porto? Don’t get distracted, Lexie.
“I trust you, Rafael, but imagine if the shoe was on the other foot. This is my life we’re talking about. I deserve some assurances.” I pull my hand away from his. “Why is my father coming to Porto?”
